Chapter 807: Adapting to the Field

The day before the game, the Barcelona team arrived in Birmingham by plane, followed by a special bus to Nottingham, where they had a simple adaptation to the ground training, all they had to do was wait for the game to arrive.

At the airport, Messi and Guardiola were the targets of a chase by journalists. Both men were very low-key; they did not say they would definitely win, just that anything was possible in a football match. It was home court for Nottingham Forest and everyone knew Nottingham Forest’s home game would be difficult, so they did not think it is right to take it lightly.That was what the Barcelona players thought, and only they knew what they truly thought internally.

At the airport, Barcelona, Europe’s most-watched team, was warmly welcomed by the media, and the density of the flash lit up every time a Barcelona player walked out of the hall. Later, The Catalan newspaper Le Monde ran the headline “The Arrival of the Champions”, which revealed Barcelona’s ambitions.

After putting their luggage in the hotel, Barcelona immediately went to the city’s stadium for training on the pitch. Tony Twain was giving his players a tactical lesson at Welford when assistant coach Kerslake, tasked by Twain, snuck into the City Stadium with the home team as an excuse to watch Barcelona’s warm-up training in the box.

Guardiola clearly knew the little tricks the home team liked to play, so he did not plan any training sessions in the afternoon that might reveal their tactical content. All he wanted was to adapt to the pitch.

The coach in Barcelona’s coaching staff laughed after seeing the turf on the city pitch, “They really are a small club, this stadium is not as good as our training ground.”

“I heard their new stadium ruined the finances of the team, it’s normal to not have enough money to maintain the turf.”

“I really don’t know where Tony Twain’s ridiculous confidence came from, is this the turf he’s really giving us?”

“The stadium, which can only hold 30,000 people, looks like a high school stadium.”

The turf they saw certainly was not the best, but this was what Tony Twain intended. Just yesterday he asked the grass workers at the city’s stadium not to put on the best turf, but to keep the grass that had been used frequently before.

Guardiola listened to his colleagues’ comments on the pitch but did not make any comments himself. This field was indeed not as good as the one in Nou Camp, but this was normal. The San Siro stadium had also been ridiculed for its quality of turf.

He did not care much about the condition of the venue but instead more about Tony Twain’s tactics. He had studied Twain before, and he knew almost exactly what tactics Twain would use in the game — defensive counter-attacks. It was nothing new. While on a tie, he would use defensive counter-attack, while leading he would still use defensive counter-attack, and while behind he will still use defensive counter-attack, while playing on away he would use defensive counter-attack, back at home still defensive counter-attack. His tactical manual may simply only read “Defensive Counterattack”.

Even in the face of a 1:2 situation when they were behind, Guardiola did not believe that Twain would come out against Barcelona since he was a coward. He would never know the beauty of the attack as his mind was full of utilitarian paste.

Out of the football philosophy of the gap between heaven and hell, Guardiola did not think much of Tony Twain. The only reason why people thought he did not hate Twain was because he did not publicise it. But in fact he hated Twain more than anyone. Others hate Twain perhaps just because of his unbridled mouth, while Guardiola hated Twain’s ambitions and thoughts of rising being a gulf that could never be filled. Twain and Mourinho would sit down one day for a drink and laugh over their feud, but this would never happen with Guardiola.

Guardiola already had plans in mind. If Twain continued to use the tactic of defensive counter-attacks, Barcelona would not mind defending the counter-attack as drawing the game was advantageous for Barcelona. This game, from whatever angle, was more favourable to the visiting team Barcelona. For the home team, the score of 1:2 was not fatal, and even the suspensions of Pepe and Barnes and Fernandez were not too difficult, but the most fatal factor was that man could not appear on the sidelines to lead the team. Without Twain’s on-field command, Nottingham Forest’s level would have to be reduced by a notch, and the players who had lost their main bone would play erratically and become a loose-haven. Inter Milan in 08-09 were Guardiola’s example, with Mourinho’s home win over the Nottingham Forest without their leader, it was as easy as stepping on ants.

If Nottingham Forest were to press out and go for a shot, it would be more in line with Guardiola’s expectations. Then Barcelona would play against Nottingham Forest’s offense. He was not afraid to losing the ball. Tony Twain should be the one who was afraid, because Nottingham Forest only had one away goal, and Barcelona’s chances would be unlimited during those 90 minutes. With Barcelona’s invincible offense, did anyone believe they were unable to score against Nottingham Forest during their offensive conflict? Even if Barcelona did lose on 2-3 on away in the end, it would be Barcelona who had scored one more away goals than Nottingham Forest.

Anyway, no matter how Tony Twain reacted, this time he was doomed to failure. The initiative would always be on the Barcelona side. If Guardiola had read the classic Oriental Chinese book The Journey to the West, he would have felt that Tony Twain would be that preposterous Monkey King who liked to jump around in front of the media. and he would be Buddha who had everything under his control. No matter how incredible that monkey might be, it would never escape his five-fingered mountain.

After a hastily finished training at the City Stadium, Guardiola took his team back to his hotel, where they held tactical meetings and made final arrangements for tomorrow’s game.

※※※

While Guardiola led the team to the ground at the City Stadium, Twain was giving the team a tactical lesson. The last day of training before the game was almost all theory lesson, and he was more detailed than ever because he could not even step in the dressing room the next day.

UEFA was wary of him this time. He was not allowed to wear any communication equipment. They also drew on the lessons of Mourinho’s coaching at Porto did not allow an assistant to sit next to him on the stands. Tomorrow, he would be thoroughly checked by two UEFA supervisors before he went to the stands to watch the game. UEFA did not mind picking people who had great opinions against Tony Twain to complete this task, because it would help them better put an end to the tricks of Twain.

In the final tactical lesson, Twain analysed the video of the first leg between Barcelona and Nottingham Forest with full details and made a targeted arrangement for his players. He believed Barcelona would continue to attack away from home, but he had not ruled out Guardiola’s sudden decision to take a point and hold on to a 2-1 away side.

“I was sent off for a red card, Pepe was red-carded and Barnes was suspended for one game for accumulating a yellow card. The outside world feels that our prospects are bleak. Guardiola may think their chances have come, but I hope you show them whose chance is actually coming. Our core tactic in this game is fouls.” Twain raised his thumb, “Bad pitches will limit their play, but that’s not enough. You have to thoroughly disrupt the rhythm of Barcelona with frequent fouls and oppressive defences. If you lose the ball in the front of the field then snatch it back, don’t limit your dangerous actions in less dangerous places, foul frequently, then they will know their place and be scared.

“Remember, it’s important to play like this from the start of the game. Barcelona’s hopes of qualifying are greater than ours, or so it seems. So it’s easier for their players to cherish their chances of playing. They don’t want to be injured in this game and miss the semi-finals and finals that follow. Psychologically, their desire to win is inferior to ours. What kind of team is Barcelona? Their tactics are impeccable and are the best in Europe today. But psychologically…” Twain shook his finger and laughed ,”The artist is always short of a bare-knuckle temperament that is not afraid to die.

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“Capitalise on our strengths to nullify theirs and they’ll start to break down from the bottom of their hearts. Body! Speed! Resistance! And in the air.” Twain looked at Aaron Mitchell. “Mitchell, now that you’re aware, I don’t have to talk more about it. Tomorrow’s game you start to play center forward. We need your height and header skills, don’t even think about dribbling in this game. If you do, I’ll replace you. Do you understand? ”

The head spoke to himself very seriously, and Mitchell nodded hurriedly. His starting did not surprise his teammates, as the training sessions of the day were always around Mitchel, even the fools could see it.

“Your task is simple: squeeze into the other side’s penalty area when we reach the front and get into position for a header. When we’re still in the backfield, you retreat to the near midfield to prepare for the call-up, use your header to pass the ball to the team-mates on the counter-attack, or protect the football while waiting for support.

Mitchell continued to nod.

After instructing Mitchell, Twain set his sights on the team, “The key to winning this game is in the air. Barcelona’s air defence is weak, Pique can not be used as four people. As long as we have the power to take control of the air, Barcelona can only wait for us to be slowly slaughtered, even with their outstanding skill and footwork. Does anyone think doing this is dirty?”

No one dared to make noise; only a fool would make noise now.

“It seems that no one has an opinion, then that’s fine. Let me tell you the unbreakable truth of a football field. What is ugliness? Only failure is ugly! Those who shout ‘ugly victory’ are people who are sore! If you don’t believe then look. When they win, no matter what they do, they will never say they are ugly. Barcelona thought they were the most gorgeous, and we were ugly representatives, so let them gorgeously die! In front of the ugly!”

※※※

After ending his tactical class, Tony Twain did not return home straight like other coaches, but instead he drove hurriedly into the city stadium. By the time he arrived at the City Stadium, The Barcelona team had long since left. In addition to him, there was Thompson Isaksson who arrived from the Welford training base and his team. In addition, he met Kerslake.

“Do you get anything?” he asked casually.

Kerslake pouted, “Guardiola was very cunning. Nothing is planned for the play. Even after the reporters walked away, it was still like that.”

Twain shrugged, “That’s normal. Think about what we did at the Nou Camp.”

Then he turned to Isaksson. “Thompson, I have a request.”

Isaksson nodded before Twain went on. Twain was surprised, “I haven’t said what the request is.”

“The ideas our coach Tony Twain thinks of is definitely something bad, I have already guessed. You want us to make this field exactly like that one right?”

Twain made a thumbs-up, “Absolutely! But my demands are more strict. I hope you can copy the No.3 training ground into the city pitch. Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V. Down to the bumps, everything has to be the same. Can you do it?”

Isaksson frowned for a moment, then nodded, “I think it’s ok, we’re professionals in maintaining the turf, and every detail of the venue has long been in mind. Just a simple copy, I think it should be possible.”

Twain breathed a sigh of relief, and he clapped, “Thank you so much!” But you only have one night’s time, okay?

“You need to ask the stadium keeper to turn on the lights, but I don’t know if the stadium keeper will agree to do this, The pitch is sacred to them.” Isaksson’s dilemma was visible on his face.

“That’s not a problem, tell me everything that you need, the club would fully support. It’s just time-pressing and it has to be done by tomorrow morning, and I don’t want the damn media to catch on to anything.”

Isaksson looked back at his team and turned around with a proud look on his face, “They followed me for more than a decade, and they were my Nottingham Forest team, Mr Twain.”

Twain smiled and extended his hand, “I dedicate my victory to you, gentlemen!”

“But the game hasn’t played yet, Mr. Twain.” Isaksson said as he extended his hand.

“Two Nottingham Forest teams working together, it is a definite win!”

The hands of the two men were clasped together.

“Let’s show Barcelona what we have!”