Chapter 517: A Good Opponent

Forced into a tie, the point difference between Chelsea and Manchester United widened to eight points. With eight rounds left in the league, these eight points were not easy to make up.

The only good news for Mourinho was the competition for the final eight rounds. Manchester United would be hosting Nottingham Forest in the thirty-third round, followed closely by the thirty-fourth round where Manchester United would play against Chelsea in an away game.

These two games had a bearing on the survival of both teams. If Manchester United could score two consecutive wins, then Manchester United’s points advantage would widen to eleven points with four rounds left and Chelsea would almost only have a chance of winning in theory.

But if Manchester United lost to Nottingham Forest and then to Chelsea, then the point difference between the two teams would likely to narrow to two points. An outcome of a game would lead to Chelsea’s turnaround.

The league tournament officially entered the home stretch. Now that the championship title was within sights, no one was going to show any mercy.

Nottingham Forest was not in a secure position either, so it was unlikely that Forest was expected to make a big reversal when they played against Manchester United.

The point difference between Arsenal and the Forest team was only six points. Liverpool and Forest only had a seven points gap. This difference was not wide enough to make Twain rest easy.

Liverpool’s home win over Arsenal in the following thirty-first round had squeezed Arsenal to the fifth spot in the league tournament and the Reds remained at fourth.

Nottingham Forest beat Bolton Wanderers 1:0 after much difficulty in the away game. Manchester United won big at home with 4:1 over Blackburn Rovers while Chelsea defeated Watford by 1:0.

Several teams had won, except for the luckless Arsenal.

The situation had not changed, and Twain had to temporarily pull his attention off the league tournament and cast it towards another battleground.

※※※

The UEFA Champions League quarter finals was about to kick off. Compared to several other teams, the Forest team’s luck was exceptionally good. Their opponent is one of the weakest team, Eindhoven, another one of Twain’s “old acquaintances.”

Eindhoven had loaned the Chinese full back, Sun Xiang, for three months from Shanghai Greenland Shenhua F.C..

Before he transferred, Sun Xiang was on loan to Eindhoven in January. At that time, he was hailed as the first Chinese man in the Champions League because he represented the team in the UEFA Champions League.

The moniker was quite good, but Twain was sad. The Japanese and South Korean players had long appeared in the Champions League. Park Ji-sung had even played as the main force on a powerhouse team like Manchester United. And the Chinese player? So much publicity was created for just one appearance in the Champions League. The gap between Japan and South Korea and Chinese football could no longer be described with a few words.

However, in the world he was now in, the moniker “the first Chinese man in Champions League” had been given to Sun Jihai.

Having been on the Forest team for more than two years, Sun Jihai really benefited from the advanced football environment. He had access to the most advanced training and was suddenly significantly above everyone else when he was back on the China national team. This also caused another kind of trouble. On the national team, Sun Jihai and his other teammates had trouble cooperating. Coach Zhu Guanghu agonized over the matter. It was evident that Sun Jihai’s standard was very good. But his cooperation with the team had always been a problem. The AFC Asian Cup was the upcoming summer. It had become Zhu Guanghu’s secret worry whether to use Sun Jihai or not. The football fans clamored for the use of Sun Jihai, but Zhu Guanghu was a little hesitant.

Putting aside these matters regarding the national team, in Nottingham Forest’s game against Eindhoven, the evil originator of this hype “the China Derby in the Champions League” publicized by the Chinese media was not just anyone but Twain’s “old friend,” Tang Jing.

Twain had always detested that type of meaningless hype. Tang Jing did not even know if Sun Xiang would appear in Eindhoven’s big list when she had eagerly pitched the stunt like the “China Derby.” Furthermore, he had not stated that Sun Jihai would be on the starting list of the game on any occasion. He very much wanted to see what Tang Jing was going to say if Sun Xiang did not even make it to the big list or did not get a minute of playing time.

Even while Eindhoven was the weakest out of the eight teams, Twain did not take it lightly. He and the coaching staff did plenty of research before and it happened to come in handy at this time.

After Dunn joined the coaching unit, Twain began to value the pre-match preparations and Dunn was clearly better than Twain at that side of things. The coaching unit would study every detail about the opponent, and then analyze the opponent’s tactics based on the information and details to develop multiple contingency plans. They would target their tactics according to their opponents.

After everything was ready, Twain took the team to the Netherlands.

The Eindhoven manager, Koeman, decided to use offense at home with the Forest team. He certainly knew how his fellow countryman, Rijkaard, was defeated, but his pride prevented him from playing like Tony Twain. Defend to the end? There would be boos thrown at him in the stadium. Dutch fans were idealists who would rather see their team use gorgeous offense and lose the game rather than get an ugly win by defending to the death.

Twain was delighted to be able to meet such an opponent in the quarter final. He very much wanted the opponent to play offense against him.

What was Nottingham Forest’s favorite kind of team? The powerhouse team that wanted to press hard and defeat them with offense. Their biggest headaches were the weak teams that compacted their defenses and holed up in their areas.

Twain had stumbled in the matchups against the weak teams this season but was not at a disadvantage against the strong teams. After the game against Everton, Twain let the team start their transformation, even though it was a long undertaking. In face of a powerful utilitarian champion during the knockout stages, Twain still restored the team to the defensive counterattack that they were best at.

The away game with Eindhoven began as scheduled, and Eindhoven actively sought to attack the moment they came on the field. As for Nottingham Forest? The commentator, who was familiar with them, could also see their defensive counterattack stance at a glance.

Sun Jihai did not play, and Sun Xiang also sat on the bench. In the press box, Tang Jing looked at Twain, standing on the sidelines, with disappointment.

“You just won’t do what I want!” She muttered to herself viciously.

※※※

Eindhoven’s offense was effective in the first twenty minutes, which also gave the Eindhoven fans hope of a home win over Nottingham Forest.

With two attacks, they almost entered the Forest team’s goal. But as Mourinho put it, “almost” on the field was tantamount to failure.

Eindhoven’s morale declined amid the situation whereby the successive siege of the Forest team goal always resulted in just brushing past the goal.

It was an opportunity for the Forest team. Twain whistled on the sidelines and waved for the team to press forward. No opportunity for a counterattack should be spared.

The Forest team’s counterattack emphasized the word “fast.” They usually withdrew in the back-field to lure their opponent to come forward to attack. Once the ball was intercepted, the Forest players, who were still cruising, immediately became the vanguard.

In the English Premier League, Nottingham Forest’s counterattack was probably the fastest because they had Ribéry, Petrov, Ashley Young and Aaron Lennon, all of whom could be ranked in the top ten of the English Premier League’s fastest players.

Because Twain had such a squad, they could counterattack skillfully, whether it was an individual player or the entire team. Their speed could leave their opponent flabbergasted.

Twain spent two seasons working to get his team to that level. Now that they were facing Eindhoven in this away game, he was confident to make Koeman suffer.

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Eindhoven orchestrated an offensive, but their passes were too obvious. Up against such a penetration in the middle, George Wood secured his position in advance and intercepted the pass.

What happened next was simple. Wood passed the football to van der Vaart at first chance and van der Vaart decided the direction to quickly attack. When van der Vaart received the football, the Forest team’s two wingers and the two strikers quickly changed direction.

The left, middle, and right, were all available. Van der Vaart looked at the situation and decided to take the left flank. He passed the football to Ribéry.

After he received the ball, Ribéry did not sprint along the flank. He planned to let the Eindhoven player, who blocked him on the flank, to pounce for nothing first. Ribéry dribbled the ball straight to the middle and van der Vaart ran to the left flank, making a simple switch in positions.

Seeing Ribéry coming to the middle, Phillip Cocu, ran over to defend, and followed Ribéry closely to keep him from having a chance to shoot.

Eastwood saw Ribéry running in the middle and instantly knew what to do. He stopped running forward and turned to assist Ribéry. Ribéry passed the football to Eastwood, and the Eindhoven defender, Alex, followed Eastwood tightly to keep him from turning around.

Eastwood did not plan to turn around. After he passed the ball, Ribéry ran without the ball, and Cocu turned his attention onto Eastwood, who took the ball. He intended to tackle the ball once Alex came up for them to attack from the front and back. He did not expect that once he pressed up, Eastwood would suddenly pass the ball instead.

The football was back at Ribéry’s foot, who was in front of the penalty area with no one to keep an eye on him.

Without hesitation, the Frenchman swung his leg and shot…

“Franck Ribéry — and the ball is in! What a beautiful long shot! Heurelho Gomes could not save it in time; it was almost a dead corner!”

The noisy Philips Stadion suddenly quieted down. The Eindhoven fans did not expect their team to besiege for so long without scoring a goal and the opponent to succeed with one counterattack.

Twain got up from his seat and held up his fists. Ever since Ribéry had been consciously placed in the middle by the coaching unit, he became an even greater threat. He was an all-round midfielder and should not be confined on the flank.

※※※

After the deadlock was broken, things became much easier.

Eindhoven, who had conceded a goal, desperately tried to fight back, which meant the Forest team’s defensive tackle had more room to play.

The first goal came. Surely, the second and third goal would not be far behind?

In the second half, it was easy to compete again. Van Nistelrooy and van der Vaart each scored a goal for the Forest team. By the time van der Vaart scored the Forest team’s third goal, the fans at Philips Stadion had already left the stadium early. Manager Koeman looked at the score on the scoreboard with an ashen face.

What did it imply to have the opponent score three goals in his own home game? The opponent’s one kick had allowed them to enter the semifinals. If it had been just 0:1 or 0:2, then they could still stake it all in the next round. Now that they had conceded three goals, the odds of a turnaround in the away game were too low.

Looking again at the glaring score, Koeman lowered his head.

※※※

Six days later, Eindhoven arrived somewhat wretchedly in Nottingham from the Netherlands. They had to score at least three away goals and keep Nottingham Forest from scoring in the game before they had a chance to play overtime. If they wanted to directly be promoted, they had to score more than four goals. It was just too hard for Eindhoven.

Indeed, it was just too hard.

The Nottingham Forest fans gave Eindhoven a taste of what Barcelona had tasted before. In an almost feverish home atmosphere, the Forest team unexpectedly did not choose to play defensive counterattack. Instead, they held up the banner for offensive football and played offense again Eindhoven, which on its deathbed.

Perhaps it was because Twain felt that his team’s promotion was already a foregone conclusion, so it did not matter if he did not use defensive counterattack. It was better to use offense to please more spectators, but also to put the team’s full attack force to test. The score of 3:0 was really reassuring enough.

The game was entertaining to watch. Both teams sparred measure for measure and the attacks were very lively. The fans enjoyed themselves immensely. Both teams scored goals in succession. With a steady stream of goals, Koeman’s mood oscillated between heaven and hell. When Eindhoven scored, he rallied, feeling that the situation was moving in the direction he wanted. When Nottingham Forest scored, his face immediately darkened as his hope for advancing slipped further away from him.

Eindhoven scored a goal first. After all, with the entire Forest team in attack mode, its defensive line could not be as solid as usual. This goal gave Eindhoven a glimpse of hope, but just five minutes later the Forest equalized the score. As everyone was attacking, both defensive lines had a lot of holes. It all depended on which side could seize as many as possible.

Next, the Forest team persisted and scored another goal. The total score was 5:1 with Eindhoven trailing behind. Basically, it had declared that the game was already over ahead of time.

Eindhoven did not give up. They were still working tirelessly to find a chance to score.

Towards the end of the first half, they took advantage of a passing error in the Forest team’s back field and intercepted the ball to launch a counterattack. They managed to turn the total into 5:2.

During the halftime interval, Twain criticized the performance of the defensive line. In his view, even if the team was focused on offense, it was not an excuse for the defensive line to make errors.

In the second half, the two sides continued to attack, but this time, the Forest team’s defensive line performance was slightly better. They did not give Eindhoven any chances. In the 80th minute, Bendtner, who substituted van Nistelrooy in the second half, scored a third goal for the Forest team with a header and locked in the total scores for both teams at 6:2.

Although there were still ten minutes before the end of the game, Koeman had no other way in the face of such a score.

He knew that he had already failed.

※※※

When the final whistle blew, the City Ground stadium erupted in a huge burst of cheers. The commentator had to raise his volume in this noisy environment, “What an unforgettable game! Nottingham Forest has advanced to the top four for two years in a row! This is a remarkable achievement! Tony Twain seems to be a manager adept at playing in the Champions League. The first trophy he had won was the ELF Cup. Last season, they advanced to the Champions League final and nearly became champions. This season, they have another shot at the final! But first, they have to beat Chelsea, their opponent in the semifinals!”

“Chelsea? That’s a really good opponent to have,” Twain said to Dunn and Kerslake next to him after the game. “We have a psychological advantage playing against them.”

Kerslake chuckled and Dunn also smiled. Everyone knew what this psychological advantage was.

With that, Twain set his sights on the grandstand. He knew Mourinho was watching the game in the stands, even though he did not know whether Mourinho was still there.

Meanwhile, in the stands, Mourinho and his aides were queuing up to leave the stadium. He did not forget to look down.

He saw Twain looking up.

“Nottingham Forest…” He hissed the name under his breath. “That’s truly a good opponent.”