Chapter 163: League Cup champion?

After Nottingham Forest showed a challenge to the strongest above them, it seems that Liverpool will not be able to hold on first.

On February 12, in the 27th round of the league, Forests won away against Southampton, while Liverpool lost to Birmingham away. As the UEFA Champions League knockout round was about to begin, the Liverpool people seemed a little absent-minded.

Forests surpassed Liverpool by three-pointer and ranked fifth in 46 points!

This is a very impressive result. What makes Donne happiest is not the point gap with Liverpool, but the point difference with Everton - two points, and one game can solve everything. Everton lost 0:1 to Chelsea at home in this round of the league.

In this way, the rankings and points of the top six in the league are Chelsea 68 points, Manchester United 59 points, Arsenal 57 points, Everton 48 points, Nottingham Forest 46 points, and Liverpool 43 points.

After this round of league, Forests will begin preparing for the UEFA Cup, so this is also a stage of the end. Nottingham media have sang praises to Don and his team. Everyone agreed that young head coach Tony Don't make a contribution to achieving this result. As a newly promoted team, Forests ranked in the top five after halfway through the league, and ranked above Liverpool, which was something that most Forest fans would never dare to imagine before the season.

"...This young Forest team reminds people of the Leeds United team of O'Reilly. They were young and motivated, and they were not afraid of anything. To be honest, I like Coach Tony Donn's team very much. They brought a new trend to the current Premier League. Do you still remember what we said after the end of last season? Mark?" Leinker praised the Forest in the "Today's Event" program, "I said the Premier League will be very good this season. Facts prove that I was right."

The Premier League this season is indeed different from previous years. Mourinho's strong intervention. The weakness of traditional strong teams such as Liverpool and Manchester United, the rise of Everton, and the return of Nottingham Forest have made the Premier League particularly chaotic in recent years. But it is also particularly attractive - because there are more suspense, no longer like in the previous seasons. Since before the season, everyone knows that the league championship is just a toy for Manchester United and Arsenal to compete for each other. Chelsea? Maybe it can cause some trouble, but it cannot become a big shot. Even more dare not think that Everton can rank fourth in the league and has a great hope of qualifying for the Champions League next season.

Before the season, everyone was saying that Nottingham Forest’s goal this season is to relegate, and now I’m afraid no one has raised this topic anymore.

However, Don En clearly felt that Forests can achieve their current results. It has a lot to do with their catching up with a good time. If it was the first few seasons, or a season, and when the new Premier League pattern was basically formed, it would be difficult for Forests to get a foothold. This season is Mourinho's first season at Stamford Bridge. His arrival has brought great impact to ball bands like Arsenal and Manchester United. Arsenal has made a great impact after Arsenal and Manchester United.

After a fantastic and wonderful season, it was like climbing to the top. Now they are time to go down the mountain. Manchester United's weakness seems to have a lot to do with Ferguson's gradual aging - after that FA Cup. When Donn and Ferguson were drinking together, Ferguson vaguely mentioned that he wanted to leave Manchester United after the end of this season. He also asked Donn in a joked tone if he wanted to come to Manchester United to coach, but Donn refused in an equally joking tone.

If it weren't for the general trend of the Premier League this season, it would be impossible for Don Eun to lead the Forest to this point with his experience. Lyinkel said that the Forest has disrupted the inherent pattern of the Premier League and made the Premier League look good this season, and suspense has arisen. But in fact, Don Eun, who knows this history, understands that it is not the appearance of the Forest that broke the original pattern of the Premier League. This pattern is about to be broken, and there will be Mourinho's Chelsea without the Forest. His appearance is just to make the already chaotic Premier League chaos... Then he can take advantage of the situation and take advantage of the situation.

The Forest team, which won fifth place in the league, has a high morale and performs well in the next League Cup.

In the 16th final of the League Cup, Nottingham Forest's opponent was the Austrian team Grazer_ak (grazer_ak). In the first round, Forest team played away, and the Forest team was one head higher than the opponent, but Grazer_ak played at home. This is a favorable factor that cannot be ignored. In the end, the two sides tied 2:2. Tang En was very satisfied with this result and scored two goals away. It means that most of their bodies had reached the top 16 of the League Cup.

The Forest team, who returned to home, beat Graz Ak 2:0 with the cheers of fans and successfully advanced to the quarterfinals.

At this point, the European goals set by Donn for the Forest before the season were basically completed. The Forest not only entered the knockout stage, but also reached the top 16. As a team that has been away from the European arena for eight years, such results are enough to announce their return.

The question that Tang En needs to consider now is - do you still need to continue?

He decided to ask Tang for his opinion.

"...I think the team is now capable of going further in the League Cup, but I'm not sure if I have to continue moving forward..." During dinner, Don Eun raised his own questions at the dining table.

After listening to Tang En's question quietly, Tang asked back: "How far is it to go further?"

"Uh, I don't know... Maybe it's a further quarterfinal, maybe it's a quarterfinal..."

"If it is not a champion, then what is the difference between the semi-finals and the semi-finals?" Tang's words made Tang En's question speechless.

Yes, what is the purpose of what I want to go further? What is the goal after going further? Isn’t it the purpose of taking one more step, which is also a victory?

"If you are not sure about winning the championship, I suggest giving up the League Cup. If you..."

Tang En interrupted Tang's analysis, "I decided to give it a try. No matter what the result is, it's always right to give it a try."

“Give up the league?”

"No... it's not considered giving up, it's just a temporary shift in the work center... You know, it's just a strategic adjustment..." Tang En said something a little reluctantly. Didn't he think about giving up the league in his mind?

The honor of the League Cup championship is really tempting. Don En dared not think about it half a season ago. It doesn’t mean he still dares not think about it now. If I can lead the team to win the League Cup championship, I will also have the head coach with the European champion in hand...

When Tang En thought of this, he couldn't help himself.

This is his dream... Compared to this, there is no difference between the top four or the top six in the league. Even if he can't get the top six in the league and the qualification for Europe next season, he is willing to do so.

"It's decided that the League Cup championship is the goal of the Forests this season." Tang En decided on the next half season at the dinner table. The Forests worked hard, although he looked a little reckless with his knife and fork...

Hearing Tang En say this, Tang Weiwei, who was sitting opposite him, opened her mouth, as if she wanted to say something, but in the end he still said nothing.

During the training class the next day, Don Eun told the coaching staff that he decided to give up the league for the time being and specialize in the League Cup. He did not receive unanimous support. Chris Lack was very worried about this. He had never expected any League Cup championship. For him, the domestic league is the fundamental and the top priority.

The Forests' league was in a very good momentum, and it had surpassed Liverpool and was only two points away from Everton. As long as they continue to put pressure on Everton, they can replace them as the fourth in the league. As long as they keep this ranking and wait until the end of the season, they will be able to participate in the qualifying round of the European Champions League next season.

Taking advantage of the time after the training, Chris Lack blocked him in Donn's office and planned to ask clearly why he suddenly became so interested in the League Cup championship overnight?

"Tony..." Before the person entered the door, the voice reached Don't hear him. He looked up and saw Chris Lak who was rushing in and laughed.

"I know what you are going to ask me, sit down, David." Tang En pointed to the chair.

Chris Lack was not polite, and sat down and asked, "Tony. I can't understand why you suddenly became so interested in the League Cup championship."

Tang En sat casually at a corner of the table and said with a smile: "Don't every coach should be interested in pursuing the championship?"

This is right, but Chris Lark didn't mean to follow this meaning. He persuaded Don from another perspective: "Tony, our league situation is very good now, why should we give up the league and pursue the difficult League Cup championship? Do you know who our opponent in the next round of the League Cup?"

"Sports Lisbon." Don said lightly, not seeming to take his opponents to heart. "Don't worry, they don't have Figo now. They don't have Cristiano Ronaldo."

"Of course. Sporting Lisbon is not as strong as before, but they still have the strength... to eliminate us."

"But we don't have a chance to defeat them. David. I know what you are worried about. But isn't football the way it should be? We always have to take some risks, right? No victory must belong to us. Sometimes we need to take a gamble and always follow the planned plan. That's so boring." Don Ng shrugged, then looked at the clear sky outside. "I missed the moment we won the League Cup last season recently, and I was very excited... very excited."

“But…isn’t it exciting to get a ticket to the Champions League next season?”

"It's still a little worse than the champion and the European champion." Don said to Chris Lack with a smile, as if he was not angry that the assistant coach insisted on different views on this matter and himself.

Hearing Donn say this, Chris Lack was stunned for a while, then he murmured: "Okay... Maybe it's because of your ambition that you can lead this team. If you make up your mind, then I'll help you."

"Thank you, David." Tang En's thanks was sincere. He was really lucky. He did not encounter the power struggle in those wealthy teams. Although the small clubs are not strong, they also have the benefits of small clubs. At least the people here are simple, they all love this team deeply, and they all think about this team wholeheartedly, and they have no bad intentions.

For example, this is for David Chris Lack, who was studying as a coach under Paul Hart and now works as an assistant for him but has no complaints at all.

The assistant coach has no objection, and the coaching staff basically unify their thoughts. The current top priority of the Forest team is to defeat the Portuguese powerhouse Sporting Lisbon in the 8th final of the League Cup. Then they launch their low-key impact on the League Cup championship throne - Don't know the plan of Don't want to win the League Cup championship, so naturally no one hyped this topic.

The match with Graz AK just ended, and two days later, Forests welcomed their 28th round of league opponent Blackburn at home.  Donn adopted a rotation system in this game, and the appearance of a large number of substitutes did not weaken the strength of Forests. Instead, those hungry players worked extra hard to gain a better impression in front of the head coach. Despite such exhausted Forests, the opponent was forced to draw 2:2 at home.

Everyone's reaction to this score was "normal". They played so many games in a row. It's a league and a European battlefield, and it's already good to not lose. No one thinks that the Forest team has shifted its focus. Even Moyes is still feeling headaches for the aggressive Forest team, and he doesn't realize that his main competitors have no intention of taking the league to heart.

In March, there are more than two months left before the end of the league. Forests ranked stable fifth, and Liverpool, ranked sixth, still had 43 points. In order to get rid of the entanglement of Forests behind them, Everton of Moyes made every effort and accumulated fifty-one points after the 28th round of the league. It seems that the gap between them and Forests has widened to four points, but Moyes couldn't fully feel at ease because he was also very clear about the situation of his team. Without Graveson, the winter break is also

After failing to introduce Arteta, Moyes felt sorry for the Spaniard's wonderful performance after the 26th round of the league substitute. It would be great if he had been a little more determined at the beginning. If he had offered a purchase instead of loaning, perhaps he had already negotiated personal treatment with Arteta before Donn intervened. Arteta is not a local player in the team. At that time, he couldn't wait to absorb the outline to get rid of the quagmire of Real Sociedad. No matter which team came to him, he would probably nod and agree.

Moyes' Everton is gritting his teeth and hoping to fight on both sides of the Forest team now and the schedule is dense. The points gap between the Forest team is widened, so that there will be more room for maneuver in the future.

The 29th round of the league, on March 5, Nottingham Forest challenged Middlesbrough away.

This time, the Forest team still sent out the same lineup as the same as a league game.

He lost to Forest in the League Cup final and also to Forest in the first half of the league. McLaren finally seized the opportunity to take revenge this time. Middlesbrough occupied the right time, place and people, and defeated Nottingham Forest 2:0, which played against half of the main players and rested at half of the main players.

The media finally realized something was wrong. The League Cup game will take six days later. It is not a weekly double game now, and the Forests really have no reason to rotate in this game. Even more wrong. When the game lost, facing the proud McLaren, Tony Don't performs particularly calmly!

This is incredible. Since that League Cup final, the media have known that Donn and McCallaren dislike each other.   In the first half of the league, after Forests defeated Middlesbrough 2-1 at home, Donn was very happy at the press conference, which was simply beyond words. McCallaren always had a gloomy face and also put his disappointed expression on his face for everyone to see.

Now when McLaren and Tony Donn's roles in the first half of the season were swapped, Donn's face was not covered with clouds, but instead calm...

This is not in line with Donne's character. In the past, after losing to McLaren, who looked down on the most, he might read the summary after the game, and then got up and left the press conference early. Now he was sitting there as if no one listened to McLaren praising Middlesbrough for his outstanding performance, suppressing the Forest's offense, defending a powerful center like Viduka, and how to make Albertini fall into the defensive quagmire and unable to escape...

He did not refute at all, and waited for McLaren to finish all these words. He slowly stated that he was very satisfied with the team's performance because "young players and those who don't get too many opportunities to play in normal times have enough opportunities to play, which is particularly important for their growth."

Has he regarded the league as a place to train new players? He is confused? How can he put the league in this position? He should be in the League Cup or FA Cup, not the league!

Is this person arrogant or ignorant?

Even McLaren, who was originally very happy, had to glance at Tang En, thinking that he must be deliberately slapping the swollen face and pretending to be fat, and want to anger himself. But... I'm sorry, Mr. Tony Tangen, I'm not a child who has not even cut off his foreskin.

Don stood up, stretched out his hand to McLaren, and smiled and said, "Good luck, Mr. McLaren."
Chapter completed!