Godfather Of Champions

Thiago Silva felt a little depressed lately because he realized that his position in the dressing room was under a major threat. The threat did not come from his teammates whom he spent a lot of time with, but from the powerful manager who had come back.

Within two days, Twain had talked to many players alone. These were players who joined the team after he left Forest, but he did not ask to talk to Silva. To Silva, it was obvious that he was way down the pecking order in Twain’s mind…

Other than that, there was another reason why he felt insecure. That was because the players who were usually always hanging around him were slowly moving away from him and he felt that he was no longer a core member of the dressing room.

The age of 33 was not an age that rendered a center back unable to play as his experience would be able to give him good positional sense to compensate for his decline in physical attributes. However, Silva could feel that the new manager was obviously overlooking him, and did not plan to start him at all. Forest lost to Aston Villa away during the last game and the media focused their criticism on the attack, as they believed that the team lost not because they were poor defensively, but because they lacked firepower. He was unable to refute that because that was the fact.

Silva had a two-year contract with the club. He had originally planned to fulfill his contract and retire straight after that. However, it seemed like nobody would want him to remain even if he wanted to stay in the team…

He wanted to remind Twain of his status in the team, but he could not find a suitable excuse and opportunity to do so. Hence, he decided to continue waiting and observe from the side. If the results were bad, there would bound to be voices of displeasure against the manager. When that happened, he could just add on to it…

Twain had just lost a match and if he continued to lose the next home game, the day that Silva was looking forward to would come soon.

After all, Forest had not won anything for the past few seasons, but they had quite a number of new managers. He did not mind getting another new manager.

※※※

“We’ve been training defense for the whole week. There are some players who are worried that we would not be able to solve the issue of insufficient firepower,” David Kerslake reported the concerns of the players that he had gathered to Twain.

“How is that possible? We’ve arranged for offense practice during our daily training,” Twain shrugged. “Fine, I admit that our attacking patterns are much simpler than before… However, under the current situation, the simpler it is, the more effective it will be. They should be able to understand the meaning of this during the next game.”

Twain did not continue talking as he got back to his data and continued analyzing his future opponents.

Kerslake looked at Eastwood next to him and shook his head. It looked like they could only hope to win at home. If they lost the game, they would be hit by waves of criticism. He was sure that Twain knew that.

Twain thought for a while before looking up and realizing that his two assistant managers were still around, and then he seemed to have recalled something. He took off his glasses and said, “Okay, I’ll explain it to them myself during the tactical briefing this afternoon.”

Only then did the two assistant managers leave as if a huge burden had been lifted off them.

Twain thought that it was funny as he looked at the back views of the two of them. It looked like there was a lot of pressure on him. Everyone who cared about him wanted him to win whereas all those who hated him could not wait for him to lose at home…

Could he feel the pressure brought on by this burden then?

Twain placed his hand on the left side of his chest. His heart was beating rather quickly.

※※※

During the tactical briefing in the afternoon, Twain gathered all the players and started to explain the tactics for the game that would take place two days later, as well as the objective of the training for the past few days.

“Is there anyone who thinks that our lack of firepower won’t change because we’ve been doing defensive training for the whole week? Is that it?” Twain asked his players as he stood in front of the blackboard. However, nobody answered his question.

It was one thing to complain in private, but quite another to openly question the manager…

“But we’ve also been doing attack training,” Twain said, raising his arm. “Isn’t Mario being positioned as the second striker? And the attacking patterns on the flanks… Are you guys taking the training seriously?”

“Yes, boss!” The older players knew that things would be bad if they did not say anything after Twain frowned, so Bale stood up in a hurry to speak.

“In that case, why would you guys think that we’ll be lacking in firepower?” Twain asked again. He looked at Bale since he was the one who stood out.

Poor Bale did not know what he should be doing or saying at that moment.

“This tactic is too simple, it’ll be very easy for them to see through us,” Someone finally answered Twain’s question, but it was not Bale. It was someone behind him.

Twain tilted his head slightly to see the one who spoke out as Bale shifted to one side.

Thiago Silva’s face appeared in Twain’s view.

Twain was not surprised. He had a feeling that the Brazilian would definitely look for another chance to undermine his authority. This was a good opportunity for him.

Twain looked at Silva and then asked him, “Before I came here, the football you guys played was very complicated. Your possession went as high as seventy percent, your offense was mesmerizing, and you had all the advantages on paper… How were your results?”

Silva had no answers to that. The results were indeed pathetic previously, everyone knew that.

However, the question was, did their results improve after Twain’s arrival? If they were judging based on the previous game, the answer was no. However, Silva could not continue to question Twain that way. After all, Twain was the manager now, and unless Silva was prepared to openly go against him, it was not wise to continue this argument.

Silva wisely chose to shut up and watch. He was waiting for the next opportunity patiently.

“I agree that the offensive tactic that you were practicing might seem to be too simplistic, but in our current situation, I don’t think it is suitable for us to be attacking as if we’re on a show. What we need are goals, not fifty passes outside the opponent’s penalty box before passing it to the opponent’s goalkeeper. Simple and direct. That’s the requirement that I have for you in the attack. Our strikers have the height to be a threat in the air, that’s why I want you guys to cross more from the flanks. If Mitchell can get a shot on goal, it’s good. If he can knock the ball down for Balotelli or any other midfield players pressing up, that’s good as well. I don’t want our strikers to always be facing away from the goal and fighting for every inch of the ground with the opponent. There’s no need for that!”

Twain waved his arm. “We have the aerial advantage, why fight with them on the ground?”

“We’re playing on the counter, not full-out attack. There are many times when there will only be two, or maybe three people up front when we have a chance to counter. In such a situation, finding the fastest way to tear through their defense and the space to take a shot is what you should be doing.”

In the current Forest team, there were not many who had experienced the days when Twain had first managed the team. Defend and counter was the trademark for Forest then. If this team were the same team as it was at that time, there would be no need for Twain to be saying all this in front of them. To that team, all these were a given.

The situation was different now. There were too many new players and they had to sit through this talk of Twain. Otherwise, if they were hesitant on the pitch and could not agree with the manager’s tactics, they would naturally lose the game…

“If we can score with one pass, why must we pass the ball three times? If we can come up with a shot after three passes, why must we pass back and forth twenty times? My football philosophy is all about efficiency. Anything that will slow down the game or make us miss a good opportunity won’t fly with me. That’s why I hope you can change the style of play that you’re used to. It’s impossible for me to accommodate you guys. In this team, there’s only my way or the highway!” Twain said while pointing to his feet.

Even though he had only returned to management about a week ago, it seemed like he was more like the master of the place than the players who had been there for four years.

He was the King of Wilford indeed. This was his back garden.

Twain paused after he finished speaking. He was observing the players. There was nobody else who stood out to refute him and he was satisfied with that.

“Since nobody has any other opinions, let me talk about our tactics for the next game in detail. Long balls and crosses…”

※※※

Many people believed that Twain’s team could never win the match at the Crimson Stadium and that they would at most get a draw. The tone used by the local media in Nottingham gave a feeling that “even a draw would be a good result for Nottingham Forest now”.

The “Nottingham Evening Post”, a staunch ally of Tony Twain’s previously, seemed to be finding it hard to adjust after four years and they did not seem to know how to be on the same page with Twain anymore.

“Even a draw would be a good result for Nottingham Forest now” was written by Pierce Brosnan himself.

Actually, Brosnan had been feeling very uneasy after his article was published as he waited for Twain to call and give him a scolding. However, up until the day of the match, there was no call from Twain.

He thought that Twain was too busy and did not read the article. This disappointed him a little…

It was not that Twain did not read the article. In fact, he had read it thrice. A few years ago, he would most definitely have picked up the phone next to him and called Brosnan to give him a piece of his mind, telling him to be on the same page as his team. However, Twain did not do that this time. One reason for that was that his mentality had changed after going through so many things. Another reason was that the team belonged to Dunn anyway. He was just a transition manager, so why would he go against the local media?

The local media from Nottingham were a little biased towards Twain and the stuff they came up with was still rather friendly. The media from outside were not as friendly and wrote about everything they could think of to insult Twain, then waited to watch Twain make a fool of himself at home.

“I can predict the cheers that Twain will receive when he returns to the Crimson Stadium. They will be deafening. But what I’m interested in is the treatment that he will receive after 90 minutes,” Carl Spicer said in his pre-match show. “Just like how the sequels to most classic movies are usually bad, a lousy script such as the return of a legend usually does not end well. Oh? Did I just admit that he’s a legend? Oh well, since he led the team to a World Cup victory, and he almost got knighted by the Queen, I guess he can be deemed a legend… But that’s not important. All that belongs to the past. Other than helping him stabilize the dressing room and bring about greater attention to the team, his reputation doesn’t guarantee that his team will win. When he goes on a losing streak, his reputation will become the straw that breaks the camel’s back… I’m not trying to be an alarmist, and I believe Mr. Twain will agree with me, won’t he? Ha!”

Spicer was a stronger representative of the anti-Twain camp, and he was someone who did not mince words.

The voices of doubt reached a peak and stormed Nottingham Forest before they hosted Middlesbrough at home. These voices were just usual gossip, stuff like “the Nottingham Forest today is not the same as the Nottingham Forest before, the Tony Twain of today is not the same as the old Tony Twain”, “Nottingham Forest fans should not worship one person blindly and they should not have too much hope”, “Middlesbrough is higher than Nottingham Forest in the league standings, and even though they are playing at home, Forest should first think about not losing, instead of winning.”

“Logically speaking, they are right.” There was still half a day before the match started in the afternoon. The team was resting in the hotel that they were staying in and Kerslake was having coffee with Twain, chatting to pass time. Kerslake was talking about the negativity of the media.

“That’s right, logically speaking,” Twain nodded and said, “But these are the thoughts of ordinary men. Now, do you know why some of them can only be failures as managers and can only earn a living by talking?”

Kerslake was unable to react for a moment.

Twain continued, “People who think that we can at most get a draw will definitely be proved wrong. People who think that we will lose will have to eat their hats. Ordinary people? Ha, too bad I’m not one of them!”

He snorted as he looked at the reporters outside, wanting to come in but unable to.