The heavy defeat to Liverpool looked like a minor twist as Nottingham Forest won the next League Cup fourth round by a landslide as they eliminated League One (formerly League Two) side Colchester 4-0 away from home.

On November 14, in the thirteenth round of the league, Nottingham Forest defeated Middlesbrough 2-1 at home, maintaining a winning record in the clash with McLaren.

From an outsider's point of view, the Forest team is on the right track at the moment.

However, in the 14th round of the league on November 20, Forest lost 0-1 away to Tottenham Hotspur.

The bad luck is not over, on November 25, Spain's Villarreal home Love Song Stadium, in the third round of the League Cup group stage, Nottingham Forest lost 0:2. George? Wood in Argentina striker Roman? In front of Riquelme, he really looked like a child making his debut, completely powerless. Wood always felt awkward when defending Riquelme, and the Argentine's change of pace left him scratching his head, not knowing how to defend, and very helpless.

Later, Albertini went to help Wood, but he was unable to organize an attack. Nottingham Forest's four midfielders kept Riquelme at bay alone. After the game, the Spanish media gave Riquelme a high score of nine, which he fully deserved, while George? Wood was given a low three-point score, with the media assessing that the youngster had no idea what he was supposed to do during the game, and that Forest's failure was directly related to his poor performance.

After the game, in the face of the overwhelming skepticism of Wood, Donn dismissed him with the phrase "I never make any public comments about my players after the game".

Actually, to put it bluntly, if we win, it's okay to listen to me if you want to say good things, I'm happy, and you're happy. But if I lose, I'm sorry, if I criticize my players, I'll close the locker room door and whisper, why should I tell you reporters?

※※※On the day of the match, the Forest team took an overnight flight home to prepare for the league three days later.

On the plane back to England from Spain, Donn paid special attention to Wood. This kid seems to be very silent, usually he doesn't talk much, but at this time he is simply mute.

Although they lost a UEFA Cup group game, it was away from home and it wasn't so bad that they couldn't afford to lose this group game. Their next group game is at home to a modest Partizan Belgrade side and a draw will make it through.

Everyone was aware of this, so the other players returned to normal after a brief period of depression at the end of the game. Even the younger players know more about football than George? Wood Deep, they have had more than one failure since they started training until now, and they have learned how to deal with this situation. With a failure of this magnitude, you don't have to be sad and depressed for a few days, just a few hours, and you can sleep and find that life and the world have not changed terribly.

They were doing their own thing on the plane, chatting, listening to music, watching movies, sleeping and resting...... It's no different from after any away game.

Only Wood, a fool, is still affected by failure.

Donn turned his head several times to see that Wood had a straight face and a deep brow on his face—the same expression he had been on since the final whistle blew. At that time, everyone was in a bad mood and their expressions were similar, but now he is the only one who looks a little different.

Donn looked around, then got up from his seat, walked over to Wood's seat, and patted Albertini on the shoulder: "Demy." ”

The Italian understood what the manager was going to do, and he got up and exchanged seats with Donn. He sat down to assistant coach David? Next to Chris Lack, Donn sat next to Wood.

Wood was completely immersed in his ego space, unaware that there had been a change of person around him. Don woke him up, "George. ”

Wood looked sideways at him.

"Did you call your mom?"

He nodded.

"Hmm......" Donn adjusted his sitting position, rested his head on the back of the seat, closed his eyes and pretended to sleep. Did you talk about the game? ”

He couldn't see Wood's expression and movements, and after a while he heard Wood's deep voice, "Yes." ”

"What did your mother say?"

She said...... I played well. ”

The corners of Donn's mouth pulled up into a smiling expression, Sophia would never doubt her son's ability, and would never speak ill of his son.

"You see, there are still people who praise you. What are you frowning about? ”

"Mommy, she ......"

"Do you want to say you think mom is lying to you?" Don put George? What Wood was about to say was choked in his throat.

Wood was stunned for a moment, then shook his head, "No." ”

Don opened his eyes with a smile: "George, you've only been playing football for a few years?" Do you know how long that Argentine played? Your mom didn't lie to you, she said you played well because she knew you better than those brain-dead reporters, and you played normally in this game. We didn't lose because you played badly, but because Riquelme, the number 10 was too good. It's as simple as that. He shrugged and spread his hands.

Wood looked at Don and didn't speak, but Don fully understood what he meant, and he nodded, "Yes, don't think about this matter so complicated. There are hundreds of thousands of professional players in the world, and there are always some who are strong and some who are weak. Some people were strong in the past and are weak now, and some people are weak now and will be strong in the future. Riquelme is strong now, and you are weak now......"

"But, I'm not reconciled to ......," Wood burst out of nowhere, interrupting Donn's rambling.

Done, who was interrupted, was not upset at all, but looked at Wood and asked, "I didn't hear what you just said." ”

"I say......" said Wood, gritting his teeth, "even if he is better than me, I will not be willing to lose to him." ”

Don grinned silently, he found that he was worthy of being a person who was valued by himself, and his temper and surname were similar to his original self...... "I understand, I completely understand your thoughts." I don't want to lose to him, it's useless to just sit here and sulk. George, remember the first time I went to the youth team to see you play? ”

Wood nodded, he couldn't have done worse that day after he had broken Eastwood's leg. He thought that his road to making money from football ended here, but he didn't expect to be scolded by the man in front of him in the dressing room, so he persevered, and finally won a first-team contract on his own.

"You were really ...... in that game It's miserable. "At that time, you had only been systematically trained for more than two months, and you had no idea what to do on the court, thinking of a fool. ”

In order not to disturb the others, Don lowered his voice and said.

And then ...... and Arsenal Youth FA Cup, do you remember? ”

Wood continued to nod.

"You managed to keep the heart of the opposition's midfield at bay and let him suffer in front of you. Do you know what the kid who was stared at by you was stepping back and retreating? ”

This time Wood shook his head.

"He won the World Junior Football Championship six months ago, the best player of the tournament. In other words, he was the best player in the world in that age group. But he doesn't stand a chance at all to be seen by you. ”

In the face of Donn's compliment, the expression on Wood's face did not change in the slightest.

'Then you got the chance to play for Forest's first team, think about that game...... I still remember your debut, it was impressive and flawless. Don closed his eyes and reveled, he wasn't exaggerating. Ribery's success in the English league wasn't as excited as he was when he watched Wood make a name for himself. Because Donn knew that Ribery would be successful, even if he was not in the Forest team, he would go to Marseille in a year, and in two years he would become the best player in Ligue 1, and then he would be taken to the World Cup in Germany by Domenech and become famous...... It's like watching a suspenseful movie, everyone else is watching it with relish, only Don himself already knows the result, so he is a little bored.

George? Wood is different, Donn has never heard of this name before, and there is no such number one person in international football, and after he relented and let Wood enter the youth team for training, he didn't know if this kid would be able to make a name for himself in the end. It is precisely the ignorance of the future that creates this suspense. When Donn was in the game between Forest and Reading, he saw that shining George? A huge sense of accomplishment filled his heart at the time of Wood, almost on a par with the fact that he would later win the League Cup himself.

This is a real player who has not relied on his advanced memory to take advantage of the player. In a sense, George? Wood's success is what Tony's success represents? Donn's success.

(To be continued)