champion godfather

Chapter 1024
Many problems can really be discovered during the training. These problems can definitely be seen clearly when you are a TV commentator or a bystander.

For example, on Balotelli, what surprised him was that the kid didn't mean to be passive and sabotage, but was very active in training.Before, Tang En thought that this kid would defy him, but his current performance surprised him.He originally wanted to focus on Balotelli, just waiting to catch his pigtails, and then make an example of others.

It seems that I don't understand the hearts of the players at all, which is really troublesome.

Twain wasn't too worried about Thiago Silva. The 33-year-old central defender still wants to be the main force?Put him directly on the bench, with himself and Wood in the locker room, can he do anything else?For the foreign legion, it is enough to implement the strategy of division and disintegration.

The reason why the Foreign Legion can be formed is related to the lack of a head coach with sufficient dominance in the locker room.Because they couldn't find a reliable core, they each attached themselves to people they thought were strong, and thus gradually formed small groups.Now that Nottingham Forest's dressing room has a strong figure again, those people have to reconsider their choices.

Dunn decided to ask Eastwood to find out about Balotelli's situation.After all, Chris Lack has only been with the team for a short time, so he has no way to gain a deep understanding of everyone's situation.Eastwood had worked in the Forest team for five seasons, and he knew the players who joined the team after Twain left.

"Balotelli?" Eastwood frowned when he heard Tang En ask about this person.Tang En noticed his little unconscious action.

"He's really talented..." Eastwood mused, choosing his words. "However, this person is a bit arrogant and always wants to leave the team. His popularity in the team is very poor."

"It can be seen." Dunn recalled the training situation of the past two days. During the training interval, basically no one would take the initiative to chat with Balotelli. During group training, few people were willing to chat with him. into a group.But what he wants to ask is another question: "Is he also so active in training before?"

Eastwood thought for a while, then shook his head: "Not really."

"Hmm..." Tang En fell silent afterward.He didn't continue to seek advice from Eastwood, because he had something in mind.

"Do you want to sell Balotelli, boss?" Eastwood was guessing what Dunn was asking him about this black Italian.

Tang En shook his head: "No. Now that the team is employing people, I only think that there are not enough people. How can I sell people? I will not sell anyone during this winter transfer period."

Then Dunn went to find a few coaches to learn about Balotelli's situation.He really didn't want to sell Balotelli, unless the two of them completely fell apart, just like he and Anelka did, and completely lost mutual trust.As Eastwood said, this kid is a genius, and for the current Forest team, his strength is needed.

So not only did Tang En not have the idea of ​​firing him, but he hoped that he would use it for himself.

But just by talking to the coaches, I'm afraid I won't be able to talk about anything.It seems necessary to have a private conversation with Balotelli.It's just that he doesn't have much time to do this now.

He took over the team in the middle of the week, and now it's time for the weekend league.

※ ※ ※

Nottingham Forest's away game against Aston Villa was not the highlight of a strong dialogue, but this game was temporarily selected by the BBC as a free broadcast for the whole country. The reason is very simple - this is Tony Twain The first game after returning to the Forest team.deserves attention.

A few days before the game, the media began to hype the game. During interviews, many coaches of Premier League teams were asked what they thought of the retired Tony Twain returning to the forest.

Everyone gave various answers, some expressed their approval, some expressed their indifference, and some thought that Tang En's return was a mistake, because he would never be able to reach his previous height again.

"If I were him, I would stay at home honestly." Mourinho did not show the joy of meeting his opponent at all. "He's outdated." When facing the reporter's question, he had a cold expression, as if he didn't know Tony Twain at all.

"I welcome Tony's return. I personally think this is a very brave decision." The words of Everton's coach Moyes seemed to make people think that he and Twain were in the same trench, but Twain's supporters didn't like to hear the next words: "But we'd better not have any hope for his performance in leading the team. It is already a victory for him to come back."

"I think it's boring for you to hype up this topic. It's just the return of a head coach." Some people didn't take it seriously.The man who said this was John Robertson, now the manager of Aston Villa.His team was about to meet Tang En's team, and he certainly didn't want the media's crazy hype to interfere with his team. "He can't change the current Forest team overnight, nor can he make the Forest team the protagonist of this season again. What's the hype?"

Of course, it's not that no one is optimistic about Tang En.

"I don't think the so-called Tony's comeback is just for show. I know him. If he decides to come back, he must have thought it through carefully. He must think that he can do the current job before he nods." Leeds United's head coach De S Walker commented in an interview.He and Twain are the golden partners of the England national team, and he really knows Twain better than anyone else. "So I don't think he came out again just to hype the reputation of the Forest team. Anyway, I want to remind everyone, be careful with him."

Regarding these remarks, Tang En remained silent, neither fighting back nor agreeing.Because he has been busy straightening out the relationship within the team these days, and has no time to cooperate with the media hype.

As if to prove those bad-mouthing remarks before, Tony Twain suffered a defeat in the first game of his comeback.At Villa Park, Aston Villa's home stadium, Nottingham Forest lost 1:2 to the home team, and the ranking slipped to No.17.

Many people who knew Twain could not understand this game.For example, Mortensen, who was in charge of the competition, shook his head many times during the competition: "I don't understand what Tang En is thinking..."

No matter what kind of situation the team faced, he just sat on the coach's bench and couldn't get up. He didn't get up and make an active adjustment throughout the game.So much so that some people ridiculed that the real Tony Twain did not return to Nottingham Forest to coach at all. What came back was only the wax figure of Twain borrowed from the Madam Windsor Wax Museum.

The forest team's tactics in this game are not much different from before, except that Balotelli has returned to the front line and partnered with Mitchell.George Wood continued to sit in the middle, and next to him was Gago.People did not see Forest's sharp side attack in the game. The team's offense was still concentrated in the middle, causing a big crowd in the middle.

Villa are also happy to see Forest focus their attack on the heavily defended centre, which makes the game much easier for them.

Tang En used up three substitutions in the game, but it didn't make any difference.Mitchell was replaced by Abanglajo, and Balotelli stayed on the court to play the full 10 minutes of the game.Alex Teixeira replaced Gago and went up to play the attacking midfielder. Cohen replaced Wijnadum and continued to strengthen the attack.After Cohen and Wijnadum went up, the Forest team's wing attack improved slightly, but it was too late.The score at that time was 0:2, and the Forest team was behind.

As soon as the game ended, the reporters waited at the press conference site, excitedly expecting Twain to comment on the loss of the game—he definitely couldn't get past this hurdle.

Sitting on the stage and looking at the gloating reporters, Tang En knew what they were expecting.Of course he can't walk away, that would only leave the media with an excuse to attack him.

"Aston Villa played well, so they won the game. We played badly, so we lost the game, that's it." His post-match evaluation was really "succinct"...

The reporters were persistent: "Can you tell me specifically what kind of bad law it is?"

Faced with such a provocation, Tang En did not fly into a rage. Instead, he seriously analyzed the team's tactical problems, which surprised the media who were waiting to see the show.

"Our offense is all piled up in the middle, it's too crowded..." Dunn spread his hands.He noticed the changes in the expressions on the faces of some reporters, and this effect was what he wanted.Let you watch the joke, but I will not let you get your wish!
The entire press conference lasted 15 minutes. The loser Tony Twain became the focus instead. Aston Villa's head coach Robertson was very depressed. He realized that even if he beat Twain, he couldn't be the protagonist...

Tang En was able to handle it well on stage, making it impossible for the media to catch him too much.After the press conference, there were still some people who complained about it, thinking that Tang En was too cunning, and they couldn't get used to this low profile.But in fact, John Robertson was not fair... As the winner, he was only asked two questions, and Tang En stole the limelight.

Even though the forest team scored a goal before the end of the game, it was only to save some face...or in other words, it didn't save any face at all.Tang En and his Forest team still became the target of ridicule and bad-mouthing by the media after this round of the league.

"Look, I've said it a long time ago, don't have illusions about his achievements in leading the team."

"Having been away from football for more than four months, Twain still needs time to re-adjust to his new job..."

"The main thing in this game is not the score. I think it's the process - in terms of process, this game is nothing!"

"I found a problem. Facing so many people in the coaching world who questioned his coaching ability, it is really unreasonable that Tony Twain did not fight back as usual. Please contact me after the game. Twain's attitude at the press conference, it cannot but be said that perhaps Tony Twain had anticipated the defeat of the game before the start of the game, and expanding it a bit, in fact, he may not have thought about returning to the Forest team. I don't have enough confidence to face it..."

※ ※ ※

"This group of media really guessed one thing right." Tang En said when he was having a meeting with the coaches. "Before the start of the last round of the league, I really didn't think we could win. Through this game, everyone should have realized that going in the middle will not work. We must get the Forest team back on the previous track."

"Now we have a week to throw away the previous tactics and start over."

"From now on, adjust the focus of training, increase the intensity of defensive training, and strengthen the rehearsal of set-piece offensive tactics. Before January, the team's downward trend will be stabilized by these two tricks."

The coaches didn't have any objection to Twain's plan. They were all professionals and knew that catching defense and setting the ball was the most effective thing right now.Transform offense?take it easy.The first thing is to restore the confidence and morale of the team, so that a sharp offense can appear.

After the routine tactical meeting ended, David Chris Lack and Freddie Eastwood stayed.

"Tony, you really can hold your breath." Chris Rack shook his head and said, "The outside media almost called you a liar for fame."

Tang En smiled disdainfully: "It's just a game, the media often do this. You have to understand them, David, they are rare and strange."

Eastwood next to him frowned and thought about another thing: "The next game is our home game, boss. We can't lose this game..."

It's normal for him to be so worried. It's nothing to lose in an away game.But at home, the Forest fans now have very high expectations of Twain. They don't care about the objective rules like "the head coach just took over the team and needs time to get familiar with it". They only know that Tony Twain is the team The savior, as long as he takes a seat on the coaching bench, no matter how difficult the situation is, he can win the game... This sounds a bit unhuman, but in the hearts of Forest fans, Tony Twain has long been It is equivalent to God.

Eastwood thought of this. If the Forest team loses at home, Twain's path will be difficult.The suspicion and disappointment of the fans, the disintegration within the team, all these will only drag the team into the abyss.

Although the opponents in this match were not strong, it was very crucial to Tang En, and he couldn't be careless.

Twain obviously also knew the importance of this game. The tactical issues had already been handed over to the coaches, and he didn't need to worry too much about implementing them in daily training.

What he really needs to worry about is the players. He feels that he needs to have a private chat with Balotelli as soon as possible.

(End of this chapter)