Chapter 21: Qualifications for Champions

"Fernando Gago! He scored a key goal! This goal pulled Nottingham Forest back from the edge of the cliff!"

The stands in the corner of the Emirates Stadium were thrilling, and the fans there all jumped out of their seats and raised their arms to cheer.

Arsenal players were a little helpless. Wenger sat on the coach's seat and just raised his head back to express his dissatisfaction.

Donn's celebration lasted only a short time, and while the people around him were still applauding and cheering, he had already pulled Mitcher beside him.

"The warm-up is over, boy." Tang En glanced at the Forest Team No. 9, which was taller than him.

Mitcher nodded, his expression on his face was very calm. Now, three years have passed, he is no longer the unknown pawn who made his debut in the Champions League.

"Our substitution is a bit early, and the opponent will never think of it. I hope you can play a bigger role, not just shooting. Do you know what to do?"

"I know, boss. This is not the first time I've played in the game."

Don Eun jokingly heard him say this, "By the way, you are no longer a rookie.   In addition, go up and tell them that Sarnia and Krish have very active assists, so that they can make more use of this." He pointed to both sides of the court and said to Mitchel.    " Try to score another goal in a short time."

Mitcher took the order and left. Done walked to the sidelines and whistled into the field, directing the team to continue the attack with gestures.

Wenger did not expect that Tang En's substitution so early, not to mention that after they scored a goal, the team performed well at this time, and they should try their best to ensure the integrity of the lineup and not interrupt the team's rhythm. This kind of adjustment should only appear after they concede the goal.

Mitcher came on the court and replaced Shahin.

Shahin was a little unhappy when he left because it was too early - only fifty-five minutes...

He slapped Mitcher with a dark face. As he walked past Tang En, Tang En said nothing, but just reached out to touch the top of his head.

Judging from that goal, Gago was in good shape in this game, so Donne asked Gagodo to participate in the offense, while Wood defended from behind.

As if he had noticed Don Eun's intention, Wenger stood up and issued the latest order. Then Arsenal's two full-backs stopped assisting and stayed in the backcourt honestly.

When Tang En saw this scene, he cursed on the coach's seat.

The enemy is too cunning!

I wanted to score another goal while Arsenal was not stable and take the initiative into his own hands. Now it has become a stalemate.

Fortunately, Mitchel was able to control the ball for the team on the court, so Forest can still play a positional battle with Arsenal.

But Tang En still seemed a little impatient...

From time to time, he stood up from the coach's seat, walked to the sidelines, or raised his hand to look at the table, and then looked at the score on the big screen. As time passed, the Forest's offense still did not achieve any results. Arsenal's offense was not active enough, and it seemed that Wenger was acceptable to draw at home.

After all, they are now six points ahead. Even if they draw, they are still six points ahead. For Arsenal, being able to continue to maintain the six-point gap will almost ensure that they will eventually win the league championship.

Wenger doesn't want to spend too much energy on this game. There is still a Champions League game in three days. That's the most important thing, it's absolutely impossible to afford to lose.

For this reason, after 65 minutes, Wenger began to substitution one after another. First he replaced Fabregas. As the core of the team, the captain, and the absolute main force, his mission has been completed in this game. Wenger does not want to see him injured or exhausted in the last twenty-five minutes. Fabregas did not express any dissatisfaction, but he definitely did not accept it happily. Because he still wants to continue to compete with Wood on the court...

So after seeing the fourth official raise the sign, he hesitated for a moment, shrugged and pointed at himself, and asked the field. Wenger nodded below. He turned his head and looked at George Wood in the distance, and then walked slowly down.

Forest fans were very dissatisfied with his move. He thought he was deliberately delaying the game, so he tried hard to boo the Arsenal captain in the away fan stands.

Fabregas only remembered that he was wearing the captain's armband halfway, so he turned back and handed the armband to Sendros, and the booed even louder. But soon the booed were drowned out by the applause of Arsenal fans, and the home team fans stood up to see them off.

Walking to the sidelines, Fabregas turned around and faced the stadium. He raised his arms to respond to the applause of the fans. However, his eyes were always staring at George Wood standing near the center circle. He seemed to be looking at himself.

The two of them had their eyes intertwined, and Fabregas turned around and walked back to the bench. He shook hands with Wenger. Wenger patted him on the shoulder and signaled that he would do well.

Donn was happy to see Fabregas coming off the court. He knew there was hope for this game. Wenger obviously chose to be conservative because he replaced a defensive midfielder - Denilson, the Brazilian who played the midfielder.

Wenger's idea is that even if Fabregas is over, Arsenal's offensive organization and Will Sher are not worried about anything.

But in Donn's opinion, Willshere is not able to compare with Fabregas at present. It is not a matter of talent, but a gap in experience.

Wood is more than enough to deal with him alone, and after Will Sher is frozen, Walcott and Bella and others cannot play their full abilities. Nottingham Forest will have more energy to invest in the offense. Seek a chance to score.

In the following game, Nottingham Forest gradually took the initiative in the midfield and began to put pressure on Arsenal's penalty area. Arsenal entered the defensive.

The Forests' offensive was very strong, but they seemed to have forgotten Don't ask during the halftime break.                                                                                                                 �

After being yelled by Don En, Rafinia became honest and stopped blindly shooting from a long shot.

Tang En then muttered back to the coach's seat.

"So such a waste of opportunity... do they think they are leading at least three goals?"

In the 75th minute after Fabregas was replaced, Nasri was also replaced by Ramsey.

Tang En watched Wenger substitution coldly. Then he made his own adjustments. Bentley was replaced by Mock.

Mock's mission to play on the court is very simple, and he is to use his technical advantages to create enough trouble for Arsenal's left-wing defense.

Since Lennon left, the Forests' right side is mostly Bentley's world, and Mock is still a little immature, but on some special occasions, he is more effective than Bentley.

Breakthrough! Breakthrough! Breakthrough!

Before going on the court, Donn pulled Mok and asked him to forget everything else, leaving only this thing in his mind. Then he went on the court to break through Arsenal's defense.

He did this very well. He was not fast in terms of speed, but his man-to-ball combination was very good, making Arsenal defenders unable to intercept the ball easily.

For a time, Krish became the focus of Nottingham Forest's attack, and the defensive focus of the entire Arsenal team leaned to the left. Not long after Nasri played, he soon became a defensive forward...

They successfully defended the Forest's offensive wave after wave until the 80th minute.

Tang En looked at his watch. It was eighty minutes long and he had the last substitution. Several people had some physical problems. It seemed that they needed to be replaced and rested. For example, Bale, his assists are no longer sharp now, and he will no longer actively return to defense even after running up. Fortunately, Wood was helping him fill up the spot, so Arsenal did not seize the opportunity to score.

Donn only brought Leighton Barnes, the left-back, to the away game. If he was replaced, the offense would inevitably be weakened. Because he needed Barnes' defense.

Should Bale go down and rest in advance for the Champions League three days later? Or should he replace an attacking player and continue to strengthen his offense?

After Tang Enluo thought about it, he called Abanglaho from the bench.

He wants to give it a try.

One minute later, the fourth official signaled the Forest team to substitution, and Abanglaho replaced Gareth Bale.

Withdrawing a full-back and replacing a forward, Don En was gambled all the time.

As he told the players during the break: If we give up here, we will not be qualified to continue to compete for the championship.

He hopes to use this substitution to remind the players that he has not forgotten this sentence, so he hopes that the players on the court will not forget - victory. They are their only pursuit.

After Abanglaho ran on the court, he took advantage of the death ball to call everyone over. He clenched his fists and shouted at his teammates: "Boss, let us continue to attack, we must win!"

After hearing this, the players of the Forest Team turned their heads and looked at the sidelines. Tang En stood there with a serious look on his face.

"What should I do if the defense is done? Bale goes down, Rafinia is not the material to play as a central defender..." Gago was a little worried.

"Don't worry about so many. Let's talk about goals first!" Abanglaho was full of fighting spirit.

Wood said: "I'll be responsible for the defense. Don't worry."

He ended the debate as soon as he spoke, and no one objected.

"Then it's decided. Must score. Must win!" Abanglaho clenched his fists to encourage the tired guys. "Guys, Triple Crown, think about it!"

Gago gasped and nodded: "There are ten minutes left to find a way to score a goal for them."

The group of people set their goals and dispersed.

Another minute later, the Forest team broke into the penalty area, but Ibisevic collided with Amunia while fighting. The latter fell to the ground and the referee summoned the team doctor to the field.

Nottingham Forest fans in the stands were still complaining that Amunia deliberately delayed the game, but Don Eun didn't have the time to talk to the fourth official. He seized the time to call Wood to the sidelines and asked for an opportunity in person.

"Cross! Pass the football from the air to Arsenal's goal and pass it to Mitchel! But not letting him score a goal, he is not the main attacker, let him grab the back point and then cross the ball. Do you understand? He is not the main attacker, but we must make the opponent think he is the one who solves the problem." Tang En kept using his gesture to make an acute addition.    It makes people think of a word "shush".

Wood nodded: "I understand."

"Go tell them this change, tell Gago if we cross, we will firmly jump into the penalty area and ignore the defense in the middle."

"Do I keep it?"

Tang En nodded: "Yes!"

"Good place, no problem."

Wood ran back on the field and told the whole team about Donn's adjustment.

Wenger took advantage of Amunia's treatment and called Sendros to the sidelines to make him pay attention to defending Mitchel. Sendros is the only person on the court who can compete with Mitchel for headers and height. At this time, Donne will definitely use the simplest method - pass into the penalty area to let Mitchel header to the top - to try to score. Then just watch Mitchel die.

After the game resumed, Wenger began to feel relieved about his previous arrangements - Mitcher has indeed become the focus of the Forest's offense, and Sendros strives to top the table at the beginning, but is not at a disadvantage.

But then something was wrong.

Physically speaking, Sendros has run for almost ninety minutes, and he can't keep up with Mitcher who came up in the first and second half. Tactically speaking... Mitcher is not the real end point of the Forest's offensive.

When George Wood successfully intercepted the ball in the backcourt, his position was on the right side. He did play the right back as he said.

At that time, Walcott planned to force a breakthrough with his own speed when facing Wood. Unfortunately, Wood's accurate positioning made him unable to increase his speed, and the ball under his feet was easily cut off by Wood. He just symbolically grabbed Wood's ball in front and ran back. Wood did not think that the commentator would pass the football to Gago in the middle, and he did an action that surprised everyone - he dribbled the ball directly from the wing!

Walcott didn't expect Wood, a temporary cameo, to ride the ball and assist like an authentic full-back. He watched Wood run past him and didn't react at all.

When Wood rushed through the center line, the Arsenal defenders still thought he would pass the ball to Gago in the middle or Fernandez in the front. So everyone's defensive attention was on the back two people, so they watched Wood continue to dribble along the sideline...

"Ahhhh! George Wood is still dribbling the ball! There is no Arsenal player going up to defend, they are defending Gago. They are putting Fernandez, and even Mitchel, but no one is going up to defend George Wood! He is still dribbling the ball!"

The commentator became excited. Because whenever Wood did something abnormal, the next story would be very exciting.

"Don't leave him alone-!" Wenger stood up from his seat, threw away the gentle temperament of the "professor" and shouted loudly. As an experienced old coach, he smelled the danger from Wood's abnormal behavior.

Fabregas was the one who stood up from his seat like him and felt nervous. He had already changed his clothes and sat on the bench wearing a towel and chatted with his teammates. At this moment, he couldn't help but leave the bench and walked to the sidelines, staring at George Wood who was running like the wind on the sidelines.
To be continued...