Chapter 733: The Juvenile Footballers

“Four rounds had been completed in the league tournament, and the next round will only resume on September 12th. Now we can summarize what Tony Twain and his Boy Scouts have achieved in these four rounds of the league tournament…..” Spicer continued his promising job to “vilify Twain” on a football talk show he hosted.

It was indeed “very promising”, because he had been mocking and jeering at Twain in the column. His incisive words left an indelible impression on people. As a result, Sky TV came knocking on his door to ask him to host a talk show dedicated to commentary on football celebrities on the Premier League channel. It was called <Football Matters>. One to a few guests were invited to open up discussion on the interesting matters that had recently taken place in English football every week. As long as they did not directly burst into obscenities or make personal threats, they could say whatever they wanted. Relying on his glib talking skills, Spicer quickly made the new show soar all the way on Sky TV’s ratings charts, almost trending to become a new highly rated show…

When the show first aired, some people predicted that it was actually a show directed against Tony Twain. Because whichever matter that touched on Twain would grab everyone’s attention—it could not be helped since many stories always swirled around him.

But with the start of the new Premier League season and the show had been on for four episodes, this was the first time Tony Twain was brought up as a topic.

“With two losses and two draws plus two points accumulated, they ranked second to last! Awesome!” Spicer clapped his hands hard and said, “The Juvenile Footballers delivered a satisfying and unsurprising result. What do you think, Andy?”

The show’s invited guests this episode were the retired former Manchester United legendary striker, Andy Cole, who was currently the second highest goalscorer in Premier League history. He was also from Nottingham, where Nottingham Forest was his hometown’s team. He was a Forest fan before he became a Manchester United striker. Since it was time to talk about Nottingham Forest, it was natural to invite a celebrity guest connected to the Forest team.

“Well, you said it was unsurprising, and I also think the result was to be expected… To tell you the truth, I have great respect for Manager Tony Twain. He’s very capable. But at the moment, the team is too weak in any tournament. Four rounds had already started in the league tournament and their opponents were not weak: the first round was an away draw with Middlesbrough, the second round was a home loss to Chelsea, the third round was an away loss to Everton, and the fourth was a draw at home with Everton… The lads played outstandingly on the pitch, but overall they aren’t strong enough.”

Spicer laughed, “Yes, that’s it! What did I say before the league tournament started? Mr. Twain, it may not be a problem if you want to stay in the middle level in the league tournament with the current squad. But if you want to win back the league title or get back into the Champions League with these players? I really can’t find a reason to be optimistic… Now I’m going to correct my statement. By relying on these juvenile footballers now, not to mention the middle level of the league tournament, he should be happy if they are still in the Premier League by the end of the season!”

“The only good news is that after the fourth round of the league, his team finally scored. Eastwood scored his first goal of the season against Everton. It’s not easy!”

“It reinforces my conviction that I’m not optimistic about Nottingham Forest. Watching their game was like watching a bunch of headless flies bumping on the pitch. It was really hard to watch with my own eyes.” Spicer made a face to show that he really could not bear to see it. “The young people lack experience. George Wood’s form is as stable as ever, but he can’t bring stability and experience to the team. How should I put it with regards to experience? It’s not something that the veteran players in the team can bring out. They also need to go through the baptism of the competition … At least before Christmas, we won’t see the once-familiar Nottingham Forest.”

“Does Tony Twain have any regrets? The devil knows!”

※※※

Did Tony Twain have regrets?

How could it be possible!

He did not have the free time.

He obviously knew that the team had not done well lately, but it was within his expectations. A team that was almost half made up of young players with a lot of key players gone, their tactical play must change. How could they achieve good results?

Therefore, no matter how the outside press criticized him and his team, he would not have the slightest doubt about his choice because of this. Instead, he wanted more criticism—he needed to use these things to motivate the players.

Just going into September, the players on the team who had their national team assignments were drawn away. Even the young people had their own national youth teams to play for. These two weeks were valuable for Nottingham Forest. It was not good to not win in a row for whatever reason. They could use these two weeks to recalibrate, tactically or mentally…

In Twain’s mind, the goal this season was not to win any title, but to return to the European arena next season, whether it was the UEFA Europa League or the UEFA Champions League… As long as they could return to Europe, the club’s financial situation could improve, and the team would be able to return to the top group.

While the club’s players headed off one by one to play for the national teams, Twain spent his first birthday with Shania after they got married.

They held a small party in the back garden and invited some of his colleagues from the club. They had a simple dinner and then left after. During the dinner, they chatted about the current state of the team and how to fix it. Even though it was a birthday party, it was probably more like a work dinner. A middle-aged person’s party was not like those of the young players, where after they ate and drank copious amounts, they then called for female escorts to have orgies.

After he sent away his colleagues, Twain hugged Shania as he stood at the entrance of the yard and sighed.

“Having a lousy birthday? Is it because of the team’s recent results?” Shania looked at him.

“How could that matter make me sigh?” Twain turned to look at Shania, who nestled against him. “I’m just lamenting that I’m a year older… You know something, Shania, when I was still your age, my daily wish was to grow up quickly, become independent, and be an ‘adult.’ Now I regret it… My days with you were short of twenty-two years without a reason.”

Shania tightly embraced Uncle Tony and said nothing.

“Don’t have to celebrate my birthdays anymore, Shania. Just take it that… I’m forever forty.”

If it was possible, he really wanted to say, “take it that I am eighteen forever” or “forever twenty years old,” But he could only say “forever forty years old”, which was really helpless.

“Then you are not allowed to celebrate my birthdays. Just take it that I am forever eighteen!”

Twain smiled and said, “All right, we are immortal and stayed young forever.” With Shania in his arms, he walked back to the house and was about to start their new round of “making a human being.”

※※※

After she celebrated Twain’s birthday, Shania flew to Los Angeles again. Tom Cruise was kind enough to give Shania a role in his new film. This time the role was more important than the previous minor role of a pretty face. There were a lot of lines, and even a scene with the main character.

Shania was eager to get into action and prepared to show her acting chops in the film. At this time, the “making a human being” project also naturally had to be postponed.

And the team’s players were also coming back in succession. Two days before the start of the league tournament, all of them were back in the team. Whether it was Rafinha in faraway Brazil and Sun Jihai, who was back in China to compete, both had returned on time. After a brief day of practice together, Nottingham Forest headed off to London to take on Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane. They would continue their away tour in London on the 15th, this time the opponent was Fulham.

The media was generally down on Nottingham Forest’s trip to London. In addition to the level shown by the team in the first four rounds of the league tournament, they naturally took into account that after the national team games, they would play two games in a week one after another. Given the team’s stamina distribution and the players’ inconsistent form, these two games pointed to disaster for the Forest team.

On the way to London, the television in the bus showed an entertainment program to pass the time, which Twain had thoughtfully prepared for the players—the recording of the television program in which Carl Spicer mocked the Nottingham Forest’s “juvenile footballers.”

“What can a bunch of kids who are still at their mothers’ teats do? Ha ha! There’s nothing they can do! Look at how they played in the games. If I were Tony Twain, I would tell them all to go home. Some people don’t have the chops to establish a foothold at Nottingham Forest at all. Did Tony Twain receive kickbacks when he bought these players?”

“… Yes, yes but Andy, I think you’re still too kind. If I were Tony Twain, I would swear even harder, they’re basically good-for-nothings… I believe that chap, Tony Twain would agree with my view.”

“That’s the way it is—Tony Twain is counting on a group of juvenile footballers to conquer Europe. I’m going to pick this as one of the ten funniest things to laugh about this year. It can even hit the top spot. You can just imagine the scene and you’ll see how funny it is—Adolf Hitler yelled at a group of babies with their pacifiers still in their mouths: ‘You (Bleep—) will flatten France, then stand on the edge of the English Channel, pull out your things from the pants, and urinate on that bunch of Englishmen! Let the whole of Europe tremble under our iron hoofs and beg for mercy!'”

Carl Spicer could not help but laugh and slapped the table when he came to the last bit.

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It was silent in the bus, except for the laughter coming from the television.

At first, everyone did not take it seriously, and were busy with their own things. Later, they found that it was not that simple. So, one by one, they opened their sleeping eyes, took off their headphones, and took their eyes off their phone screens or PSP screens.

“Who’s that idiot?” Someone eventually called out.

“Carl Spicer! He is always targeting the boss and us. Did the boss cuckold him?” Someone whispered.

“What kind of crap is he spouting?”

Even though Carl Spicer talked about the young Forest players, the others felt as if it happened to them too as they were a collective and their teammates were scolded by other people. Not to mention the Forest team was really very young …

“Such a person can also host a TV show? I’m getting more and more confident in my life plans after I retire…” Eastwood muttered as he stroked his chin.

“It’s too early to consider retirement, Freddy.” Twain stood up and leaned against the back of his seat, to face Eastwood, sitting in the back.

“This is the latest episode of <Football Matters>. I’m afraid some of you haven’t watched it, so I specially recorded it and brought it to play for you on the road. You want to know why I’m doing this? Guys, it’s because these are the voices and talk outside. I think you all must have heard them and don’t want to pay attention to it. But…” He raised his voice and stood in the middle of the aisle to address the players. “It’s not our style to ignore it. Do you know why I did not write in my own column to fight back against those who questioned us? Because football is not shown by glib talk. If we want to fight back against those idiotic remarks, the best way is not to burst into foul language in interviews, but with victory! Use victory to give them all a slap! Slap them to the point where their own mothers cannot recognize them!”

“I’ve never told you I’m angry that we only have two points and are in the bottom two because I don’t want to put too much pressure on you. But now I have to let you know how I really feel—that is, I’m really f **king angry!” He waved his fists hard. Like what Carl Spicer said, he did look a little the madman warmonger, Adolf Hitler.

“I’m telling you that being young and inexperienced are definitely not your excuses. I don’t want anyone to use the media’s rhetoric as a reason for failure. There is only one reason for failure, and that is that you are not doing well enough! I’ll give you a month to get used to this damn new season and I think you should get used to it and be ready to win. Are you ready?”

“That’s right, boss! We’re ready!” The people in the compartment followed suit and roared.

“Yes, you must be prepared. Those who are not ready, I’ll let him out of the bus and run back to Nottingham! I need a madman who believes in Nottingham Forest’s victory at any time, and not a coward who thinks we might lose! You have to remember, the opponent for the game is definitely not Tottenham Hotspur, but those media which look down on us, mock us as juvenile footballers, say you haven’t weaned!”

“Prove to them with victory that … who are the ones who did not wean!”

※※※

“I don’t think Nottingham Forest is as vulnerable as the media have described. My team is ready. I believe Tony Twain must be ready too. I will shake his hand before the game and congratulate him on his fight against the heart attack and his return to the field. But when it comes to the game, he’d better forget my well wishes. It’s going to be a very intense competition…”

Redknapp spoke these words in a pre-match interview.

It was indeed a tough game.

Twain deployed two defensive midfielders for the game. George Wood and Tiago formed a wall in front of the center backs and used their tireless running and interception skills to stifle Tottenham Hotspur’s offense in the midfield. Then they made use of the characteristics of their ability to pass the ball to launch the attack and immediately counterattack after they intercepted the ball. It caught Tottenham Hotspur by surprise.

Şahin sat on the substitutes’ bench and watched his teammates attack from the backfield time and time again, threatening the opponent’s defensive lines with long passes.

Petrov and Lennon impeded the opponent’s defenders in the wings and forced Tottenham Hotspur’s defensive line to stretch horizontally to expose a lot of gaps. If Tottenham Hotspur’s defenders shrank the middle, then they turned the attack toward the sidelines. All the changes were entirely controlled by the two defensive midfielders.

Agbonlahor’s speed allowed him to raid Tottenham Hotspur’s defensive line in the middle after he received the long pass from the backfield, while Žigić, who was tall, good at headers and physically strong, was in charge of support and cover. His presence ensured that the Forest team’s long-pass attacks would not be easily ended by the opponent. Once the midfielder or striker took the ball in the front field and controlled the situation, the Forest team would start to press forward. The two full backs, Gareth Bale and Rafinha gave their best side assists to put pressure on Tottenham Hotspur on the sides.

Redknapp also had a counter measure. He saw the features of Twain’s attacks on the sides. Whenever Bale and Rafinha pressed up, Tottenham Hotspur would put the direction of their attack firmly on the Forest team’s two sides—the striker, Darren Bent who stayed in the front, was not in the middle, but would pull to the sides to receive the ball and then break through the Forest team’s defenses from the sideline to pose a threat to Akinfeev’s goal. In addition, Modrić and dos Santos would follow closely and be in charge of receiving or covering Darren Bent.

Both sides had a very fast pace of switching between the offense and defense. But in general, it was Tottenham Hotspur which could not slow down due to the Forest team’s fast pace. Bale, Rafinha, Petrov, Lennon and Agbonlahor were speedy players. Every time the Forest team launched an attack, they did not pass the ball back and forth in the midfield. Instead, they directly made the long passes. These players competed with the football in speed. Tottenham Hotspur could only follow suit to rush if they don’t want their defensive lines to collapse.

Over time, Tottenham Hotspur’s stamina dropped dramatically, not to mention they had not been able to keep pace with Nottingham Forest. The exhausted defensive line was pulled apart by the Forest team, and the cracks were getting bigger and bigger…

At the end of the first half, Žigić received a sideline pass from Agbonlahor. Marked by Ledley King, he headed the ball to the goal and smashed the ball into the goal guarded by the England national goalkeeper, Robinson.

The new season’s aerial overlord made a show of strength for the first time and Ledley King was weak and thin in front of him like a bamboo pole!

In the second half, Tottenham Hotspur took advantage of a chance for a place kick with Darren Bent equalized the score with a goal.

However, the game was already completely in the rhythm of Nottingham Forest. Twain fully made use of the team’s many young players with their fit and fast characteristics to drag Tottenham Hotspur into a fight using their fast-paced attack and defense. The television commentator said more than once that “it’s only a matter of time before Nottingham Forest scores again.”

Nottingham Forest scored their second goal in the 21st minute of the second half.

Tiago had a physical head-on confrontation with Modrić near the midfield, with both of them almost falling to the ground at the same time. Nonetheless, it was Modrić who was fouled when he tackled after his ball was intercepted, knocking down Tiago. But George Wood shot out diagonally and grabbed the out-of-control football. The referee, who initially intended to blow the whistle to suspend the game, immediately raised his hands parallel at this time and pointed forward—the offensive was valid and the game continued!

Wood did not dribbled the ball for long as he saw Agbonlahor cruising diagonally in front of him and decided to kick a straight pass.

Agbonlahor used his speed to shake off the defender in an instant and cut to insert himself behind the Tottenham Hotspur defender. He was not offside! He then dribbled the ball into the penalty area and fired at an angle into the net in front of the attacking Robinson.

“Agbonlahor’s dribbling speed to break through is simply amazing … George Wood’s speed at which he rushed up from five meters out to grab the ball was also unexpected for the Tottenham Hotspur players… The goal, as well as the game, fully interpreted what Tony Twain always says about ‘speed.'” The commentator exclaimed at the lightning-fast goal. From Modrić’s fall after his ball was tackled to Agbonlahor’s goal, the entire process only lasted fifteen seconds.

The goal scoring Agbonlahor ran back to hug his captain, George Wood who assisted him. He looked very excited because it was his first official goal scored since he joined Nottingham Forest.

Twain, who saw the scene off the field, stroked his chin as he contemplated. George Wood is showing more and more traces of Albertini in his early days… The timing, power, and accuracy of the pass as well as the pre-judgement of Agbonlahor’s running direction were impeccable. If he can keep playing like this, rather than showing the occasional brilliance, then I do not have to tire and worry over the candidate of the team’s playmaker…

※※※

The game eventually ended with Nottingham Forest’s 2:1 win over Tottenham Hotspur. Twain’s team won for the first time in the new season. While Carl Spicer insisted on his show that the outcome of a game did not represent anything and that it was normal for young people to perform well occasionally. The league tournament was a long season with thirty-eight rounds. Who would know how long could these juvenile footballers hold on?

Hence, he continued to insist that he was not optimistic about Nottingham Forest’s position and always ready to criticize.

Twain did not respond to Spicer’s criticisms in any way, but he knew the Nottingham Forest team were fired up due to the man’s mocking. He was well aware that as long as his team won one game after another until the end of the season, the dear Mr. Spicer would have to eat the crap he spouted in person.

He very much looked forward to that day. Then he would not mind ridiculing the dear Mr. Spicer with the most vicious and ruthless words.