Godfather Of Champions

The first conceded goal caused Ferguson to get up from his seat and stand on the sidelines. Although he did not say anything, the Manchester United players felt a lot of pressure. The name “Hairdryer” was not given for nothing. Anyone who had not been a player in Manchester United could never understand the terrible feeling of a telling off by Ferguson.

After taking the lead, Nottingham Forest seemed to have forgotten that their opponent was Manchester United, the “Red Devils” Manchester United, led by the Premier League’s best manager for ten years, Sir Alex Ferguson.

Twelve minutes after they scored, Manchester United equalized the score.

The goal was scored by England’s Golden Boy, Wayne Rooney. This time, he made full use of his personal ability to receive Roy Keane’s passing outside the penalty area. He used his outstanding explosive force to shake off Piqué. Then, he broke through into the penalty area and shot a volley. The football pierced the bottom corner of the goal, close to the turf. Faced with such a tricky shot, Edwin van der Sar was powerless and could only watch as the football flew past his fingertips, strike the back column, and bounce into the goal.

After the goal, Rooney was so excited that he pulled the front of his jersey and rallied 27,000 Forest fans at the City Ground stadium.

The last time the two teams had competed, Rooney had not scored a goal. He had not performed much throughout the entire game. After the game, he was criticized and thought that the key to his depressed state was Manchester United team’s failure to beat the Forest team. He finally vented his grievance with a beautiful goal in this game.

Tang En saw a bizarre scene on the field: his memory of Manchester United’s future main goalkeeper’s goal breached by Manchester United’s main striker in this game. He remembered that the time from which he had transmigrated was still two and a half years away. The future that he could control was getting lesser and lesser. He had to hurry. Tang En was so preoccupied with the question that he forgot to be upset at the loss of a goal.

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Roy Keane was the captain of Manchester United. But he used to be the star hope of the Forest team, just like George Wood was now. Twain favored George Wood, just like Clough had favored Roy Keane. Thirteen years had passed. Clough had gone to heaven to vie for the top spot with God, and Roy Keane wore Manchester United’s jersey to return to Nottingham. Even though they were both red jerseys, the emblems on the chests were different.

The moment he entered the field before the start of the game, Keane was welcomed by a tsunami of cheers in the stadium. However, when the game started, his performance left little impression of how much he was loved there.

The lineup sent by Twain for this game was no different from that of the past. Arteta, who had just joined the team, did not even make it to the big list. He was a spectator in the stands.

Roy Keane’s scope of activity was even wider in the midfield than it had been the last time the two teams had played against each other. When defending against the Forest players, he was ferocious and never avoided any physical confrontation.

What excited the commentator was that the last time the two teams had played against each other, Keane and Wood had not had much direct contact. However, this time, thirty minutes had passed in the first half and Keane and Wood had already clashed face-to-face twice. Both times were Wood defending against Keane. And there was one more incident whereby Keane actively rushed up to intercept the ball from Wood.

The result was Keane triumphing over Wood by 3:0. Facing the mature and seasoned Keane, Wood was as tender as a newborn.

In this game, Ferguson obviously strengthened the watch over Wood, which was clear from Keane’s interception. The Forest team had managed to equalize the score at the last moment in the previous game. In addition to Wood’s unexpected tenacity, there had also been a lack of attention and familiarity on Manchester United’s part towards the Forest team. But Ferguson had made meticulous preparations for this game. He spent a full five days studying Nottingham Forest based on the previous match, just like when he had first studied Wenger and, later on, Mourinho.

Nottingham Forest was already an enemy that needed Manchester United and Ferguson’s full energy to deal with.

In this game, Manchester United was completely in control of the midfield. After the equalizer, the Forest team’s morale fell and he was forced to play defense under pressure.

Twain sat motionless in the technical area. He knew that he had no good way to deal with the situation. He had incited too much anger in his team, and it had lost its cool head. Plus, Ferguson had studied his team very carefully, and every tactic was targeted.

He considered the February schedule in his mind and decided to give up on the game. The team itself was competing on two fronts: The Premier League and the UEFA Europa League. There was no need to add another FA Cup now.

The goal of the Forest team this season was not to win a domestic cup title. From a long-term perspective, it was essential to play well in the Premier League.

The Forest team made adjustments in the second half. Gunnarsson was brought on to replace Albertini. Crouch substituted Viduka, and lastly, Aaron Lennon replaced Ashley Young.

On the surface, it looked like they had given up the game by replacing three players in one go. Even though they actually were, the produced effect was that the players who had been brought on played as if their lives depended on it, which created a lot of trouble for Manchester United.

The score on the electronic scoreboard was fixed at 1:1 for about twenty minutes. It was a deadlock for both sides. It seemed like Twain would reap an unexpected benefit. But then, at the 21st minute, Manchester United scored again.

This time, Ryan Giggs had scored the goal. It was a direct free kick. Edwin van der Sar could not save it in time, and the football slammed into the net.

Since Beckham had left, Manchester United’s first choice for free kicks had become Ryan Giggs. This was not the first time he had scored a direct free kick.

Seeing Manchester United players celebrating their goal in their own stadium, Twain and David Kerslake shot a glance at each other without saying anything and shrugged.

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Soon after, the Forest team launched a counterattack. But under the tight defense of Manchester United, Carroll was not tested too much. Roy Keane, who had returned to the City Ground stadium, was surprisingly good. He alone could guard the front line of the penalty area during his defense. Since Twain had changed to purely defensive play in the midfield, the Forest team also did not have a lot of approaches in their offense. They could only shoot long passes and let their two flanks take turns to attack. The lack of delicate front field coordination and imaginative passing made it extremely difficult to defeat Manchester United in this game.

The 90-minute game was soon over. Nottingham Forest lost 1:2 to Manchester United at their home ground. They were eliminated from the FA Cup.

At the post-match press conference, Twain did not look annoyed or frustrated. Instead, he looked relieved.

“Now, we can put more effort into the Premier League and the UEFA Europa League. Congratulations to Manchester United.”

Ferguson praised his opponent with a smile and said that the Forest team had been hard to beat. After all, Ferguson had seen how strong Chelsea had been in this season, and now the gap between Manchester United and Chelsea in the league standings was eleven points. It was almost impossible to reverse it. It was also nice to get an FA Cup title rather than ending up empty handed at the end of the season. His good mood was justified.

At the end of the press conference, Ferguson invited Twain to have a drink, and Twain did not refuse.

This was supposed to be an invitation from the home manager. And now, with Ferguson taking the initiative, it suggested that his good mood at the press conference was genuine.

Looking at the two beaming managers, the reporters really did not know what to say about the game’s significance to both teams. Was this really a win-win situation?