Chapter 93: The Losing Just Right (Part 1)

On March 13, in the 36th round of the league, Nottingham Forest defeated the visiting Crystal Palace 3:2 at home.  It was not easy to win this game, and someone in the Forest team couldn't run.   The physical coach told Tang En not to worry, this is a normal reaction to the quantity of physical training, and it would be fine if it was over.

In fact, Tang En is not worried about this issue, as long as he wins the game.

The ranking of Nottingham Forest League, which has won three consecutive games, has started to soar, returning to the league's 14th from the league's 17th, with eight points away from the sixth place, and they play two rounds less than the sixth place. In other words, even if the Wigan Forest wins all the games in the next game, as long as the Forest wins two supplementary games, they will be only two points away from the opponent - a game.

So in the next game, Tang En's requirement is that no matter what the game is like or what method is used, as long as you win the ball, you will be considered to be good. As chasers, they must make the opponents in front feel pressure, so they cannot pay too much attention to the scene.

In several consecutive games, the Forest team played stumblingly, and Tang En didn't care because they won again!

On March 18, Nottingham Forest defeated Burnley 1-0 at home. After the game, Burnley's head coach was very dissatisfied with the referee's penalty, believing that he had blown away Burnley's goal without any problem and sent off one of their players. The Forest, which has the advantage in numbers, only won one goal, no wonder Burnley's head coach complained.

But what's the solution? Who made his team play away?

On March 20, under such intensive match arrangements, Forest defeated Derby County 4:2 away. Eastwood performed well and scored a hat trick, becoming the biggest contributor to the team's victory. Motson said in his commentary: "...Most of the time, Donn relies on the team to play as a whole, and when the team's overall condition is sluggish, he always has a way to win. For example, a misjudgment from the referee. And for example, a player's sudden explosion..."

On March 24, the league was supplementary. The Forest team took back their lost time on this day - because of the League Cup final, the 33rd round of the league was postponed at this time, and the Forest team played against Blatford at home. In the end, they won 2:1. The Forest team, which played one game less, ranked eighth with fifty-nine points. In front of them, West Ham United, which played sixty points more, and Wigan Athletics, which also played sixty points more.

There is only a three-point gap from eighth to sixth in the league. Don Eunuch's persistent pursuit finally received a reward. As long as they win Crue at home in the next round of the league, and any of the two teams between seventh and sixth lose, they will be replaced by Forest.

Before this, in order to maintain the current good situation, Tang En worked hard and used all the ways he could think of to continue to inspire the team. He knew that he could not lose at this time. As long as he lost a game, a season... no! The efforts of the past half a season will be over! So this is the time when he can't be discouraged no matter what...

And when they were only three-pointers away from the sixth place in the league, he finally didn't need to encourage him because everyone was already red-eyed. They knew that if they continued to win, they would appear in the Premier League next season, rather than this unpopular League One. They were not only fighting for the club, but also fighting for themselves.

March 27th. The 39th round of the league was at the city stadium. Forest fans kept singing and cheering from the beginning of the game, cheering for the team without stopping every minute. This made the enemy feel trembling at home atmosphere. Naturally, they scared their opponent Crew. The Crew team, which ranked in the middle and lower reaches of the league, even without the will to resist, surrendered. Nottingham Forest defeated Crew 2:0, and at the same time, there was also a voice that made Forest fans cheering from another stadium - Wigan Athletics failed to withstand the pressure given to them by the Forest and lost 0:1 to Watford away!

The league reached its 39th round, and in the counterattack storm in Nottingham, Wigan Athletic became the first team to fail to support the fall.

At this time, the surging Forest team has attracted the attention of all the top teams. Who will become the second team to be pulled down by Forest team?

All the 39th rounds were played. West Ham United defeated Gillingham at home. They ranked fifth in 63 minutes, while Forest, which had 62 points, replaced Wigan Athletics with 61 points, ranked last in the No. 1 Group. Sixth in the league! This is a very attractive ranking, which means that as long as Forest maintains this ranking until the end of the season, they are eligible to participate in the upgrade play-offs.

At this point, Tang En has to consider it again. Should we set the team's goal in the next game to maintain this ranking? Or should we take advantage of the situation to pursue and make a concerted effort. How much can we win? How much can we move forward?

This made him feel embarrassed.

At the same time, there is another problem that always bothers him: Although continuous victory is worth being happy, there are also hidden worries behind this - excellent results invisibly make the players' psychological pressure heavier and heavier. Before every game, they think about "never lose". With such thoughts in one or two games, it will help them to show their strength. But if this happens every game, it will also lead to the team's mental breakdown...

"Victory" is the team's belief and their curse. How to deal with this problem is the most troublesome thing for Tang En.

The matches in March ended, Nottingham Forest coach Tony Donn was named the best coach of the League One that month because he maintained a winning streak in the league. Eastwood was also named the best player.

This is not a good sign. So when Tang En received the award - a bottle of champagne, he couldn't laugh. The huge pressure in his heart was turning into a heavy cloud, and there was a slight pressure on his heart.

This award was given to him at this time, not to encourage him, but to curse him: last month's league is the best, and he will definitely lose in the next game!

Sure enough. In the 40th round of the league on April 3, Forest lost to Sheffield United away. Although Don Eun didn't want to lose in this game, everyone in the team performed poorly. He was unable to make a comeback on the coach's seat and could only accept the failure helplessly. The only thing that is thankful is that he lost away was not ugly, with a 0:1 small loss, and the team showed no signs of collapse.

At the press conference, Donn took all the blame for the loss and acted low-key in front of the winner Volnoke. He praised Sheffield United for its strength and admitted his tactical mistakes - although anyone with a discerning eye could see that this was not a mistake that could lead to defeat - and he never mentioned the poor performance of the players. He cared carefully about these players, which was simply better than the hatched hens.

However, the players were worried that Don En, who lost the ball, would scold them when he finished the press conference and returned to the locker room. Even they themselves knew that everyone performed too badly in this game!

Since Tony Donn took over the Forest team, the unbeaten record that he worked hard to maintain in the league has ended. Anyone who would stand in Tang En's position would feel unhappy.

Tang En was naturally not happy. He looked at the smile of Volnok's face with a pleat and a pleat, and he was so angry. He lost again and again to this old man, which was a great shame for the arrogant Tang En. But what could he do? He used all the three substitution places and used all the ways he could do, but he still lost. The game was over, and the whistle had already sounded, and he couldn't even hear the echo at this moment. What's the use of him being angry?

After enduring the old man's self-proclaimed and roaring for five minutes with a gloomy face, the press conference finally ended.

Donn and Wolnock touched each other's fingers and thought they had shaken hands with each other. Then he ignored the reporters around him, turned around and left here, and walked towards the locker room.

He knew very well what the team was in now. In fact, although he lost the ball, the situation was not as bad as he had originally estimated. This was after the game, Walker contacted Bruce via his mobile phone, and then reporter Bruce told him the results obtained from the latest battle report.

The Forest team, which lost the ball, fell to ninth place with 62 points, but they were only three points away from the fourth-ranked team. The top teams were biting very tightly. It can even be said that Tony Donn's team lost at the most favorable time.

Thinking of this, Tang En felt much better. Then when he thought about it, he suddenly became enlightened.

Hasn't he been worried that the team will be under too much pressure after winning streak, causing a collapse? Now, we're losing.

When he opened the door of the locker room, Tang En found that it was quiet, which made him very uncomfortable. He even thought that he had walked the wrong door with his head down and thought about the problem.

So he withdrew, closed the door again, and saw the sign "away" on the door - the visiting team sign, and he finally confirmed that he was not wrong.

Opening the door again and looking at the players who were stunned by their actions, Tang En couldn't help laughing. "I thought I was going wrong." He pointed to the door, "So I closed the door and saw what was written on it. You were silent and I couldn't accept it. What's wrong with you?"

"We lost the ball, boss." The players felt that the coach was asking knowingly that this must be the prelude to the storm, so they rushed to admit their mistakes.

Looking at this scene, Tang En shrugged: "Does anyone want to know why I thought I was going wrong just now? Because I was thinking about the problem. Is anyone interested in what I am thinking?"

No one answered him because everyone couldn't guess what the head coach had. If he said the wrong thing, the first drop of the storm would fall on him. No one wanted to be that unlucky person.

Seeing that no one answered his question, Tang En was a little bored and scratched his head: "I was thinking... we lost very well, and it was the time to lose."

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone was shocked.
Chapter completed!