Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The starting whistle for all 19 matches of the English Premier League blew at the same time at 3.30 pm on 11th May. The last round of the 13-14 season of the English Premier League started together.
Every Nottingham Forest fan in the stands of the City Ground brought a radio with him, paying attention to two games at the same time. The first is the match between Forest and Sunderland happening in front of them, the other is the match between Arsenal and Manchester City all the way in London.
From the radio, Arsenal had all the advantages right from the start of the game whereas all the players from Manchester City were not on form at all. The Forest fans on the stands started to curse Manchester City and McClaren.
The game between Forest and Sunderland was more like a normal game. Sunderland was going all out in the away game with Forest for survival and Nottingham Forest was unable to get any initiative on the field despite being in a home game.
Twain sat on the manager’s seat with a stern look on his face, staring at the match in silence.
Kerslake’s task was not here. He was seated at the side, listening to the broadcast of the match on the radio with the headphones. The expressions of his face changing along with the commentary from the radio.
After five minutes, he took off the headphones and told Twain by his side, “Arsenal has all the advantages… Manchester City does not care about this game at all…”
Twain smiled and said, “That’s normal. Manchester City has no reason to go all out in this game at all.”
However, he was gritting his teeth in his heart: Damn you Manchester City! Watch how I destroy you the next time we meet!
He did a good job regarding security. None of the Forest players knew about the situation at Manchester City and they stepped onto the field with unlimited confidence and hope. He treated it as him lying to his players, but it was better than telling them the truth before the game and watching them lose motivation.
He only wished that Manchester City could have a little fight inside them, but it seemed like that was going to be too much to ask…
McClaren, Manchester City… He had met the worst combination that he could ever meet in a thousand years.
Ignore Manchester City, we can’t count on other people… Ask our guys to press on in attack. If we continue to let Sunderland drag the game out, the players’ mental state will take a turn for the worse…” Twain walked to the sideline after saying this. He did not shout, nor make any hand signals, he merely stood there with his arms folded. He knew that the players knew what he meant just by seeing him at the sideline.
After that, Nottingham Forest increased the intensity of their attack, committing more players forward in attack and the two full backs started to actively assist the attack.
The commentator kept saying that Nottingham Forest and Sunderland were not of the same level. Forest was way stronger than Sunderland, so there was no doubt that Forest was going to win this game. The only uncertainty was the number of goals that Forest would win by…
Following that, he commentated on this match but the topic of discussion switched over to London as he talked about the match between Arsenal and Manchester City. The players on the field might not know what was happening in the Etihad Stadium but the spectators were very clear. Even if the commentator did not say anything, the Forest fans would switch channels on their remote control frequently.
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Ten minutes later, there was news of a goal from the Etihad Stadium. Nobody knew which side scored yet until the scrolling marquee at the bottom of the TV screen indicated that Arsenal had scored on the 16th minute, the scorer was Van Persie.
The City Ground burst out with a loud boo when they knew about this news. Even if the one controlling the ball was a Forest player, the booing still continued.
The players were stunned momentarily and they knew what the reason was.
Kerslake wanted to tell Twain about the latest situation but Twain stopped him with his hand, “I know by listening to this booing.”
Kerslake remained silent.
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Van Persie sprinted like a madman amidst the deafening cheers in the stadium. Behind him, his Arsenal teammates were roaring with their fists clenched.
Wenger also ran out from the manager’s seat in agitation, jumping around.
Leading after just 16 minutes, he had a reason to be happy indeed.
The Arsenal fans from the stands swarmed forward in an attempt to get closer to their hero. Everyone were screaming Van Persie’s name.
On the other end of the field, the Manchester City players did not react to conceding this goal. They were expressionless. Rather than saying they were shell-shocked, it would be more accurate to say they did not care.
Ashley Young looked down as he sat on the substitute’s bench. He did not want the others to see the laughter on his face —— This was Manchester City. The same Manchester City who were so full of passion and drive to overtake Manchester United, Milan, and dethrone Real Madrid as the best club in the world!
McClaren was a little displeased, maybe the reason was just because they conceded so early. However, despite being displeased, he merely complained a little at the manager’s seat and did nothing, his butt did not even leave the seat.
Bendtner stood in the center circle waiting for the restart. Opposite him was Robinho, with a nonchalant look on his face.
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“Manchester City resisted symbolically for ten minutes,” Kerslake described what happened to Twain after the booing stopped, “They committed very little players in attack, the forwards were isolated, the gaps between the lines were huge, as if they had no united tactics. The defense wants to defend, the forwards…” He stopped for a moment here, “The commentary kept mentioning Bendtner, his name popped up the most for Manchester City. He is very active but he could not get any support from midfield.”
Twain did not mention anything about Bendtner’s performance, he merely said, “Ignore what happens there, we’re still level here…”
Sunderland was very fierce in fighting for the ball, pressing all over the pitch without considering if their stamina could take it. Such pressing also gave the Forest team some considerable problems. Whether it was the defenders or the midfield players, they could not control the ball properly under such pressing, much less build up an attack. The energy that Sunderland was displaying in their desire to survive made things very difficult for Nottingham Forest.
And now that Arsenal was leading, for a moment, their morale was shaken…
Some would think : Arsenal is already ahead, what’s the point even if we beat Sunderland?
The others placed their concentration on the match between Arsenal and Manchester City. Even though they were physically in the City Ground, they were already at Etihad Stadium in spirit.
How could they continue playing a game like this?
Twain stood at the sideline and frowned.
“This is not a match that I wanted to see…” Twain muttered in his heart.
After that, he shouted for Wood loudly, “George! You’re the captain! Do something! Look at your team! Look at their eyes!!”
Wood heard Twain’s voice, turned to look back and realized that everyone was rather distracted.
He was not the type of captain that liked to shout or use motivational speech to inspire his team and its morale, compare to words, he preferred to express his meaning with actions directly.
So, when Sunderland attempted to continue using their high-press to push Forest back, George Wood returned the favor immediately with a foul. This foul gave his a yellow card and the combined protests of the Sunderland players, but he won claps as loud as thunder from the stands, as well as a different look in his teammates.
After watching his foul, Twain continued to shout. “Don’t just stand there! This is our match! It’s our own match! Score some goals! You bastards!”
Nottingham Forest regained their composure after being scolded by Twain and finally scored three minutes later.
The score was Bale. He put the ball in the Sunderland’s goal with a direct free kick. This fit the Sunderland tactics —— Frequent tackling will lead to more fouls, especially closer to the danger areas. This gave Forest many free kick opportunities. Bale already had three other free kick opportunities before this goal, putting two above the bar and hitting the wall directly with another.
This time, he finally grabbed his chance and took a beautiful free kick, over the wall and squeezing within the far post. The goalkeeper could not dive in time and could only watch as he conceded a goal.
The stands erupted in massive cheers. The oppressed feeling that the Nottingham Forest fans had finally had a reason to be released. They indulged in the celebration for the goal and did not want to think about the fact that Arsenal leading was still leading Manchester City.
“Gareth Bale! Beautiful free kick! No wonder what’s the situation between Arsenal and Manchester City, his goal gave the Forest fans some breathing space!”
Bale was being embraced by his teammates, however, all he was thinking was : I wonder if Shannon is watching this game…
This goal also relieved the tension that Twain was feeling in his heart. His team was leading Sunderland, that way he could continue to look forward to…a miracle.
The way he looked as he waved his fists on the sidelines made Shania worried as she sat in the VIP area…
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After Sunderland fell behind, there were also cheers that rang out from another stadium. That was the home ground of Portsmouth. That was because the Portsmouth fans were very clear that the results between Portsmouth and Tottenham did not matter as long as Sunderland lost.
At this moment, all the Portsmouth fans were cheering for Nottingham Forest as they forgot to pay attention to their own game. They even hoped that Nottingham Forest could win the league title so that Portsmouth can stay in the Premier League, that was the best scenario.
In the Premier League, there weren’t many fans supporting Nottingham Forest. The Portsmouth fans would usually not forget how Forest scored six goals in one half and humiliated them 7:4. But this time, they were at the mercy of Nottingham Forest. At this time, they might be the only supporter for Nottingham Forest, an ally… They would be an “ally” who could only help to shout of some chants.
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Since Forest was leading Sunderland, then if the situation continues as it was, Sunderland would not be much threat to Forest. The Nottingham Forest fans started to hope that Manchester City could try to make a good showing, even forcing Arsenal to a draw would be good, Arsenal was only leading by a goal after all. Did Tony Twain not say that a one goal lead was the most uncertain lead? Then let Arsenal have a taste of this uncertainty!
Too bad their hopes were crushed.
Before the end of the first half, at the 44th minute, there was news of another goal from the Etihad Stadium. The scoring team was still Arsenal. A long shot from Fàbregas helped Arsenal to a 2:0 lead before the end of the first half.
The commentator of the Forest game sighed after hearing this news, “The match has ended early, Arsenal has won the league title. It doesn’t matter how many goals Nottingham Forest scores against Sunderland now. I suddenly feel that Nottingham Forest is so solemn and stirring…”
Not just him, every Forest fan watching on the TV fell silent then.
It looked like there was no longer any hope for this season’s league title.
Twain stood with his head hung at the sideline when he heard the news, not letting anyone see his expression. He suddenly felt a wave of fatigue.
A man’s abilities are limited indeed. One does not always get the returns one wants just because one has worked hard…
He only realized that his shirt was totally soaked with sweat now.
He stood on the sideline, expressionless and silent until the end of the first half.
The stands were filled with boos for Manchester City and Arsenal, but what was the point of that? They would not be able to hear the boos from here anyway.
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Bendtner felt annoyed at the cheers coming from the Etihad Stadium. They were not cheering for Arsenal, instead, they were mocking Manchester City’s uselessness mercilessly. As part of the Manchester City team, he was being mocked as well naturally.
But he did not accept this mocking because he had been working very hard all this while. He only lacked support…
He took a look at the substitute’s bench, Ashley Young was seated on the seat with his eyes closed, as if he was asleep. It was a little hot this afternoon, yet he could actually be so calm over there. Had he completely lost hope for Manchester City as he expected?
Bendtner thought about how he would perform in this game if he was also confirmed to be leaving the team next season.
It was hot, the sun was so strong that it made people groggy. Would he avoid running as much as possible? Would he show up for work but did not exert himself? Would he be full of imagination for his new life and did not care about this game?
It was a pity that he did not have the chance to verify it.
The whistle signifying the end of the first half was like music to the ears of the Manchester City players. They could finally return to the cooling changing room to rest for 15 minutes out of the direct sunlight. As for this game… Arsenal is already leading by two goals, do we have to continue struggling?
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When the referee blew two whistles to indicate the end of the first half, Twain was the first person to turn towards the tunnel. The fans on the stands were still showing their displeasure at the match between Arsenal and Manchester City by booing. However, this booing sounded very unpleasant to the ears of Twain.
He felt very tired and wanted to lean on something.
If he gave up like this, he probably did not have to bear such torment.
No!
When entering the tunnel, Twain clenched his fist. He could even hear the beating of his heart clearly.
I love to make things difficult for myself!.
I will never give up until the last second! .
