Balotelli felt his place in the team should be bright as he was redeployed as a striker and scored the only goal for the Forest side in that defeat. He thought he was the best performer in the whole of Nottingham Forest in that game, and of course, the media didn't approve of it. A number of different media outlets scored the game in one thing the same way – George. Wood is Nottingham Forest's top performer.

He admits that Wood is doing well, but when it comes to being the best on the team, he deserves to be the best.

And, more importantly, he believes the ball has made it clear to the new manager that he is worthy. It was a brilliant goal scored by two players!

Just as he was thinking this, Don stopped him after training.

"Got time, Mario. I want to talk to you alone. ”

Looking at the manager's smiling face, Balotelli was even more sure of his thoughts. He deliberately hesitated to keep himself from acting too excited. Then he nodded slowly: "Okay......"

"Come to my office." Don turned and walked away.

Balotelli was stunned for a moment, he didn't expect this manager to turn so resolutely and walk so quickly. Somewhat dissatisfied, he followed behind him slowly.

In fact, Don just turned around and walked away alone, not to put up a show for Balotelli, now he was full of thoughts about how to start this conversation with Balotelli, how to make the conversation between the two of them as harmonious as possible, and finally achieve the result he wanted.

The result he wants is not to lose both, but to get the most out of Balotelli's ability to help the team.

This incident caused him to die a lot of brain cells, and he couldn't pay attention to other details.

Balotelli felt he was being looked down on and guessed along these lines that the conversation between the manager and himself must not have been a pleasant experience.

There was no one else in the manager's office except the two of them.

Donn motioned for Balotelli to sit down, then asked him if he wanted something to drink.

Balotelli shook his head, not interested in any of this.

Tang En didn't expect the other party to reject him so simply, and he was also a little embarrassed. At this time, he noticed a problem - compared to the original time at Inter Milan, Balotelli is much fatter now...... It's no wonder his form has been up and down.

Donn decided to start with a goal, and as a striker, it's all about goals: "Mario, your goal in the last league game was wonderful. ”

Hearing the manager say this, Balotelli was secretly happy inside. He finally realized his worth!

"But ......," but Shi Tang En changed his words, "Can you score such goals often?" ”

The question stunned Balotelli.

Caught between two people, he was able to flexibly flash out of the air and then hit a ball between the legs of a defender and through the goalkeeper's crotch. He really can't score goals like this very often...... Donn didn't give Balotelli a chance to answer, in fact he didn't expect Balotelli to answer the question, he was just asking a question of his habitual surname.

He threw out another question: "Do you prefer right midfielder or striker?" ”

This time Balotelli did not hesitate to say: "Forward. ”

Don laughed, it was exactly the same answer he had predicted in his mind. "Can you tell us what you think about the current state of the team?"

Balotelli's reply wasn't too surprising to Donne: "I think I should be the core." With me at the core, the team can score a lot of goals and win games is not a problem. ”

Donn nodded slightly, as if he agreed with Balotelli's words, but after listening to him, he said, "But I've never been in the habit of treating strikers as the core......"

He's telling the truth, he's never seen a striker as the heart of the team since he started as a professional head coach. Neither Nicolas Anelka, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Eastwood, nor Mitchel are at the heart of the team under him, and the team's tactics will never revolve around these forwards. How can a head coach who prefers defense make strikers the core? All the attacks come from the back, and the midfielder is naturally the best candidate for the core.

But Balotelli didn't understand, and when he heard that the head coach poured cold water on his head, his face immediately turned from sunny to cloudy.

How could this change in his expression escape Donn's eyes? The conversation was of course to make good use of Balotelli's talents, but it would not have been possible if Balotelli had gone too far. For example, now...... When the core?

No kidding! To have a striker at the heart of the pack would be to negate my tactics entirely. Now how can I have so much time to re-re-establish my tactics and re-establish my core? And then let the whole team re-adapt to the new tactics and new core? What is most lacking now is time, how can I have time to rub shoulders with you on issues that have long been decided?

Besides, you are a person who is not stable at all, why should I take you as the core. The core must be stable, in case you sleepwalk in that game, won't the whole team suffer with it?

I won't do such a stupid thing!

Although he thought so in his heart, Don couldn't say it on his lips. He thought about it, the core of the striker and the core of the midfield are not exactly the same, and if he is allowed to score more goals, then he can barely be called the "core...... If you want to maximize the effect of squeezing Balotelli, then this is not a bad idea...... So he immediately changed his face: "But you know, Mario. Our tactic is to stagger the two forwards one after the other......" he made a staggered gesture and Balotelli nodded in understanding. "I let you play as a striker, not as a center."

This Balotelli also understands that being a center forward is to be embedded in the opponent's penalty area, at that time there are enemy defenders all around, let alone scoring goals, it is good to be able to hold the ball.

"You're in the position of a second striker." Don dragged a piece of paper in his hand, wrote and drew on it, and handed it to Balotelli to read.

On the map, Balotelli's position is cruising around the line of the big penalty area, which seems to be a little far away from the box, but it is a position that suits Balotelli's style, and there is more freedom here than in the box.

Seeing this picture, Balotelli's opinion of this manager is gradually changing. It seems that this leader is different from the previous ones, he really studied his own characteristics to come up with this method.

"You're in a more flexible position...... Donn explained to Balotelli, pointing to the map. He didn't expect the conversation to become a tactical discussion, but it was good, and it was better to get straight to the point than some nonsense.

'Mitchel will get you the attention of the opposition defenders up front, and you need to link up front and forward. He's going to put the opposition back line up and leave you with a lot ......of space," Donn drew a circle at the edge of the box, "It's up to you to shoot or pass the ball here." ”

The first thought on Balotelli's mind was to shoot, but Don seemed to know what he was thinking. "Of course, if you're always forcing a shot, I'm going to have to reconsider your position......"

Balotelli is not the kind of lone striker who would otherwise have been the right midfielder in his most accustomed position, and he will give crosses to his team-mates many times during the game, which is especially prominent at Inter Milan. It was only after coming to the Forest team that he was the most valuable player on the team at that time (George. Wood hasn't been transferred, so he can't know the exact value, so he doesn't compare), so he is somewhat arrogant, always thinking about letting his teammates pass the ball to him, rather than cooperating with his teammates.

Don must now be gracious and mighty to get Balotelli back to work together. He doesn't need a striker who can only shoot and score, because his team tactics are collective, no one can be a lone hero under him, and if there is such a number one, it will only show that he is incompetent as a manager.

"As a second striker, someone who can shoot and score on their own and work with their team-mates to assist their team-mates is obviously better than someone who just knows how to shoot with their feet. I hope you understand me, Mario. ”

In any case, Don is also the head coach who has won the club and national team honorary slams, and Balotelli is arrogant and arrogant, and he has to be more restrained for Donne, who has a straight face.

In fact, the player's mind is very simple, if the manager is a person with a brilliant resume, then no matter how big a star is, he can be suppressed. One of the reasons for Balotelli's previous unruliness is that the managers who come to coach are a little out of class in his eyes...... "When should I shoot myself and when should I pass the ball?" Balotelli asked a question that he then thought was stupid.

Sure enough, Don looked at him with a grin: "You're a genius, Mario." Don't you even know this question? ”

Balotelli was teased by Donne, and was also a little embarrassed: "I know, of course I do!" He replied loudly to Donne's question, as if his voice was low and he had no confidence or confidence.

Don didn't want to embarrass him too much, either. For these extremely talented players, management can't be too extreme. At the age of fifty, he is no longer the self he was in his thirties, and at that time, in order to maintain his authority, he could keep Anelka firmly on the bench. He couldn't do anything like that. Maybe it's because I'm older, maybe I've experienced too many things, and now it's just a passing moment. He didn't have much disgust with Balotelli's deliberate arrogance.

That's why he was thinking about how to use Balotelli, instead of thinking about how to drive Balotelli away.

The manager's authority certainly needs to be maintained, but not by putting a talented player in his prime years into the stands. Ferguson dealt with Cristiano, who was bent on going to Real Madrid. Didn't Ronaldo also release cruel words: "I'd rather rot him in the stands than sell him to Real Madrid"? But did he really do that? No. Not only did he not, but he still made Ronaldo the heart of Manchester United, even sacrificing Rooney for this. This is the mind and skill of a godfather manager - everything is in the interests of the team.

Tony, who is over half a hundred years old. Donn, he's really matured, but it's a shame that he'll only be in the head coach position until the end of the season. If he hadn't had a heart problem and was healthy, I don't know what kind of brilliant results he could have achieved in this position...... Speaking of which, is his retirement a blessing or misfortune in world football?

For the rest of the day, Donn was discussing with Balotelli about the specific technical and tactical strategies on the field. The atmosphere between the two of them was harmonious, something that Donn and Balotelli had never expected of each other before. In Donn's opinion, Balotelli, a twenty-eight-year-old Italian boy, is indeed qualified to be arrogant, because he is really a genius, and his tactical intentions do not need to be emphasized too much, and he can be clear about it once he says it. In Balotelli's eyes, the manager who has created countless brilliance is not just a matter of luck as the media has said, he really understands football, understands himself, and is a "head" worthy of his best loyalty.

At Inter Milan, there was a guy who made him feel the same way, and then that guy went to Manchester United. During his four years at Nottingham Forest, he was always clamoring to go to Manchester United, in fact, just to follow that man. But now he found that he didn't need to do that.

Originally, I was only going to talk alone for ten minutes, but by the time Don and Balotelli reacted, it was almost two o'clock...... When Balotelli found out about this dilemma, he laughed heartlessly, as if it was a funny thing for this kind of thing to happen to a champion godfather.

Don didn't care the way the players looked at him, touched his belly and said to Balotelli, "Let's go, I'm in for a treat today." ”

After more than an hour of communication, the relationship between the two sides became very harmonious, and Donn would not be surprised by such words.

"Whatever, I don't have anything special to eat. Actually, I'm not hungry......"

"That's not going to work, there's a training session in the afternoon. You think my training sessions are something you can handle hungry? When the time comes, if you can't persevere due to physical exhaustion, I won't let go of this opportunity to punish you. You know how much I wish something was wrong in the team right now......"

The way Donn said this with a straight face really startled Balotelli—he was sure that the leader meant it.

Let's see how he treats Bale, a veteran of the team, in training, right? Just because there was a set of switchback running exercises that didn't run seriously, he asked Bell to redo twenty sets under the fierce words.

He is the king of Wilford, and no one dares to disobey his will here.

"Well, I'll listen to you, chief......"

※※※ During the training break the next day, everyone suddenly found that Balotelli was chatting with his Italian countryman Fiorillo, which is an uncommon thing. Even Fiorillo himself was surprised, and some couldn't keep up with Balotelli's topic.

Both Chrillak and Eastwood turned their inquiring eyes to Donn, wondering what exactly he had said to the Italian.

"Just do what you like." Don shrugged. "He craves attention, so give him attention. Trust him, I don't think he will disappoint us too much......"

(To be continued)