Godfather Of Champions

Twain kept quiet on his way back from Liverpool. Everyone in the bus was celebrating their first win in four games, but Twain did not say a single word. Some people thought he was angry again, but that was not the case. He was mulling over that inspiration he’d found during the game.

After his breakout performance in the first two seasons, Ribéry’s traits had been thoroughly studied by his opponents. He was no longer a secret weapon in the Premier League team. Everyone knew that Tony Twain needed Ribéry to break through on the flank. Providing that the flank was jammed, the threat of Ribéry would be gone.

Let’s take a look at this season …

By right, Ribéry should be more capable than that …

Twain carefully searched his memory. After the World Cup, Ribéry went to Bayern Munich and quickly became a core player. If he was a player who could only serve a purpose on the flank, how could he become the core of a powerhouse team like Bayern Munich?

Twain rarely watched the televised broadcast of the Bundesliga. He also did not care much about the news over there. But he knew that Ribéry could immediately succeed in a different position. It must have had something to do with his ability. If he could be the core at Bayern Munich but was restrained in the Forest team, then surely it must be him who was not doing his job well here.

Twain had thought about this issue before the game against Everton. Why did Ribéry’s performance show an overall downward trend as they entered into their third season in the league tournament? There was definitely something wrong.

In the game against Everton, Twain believed he had found the problem: his position.

A player like Ribéry should never be confined to just be active on the flank. He was not like Ashley Young and Aaron Lennon. He was more of an all-rounder and had remarkable awareness. To only keep him on the flank was like putting shackles on his running legs.

During the game against Everton, as Gareth Bale was unexpectedly in an excellent form, he not only took on the two missions of offense and defense alone, he also squeezed Ribéry into the middle. It was due to lack of a better option, but it allowed the team to reap a third goal.

What did this signify? There must be a reason for anything that happened. The third goal would not materialize for no reason.

All Twain had to do was to connect the dots.

Obviously, the goal was made after Ribéry went to the middle. On the flank, Ribéry did more passes and assists, with fewer direct shots at the goal. He would have the best chance of a shot only if he went to the middle. Gareth Bale had matured and could take on more responsibility on the flank. By handing him the left flank, Ribéry would be freed up.

In other words, by placing Ribéry in the middle, he could maximize the roles of the two players. There was no doubt about it.

All right, here comes the problem.

If everything on the football field is so simple, there won’t be so much unpredictability.

If Ribéry goes to the middle… What about van der Vaart? What about Eastwood? What about the Arteta?

I can’t just sacrifice the interests of the rest of the players in the middle in order to unshackle Ribéry?

Changing his position was not an issue, but the possibility of the actual operation was very low.

This required the manager to deliberate. How could he maximize everyone’s function without sacrificing the interests of the rest of the team?

Twain thought about the tactics often used by Real Madrid during Vicente del Bosque’s time. Even when Real Madrid had midfield superstars like Figo and Zidane, they did not set up an attacking midfielder. The famous Spanish manager, Bosque, used a bizarre approach to solve the problem of too many Real Madrid superstars.

Figo was still active on the right flank which he was most familiar with, while the attacking midfielder, Zidane was not positioned in the middle of the midfield. He went to the left flank and was a left midfielder in the formation. In practice, however, Zidane played as an attacking midfielder in the left midfielder position; he would constantly run to the middle. His left midfielder position was just a front. He did not function as side midfielder. It would have been such a waste for Zidane to play as a side midfielder.

Therefore, he was a left midfielder in the formation but played as an attacking midfielder in the actual game. It did not affect Zidane’s play, and also did not affect the rest of the other players’ performances in the midfield. What about the left flank? As everyone knew, Roberto Carlos’ assists on the left flank were unbeatable. If Zidane was fixed on the left flank, it would render Carlos’s power useless. When Zidane moved to the middle, Carlos was given free rein in the left flank. He could plunge in to attack or withdraw for defense. In any case, the small-statured Brazilian fullback could run fast.

How was this similar to the current situation with the Forest team?

Although Gareth Bale was not as good as Carlos, he was considered outstanding among the younger generation. His ability to assist was really good for a fullback. It would be inefficient to just let him be a fullback.

And Ribéry was known as “the new Zidane.” The two players even played the same role. What about if he took a leaf out of Real Madrid’s book?

Twain deliberated for a long time and finally rejected this idea. The Real Madrid of that time and the current Nottingham Forest were still different. Zidane went to the middle in order to give full play to Carlos’s ability to assist on the flank. At that time, Real Madrid’s offense in the middle was dependent on Zidane and Figo. Makelele was a defensive midfielder, similar to what Wood was currently.

However, the Forest team also had van der Vaart, an indisputable attacking midfielder. If Ribéry went over, what would the Dutchman do? Originally everyone played their own roles, minded their own positions, and played together in harmony. If Ribéry were to go to the middle, it would break the current balance. The Forest team’s entire midfield would have to be rebuilt.

It would be another transformation.

Transformation implied an uncertain future, which was a risk.

※※※

The bus drove into the Nottingham area, and Twain snapped back from his contemplation.

“Tony?” Dunn quickly asked when he saw Twain stir. He had been observing him as he sat next to him.

“Ah—” Twain did not answer Dunn. He raised his hands and stretched his back. He moved his body, stiff from sitting on the bus.

“Were you asleep, Tony?” David Kerslake asked, concerned. “I saw that your head was turned to the side and you were quiet.”

“I’m not Zhang Fei,” murmured Twain.

“Who’s Zhang Fei?” Kerslake was confused.

Next to him, Dunn explained to him, “He was a very powerful general in ancient China. Legend had it that he slept with his eyes opened.”

“Oh, I see. Then what were you thinking about?”

“I’ll tell you when we’re back.” Twain looked out of the window at the night view, becoming increasingly familiar as they quickly entered the Nottingham district. “Stay back after the team is dismissed.”

The two men nodded.

The bus bypassed the glittering city center and drove straight into the Wilford training base, where the players were dismissed. They went home or somewhere else to have fun. It was already late in the evening. Bars and some red-light venues were lively.

Twain did not ask what the players were going to do. He just reminded them to be on time for tomorrow’s training in the afternoon as they were dismissed.

After everyone left, Twain walked back to his office with his two assistant managers.

Twain turned on the lights and took a videotape of the season’s games from Dunn—the Forest team would record every game, which was different from the televised broadcast footage. They did not take the viewers’ feelings into account. They only recorded for their own use. With the game shot from the coach’s point of view, it was not meant for those ordinary fans to watch.

After putting the videotape into the VCR and waiting briefly, the image of the game appeared on the television screen.

“There’s nothing to watch in the front portion,” Twain said as he pressed the fast forward button on the remote control.

It was not until he saw Ribéry shoot the goal that completely locked in the victory that he released the button and rewound.

“Here, watch closely.”

He repeated the scene of the goal several times and then asked, “What do you think?”

Dunn stared at the television screen wordlessly, and Kerslake opened his mouth several times but did not say anything.

“We didn’t let Ribéry go to the middle before this game, did we?” Twain asked. He did not like to open up a topic as soon as he started a discussion. He liked to slowly steer and let the other party in the conversation to speak out themselves.

Kerslake shook his head. “No. The tactics for this game are no different from what we use normally.”

“Bale’s play stemmed entirely from his remarkable individual form,” Dunn added at the side.

“The little monkey has been in good form during training these days,” Kerslake continued, “because you’re back.”

Twain smiled at the last remark. He was well aware that Bale worshipped him.

“Bale’s play was a nice surprise for me,” said Twain. “His hyperactivity caused Ribéry to lose his flank position, and he was forced to go to the middle.”

The two assistant managers nodded in agreement. They saw it.

“Initially, I thought Ribéry went to the middle because he had no other choice. I didn’t think…” said Twain as he pointed to the frozen television screen. “Bale assisted Ribéry to make that goal. This goal brought up a lot of questions as to how it happened. Why was it from this position? Why did Bale assist Ribéry, rather than assist van Nistelrooy or Eastwood?”

Twain threw these questions at his two partners.

Dunn was in deep contemplation again. Kerslake also stared at the television screen. Although the video was paused, the entire process of that goal was imprinted in their minds. It was clear in their minds without the need to watch the video again.

“Regarding the decline in Ribéry’s state this season, do you have any thoughts?”

When Dunn heard Twain say this, he looked up. “Ribéry and Bale were both unfettered.”

Twain clasped his hands together and laughed. “Dunn is smarter. That’s right, that’s what I’m getting at.” He immediately revealed everything about the issue he had pondered on the bus.

He listed the upsides and downsides of doing it.

Kerslake was excited when he initially heard the upsides and wanted to put this idea into practice. But after he listened to the downsides, he suddenly became quiet.

“This is a double-edged sword,” Twain said. “I think it’s time for the Forest team’s tactics to change. We can’t stick to the previous set. Our strength and goals were different then, and our tactical ideas would obviously have to be different. The two flanks work well together, but if we only rely on our flanks to soar, we cannot go beyond England for the rest of our lives. Why did we lose to Fulham? Because our flanks were restricted and our offense in the middle was still not fully formed. We had no other way when we faced our opponent’s tight defense. Luckily it was just the Fulham team. If we were dealing with a strong European team in a crucial Champions League game and we lost, you and I would have had a hard time.”

The two men nodded repeatedly at his words.

“I used to think too much ball possession was useless. Now I have to make a change. We used to be an underdog team and our opponents were better than us. We had to huddle and defend. We could only score through counterattacks. Under these circumstances, too much ball possession would only slow down the speed of our attacks and was not conducive to our counterattacks. Our situation is reversed now. Look at our game with Fulham.” Twain attached great importance to the first defeat of the new season. He often used that game to illustrate the problem. “Our opponent withdrew and defended. They waited for the opportunity to hit us from behind. And our team was pressing on them and had absolute control of the ball. Isn’t that ironic?”

Having said that, he came to a sudden stop and just stared at the television screen in a daze.

Twain suddenly remembered the time he was in Kenny Burns’ pub talking to Des Walker and Ian Bowyer about his theory on the “futility of ball possession.”

At that time, he had just transferred. He was an unfortunate man facing an unknown fate and could only take one step at a time. He impulsively pushed his new theory to them in the pub. Now that he thought about it, he did not consider what he would do if his suggestion had been rejected at that time. His luck was surprisingly good; everyone accepted it.

Those coaches, Des Walker and Ian Bowyer, were completely jolted by his outstanding speech and did not consider too many details.

What kind of real ability and knowledge did he have at that time? Not a d*mn bit! Besides being able to bullsh*t, he was only a hardcore fan who had nothing better to do than to blindly learn by watching the games. He did not understand anything until he read the notes that Dunn had left behind. He only knew how to put his head down and tackle things head on. And he actually managed to break through.

Should I say I was blessed?

Ah, life…

A dumbass could also become a professional football team manager. A young boy who should have had a bright future ahead of him but lost his life in a fans’ riot… Destiny, if it does exist, must be rotten to the core.

Michael’s answer to his questioning in the pub was now clear in retrospect. He could still clearly recall it. But that man was gone now. He had left this country that brought sadness to him, far away from the sport that he once worshipped but hurt him the deepest.

“What the f**k are you talking about, Mr. Twain? Of course we love winning and we would also love for the team to return to the Premier League after this season. What we would love the most is for the team to be the next season’s f**king champion in the damn league, and to be the king of Europe the season after that!”

Apart from not getting the league title, we almost became the motherf**king king of Europe. Do you see all this, Michael?

※※※

“Tony?” Kerslake called out when he saw Twain suddenly lost in thought.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Where were we?” Twain snapped out of his reverie and met the two men’s concerned gazes.

“You said we should have a lot of ball possession in the game,” Dunn prompted.

“Well, yes. It’s time for us to have more ball possession than our opponents. Although I’m reluctant to, I have to accept this reality. We’ve been treated like a strong team in the league tournament by our opponents. We can’t expect otherwise anymore. So, we have to change some things from the past: ideas, tactics. It’s time to re-emphasize ball possession.”

The team’s status and mentality had changed, so the thinking had to change as well.

The theory that ball possession was ineffective was no longer applicable to Nottingham Forest anymore. Previously under the guidance of Twain’s tactical thinking, Nottingham Forest was used to the fast-paced competition, and even their blunders were fast-paced. But now they had to learn to slow down their pace. They needed to have a solution for when they were dragged into a quagmire by their opponents and could not accelerate. Otherwise, Nottingham Forest would always be a dark horse and disruptor.

They needed to learn how to control the ball and how to rely on their own ball control to mobilize the opponent’s defense so that the opponent would follow their pace, all of which were new subjects to Twain’s Forest team.

When they heard Twain say that, the two assistant managers looked at each other. They knew what this decision meant. The training program that the team had always adhered to would be revised. It was not a simple matter of standing in front of the team to say a few words of encouragement. To play a smooth and beautiful coordinated offense in the game would cost continuously repeated drills on the training ground. This would require the hard work of the entire coaching unit behind the scenes.

The Forest team’s coaching unit had long been used to letting Twain to appoint the policies, and then they would refine and implement the specific work models.

Dunn nodded. “I also think it’s time for the team to make a change.”

Kerslake agreed as well. “Ribéry’s position is just a start. This is a transformation of the entire team.”

“We don’t have to worry too much yet.” Twain waved his hand when he saw that his two partners agreed with his ideas. “Such massive transformation has to be handled slowly, we can’t rush. I don’t want the transformation to be a big shock to the team. The results are certain to fluctuate, and that’s fine. But we have to make sure we don’t lose the Champions League, whether it’s the qualifier for next season or the title of this season!” He clenched his fist.

“Okay, I’m sorry to have delayed you for so long. Come back tomorrow morning and we’ll discuss with our colleagues in the coaching unit to see how we should make the changes. Go home and don’t make your wife wait too long.” He got up and patted Kerslake on the shoulder.

※※※

On the way back into the night, Dunn, who was walking with Twain, suddenly asked, “What were you thinking about just now when you were lost in thought?”

“Just thinking of the days when I first came here.” Twain did not use the poor excuse of “nothing” to avoid the past. There was nothing to be ashamed of during that time.

“Is it unbearable to recollect? Dunn saw that Twain was frowning when he was immersed in his memories.

When he heard Dunn’s question, Twain turned to look at him and then smiled. “No. To me, there may be no better memories than of those days.”

“Even if you win more championships?”

“It can’t match it.” Twain shook his head with determination. “Dunn, a thing like a championship title, if I want to win it, there will be plenty for the take. I can win so many I’m tired of them. But there are some things and some people that once they are lost, you’re never going to get them back.” He looked up at the bright moon in the night sky.