Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Nottingham Forest now looked like they were walking along a narrow path that only one person could go through sideways, with a deep abyss on the left and right sides. Following the movements of the footsteps, small stones would roll down and the echo of the crashing sounds could be heard in the abyss, growing gradually fainter.
In such an environment, slight inattention might cause one to lose his footing and fall. Then even one’s bones could not be found.
In short, Nottingham Forest now had no room for even a millimeter margin of error. They could not lose the Champions League and the league tournament. What could they do when their goal for this season was the continental treble this season?
Twain did not care about rotation for the away game against Arsenal. He deployed the strongest lineup possible.
Nottingham Forest faced a series of attacks from Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium. Similar to the last Champions League game, Arsenal’s offensive was fast paced, leaving the Forest team struggling on the pitch.
With a need to win, Twain did not choose conservative tactics, unlike in the last Champions League game. Nottingham Forest chose to play defensive counterattack in the last Champions League game because they already had a one-goal lead in hand. Now the score was still 0:0, and it was of little value to play conservatively—he did not need a draw and could not accept any other result other than a win.
So, in this game, Twain asked the team to attack aggressively. Even if the Arsenal’s swift attack made them confused and disoriented, they could not retreat. Instead, they had to actively carry out interceptions in the middle and front field against Arsenal.
It was what Wenger wanted to see most. Nottingham Forest would consume a lot of physical energy in such a scramble.
Twain was aware of it too. Arsenal wanted to drag down the Forest team. But now he had no other choice but to try to wipe out Arsenal before they themselves were dragged down.
“George! George!” Twain kept shouting Wood’s name off the field, signaling for him to tackle a little fiercer and to not be afraid to foul.
Gago also gave his very best on the pitch. He had trained his playing style to be like “a brave man, willing to risk his life” at Real Madrid. Now that the Forest team transformed to learn from Redondo, Twain still intended to let Gago keep up with his spirit.
With the opponent using the same tactics, the Forest team played harder than they did in the last game. Apart from not choosing to play conservatively, Arsenal’s home advantage could not be ignored.
Wenger’s team in this game fully played to their characteristics of fine skills, good rapport and smooth offensive, and their continuous campaign caused the entire Forest team to be exhausted. In the face of Arsenal’s attack, the will was there, but not the strength.
Twenty-nine minutes into the first half, the Forest team’s defense finally revealed a crack, which was keenly seized by Arsenal. Fàbregas did a straight pass. Carlos Vela suddenly plugged in from the side and unexpectedly appeared behind the Forest team’s entire line of defense. He was not in an offside position!
“He’s not offside! Vela has the ball!”
Pepe was still raising his hand to signal that Vela was in an offside position while Akinfeev had already left the goal to strike. A huge cheer erupted over the Emirates Stadium.
Amid the cheers, Vela shot low!
The football past through Akinfeev’s underarm and struck the farthest goalpost to bounce into the goal…
“The ball’s in! A gorgeous onside shot! And a brilliant assist from Fàbregas!!” Amid the thunderous cries, the live commentator had to raise his voice to shout along with the fans, “Arsenal leads at home! This dealt a heavy blow to Tony Twain’s Nottingham Forest!”
Akinfeev was a little angry after the goal concede. He walked over to Pepe and shouted, “Asshole! Why didn’t you come back to defend just now?”
Pepe was clearly angry too. He brusquely pushed his teammate aside, “It was f**king offside!”
“Whether it was offside or not, you should have f**king come back! You bastard!” Akinfeev was a little angry that he and his question were pushed aside. Just as the two men were about to come to a head, their teammates around fortunately rushed up to separate the two men.
Twain nearly flew into a rage as he watched the scene from the sidelines. He kept swearing, “Those bastards! They actually display their shameful behavior on live broadcast!”
Next door, Wenger sat in his seat with a slightly hidden gleeful smile on his face. Internal stride within the Forest team? It was highly unusual. It looked like the Forest team was about to collapse under immense pressure.
Even the commentator was excited, “Oh, oh! The Nottingham Forest players have a clash. What more, it is a conflict between their own players! This is getting interesting! I’ve done commentary for nearly ten seasons of Premier League games and nearly fifty games with the Forest team playing, and I’ve never seen such a heated conflict between their own men! Tony Twain always boasts that his team is the most united team in the world, and there is really little negative news in the media about their locker room. But today … all this is happening openly before all of us. It’s a once-in-a-century sight! I’m already starting to look forward how Tony Twain is going to face the influx of reporters after the game…”
“What are you guys doing?!” Meanwhile, on the pitch, the Forest players were trying their best to calm down the two “angry bulls.”
“Calm down!”
“Don’t make a fuss. What’s wrong with you two?!”
Wood stood between the two men with one hand on each side to push them apart. But the two men tried to struggle free of Wood, unwilling to back down.
The Arsenal fans in the stands booed and jeered after a brief moment of shock— any fans of a team loved to see their opponents made a fool of themselves in front of them.
The laughter and booing sounded harsh in Twain’s ears. It was even more shrill than when he was on the ground scolding, “You son of bitches!”
He finally stopped muttering alone and rushed to the sidelines to yell toward the field, “It’s live broadcast. You damn idiots! Live broadcast!!”
His voice was drowned out by the loud boos at the stadium and he was not heard. However, it invited special attention from the cameras. The broadcast gave him a long close-up. In the camera, he clenched his fists and he was red in the face. Eyes wide with fury, he looked really angry.
Shania, who saw what happened from the box, also stood up nervously from her seat. Whenever Twain was excited, Shania would be so worried.
Twain roared in vain on the sidelines until he was out of breath and had to return to the technical area to get some water. He did not succeed. Kerslake handed him the water and muttered, “Is there too much pressure?”
Twain took the water bottle but did not drink from it. Instead, he stared blankly at Kerslake, which scared the latter a little. He suddenly did not drink the water, nor did he go to the sidelines to continue swearing. Instead, he sat down and stared at the field without saying a word, as if he was in a daze.
In the end, it was George Wood who unleashed his “power” as the team captain and grabbed the collars of Pepe and Akinfeev to make them calm down.
“We are playing a game now. If you want to fight, wait till the game is over!”
Even the referee stepped forward to intervene. He called the two men over to his side and gave them verbal warnings. He told them that even if they were teammates, he must give out a yellow card warning in the event of a violent physical confrontation.
The anger of the two men subsided a little. But they still did not look at each other.
They walked back to their own positions, without saying a word.
While the Forest team had the internal strife just now, Wenger got up and walked to the sidelines to beckon Fàbregas over and brief him personally.
“They have a problem themselves. This is our chance. Next up, continue to assist Pepe with that.”
Fàbregas nodded as he sipped water.
Back on the pitch, Arsenal did adjust their tactics and use Pepe’s position as the main offensive direction. Pepe was clearly affected by the goal concede and the brawl, because realistically speaking, the ball did slip past him, and he did not actively defend. Perhaps in that moment he opened up a small gap, or for some other reason, his mistake gave Vela a chance to shoot the ball in easily. For a time, the Forest team’s goal was surrounded by perils.
Twain saw this and got up from the technical area, shouting Wood’s name from the sidelines and using hand gestures to signal for him to cover Pepe’s position. Wood obeyed and went before the Forest team’s defensive line was able to regain its footing amid Arsenal’s stormy attack.
Fortunately, there was not much time left in the first half for Arsenal. Even if there was infighting within the Forest team, the stoppage time was only three minutes. The referee quickly blew the whistle to end the first half, which also upset the Arsenal fans, who thought the Nottingham Forest goal would be conceded again if Arsenal were to be given another minute.
Regardless, the Arsenal players were in a good mood when they were back in the locker room because they saw their opponent collapse—nothing was more demoralizing than a clash between the teammates in the game, because such an incident was humiliating….
They knew when they saw the way the Forest players walked off the field with their heads down. They could not wait for the game to be over so that they could fled the Emirates Stadium early.
Twain stayed behind. He stood alone on the sidelines for a moment and then slowly walked toward the tunnel.
His back view appeared to be very tired.
Shania saw this scene in the box and her face sank.
When Tony Twain who acted brashly on the sidelines and experienced such an intense game, he would suddenly age ten years when he went home. He had a heart problem and the pressure was so great … She was really worried.
The Forest players in the locker room were silent. Akinfeev and Pepe sat far part and did not look at each other.
Hearing the sound of the door opening and closing, people looked up and saw the boss.
They did not see an angry expression on his face. It did not even look like the calm before the storm.
Twain swept his gaze across everyone. His eyes slowly turned to look at them one by one which seemed to take several minutes. The locker room was dead silent. Kerslake was not one who could withstand such an atmosphere. He tried several times to open his mouth and say something, but he gave up in the end.
He did not think the atmosphere felt right.
Twain finally spoke up, “I think I’ve made a mistake—I happily made an exciting bet with someone, but I forget your ability to bear it. It wasn’t my intention to put you under the same pressure as I am. You all know … Well, I want to be able to put all the pressure on myself so that you can play without worry. Now it looks like I’m wrong, ridiculously wrong.” He kept shaking his head to negate himself. He looked pained and tired.
“So, I won’t put any pressure on you for this game. You just play at will … As for the matter on eating the table, you don’t have to worry about that. I have my own way.”
With that, Twain sat down in his chair and let out a long breath.
“Igor and Pepe don’t let this get to you both. I don’t blame you. I know you’re all thinking about the team, so … let bygones be bygones.” He put his hands together as if he did not really take it to heart.
“I now realize that the treble is not an easy thing to do, especially given our situation. It’s a pipe dream for us to want to win the treble. The outside world was justified to ridicule. I, Tony Twain, am used to talking big. But I want to thank you all, you always make my big talk become a reality every time… But this time, it’s not the same. The treble is indeed … very hard. All right!” He got up from his seat again and raised his voice, “I admit defeat! We’re not qualified to win the treble! Everyone will go home and sleep after this game. Don’t think about anything else. Let’s win either the Champions League or the FA Cup.”
“Let’s put the pressure down! It’s no big deal to lose this game to Arsenal! As long as we knock them out of the Champions League, revenge will still be ours to take!”
Twain finished speaking only to find that the locker room was still dead silent, even quieter than before. He asked strangely, “What’s the matter? Why are you not talking? Did I say something wrong? Hey, I’m doing this for the good of you guys! I’m trying my best to relieve the stress for you! Is this your attitude in response? What are you looking at me for? Why are you not talking?” He suddenly shouted, breathed heavily and stared at the crowd in the room.
“Say something! Like, ‘Okay, we gave up the league tournament!’ or something like that.”
“No.” Wood stood up and said, “I don’t want to give up the league tournament.” With that, he looked at Twain.
Pepe hesitated for a moment before he got up to say, “Boss … I apologize for what happened in the first half … I lost my cool when I saw the goal concede…”
“That’s why I’m here to relieve your stress, isn’t it?” Twain spread his hands and shrugged.
“But what I want is not for the pressure to be reduced in such a way…” Pepe shook his head and said, “Like George, I don’t want to lose the championship title.”
“Boss… None of us said we were going to give up the league tournament. Why would you say that?” This time it was Akinfeev who came forward and said, “I apologize to Pepe. I acted impulsively in the first half, but it’s all right now. We’re only one goal behind. Why give up now?”
More and more people stood up to express their wishes. No one wanted to give up. They all wanted to win the championship. At last everyone stood up and surrounded Twain in the middle.
Twain looked left and right.
“Strange. So, in other words, you suddenly don’t want to lose the game again?”
“We did not say we wanted to lose the game, boss!” Someone corrected the mistake in Twain’s words.
“Do you really want to win?” Twain asked incredulously.
“Does anyone want to lose?” Wood asked in return.
When Twain heard Wood, he put his hands up in front of his chest and lowered his head to signal for everyone not to speak first. He was silent for a moment, and then spoke up, “Very well, you’ll forget what I just said from now on. Forget those damn words like ‘give up the league tournament’, ‘go home and sleep.’ Let’s set up the tactics against Arsenal for the second half…”
