Chapter 286: Burst Part 1
Translator:Nyoi-Bo Studio
Editor:Nyoi-Bo Studio
The loss of the FA Cup affected neither Tang En's mood nor the overall atmosphere on the team. Everyone had a clear idea of what they should be working towards in the current season.
It was already February. Although Forest was eliminated from the FA Cup, they did not falter because of that but kept moving forward. Manchester United had helped Forest team in removing heavy baggage, allowing them to advance into battle with little burden.
On 1st February 2005, Nottingham Forest played as a home team against Crystal Palace. Tang En must have been extraordinarily lucky to meet with such an opponent right after the FA Cup loss. Forest could make use of a weak team like this to re-adjust their mentality and conditions. Amidst the shouting and cheering of nearly 30 thousand fans, Nottingham Forest took down Crystal Palace easily with a score of 2:0.
In the 25th round of the League, Forest accumulated a total of 40 points. They remained below Liverpool at rank six.
To climb even higher up the ranks, Forest's first enemy would be the team sitting directly on top of them: Liverpool. Currently, both teams had accumulated the same points. If Liverpool made a mistake, Forest would have an opportunity to take their place.
And it was nigh impossible for Liverpool not to make any mistakes. This season, they had planned to mostly focus on the UEFA Champions League. The team's energy was limited; if they were planning to succeed in the Champions League, they had no option but to give the Premier League up. At that point, Forest's chance would appear.
What Tang En needed to do now was to win as many matches as possible and hibernate quietly behind Liverpool. Once Liverpool ran out of stamina and they begin to fall behind, Forest would then overtake them with a sudden burst of power.
Even if Liverpool made no mistakes, it was fine. Nottingham Forest still had another match to go head-on against them. This time, they would be on their home ground and Tang En would not allow the team to fail again.
Of course, Forest themselves had to first make sure they do not slip in the ranks before the decisive match between them and Liverpool. After the hard work of the team for half a season, Tang En did not wish to see them gradually fall behind the main group in the later stage and end up getting left behind.
In their training, Tang En emphasized more on the team's defensive practices. As quickly as possible, he hoped Edwin van der Sar and Forest's defensive line could develop enough synchrony. One of the reasons for their loss to Manchester United in the FA Cup could be attributed to the co-op issues between Edwin van der Sar and the defensive line.
Additionally, Tang En was concerned about how Arteta was meshing with the team after joining Forest, and the position he would be playing.
When Forest team bought Arteta, there were people worried that Tony would have difficulties arranging Forest's midfield. With proof of the immense success of Wood and Albertini's pairing in the first half of the season, the manager had no reason to break up the duo because of a new player.
However, from Tang En's perspective that was not an issue.
The pace of the English Premier League was the fastest within the four major top-level League competitions within Europe (excluding France Ligue 1, which used to be part of the five major leagues). The switch between offense and defense, the speed of offense, the speed of passing, the speed of running and tackling… to put it simply, everything happened rapidly. Such pacing for the matches placed a high physical demand on the players. Albertini was already a 33-year-old veteran. His body would not be able to withstand being a starter in every match through the entire season, for the entire duration of 90 minutes. He needed a substitute player and Arteta was the most suitable candidate.
The current Arteta was different from the one Tang En remembered. In his recollection, Arteta was a core player in Everton who had the power and ability to make things happen as he willed. However, the current one was a player who had not yet proven himself in Real Sociedad. So, he had no grounds to act like a big-shot. At this point, he was neither a part of Forest's core in the midfield nor one of their famous football stars. This could also be seen from his value of only three million Euros. A conversion to pounds would only make it about one and a half million; a pitifully low value.
Arteta's arrival in Nottingham was kept rather low-key. From the first day he entered the team, Tang En told the Spaniard very frankly that he was currently unable to play as a main player on Forest. However, he would be the primary substitute for Albertini; other than Albertini, he was the player with the greatest ability to organize and set-up attacks in the midfield. So long as he performed well, he would similarly have opportunities to leap from being a bench player to a main starting player. Naturally, there would be even more chances for him to be fielded if he did not mind playing both in the midfield and the wings.
Arteta accepted Tang En's suggestion and agreed to consider playing a greater variety of positions in the midfield; he was also keen to prove that his abilities were not as weak as when he was in Real Sociedad. To leave the manager with a good impression, he was even willing to become a utility player.
Up until this point, Tang En's choice in refusing to buy star footballers also stemmed from this consideration – for someone as young as himself, would he be able to manage famous players? If there were too many well-known football stars on the team and they did not listen to the manager, then the entire team would have no combat ability to speak of. Tang En would rather look for normal footballers than established, renowned star players. While the normal players were without fame, they still had abilities that could hardly be called weak. To put it nicely, "no one should be placed above the whole of the team". One could also say the same in a slightly more arrogant manner: "no one should be placed above Tony Twain."
In that aspect, there was a remarkable likeness to the deceased Clough.
In terms of becoming used to the English style of football, Arteta had no issues whatsoever. Even Albertini needed some time to get used to it when he first came to Forest, but Arteta had no such worries. This was due to his prior experience playing in Scotland. He had already gotten used to the UK's football. However, getting used to something is not the same as assimilation. At the same time as getting used to English football, Arteta also retained his exquisite footwork and an extraordinary imagination; he had all the positive attributes of a Spanish player. Such a player was the dream of every manager. He could bring something new to the team which would shape its uniqueness within the Premier League.
Tang En regarded Arteta highly and hoped to nurture him to be the midfield's playmaker in the future. At that time, George Wood would protect Arteta just as he protected Albertini and Rebrov.
As a result, Tang En would often arrange to keep Wood and Arteta in the same group during training; to gradually start developing their tacit understanding with each other.
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The 26th round of the Premier League was held on February 5. Nottingham Forest continued their away journey, this time with Aston Villa as their opponents.
During the earlier period of the Premier League, Forest team had, in a home match, drawn against Aston Villa thanks to a mistaken own goal from them. That was the first point Forest received in the Premier League. From that point, Forest had a 10-match-streak of no defeats!
Even if it were against the same people, the Forest of now and then were already two different teams.
With half a season of training and experience, the Forest of today had already become more mature, stronger; enough for them to stay within the top six ranks. That was not something that could be achieved by mere luck.
Although they were the away team, Forest still defeated Villa.
In this tough away match, the player who performed outstandingly and brought their final victory to them was Freddy Eastwood.
For a duration, the Romani had not been appearing on the headlines of the sports section in the newspaper. Thanks to what the club had needed, most of them had recently been loudly publicising about his teammate and "enemy," George Wood, instead. One had to wonder what it was like for Eastwood to read all those articles. Fortunately, it did not affect his ability to perform. Perhaps because he was not considered the most brilliant football star within Forest team, other than his goal-scoring in matches, beyond the field he was low-profile to the point of vanishing. On occasion, he would return to London to visit his father, but even more of his time was spent in his huge caravan caring for his wife and their unborn child.
Until now, Eastwood had yet to find an agent. Although there were people who had tried to contact him in hopes of becoming his agent, they were all rejected. As a result, other than soccer, he did not have other commercial activities; his exposure in the news was also naturally largely reduced.
This time, however, he was found on the headlines. And it was not just Nottingham's local media; he was also the hottest subject on London's Fleet Street.
Within the grounds of Villa Park, there were several players who shone brightly. There was the forward, Angel, who scored the first goal for Aston Villa; Ulises de la Cruz – an old Ecuadorian veteran – who scored the second goal for the home team that the fans went crazy for; Netherland's national goalie, Edwin van der Sar, who remained calm despite having lost two balls; experienced veteran Hierro, who reconstructed the defensive line to prevent any further opportunity for the opponent; Viduka, who created chances for his teammates by diverting attention from the opponents' defences; Arteta, who made his debut appearance representing Forest in the English Premier League in substitution for Albertini… But there was only one who was truly incandescent. That was the low-profile Romani, Freddy Eastwood.
Just 20 minutes into the beginning of the match, the home team used fast breaks to rapidly score twice. Fans within Villa Park must have assumed that the Forest team had already been beaten silly and that they could begin celebrating their victory 70 minutes before the end of the match. At that moment, Eastwood stepped up to tell Villa's fans their foolishness for such a premature celebration.
His powerful long shot that originated from outside the penalty area rebounded up high on the leg of a Villa player, and from a powerful volley, it transformed into a lob. It flew just over the head of Villa's goalkeeper, Thomas Sorensen, who had fallen to the ground thanks to the deceptive first shot. He looked up at the ball as it bounced over his head and fell into the open goal.
After Eastwood's goal, his performance only became livelier. With Viduka attracting attention away from him at the front, he gained greater freedom. Eastwood was not the sort of forward who would wait before the opponent's goalpost for a ball; he was a second striker, a player who preferred to move freely behind their teammates. Despite having boosted the defense of the front line before the penalty area, the presence of a forward whose positioning drifted about uncertainly remained troubling to the manager of Villa, David O'Leary.
At some points he appeared in the middle, hiding behind Viduka in wait for a scoring opportunity; yet during defensive counterattacks, he was all the way at the front dribbling in a surprise attack. When the focus of the defense shifted to the middle, he pulled outwards to the flanks to pass center.
Closing to the end of the first half, Eastwood caught hold of a fleeting chance within the penalty area, suddenly slipping through a crack between the two enormous midfielders. Making full use of Ashley Young's pass, he headed the ball into the goal. 2:2! Forest had equalized the score!