Chapter 161: Strength (Part 1)

Losing the FA Cup did not affect Don En's mood or the overall atmosphere of the team. Everyone knew in their hearts where they needed to work hard this season.

As time entered February, although Forests were eliminated in the FA Cup, their progress did not stop. Manchester United helped Forests throw a heavy burden, and Forests took the game lightly.

On February 1, 2005, Nottingham Forest played against Crystal Palace at home. After losing the FA Cup, Don En was so lucky that the Forest team could use such a weak team to adjust his condition and psychology. Amid the shouts of nearly 30,000 fans at the City Stadium, Nottingham Forest easily won the visiting Crystal Palace 2:0.

In the twenty-five rounds of the league, with a total of 40, they are still under Liverpool and ranked sixth.

Nottingham Forest wants to improve its ranking, and Liverpool, who is pressing on them, is the first enemy. Currently, the two teams have a total of 40 points. As long as Liverpool makes a small mistake, the Forest will likely replace it.

It is almost impossible for Liverpool to avoid making mistakes. This season they have to focus more on the Champions League. The team has limited energy and specializes in the Champions League, so they have to give up the league. That was the opportunity for the Forest team.

What Don N now has to do is win all the games he can win, and then quietly lie behind Liverpool, waiting for it to fall behind when it is exhausted and then exerts its strength.

Even if Liverpool has not made any mistakes, it doesn't matter. Nottingham Forest has another direct game against Liverpool. This time it is a home game, and Don will not allow the team to fail again.

Of course, before the final battle with Liverpool, Forests itself could not fall behind first. Don't want to see the team work hard for most of the season. In the end, it slowly couldn't keep up with the main force and was left behind.

During training, Donn strengthened the team's defensive practice and helped Van der Sar develop enough tacit understanding with the back line as soon as possible - losing to Manchester United in the FA Cup, and some of the cooperation problems with goalkeeper Van der Sar and the back line are also one of the reasons.

In addition, after joining the player Arteta joined the team, he has already been positioned, which is something that Tang En needs to worry about.

When Forests bought Arteta, some people were worried that Coach Donn would not be able to arrange Forests' midfield.   The cooperation between Wood and Albertini was proved to be very successful in the first half of the season.  The head coach had no reason to split the pair because of a new player.

But in Tang En's eyes, this is not a problem at all.

The pace of the Premier League is the fastest among the four top leagues in Europe (except one of the five previous Ligue 1). The offense and defense conversion speed is fast, the offensive and defensive speed is fast, the passing speed is fast, and the fighting pace is fast... In short, everything is fast. This game rhythm requires a high level of physical fitness for the player. Albertini is already a 33-year-old veteran after all. His physical fitness cannot support him to start throughout the season and play for 90 minutes of each game. He must have a substitute player, and Arteta is the most suitable candidate.

Unlike Donn's memory, Arteta is the core position in Everton. Arteta is a player who has not proved himself at Real Sociedad, so he is not qualified to be a big shot. He is neither the core of the Forest's midfielder nor a big shot of the Forest. This can be seen from his 3 million euros worth, and it can be converted into pounds only about 1.5 million. This is pitifully small.

Arteta entered Nottingham Forest very low-key. From the first day he came to this team, Donn told Espanyol very frankly that he cannot be the main player of the Forest team yet, but he will be Albertini's first substitute. Because he is the most organized offensive player in the midfield besides Albertini, as long as he performs well, he will still have the chance to go from a bench player to a starting main player. Of course, if he doesn't mind playing on the sidelines of the midfield, he will have more opportunities to play.

Arteta accepted Donn's opinion and considered trying to play multiple positions in the field - he also wanted to prove that his strength was not as unbearable as Real Sociedad. In order to leave a good impression on the new coach, he also did a panacea.

Tang En has not bought those big-name stars yet for this reason: can he control those well-known players at such a young age? If there are too many big-name stars in the team and he does not obey his head coach, the team will have no combat effectiveness. Tang En would rather find some ordinary players who are not well-known but have strong strength, and never look for those stars who have been famous for a long time. To put it nicely, "no one can be above the overall team." To put it more arrogant means "no one can be above him Tony Tang En."

This is so similar to Claufe who has passed away...

In terms of adapting to the English football style, Arteta has no problem. Albertini has been adapting to the Forest team for a while. Arteta doesn't have to worry about this at all, because he once played in Scotland and is completely used to the football style of the British Isles. Adaptation does not mean assimilation. He can adapt to English football, and at the same time retains his delicate footwork skills and outstanding imagination. He has many advantages of Spanish players. This kind of players are dreamt of all head coaches. He can bring fresh things to the team and make the team unique in the entire league.

Donn is very optimistic about Arteta and hopes to train him to become the core of the Forest's midfield organization in the future. At that time, George Wood will protect Arteta like he did to protect Albertini and Rebrov.

Therefore, during training, Don will often arrange Wood and Arteta in the same group, and from this time they will slowly develop their tacit understanding.

On February 5, the 26th round of the league, Nottingham Forest continued their away journey, this time the opponent was Aston Villa.

When the Premier League just started this season, Forest once tied Aston Villa with an own goal at home. That was the first point in the Forest's Super League. From then on, Forest was unbeaten in the Super League for ten consecutive rounds!

Although there are still those people, the Forest team is now two completely different teams from that time.

After half a season of running-in and training, the Forest team is now more mature and stronger, and can always stay in the top six, which cannot be achieved by luck alone.

Although on the away game, Forest defeated Villa.

The one who did a great job in this tough away game, helping the team win the final victory was Freddy Eastwood.

The Gypsy hasn't appeared in the headlines of the newspaper sports page for a while. Recently, due to the club's needs, he is promoting his teammate and "enemy" George Wood in a high-profile manner. I don't know what it would be like to see those reports. Fortunately, these did not affect Eastwood's performance. Perhaps he is not the most dazzling star in the Forest team. In addition to scoring goals on the court, he seems to have disappeared off the court. Occasionally he will go back to London to visit his father, but more often he takes care of his wife and the children he is pregnant in the caravan.

Eastwood has not yet found an agent. Someone came to him to be his agent, but he refused. So he has no business activities except playing football. The chances of exposure to newspapers are naturally greatly reduced.

But this time, he made headlines in newspapers, and not just the Nottingham local media, he was the most popular figure in London Fleet Street this week.

At Villa_park, there may be many people who shine. Angel, the scorer who scored the first goal for Aston Villa, the second goal for the home team, the Ecuadorian veteran de la Cruz (ulises_de_la_cruz), who still calmed down despite losing two goals, the veteran Jero, who rebuilds the defense and no longer gives the opponent any chance, Viduca, who creates opportunities for his teammates to attract the opponent's defensive attention, and Arteta, who substitutes Albertini for the Forest for the first time, the only person who shines the most is the low-key gypsy Freddy Eastwood.

Although the home team scored two goals with a fast break just twenty minutes into the game. Fans at Villa Park must have thought the Forest team was stunned and they could start celebrating the victory 70 minutes in advance. At this time, Eastwood stood up and told Villa fans how stupid it was to celebrate so early in advance.

His powerful long shot outside the penalty area hit the Villa player's leg, and changed from a powerful volley to a long-range hoop. He just crossed the head of the Villa goalkeeper. Thomas Sorensen, who was deceived by his first shot, looked up at the football flying over the sky, and then fell into the empty goal...

After scoring the goal, Eastwood's performance became more and more active. With Viduka at the front to help him attract vitality, he has more freedom. Eastwood is not the kind of center forward who is waiting for the ball in front of the opponent's goal. He is the second forward and prefers to move freely behind his teammates. Although Villa's head coach David O'Leary strengthened the defense at the front of the penalty area, it is still a headache for this forward with erratic running position.

Sometimes he appears in the middle, hiding behind Viduka to find a chance to shoot directly. When he counterattacked, he was at the front and dribbled the ball. When you put the defense focus on the middle, he pulled it to the side to cross...
Chapter completed!