Godfather Of Champions

 “Arsenal is in trouble,” the commentator said, “It doesn’t seem like they ever expected Nottingham Forest to suddenly attack in full force in their home ground…”

The Arsenal fans in the stands kept booing to disrupt the Forest team.

From the situation on the field, Arsenal was indeed in trouble…

Just like what Twain said, Wenger did not expect that Forest would dare go against their normal behavior and attack in Arsenal’s home ground at all.

In the first five minutes of the match, Nottingham Forest had already threatened Almunia’s goal twice.

This caused Arsenal to be a little flustered, and their defense was full of mistakes.

Nottingham Forest firmly held on to the initiative of the match.

When the ball was under their control, Arsenal could only keep running, tiring themselves out. As they were not prepared for Nottingham Forest’s attack, they did not even know what to do. Some of them wanted to follow Wenger’s pre-match tactics and continue to attack, others felt that the situation was critical and they should defend before counter attacking.

With differing opinions, they were not able to work well together. When they could not work well together, there would be loopholes for the opponents to take advantage of.

Twain could see the gap between Arsenal’s front and back lines very clearly on the side. This was a massive opportunity for Forest to score…

He turned to look at Wenger on the manager’s seat. The Frenchman had no expression on his face, and he did not seem to have any intention to make any adjustment. Maybe he believed in his team? Maybe he was unable to understand Nottingham Forest’s intentions yet and did not dare to make any rash decisions?

No matter what, he would not be able to change anything no matter how much he thought about it. The matter of fact was Nottingham Forest had the advantage then.

Making use of the advantage that they got hold of in the opening five minutes, Nottingham Forest successfully turned an away game into a home game.

Next, they continued to launch their attacks deep into Arsenal’s territory. This was not a simple siege — In fact, a siege of the Arsenal’s goal was not what Twain hoped to see. Arsenal also launched attacks of their own and a good amount of them too. Forest controlled the game to create a situation where there were attacks from both sides, allowing them to have more chances of attacking. If their opponent did not come out of their own third, how could they attack?

Arsenal had no choice but to work hard to try and grab the control of the game back. That was why they had to attack instead of just defending. After about ten minutes of panic, there was a unified thought within Arsenal internally — attack!

That was what the Forest team wanted to see the most, Arsenal attacking along with them.

An intense attacking game started…

“Fàbregas! Beautiful pass, Vela receives the ball, shoot! Ah, what a pity!”

Akinfeev caught the ball tightly. He did not wait for the Arsenal players to go back into their defensive positions as he threw the ball back into play to launch their own attack. Gago got the ball and dribbled with it. After Wilshere came out to stop him, he did not stop to turn and try to dribble pass him, instead, he passed the ball directly to Cohen at the flank.

Cohen, who was playing in this game in place of Fernández, was a better crosser of the ball than the Chilean. Twain let him start because of this. This was because the starting forwards for Forest in this game are Ibišević and Mitchell, both good headers of the ball.

However, Cohen was not great at dribbling and the Arsenal’s full-back, Sagna, was quick to retreat. Therefore, Cohen changed the play directly from one flank to the other with a long pass to Bentley. Bentley received the ball and passed it to the middle where Gago was already approaching.

After receiving the ball, Gago passed the ball forward and it rolled into the penalty area!

Mitchell appeared from behind the everybody and just when he was about to receive the ball and form an one-on-one with the keeper, the ball was intercepted by the onrushing Almunia. Michell was a little unhappy to see the ball fly over his head, if only he was a little faster…

Almunia waited for Mitchell to get out of the penalty area before kicking the ball forward. Wood’s advantage in the air was obvious. There was no one in the Arsenal’s midfield who could compete with him for aerial balls.

Wood headed the ball in the air easily as he passed it to Pepe behind.

After witnessing this situation, Fàbregas made a sign with his hand to Almunia at the back, informing him to try throwing the ball out instead of pumping the ball forward so that they can build their attacks from the back.

Starting the play like this was akin to giving possession back to Forest.

Even though the ball was intercepted by Forest, Arsenal did not give up on attacking this time. They actively tackled and fought for the ball and successfully got it back from under Gago’s feet, starting their attack right then.

Wilshere dribbled pass Woodgate using his technique before feinting to shoot and passing the ball to Fàbregas coming from behind instead.

Under pressure from Nottingham Forest’s captain, the Arsenal captain took a shot but the ball flew just over the crossbar, giving the Nottingham Forest fans a scare.

Fàbregas was a little upset with this miss. He stood up and gave a clap out of annoyance.

Twain looked down at his watch, the match had started for 15 minutes. Forest had not scored yet, but on overall, they had the advantage. The Arsenal attack felt a bit messy under the strength of Forest, depending more on the individual brilliances of their stars. The main reason why Arsenal was at a disadvantage was because Wenger did not even play with any defensive midfielders in his attempt to attack Forest on their home ground, he picked an all attacking midfield. As a result, their midfield was being overrun by Forest’s midfield.

They still had to score as early as possible, otherwise this tactic of theirs would not be able to work if Wenger came around…

Furthermore, the fitness of the team was indeed a problem, they could not afford to drag the game.

Twain stood up from his seat and walked to the sideline. He did not say anything, but he believed his players understood what he meant by standing on the sideline.

We need to score, guys. What are you doing?

Arsenal was still working hard to regain control of the game. They were neglecting their defense a little, or more like they placed too much focus on attack. Wenger told them before the game that they had to score in this match. Scoring was the key. That was why the thought of scoring was ringing in their minds…

As for defense?

Even though they knew that their defense was in danger in the face of the Forest attack, all of them had a feeling of luck in their minds, thinking that they would be able to break through the Forest defense first before they concede.

This was simply a game to see who would score first. If Arsenal scored first, the game would be following Arsenal’s game plan. If Nottingham Forest scored first, Arsenal would not have the initiative.

That was why they kept thinking about scoring, so much so that they placed their defense as second priority instead…

Arsenal’s attack got intercepted yet again. George Wood and Pepe intercepted Fàbregas’ pass to Vela. After Pepe poked the ball away, Wood got to the ball ahead of Wilshere and stormed forward with the ball. His dribbling was very standard, and his form was good. Fàbregas gave up on trying to win the ball, choosing to disrupt him from the side instead.

Wood was only dribbling for a few steps when he realized that the Arsenal’s defense was not in position yet. It was very messy, some people assisting in front, some people rushing back, some people hesitating whether to go back to defend or go forward to fight for the ball…

There were spaces everywhere.

He decided not to dribble anymore, passing the ball to the flank instead. There were no defending Arsenal players there, wide open!

Cohen ran as hard as he could. He was not fast, but Wood’s pass was too good… He did not have to compete with anyone for speed. As long as he ran forward in a straight line, the ball would go towards him as it rolled. The opponent’s defenders might seem to be closer to the ball, but they would find out after a few steps that if they ran in a straight line, the ball would be just out of their reach, and if they ran in a slanted line, the ball would be further and further away from them…

As Sagna was still in a forward position and did not come back in time, a center back had to cover him for this ball. One of the two center backs, Kolo Touré ran towards the flank. He gave up trying to get the ball halfway in his run and chose to run along the path of the ball instead, blocking the path into the box, preventing Cohen from going in. This was the best choice he could have made under this situation.

It was a pity that Cohen did not even think about cutting into the penalty area at all. He allowed the ball to roll about two meters ahead of him, feinted a dribble, forced Touré to move back a little. When there was space, he went outside and crossed directly!

Cohen’s cross was good. It was unlike Wood’s cross in the dying moments of the previous game, high and floating. His cross was level, the speed of the ball was fast and there was an obvious curve to the ball. The ball was almost at the byline when the curve was at its strongest. The ball was going towards the goal but curved towards the penalty area when it was going to reach the goal. This curve caused Almunia to be at a loss about what to do. He wanted to come out to claim the ball initially, but just when he started to come out, the ball curved away.

So, he started to retreat and prepared to protect his goal. He just put up his hands when there was a shadow in the air.

“Aaron Mitch——ell!” Screamed the commentator.

The ball seemed to have been attracted by Mitchell as he headed it. The ball changed direction and flew past Almunia who could not react at all. The force of the cross, along with the momentum of Mitchell combined to give an effect of “one plus one is greater than two”. Right in front of goal, there was no goalkeeper who could have reacted to it.

The ball was headed into the goal powerfully by Mitchell.

Twain pumped his fist at the sideline towards the sky.

He looked at his watch, the match had started for 29 minutes. He finally got what he was looking for!

Wenger, who was seated on the manager’s seat, slapped his thigh forcefully, with an upset look on his face. He did not expect Forest to really score with this attack. Looks like the attacking form showed by Nottingham Forest until then was not just putting up a show, they were serious…

He miscalculated.

He did not expect the gambler, Twain, to dare gamble like this in this game.

The Nottingham Forest fans at a corner of the stands exploded into a loud cheer, drowning off the boos from the other side temporarily.

Mitchell ran over and gave Chris Cohen who assisted him a hug. The other players surrounded them as they celebrated the goal.

This goal by Mitchell not only gave Forest an away goal, it also gave them an aggregate lead of 2:0. If Arsenal wanted to progress to the next stage, they could not just win this match by a score of 2:1, they needed to score three goals!

No wonder Wenger was so agitated after conceding the goal. Fàbregas’ face turned solemn immediately.

Anyone with a clear mind knows that Arsenal would have a tough time for this game…

Replays of the goal was shown repeatedly on the screen as the commentator praised Mitchell’s movement and header, “…He appeared behind Arsenal’s Senderos just like that, unmarked as Touré was drawn out to the flank to defend Cohen. Ibišević’s movement was so good! His movement in front drew Senderos away and Mitchell, who was still outside the penalty area when Cohen was preparing to cross, suddenly sprinted into the box and leapt high into the air! He leapt higher than anyone else! He scored! All in one movement, beautiful! The planned movements that Forest demonstrated were key for this goal, but the individual capabilities of Mitchell was praiseworthy too…”

Ever since Mitchell became a member of the first-team and scored often in matches, his father became the happiest man in the stands. Every time his son scored, all the Forest fans around him would congratulate him and shouted his son’s name loudly. He loved this feeling of being a star.

The spot where Mitchell celebrated his goal was coincidentally just below the away end of the stands. A group of people shouting, “Aaron! Aaron!” made him, the father, passionate too.

As the players ran past the front of the technical area and back to their own positions after celebrating, Twain shouted at them from there, “Keep attacking! Continue! Don’t slack off, score as many as you can!”

Next, he pulled George Wood next to him and gave him some quick instructions, “Watch out for Arsenal’s fight back. If they’re going for long balls, we don’t have to worry. If they attack through the middle, pass the ball to the flanks immediately after intercepting their ball. We’ll counter their attacks and try for another goal in the first half! Tell Cohen and Bentley to take note of any opportunity to counter attack.”

Wood nodded and turned to run back to the pitch.

After everything, Twain turned and returned to his manager’s seat, took a seat and had a drink of water.

After drinking, he turned and gave Kerslake a silly smile.

Kerslake asked, “The pressure’s not that high anymore, right?”

“No, it’s even heavier now.”

“Huh?”

“Unless the game is over, otherwise my pressure would not be reduced. Before scoring, I’ll be worried that we won’t score, and the opponent takes the lead by scoring first. Now that we’ve scored, I’m worried that the opponent will score and level the match. I asked them to try for another goal before the end of the first half. That way, we’ll have greater leeway,” Twain explained.

As expected, Arsenal attacked Forest wildly after conceding, almost giving up on defense entirely. They did not want to lose at home, did not want to let Nottingham Forest complete a double over them in the same season. Attacking with all their might was the only way.

Forest performed steadily, getting into their defensive formation and dealing with the balls calmly, making full use of their advantage of having two defensive midfielders, controlling the all-attacking midfield set-up that Arsenal had.

Next up was the counterattack.

That was the Forest team’s forte.

40 minutes into the first half, there was an astronomical figure. A 2:0 lead with five minutes to go in the first half, 3:0 on aggregate.

This game was basically over…