Chapter 642: Decisive Battle in The Second Half

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Tony Twain stomped with fury on the sidelines. He did not fly into a rage for Ronaldo’s penalty shot. It was the second time.

After Ronaldo scored, Manchester United scored again in just four minutes.

After Nottingham Forest kicked off, the defensive line made a mistake and passed the ball with too much force at a very close distance. When van der Vaart stopped the ball, the football bounced high. He wanted to control the ball again, but it was seized by Scholes, who came from behind. Van der Vaart wanted to foul and was a step too late.

Scholes passed the ball behind him. Rooney plugged in from behind and broke into the box. He passed the ball and Ronaldo, following close behind, easily hit the ball into the goal.

Old Trafford was like a pot of boiling water in the few minutes. No sound other than the cheers and shouts of the Manchester United fans could be heard.

How could Twain not fly into a rage?

Conceding two goals so quickly was a huge blow to the team’s morale. Furthermore, the second goal was their mistake. He could blame the first goal on the referee for being blind. However, the second goal? He had nothing to say and could only choke down his anger, which caused him to breathe heavily.

He was not mentally prepared for the game to be played like that at all. He was aware that the game would be tough to play, and he knew it was not easy to deal with Ferguson. He was even more aware of how good Ronaldo’s form was this season, but he did not expect his team to play so terribly!

He was extremely angry, and the consequences were serious.

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Nottingham Forest was dumbfounded by the two goal concedes within four minutes. After the kick-off, the players were a bit listless and seemed erratic in both defensive and the occasional counterattack.

Perhaps the pressure of the league title distracted them. Twain, who watched the game off the field, sometimes could not fathom what his players were doing.

When Gareth Bale received George Wood’s pass, the most appropriate thing to do as a full-back was to get the ball out from his feet as quickly as possible under Manchester United’s forward pressing. However, Bale did not. He took the ball and raised his head to look for someone. When he found that there was no suitable passing route, he feinted to bypass Hargreaves, who came up to tackle him. It would be time to pass it on now, wouldn’t it? No, he knocked the ball again, then turned around and tried to protect the ball. His teammates were not far away, waiting to receive. He lifted his leg up and pretended like he was going to pass but did not. After a few repetitions, his ball was intercepted.

Twain took his anger out on a water bottle.

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George Wood was also anxious. He was the captain. When the team was on a roll, it might not reflect the importance of a captain, but now the team was faced with difficulties, he had to step up as the captain.

How would he step up? George Wood did not know what to do.

As he continued to play, he searched his mind for how Demetrio would deal with a similar situation. As a result, he was distracted.

Ronaldo successfully broke through him twice in a row. George Wood appeared to be completely vulnerable.

The cheers of the Manchester United fans became even louder. George Wood was a well-known defensive midfielder in the English Premier League. It was amazing to be able to bypass him so easily, but their Cristiano Ronaldo managed to do it.

Even with such a performance from Wood, Twain did not take it out on the water bottle. He sat in his chair and sulked.

Looking at him like this, Ferguson had a smile on his face on the other side. His already glowing face “flushed red with success.”

It made people suspect if he had ever secretly drank in the technical area.

※※※

The first half came to an end while Manchester United mobbed Nottingham Forest, while Nottingham Forest, powerless to fight back, looked extremely pathetic.

When the referee blew the whistle at the end of the first half, the Nottingham Forest players thought it was a good sound for the first time, but when they saw the hasty departure of the back view on the sidelines, they felt that a greater ordeal probably awaited them back in the locker room.

The first person to walk into the locker room was Ribéry. He saw Twain sitting in a chair with a grim expression and did not dare to speak. He walked to his own locker with his head down and sat down to rest.

The players, who followed behind, were mostly the same. No one spoke, listened to music, or laughed. The 0:2 score and the manager’s gloomy face caused everyone’s heart to be crushed by a boulder.

Dunn was the last one to enter. He closed the door, and the noise outside faded.

Twain got up from his chair. He had choked back the words in his heart for the whole first half.

“I’m so glad we did not concede two more goals after losing two goals in a row,” Twain said with a grim face, so that no one would believe that he was actually glad — perhaps it should be sorry.

“Some people may think I’m saying this in anger.” Twain spread his hands. “Don’t joke, looking at your performance in the second part of the first half… Not only I’m thankful, all of you should be thankful too! To only concede two goals under those circumstances, how lucky are we! How lucky!”

He suddenly raised his voice, causing a few of the timid players to almost jump out of their seats, like Gareth Bale.

“Gareth Bale!” Twain looked at the frightened young man. “Do you know the basic duty of a defender? Look at how you perform after taking the ball in the backfield… If you really could not find a person to pass the ball to, you could have driven the ball out with a long pass. Why were you showing off your footwork?”

“I…” Bale wanted to explain himself, but he could not find a proper reason because his mind was a complete blank when he made that mistake. He did not know what he was doing. After Hargreaves intercepted the ball, he was so afraid that he wanted to end the opponent’s offense with a shovel from behind. Fortunately, he did not do it. Otherwise, the anger he had to face now would have been several times greater.

After he rebuked the poor little monkey, Twain turned his eyes on the team’s captain, George Wood.

“Wood!” He did not use “George” which meant that he was in a rage. “At first you did well, and I always thought your mental quality was top notch! But your performance was completely different after the two goal concede. Were you also frightened by the two goal concede in just four minutes? You let that Portuguese lad easily break through in front of you without any resistance. A scarecrow is stronger than you!”

Wood did not intend to defend himself, but he did not want to admit he was scared, so he stood up. “I wasn’t scared, I was just thinking… Trying to figure out how to get the team out of trouble.”

When he heard him, Twain smiled, “At least you still tried to be the captain. But you thought for too long — you did not come up with anything until the end of the first half, did you?”

This time Wood could only silently agree.

Twain faced the entire team. “We were crushed by Manchester United in our own half of field throughout the first half and couldn’t get out. Our occasional counterattacks ended quickly and achieved nothing. That situation is still considered normal. The part that was abnormal was we conceded two goals, and within four minutes… We conceded two goals in a row! How do we fix it? We must lead with a few threatening attacks to let Manchester United know that Nottingham Forest is not a coward who can only be beaten and not fight back!”

Twain took a deep breath and paused. The action looked like he was trying to control his anger.

“I don’t want to dwell too much about what happened in the first half. It’s no use talking any more about the first half of the game. I can reprimand you many times and the score won’t change!” He pointed to outside. “So we have to talk about what to do in the second half. We will attack in the second half. We must attack. Pay attention to what I said. It’s not defensive counterattack, it’s offense! Full attack!”

“We thought Manchester United would be a bit more cautious at home and did not expect them to attack with all their strength in the first half, which caught us off guard. After this half of the game, Manchester United will think that we have been beaten down by them and the pace of the game has fallen into their control. If they still play like this in the second half, then we’ll show them what we’ve got!”

Twain clenched his fists and motivated the players who had been stunned by the two goal concede.

He was now keen for Manchester United to continue the full attack in the second half, fearing that Ferguson would not do as he wished. After all, Manchester United had a two-goal lead. Generally, everyone would choose to be more conservative. A two-goal lead on their home ground was enough to obtain a desired outcome.

If Manchester United were to withdraw and play with a conservative mindset in the second half, it would be hard for Twain to say that his team could beat Manchester United. After all, it was an away game, and the opponent was not weak. No one dared to predict which team would be able to win the game.

If Manchester United still pressed on the Forest team in their half of the field, then things would be different. If Nottingham Forest went all out to fight Manchester United, it might be able to catch the other team off guard and cause them to lose the advantage of leading with two balls. The game would be pulled back to the pace that the Forest team was most accustomed to.

In that case, what would Ferguson think?

※※※

Compared with the atmosphere in the Forest team locker room, it was a lot lighter inside the Manchester United locker room. Most people are doing things they were interested in. Some listened to music, some chatted to each other, and some closed their eyes for a rest. Even Ferguson was chatting with his aides.

Manchester United were well prepared before the game, and Ferguson managed to convince the players that the game against Nottingham Forest was the most important final of their lives. Therefore, everyone thought the game would not be easy. After all, they had known what kind of team Nottingham Forest was.

They were heavily armed and focused in the game, only to find that the opponent was vulnerable, and they could easily lead by two goals. It was truly unexpected for them.

There was also talk about Nottingham Forest’s poor first-half performance during halftime, which erupted into bursts of laughter.

It was extremely gratifying to be able to easily break through George Wood, who had always been annoying, like he was a block of wood.

The main factor that put the group in a good mood was that after a busy season, it was finally possible to reap one championship title. Although it was a shame to be knocked out of the Champions League, professional players always had to face one failure or another. If they were to brood over a failure, they would never win a championship title.

When Ferguson saw that everyone had rested enough and halftime was ending, he decided to say something.

“Everyone did well in the first half. Such a result… honestly speaking, even I did not expect it. We efficiently lead by two goals, which is very good! Very good indeed! We’ll continue to play like that in the second half and maintain the pressure on Nottingham Forest’s goal! Don’t give them the slightest chance to counter. We’ll just press on them to play!”

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“Remember, if they continue to press us like they did in the first half, that’s the best result! If they dare to press up, we will dare to attack! Don’t worry about the defense behind you. If we don’t do something to change the situation, even if you withdraw, the defense will concede the goal!” Twain seized the final moments to instruct the players on how to play in the second half.

The Nottingham Forest players were not as relaxed as the Manchester United players. As the trailing team, they had no right to listen to music or joke around in the locker room. Other than reprimanding the team, Twain laid out the strategies for the second half during the entire halftime. His mouth was going non-stop, like a machine gun. He did not even stop for a drink of water.

Glancing at his watch, it was close to the time to make their appearance at the field. He decided to end the tactical meeting and dropped his pen. He said seriously, “remember, there are forty-five minutes left. After forty-five minutes, it will be clear whether we are heroes or losers. Does anyone think we have too many championship titles? Does anyone not want to win the Double? Anybody want to be a loser? I don’t care how difficult it is, grit your teeth and fight for these forty-five minutes! If anyone can’t stand this kind of pressure and signal to me to substitute a player, I will not hesitate to bring you off!”

※※※

“You know how angry I was to be eliminated from the Champions League and how disappointed the Manchester United fans were, but you’re lucky that there’s another chance to save this terrible season. We have no reason to throw away the league trophy at our doorstep, not to mention that we are two goals ahead! Don’t let your guard down in the second half and score another goal so that Nottingham Forest is screwed! The league title is ours, and this is your only chance to redeem yourselves!” Ferguson was also doing a final bid to motivate his players.

The two managers were well aware of the final harvest of a season. Whether they would become kings or losers, it all depended on the last forty-five minutes.

No one wanted to be a loser; everyone wanted to be a king. Therefore, the second half was destined to be very, very intense. Perhaps it might be bitter?

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