Godfather Of Champions

It was silent in the locker room, and Twain stood among the group of players. He looked at each of them. Everyone stared at him wordlessly. He was the backbone of this team.

“Do you really not want to lose?” Twain asked, but he did not expect the men to answer. He raised his hands in front of his chest and bowed his head to signal for everyone not to speak.

“Very well. Then from now on you forget all of what I just said just now! Forget those damn words like ‘give up the league tournament’, ‘go home and sleep.’ Let’s set up the tactics against Arsenal for the second half…”

“We’re definitely going to win this game. A draw is unacceptable. We’ve put in our efforts and we need to be rewarded. So, we don’t have to consider defensive counterattacks…” Twain wrote and drew on the tactical board. He looked back to see everyone still standing and hurriedly wave for them to sit down.

“In terms of defense, we can refer to the last game. George, you have an important task. Freeze Fàbregas completely, leaving him too occupied to organize the attack. Arsenal rely on him to manage in the midfield. If he’s ineffective, Arsenal’s offensive threat will be at least weakened by half. Don’t wait, pounce on the first point. Fernando, you protect in the back.”

Gago and Wood both nodded at the same time.

“Your task is not to intercept their ball, but to delay the time and slow Arsenal’s pace down to buy some time for Wood’s defense. Remember, when they want to pass the ball, let them pass. You don’t have to run over. Guard the middle and leave the other positions to your teammates.”

Then Twain drew two lines along the sidelines on the tactical board.

“It’s going to be very demanding on the sidelines in the second half because not only do you have to attack, you also have to let go. The full backs have to assist with the offense and the wingers also have to defend. If the side midfielders are not active, then our defense will be in jeopardy. If the full backs do not assist in the offensive, then we can’t win the game. You’re the key to this game, guys.”

This time it was Bale, Rafinha, Fernández and Bentley who nodded.

Twain looked at Pepe and said, “Pepe?”

Pepe knew what he wanted to ask. He shook his head and said, “I don’t have a problem, boss. You don’t have to worry about me.”

Twain pointed to him and smiled, “Toward the end of the first half it was clear that Arsenal had used your position as the place to focus on breaking through. Now let’s make a bet. Do you feel…” He winked, “… that Arsenal will still think so in the second half?”

Pepe guessed what the boss wanted to do. He asked, “Boss, you’re saying they think Igor and I are going to fight in the locker room and continue to play abnormally in the second half?”

Twain wagged his finger and said, “I just think it’s possible, and Arsenal can think it’s possible. If I were Wenger, I would take everything into account. You had a big blowout with Igor in the first half. It looked like you have a vicious feud between you two…Heh.” Seeing the look on the two men’s faces, Twain laughed.

The two parties in the conflict bowed their heads a little embarrassedly. Now that they had completely calmed down, they were really ashamed of themselves for their outburst in the first half in front of tens of thousands of people and live television cameras. Who knew what went in their minds at that moment, and what rang in their ears?

“I think Arsenal will try to break through from your position in the second half. If they find that nothing has changed from the first half, they will concentrate all the attacking firepower on you. If it were me, I would do the same. It’s my favorite thing to twist another knife into the open wound and add salt to the injury.” As he said so, he did the action of stabbing with a knife and twisting it. The muscles on the players’ faces twitched as well. . .

Twain suddenly stopped talking and stuck his head out to look around. The people who were focused on listening to his instructions, were puzzled—what was the boss up to again?

“Tony, what are you doing?” Kerslake could not take it anymore and asked aloud.

“It’s a shame.” Twain shook his head and sighed, “The locker room in the Emirates Stadium is really clean. There is no dirt or dust at all…I wanted to slightly change your appearances.” Twain said to Pepe and Akinfeev, “Your faces are too clean now. It doesn’t look like you’re two enemies that had just fought a fierce fight.”

Some of the players who were first to catch the boss’ drift, laughed.

Amid the laughter, Akinfeev looked embarrassed again, but Pepe was brave enough to throw caution to the wind and lifted his head to say, “This is nothing, boss. Igor and I will continue to stare at each other. That’ll do.” Having said that, he specially demonstrated the action.

He stood next to Akinfeev but turned his head to the side and glared at the other man from the corner of his eyes with the muscles flaring slightly around his nostrils. The corners of his mouth tilted upwards, but it was not a smile. It showed contempt, disdain, and disgust. It was as if he really looked down on his teammate next him from the bottom of his heart.

Twain clapped right away as he watched from the side. He said, “You acted it out very well. I recommend you go to Hollywood after you retire, Pepe!” Then he looked at Akinfeev.

“I can’t act that well, boss. I can only avoid looking at him.” Akinfeev turned his body around and turned his back toward Pepe.

The two men’s performance made the locker room laugh endlessly.

Twain snapped his fingers and the laughter subsided.

“While we’re defending, the biggest headache is not how sharp the other side’s attack is, but not knowing where they’re going to come from.” As he said it, the defenders nodded and felt the same way. “Now the problem is solved.” Twain pointed to Pepe, and there was another burst of laughter in the crowd. “At the start of the second half, you act a little clumsy. Don’t worry, I won’t shout at you from the sidelines, Pepe.”

“Okay, boss.” Pepe agreed right away. It was also a challenge for him to be able to deliberately perform abnormally without making any fatal mistakes.

“Pepe can be a little bit clumsy, but you can’t, Igor.”

Akinfeev nodded hurriedly and said, “I know, boss. I’m the last line of defense.”

Twain knew the Russian goalkeeper was smart and did not continue the topic. He turned to the team now and said, “Now that Arsenal’s main direction is clear, don’t think that we can win just like that. Our opponents are living people, not bronze statues outside the stadium or computer data. They will adjust to our changes. Once they find out that Pepe is just a trap, they’ll make a change right away, or they’ll beat us at our own game…So, in fact, we are given very few opportunities. I ask you not to hurry to counter press after successfully defending and to make sure of the success rate. I repeat I don’t want to see you send long shots ahead after you intercept the ball. Try to keep the ball on our side and not give the ball possession back to Arsenal easily. If you lose the ball, then counter press. Don’t rush back to defend. You must remember, we don’t have many chances to deceive Arsenal. You have to treat it as our only chance to attack each time you take the ball! One goal!” He put up his right index finger and said, “As long as we have a goal, we can break the deadlock on the field and mess up Arsenal’s tactics. So, we have to take advantage of our one shot at the ball! This is an away game for us, everyone outside is our enemy, we don’t have a right to waste our chances! We will suffer if we waste any opportunities!”

“In terms of offense, you have to keep running, and every opportunity will emerge during running. Don’t be lazy and expect the football to be sent to your feet in front. Pull apart Arsenal’s defense. Their full backs also like to assist. Take advantage of that to strike their flanks! Ibi, you’ve got to be a little bit tougher! Keep them occupied. In that way, it also reduces the pressure on our defense.”

After everyone knew what they had to do, Twain was silent for a moment. Kerslake looked at his watch. There was little time left for the halftime interval. The halftime interval seemed extraordinarily short.

Twain was silent for a while before he continued to say, “I know that everyone is very tired recently. Honestly, I am also very tired. Everyone here is tired.” He pointed to the coaches around him. “You’re not the only ones fighting in the final stages. So are we. You are physically tired, and we are mentally tired. Anyway, we are so tired till we are going nuts.” Twain used the word “tired” a lot in one shot. He seemed to want to emphasize the feeling in particular.

“But it’s the 34th round of the league tournament now.” Twain pointed his finger and said to his players, “Four more games to go before the end of the season … No, it’s three and a half. We are six points behind Arsenal, a gap of two games. That means there are one and a half games left. If they win against us in this game, then there is a three-game gap. Even if we win all three of the last league games and Arsenal loses all of them, we still share the same points with them, but because we have fewer goals scored than them, we still can’t win the title.”

“I say these things to you not because I want to lessen the burden on you and not to make you feel like ‘things are still in control.’ I want you to know ‘Damn it, things are at a rotten stage! We are done for if we don’t work hard!’ Three and a half games! We don’t even have the slightest chance to make a mistake, just like life. Once you lose, you lose and there’s not another chance for you to re-do. So now I’m grateful for the competition schedule!” Twain gnashed his teeth and looked fierce when he said “grateful.””It gives us a chance to take our destiny into our own hands, even if this is our last chance.”

Twain raised his index finger, slightly trembling. It was a sign of him using too much force.

“One last chance. If we can’t grasp it, we can really declare that we give up. Even there are still three rounds until the end of the league tournament. We are not qualified to win the championship in that case! We have no right to laugh at the losers, because we will be the biggest losers! So, for me, for you, for all of us, this season actually has… only forty-five minutes left. If we can’t defeat Arsenal, we can’t win the league title! If we lose to Arsenal here, then we still can’t win against them in the Champions League game three days later! It’s how things are. If you have been tripped by the same stone, you will be tripped by that stone for the rest of your life. You can’t climb up. To you, that stone lying on the ground will simply be a mountain insurmountable to you! So, don’t believe the kind of nonsense that if we lose the league tournament, we still have the Champions League!”

Twain’s face was flushed again. This time it was not from anger, but from excitement.

“How many times in your career will you have the same opportunities as this season? The league title, the Champions League trophy, the FA Cup, we have three titles to fight for. We can win the ‘treble’ that tens of thousands of people admire! Twenty-two years since the establishment of the English Premier League, only Manchester United had ever done it! We would have a chance to be the second in twenty-two years, but it will be gone if we let it go here today! Who knows what’s going happen in the future? Who can guarantee that we can still win the treble next season? I can’t guarantee it in any case.” Twain spread his hands and added, “If such an opportunity is still not worth our whole team to grit their teeth to fight!” He brandished his arms and roared, “Then what else is there in this world that is worth us fighting hard for? What else?!”

The eyes of the players who had been watching him in silence, underwent a transformation. Balls of raging flame burnt in their eyes. Some of them were so excited that their lips trembled, fists brandished, and bodies shook. They could not wait to rush out now and fight Arsenal.

But Twain was not done talking. The fire was not fanned strongly enough!

“You’re tired, I know! You’re under a lot of pressure, I know that! But why are we tiring ourselves for and putting ourselves under pressure? It’s all for the first treble to be achieved since 1999 in fifteen years! If you’re tired, grit your teeth and bear it! If you’re feeling the pressure, grit your teeth and bear it!” Twain gritted his teeth and said as his knuckles turned white. “Hold up till May 23rd. At that time, we will have three championship trophies to prove that it is worth gritting our teeth and bear it! We will not do useless work. There must be a return for every bit of hard work and perseverance we put in. We, Nottingham Forest … are champions!”

“Champions!!” The players, unable to contain their excitement, finally roared out.

“On that day, everyone will Bow! Down! To! Us!!” Twain brandished his fists vigorously, as if he was going to smash a hole in the air.

A crowd of people followed suit and howled. The air in the entire locker room sizzled due to him, leaving everyone excited and eager to find an outlet for the fire inside their hearts.

They had already overshot the time. The staff came knocking on the door of the visiting team’s locker room to remind the Forest team it was time to play. Arsenal had been waiting for them on the pitch for almost two minutes. Unhappy boos had broken out in the stands. Those security guards were really worried that if the Forest team still did not come out, the fans in the Emirates Stadium would start to tear down the seats and smash the visitors’ technical area.

But when he knocked on the door, a group of people rushed out and nearly knocked him to the ground.

He staggered to one side to avoid and watched in amazement as the Nottingham Forest players, with their glares and necks flushed with anger, rushed to the pitch.

Then he saw Tony Twain coming out last. Twain also saw him, and the two men exchanged looks. Twain smiled and walked to the field.