Chapter 576: Face to Face with The Enemy
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Perhaps some teams would use the UEFA Super Cup as the last important friendly match before the season, but Twain would not do that. This was different from partic.i.p.ation in friendlies like the Russian Railways Cup and the Amsterdam Tournament. Twain took the champions.h.i.+p t.i.tle seriously. Otherwise, he would not have fought that big war of words against Liverpool before the game.
Moreover, Liverpool’s Benítez would not think that it was nothing more than a slightly important friendly. He made the most detailed arrangements for this game.
The UEFA had stated that it was “the opening battle of the new season’s UEFA Europa League.”
However, it turned into an English civil war, which was kind of boring. Sevilla failed through a lack of a final effort in the UEFA Europa League final and was reversed by Steven Gerrard’s score of a crucial goal at the final moment.
Benítez’s team seemed to be particularly good at reversals.
In the 2005 UEFA Champions League final, Liverpool overtook AC Milan, who was three goals ahead of them to pick up the champions.h.i.+p t.i.tle. They created the most cla.s.sic reversal battle in the fifty-year history of the Champions League finals. During the final moments of the 2006 English FA Cup, Steven Gerrard used an astonis.h.i.+ng long shot and penetrated the West Ham United’s goal to tie the score, which dragged the game into a penalty shootout. They eventually defeated their opponent with the penalty shots and once again staged a shocking reversal to hold the FA Cup t.i.tle for the seventh time in history. In the 2007 UEFA Europa League final, Liverpool similarly reversed and defeated defending champion, Sevilla, after not having any advantage in the entire game.
Once or twice could be considered a coincidence. By the third time, it was no longer a coincidence.
Twain studied the games and Liverpool seemed particularly good at playing against the wind. The more the situation was against them, the more energy they had. That was a point that he had to pay attention to. He did not want his team to be the opponent’s target of a miraculous reversal in the game. It would be a great disgrace to him.
The game was to be held at Stade Louis II Stadium, which could accommodate up to 18,500 people. It would witness who would become the new season’s king of kings in European football.
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The stands were already completely filled with the fans from England. Because Liverpool’s traditional color was red and Nottingham Forest’s representative color was red as well, the stands in the stadium became a sea of red. One could not differentiate the Forest fans and the Liverpool fans at first glance. They could only be told apart from the singing which teams they supported.
If they were singing “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” they had to be Liverpool fans, but if they were singing “We’ve Got the Whole World in Our Hands,” they were unquestionably Nottingham Forest fans.
Stade Louis II Stadium was turned into Vienna’s Wiener Musikverein by the English fans.
Both teams had already finished their warm-up and entered the locker rooms for the final preparation before the game. The stadium was dominated by the fans from the two teams.
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The players sat in the locker room and listened to their managers make final arrangements. It was the same sight in both the Forest team locker room and the Liverpool locker room.
This was the first t.i.tle of the new season and neither wanted to yield to the other. Especially when the feud between the two teams was involved as well.
Which team made it so that Liverpool could only play in the UEFA Europa League this season? Which team caused Liverpool to play in the UEFA Europa League for three consecutive seasons? In order to compete for the second place in the league tournament, they ruthlessly kicked Liverpool into the abyss. What was the difference between the second and third places in the league? Would it kill you to let Liverpool take the fourth spot in the league tournament and be allowed to play in the Champions League? There’s no excuse that is more pointless in this world than “Because we want to get the second place in the league tournament, so we are sorry about that.” You might as well just say “we did it for the spirit of sportsmans.h.i.+p and fair play.”
All right, let’s go further and trace it back to thirty years ago. Which team took the league t.i.tle that belonged to Liverpool? And which team knocked them out in the first round when Liverpool had the ambition to pick up the Champions League t.i.tle for the third time in a row? Or which team took the EFL Cup away from the Liverpool people and twice defeated the indomitable “Red army” Liverpool in a year?
Nottingham Forest! That’s the team which we have a beef with!
In order to crush you, even if we would only partic.i.p.ate in the UEFA Europa League this season, it will be worth it! We want the whole world to know that the only reason you could have the Champions League t.i.tle was because we were not there!
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Twain had contemplated for a long time and finally decided to stick to the defensive counterattack tactic that the Forest team was good at. If the Liverpool team was successfully enraged by his psychological warfare, they would bombard at all costs, hoping to hit back at their humiliation with more goals. Under such circ.u.mstances, defensive counterattack was undoubtedly the best weapon against them.
However, if the old fox, Benítez, was not fooled and continued to wear down the Forest team in an even pace, then there would be no fatal loopholes within the defensive counterattack that could lead to the loss of the ball. No matter what the circ.u.mstances were, a solid defense was always right.
Twain decided to stay constant to counter the changes when he could not deduce the other person’s intentions. You want to set a trap that I can’t get out of? I will not fall for it and play along with you!
The a.r.s.enal manager, Wenger’s coaching philosophy was that no matter who the opponent was, strong or weak and regardless of the current situation, a.r.s.enal would only play its own football and would never be led by the opponents. Therefore, even if there were times when a.r.s.enal’s failures were much like “a.r.s.enal”— when they could have had the upper hand in the game, but not win — they remained a powerful force in the English football.
Twain decided to deal with Benítez like that. Whether or not the other side was affected by his own psychological warfare, he would instruct the Forest team to stick to the play they were best at.
“Stabilize the defense first, and then take the opportunity to sneak attack.” Twain’s words were all memorized by the Forest team. When they saw him raise his index finger, they knew what he was going to say.
However, no one expressed any impatience or showed any mischievous expressions. Twain had absolute authority in this locker room. Beckham was the biggest star player on the team. On his first day in the team, Twain had punished him for being late, which went to show that there was no one in the world Twain was afraid of.
Anelka was there for everyone to see. If anyone dared to go against Twain, it would not be as easy as a sale. You’ll be sitting on the bench for a season, first, until there is a sharp decline in your popularity, with no guarantee of staying in compet.i.tive form and maintaining your level, and you will be sold at a low price when forgotten by others.
“If Liverpool comes on strong to attack, that’s the situation we want to see the most. But I don’t think it’s likely that Benítez will choose to take such a risky approach. He will slowly contend with us in the midfield. If that’s the case, let him be. Set pieces are the key and I hope you will be able to seize every place kick to threaten the opponent.” Twain stood in front of the players and gave his a.n.a.lysis of what might happen during the game. The tactical board was blank. What he said did not need to be drawn on that whiteboard. That kind of work was done during the previous night’s tactical meeting.
“Also, the rear defensive line and midfield do not have to withdraw too much to the back. There shouldn’t be a gap in the middle. Do not give the opponent too many opportunities for long shots.”
Everyone nodded.
Liverpool skilled at long shots and their captain, Steven Gerrard, was particularly skilled. In the FA Cup and UEFA Europa League finals, his long shots produced excellent results for the team. Another expert at long shots was the Liverpool full-back, John Arne Riise. During the last season’s FA Community s.h.i.+eld, Chelsea lost to Liverpool thanks to Riise’s long shot after a long-range raid.
If he arranged for a defensive formation, Benítez would let his players step up on the long shots. Perhaps they had already increased their practice in the last few days of training for the game.
Therefore, he could not give the other side the s.p.a.ce to kick any.
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On the other side, Benítez had already laid out the specific tactics for this game. He looked at the players on his team and suddenly had something else to say.
He had been in Liverpool for three seasons and had not been doing well, except for the magical win of the Champions League in his first season. When they did not do well in the league tournament, they turned to focus on the cup tournament. They had won one FA Cup and one Europa League. Although they won a t.i.tle every year, it was far from enough for the Liverpool fans. “The Red army” was England’s first powerhouse, and their goal was not to have a FA Cup, Europa League t.i.tle or something like that every year.
To be either the league champion or the Champions League winner, they would at least need to qualify for next season’s Champions League, wouldn’t they?
This season, their new American bosses had stepped up their investment and bought players from everywhere. Benítez used the advantage of being a Spanish manager to attract Spanish players to join and continued to revamp Liverpool. His proudest move was to persuade Fernando Torres to join the team.
It would have been difficult for Liverpool, who did not even qualify for the Champions League, to buy Torres, but Benítez’s ident.i.ty as a Spanish manager played a key role. He personally flew to Madrid to look for Torres and held close discussions with him. He told him his grand plans and let him know that it was still promising to join Liverpool.
Meanwhile, Torres was deeply disappointed with Atlético Madrid this season. He had wanted to leave the unpromising team. Atlético Madrid was willing to throw a home game and suffer a crus.h.i.+ng defeat by Barcelona in order to stop Real Madrid from taking the t.i.tle. The player who worked the hardest in that game was Torres, but it was difficult for him to achieve anything without support. It was that game that made him realize that he had no future if he were to remain in a team like Atlético Madrid.
Benítez’s appearance made him decided to take a gamble. A number of Spanish players had not done well after they went abroad. The most famous example was the former Valencia midfielder, Gaizka Mendieta. Spanish players sometimes struggled to adapt to the style of the other countries’ leagues.
Liverpool was different. First of all, the team’s manager was Spanish, so there were a lot of Spanish players in the team. If Torres went, he would be able to save the trouble of adapting to the team and language. Playing under a manager who understood Spanish players was obviously better than going to a team he was completely unfamiliar with, from the manager to the teammates.
Therefore, Torres chose Liverpool, rather than the Serie A giants like AC Milan and Juventus.
With Torres on board, Benítez was confident of raising a revolutionary storm in the Premier League this season to bring Liverpool back to the top of English football.
Benítez had not heard of the Chinese proverb, “a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step,” but he had to know how important it was for Liverpool to have a good start now.
He came back from his contemplation and saw that the players were preparing for the game. The locker room was not full of music and laughter like usual. It seemed that the players were aware what the game meant.
He was not good at motivation like Tony Twain. Every manager had things they were good and not good at. He had heard that Twain was very not good at training, which was taken care of by his a.s.sistant managers. But Twain’s mobilization through emotions was absolutely top-notch.
Benítez looked at his players. Fortunately, the game did not require him to make any pa.s.sionate speeches.
“Remember last season’s final game?” Benítez asked with a calm expression. “For me, that was a disgrace.”
He did not want to speak for the Liverpool team because he had no right to. No one had the right to. But he knew that the Liverpool players felt the same as him. In the last minute of last season’s final, they lost their Champions League qualification. Would their enemy, Nottingham Forest be able to understand that kind of plunge in their mood?
No, they can’t. So it’s up to us to give them a good understanding of that sense of loss in today’s game.
Didn’t that egomaniac, Tony Twain, claim before the game that Nottingham Forest would win? Since he made such a boast, we’ll make him lose his face in front of all the Europeans.
“I won’t accept any results other than victory.” He unintentionally uttered the famous saying that often appeared in the newspapers.
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“Apart from winning, I don’t f**king accept any other results!” Twain waved his arms and spoke his version of the remark.
“I’m sure you all remember the final game of last season, right? We disqualified Liverpool from partic.i.p.ating in the Champions League this season in order to win. They are very disappointed and angry. Of course, I understand their anger and disappointment, as well as the idea of wanting to take revenge in this game. I’m willing to bet that the Liverpool players’ minds are now filled with ideas to beat us in this UEFA Super Cup and fulfill the vengeance. Anyone will be happy with this. If we lost our Champions League qualification, I would also teach our opponent a good lesson given such an opportunity.” Twain slashed his hand in front of his neck, which caused the players to laugh.
“This is something that could not be avoided. We’re a professional team, not a philanthropist. If we want to win, the opponent can only accept defeat. No one wants to be a loser. I don’t want to, and you certainly don’t want to. Liverpool want us to be the losers in this game, but we can’t let them. I know there are players on the team who have just joined the team this summer, so you have to understand and accept my philosophy in football. Nottingham Forest has many enemies in English football and European football. These enemies have emerged after I became manager. Since you have chosen to join the Forest team, you must be aware we are not popular in many places. Just listen to the hissing outside. It is louder at Anfield. George can fully attest to that.” Twain pointed to Wood, and everyone laughed. Indeed, every time Wood went for an away game, he would be booed by the opposing fans from start to finish. If he was not mentally strong enough, his legs could go soft and he would not be able to play.
“I said so much because I just wanted you to understand. Liverpool has reason to seek revenge, but we can’t let them get what they want. It is not up to them to decide. There are countless teams that want to take revenge on us, but they’ve never succeeded, and it’s no exception this time.”
Twain spoke confidently. He did not deliberately say all these to rea.s.sure the players. Today’s Twain was not that greenhorn. Today’s Nottingham Forest was no longer the team that could be swept by Liverpool with 4:1.
No one knew which team would emerge the winner.