Godfather Of Champions

 As it was an away game in the UEFA Champions League three days later in the same stadium, the Forest team did not return to Nottingham. Instead, they stayed at the Nine O’clock and prepared for the mid-week UEFA Champions League quarterfinals.

To help the players loosen up and relieve their stress, Twain sacrificed precious training time and gave the team a day off.

The players had the freedom to choose whether they wanted to sleep in the hotel rooms or go shopping outside. However, Twain still had to analyze the videos of the matches with his coaching staff to prepare for the final match.

The players might be able to relax, but as coaches, especially the manager, they would not be able to relax at all.

There was no time for Shania to even have a meal with Twain. He was that busy. Even when they had a chat on the phone, they could only have a quick chat. Shania could tell from Twain’s voice and replies that he was obviously very distracted. During this time, Uncle Tony’s body and heart were both not Shania’s, his whole mind was filled with “football”.

Shania was very jealous, but she could not do anything about it.

She would never really ask Twain to retire and accompany her for the remainder of their lives. That was because she could not be by her husband’s side half the time in a year due to her own career. So, when she could be with Twain, she did not mind sharing half of her husband to football. She even felt guilty and thought she let Twain down, so she had to accept a little unhappiness.

And so, she reminded Twain to take care of himself again and hung up.

Twain only managed to come out of his distracted state after Shania hung up and he started to think about whether he was acting too poorly earlier.

“Phone call from your wife?” Kerslake turned and ask after hearing the door opening in the midst of analyzing the videos.

Twain acknowledged.

“Actually, you should still have time for just a meal, isn’t it?” Kerslake turned and said to Twain, “Call her back and ask her out.”

“I do, but I’m afraid I’ll be distracted,” Twain shook his head as he rejected the suggestion of his assistant manager.

Kerslake smiled and said, “How I envy you, Tony. Look, my wife will never call me to show any concern.”

“You’ve been married for so long,” Twain smiled as he sat down beside him and continued to watch the videos.

“That’s precisely why I envy you… It feels like you’re enjoying the life of a newly wedded couple every day,” Kerslake said.

“That’s only because we don’t get to spend many days of the year together,” Twain said with a dry smile, “Okay, let’s not talk about women anymore, let’s talk about the match with Arsenal. Our physical fitness might not be a match for them now…

“Do you want to rotate the players, Tony?” Asked Kerslake.

Twain went silent for a while as he considered whether he really wanted to rotate the players. For a competition like the UEFA Champions League, he still preferred to use the strongest lineup available. However, he had already been using the strongest lineup for two matches in a row. This third match…

“Let’s make a few changes,” Twain said after much consideration, “Şahin’s fitness is poor, let’s switch him out. We’ll play with two forwards.”

“442?” asked Kerslake.

“Hmm…” Twain thought for a while again. Turning to his assistant, he asked, “Say, what formation do you think Wenger will expect us to use in this match?”

Kerslake frowned and thought for a moment. He took a rather long time to consider and so, Twain extended a palm without waiting for his answer and said, “Here, let’s analyze our advantages and disadvantages. Firstly, their fitness level is better than ours. They have two home games in a row while we have two away games in a row. Secondly, they have the home ground advantage. The referee’s judgement will definitely be affected by this and we’ll be under stricter scrutiny by them, whereas it will be the opposite for them. ”

At this point, Kerslake interrupted him, “Who asked you to always emphasize that our style is very rough and physical in front of the media. That even Rijkaard’s Chelsea will have to go back crying against us.”

Twain scratched his head, a little embarrassed.

He cleared his throat and continued saying, “Thirdly, hmm…thirdly, they’re only one goal behind after the first leg. This difference is too small, it’s so small that we can ignore it. Arsenal is an attacking team, a goal difference doesn’t mean a thing to them. I believe that it was Wenger’s intention to lose 0:1 in their away game.”

“What’s the fourth point?” Asked Kerslake.

“There’s no fourth point,” Twain clapped his hands and said, “These three points are enough to put us at a complete disadvantage. The media do not think we have much of a chance as well. Ever since the first leg ended, they have been reporting that Arsenal will definitely progress, and we can only be eliminated. Now that we beat Arsenal in the league, they’re looking for more reasons. Saying that we’re placing a higher emphasis in the league and giving up on the Champions League…” At this point, Twain burst into a short laughter and said a line in mandarin, “How can a sparrow know the will of a swan?”

Next, he continued in a language that Kerslake can understand, “I think that Wenger will be expecting that too. Since we’re lacking fitness and we’re playing away, I’ll definitely choose to be more conservative in my tactics and try to hang on against Arsenal. Even if they score once, we still have extra time and penalties. Anyway, if we want to progress, there’s no wrong in being conservative.”

When he said this, Twain suddenly smiled, “But I want to give him a surprise this time.”

In the team meeting at night, the players who have been relaxing the whole day gathered in the meeting room provided by the hotel and listened to the words of their manager.

Nobody was distracted by the freedom in the day and failed to return, and there was no problem with the team’s discipline.

“For the match on the day after tomorrow, we’ll not be playing counter-attack at all,” Twain said loudly in front of a bunch of players. The meeting room was rather large, and the team was not able to fill it up completely. He had to raise his voice or else it will be dispersed in this rather empty room and some people might not be able to hear him clearly.

“We’ll attack!” He said while waving his arm.

There was a minor commotion in the meeting room which died down very quickly. The players knew that Boss had his reasons for this arrangement, all they needed to do was to listen.

“Everyone else thinks that we’re exhausted, but we are going to tell them through this match that—we’re still going strong! They definitely won’t be expecting us to go for an offensive approach in the away game, that’s why we’ll give them a surprise! We’ll bamboozle them right from the start! So, our tactics for this match has to be simple and effective. For that purpose, I’ve decided to cut one of our midfielders,” Twain said.

Şahin knew that he’ll be the one replaced. Boss loves to use two defensive midfielders, and he places a lot of importance in the flanks too, so if he’s going to sacrifice a midfielder, it’ll definitely be him, the attacking midfielder.

“Aaron, you’ll start in Nuri’s place,” said Twain.

Mitchell and Şahin both nodded. They both accepted this arrangement.

“We’ll be using the 442 formation. With Aaron’s height in front of goal, we need to make use of the flanks more. Also, George and Fernando, you two have to actively push forward instead of staying back in defense. Pressure the Arsenal’s defense and make them lose focus. Take note, I’m talking about a very offensive approach. We’ll be attacking Arsenal from start to finish and not give them a chance to control the game, prevent them from implementing their rhythm on the game. Disrupt their game right from the first second,” Twain continued.

“If we can get into the match faster than them at the start, then we don’t have to worry about their attack at all!” Twain told his players confidently, “They will not have any chance to threaten our goal at all. So, both our full backs need to actively assist the attack too. Scoring first will be the key!”

“Leave Fàbregas to George. Fernando, you’ll have to pay more attention to the others.”

“Just remember, just attack for the match in two days’ time! Attack, attack, attack. Other than attack, it’s still attack!”

He rarely says this. He usually says, “Defense, defense, defense. Other than defense, it’s still defense.”

After the meeting, the players went back to their rooms. Along the way, they were discussing about this arrangement and they were also very interested in the Boss’ thinking. Fighting head-on with Arsenal in terms of attack? Few have tried that before. Against Arsenal in the past, Twain would usually pit themselves as the weaker side and choose to play on the counter. Make use of physical fouls and defense as well as tireless fitness to compete against Arsenal’s exquisite attack.

Because of this, the media had always demonized Nottingham Forest. Indeed, if you compare the footballing styles of the two teams, there would be a stark contrast—Arsenal’s football was pleasing to the eyes, like a classical musical, refreshing to the audience. On the other hand, Nottingham Forest’s football was much more utilitarian in nature, not as attractive or pleasing. Other than their own supporters, there were only very little neutral fans who liked Nottingham Forest.

Now, this situation might be changed in two days’ time. Tony Twain was finally giving up on the conservative ways and was going to compete against Arsenal fair and square in the Emirates stadium. The Nottingham Forest players have the chance to prove to the world that they were not inferior to Arsenal, and that they were not naturally conservative. Defeating Arsenal by attacking in their home ground no less, this was indeed a tactical arrangement that can inspire them.

For the next day and a half, Twain focused on some attacking training, flank attacks and midfield attacks. The media did not know about the contents of the training as Twain rejected all forms of interviews again.

This gave the media even more evidence to belittle him.

“…Tony Twain rejected our interviews and recording requests once again. He seems to be very nervous. Even though Arsenal is the team trailing, everyone favors Arsenal to go through to the next round. There are many situations that are advantageous to them and the nervousness of the manager, Twain, is compelling evidence.

“Twain is not confident himself, otherwise he would not have trained behind closed doors.”

“In the last league game, their own players clashed in the match and almost came to blows. Tony Twain must have been very troubled by this. A team will crumble when they are under too much pressure, I believe Nottingham Forest is not far away from crumbling.”

“I asked Pepe after the match, why did he clash with Akinfeev in the match? He said it was nothing, they were only gunning for victory and the conflict has been solved… Look, what a stereotypical answer. I’ve interviewed countless players, and I’ve seen many internal conflicts situations. Their answers are almost always the same as this, so much so that I’m beginning to suspect that they have the same template.”

“There are no problems internally for the Forest team? Only a fool will believe that! The pressure on Tony Twain is so heavy it feels like he’ll suffer from a heart attack anytime. His players even almost came into blows in a match. If not for their luck in coming from behind to beat Arsenal at the death, I really don’t know if Twain would be admitted to the hospital again.”

“Are there really no bad blood between Pepe and Akinfeev? Will their performance during the match really not affect the team’s morale? Is Twain really not going to “rest” Pepe by reducing him to the bench? There are too many talking points to watch out for in this match.”

“… No matter what, I think Arsenal would progress. They have too many advantages. Nottingham Forest? All I see is a group of wounded soldiers that have collapsed due to the pressure and fitness. Twain has used all his energy to think about how to make his team recover, how can he have the energy to think about any tactics?”

The media was so vocal in their voices and their abilities to mislead the people was so powerful that even the Nottingham Forest fans were unsure—is there really a big problem internally in our team? Are we going to be eliminated from the UEFA Champions League? Can it be that even a strong manager like Tony Twain can no longer control the Forest dressing room?

And so, Nottingham Forest welcomed the final match of the three matches against Arsenal in a row under such a circumstance, the concerns of their fans and the belittling of the media.

The final match that would decide their fate.

Nottingham Forest was standing with their backs to a cliff, they had no way to go other than forward. If they were eliminated then, all the hard work they put in earlier in the season, all the victories that they fought tooth and nail for would be for naught.

There is still the Premier League champion? So sorry, our target is the treble. The English FA cup, English Premier League and UEFA Champions League. All three of them. We will not accept any less.

On the night of the match, the Emirates Stadium and its surroundings were brightly lit. The fans from both teams entered the stadium full of expectations.

The official anthem of the UEFA Champions League was being broadcasted live. People who heard the anthem felt even more hot-blooded and they could not wait for this blockbuster match to begin immediately.

At the same time, in the respective dressing rooms, both managers were doing the final preparations for their teams.

Wenger looked at his players calmly and said, “We’ve lost twice, we can’t lose again. If we lose again, we’d have lost everything this season…”

Some people might find it strange, even if they lost the Champions League, did they not still have the Premier League? They are still leading Nottingham Forest by three points, how could they lose so easily?

But how could they have understood Wenger’s thoughts? He won many different trophies during his almost 18 years in Arsenal, yet he had never won the UEFA Champions League, that was his only regret. He was already 60 years old and he did not know how long more could he stay in this business. He was not willing to give up on any opportunity to lift the Champions League trophy. For this, he was even willing to sacrifice the Premier League…

“Arsenal has never won the Champions League before. I hope you can change this embarrassing history into real history this season,” he said.

On the other side, Twain was shouting with his team as he pumped his fists in the air, “We’ve just beaten them in the league, surely we can beat them again in the Champions League! Beat them three times in a week, make them shudder at just the sight of us in future! Remember your task—Attack, attack, attack! Other than attack, it’s still attack!!”.