Tony. Donn has personally confirmed his future at Nottingham Forest, and he will not leave Nottingham Forest, much to the ease of the Forest fans. But media rumours that he might leave the City Stadium didn't go away immediately. The Times vowed that Donn would leave City Stadium after four years to find another job. At that time, his contract expired and he could leave freely without having to bear high liquidated damages, and I believe that there will be countless giant clubs competing for people at that time.

Done is no longer at Manchester United, but United have not stopped looking for a successor for Alex Ferguson. Because after the end of this season, the old coach Alex Ferguson will definitely retire. This is the news that has not yet been officially announced, and most people prefer to think that this is just a moment of confusion on the part of the manager, and at the end of the season he will find that he can't do without football at all, without Manchester United, and then retract his fate and decide to stay at Old Trafford. In this way, many people can breathe a sigh of relief - except for his nemesis.

Both Donn and Ferguson have confirmed their futures, but the story between the two men doesn't end there, it's just beginning.

After playing the final match of the Champions League group stage, both teams qualified as top of their group. Three days later, it was time for the big game – Nottingham Forest away to Manchester United.

It was the only strong clash in that round of the league and it was the match that will be broadcast live across the country. Because of the recent tidbits of Alex Ferguson's successor, this game is in the spotlight. Coupled with the fact that there is only a two-point gap between the two teams, the outcome of this game will determine the standings of both teams in the league standings, and it is impossible to think of it without interest.

After the Celtic game, Done resumed his fight with Ferguson at a press conference. He declared that he had no interest in being his successor, and deliberately provoked Ferguson.

Ferguson did not show weakness, and immediately shot back: "When he works in this industry for twenty years, his wish can come true." ”

From the war of words between these two people, outsiders really can't see that their personal relationship is still relatively harmonious......

These two are typical "butt deciders", what to say and do in what position.

※※※

When two teams meet, you can't always have the head coach as the protagonist. The players of both teams are also the target of countless people's attention.

Cristiano. Ronaldo has said he wants to leave countless times, but in the end he stayed at Manchester United. In this game, he will be Ferguson's sharp knife against Nottingham Forest. Reporters ran to interview him to hear what he thought about the game. Ronaldo was low-key: "It's just an ordinary league game. ”

Although he was telling the truth, this game didn't mean anything. But the media were not satisfied, so they ran to Rooney. Wayne Rooney is a little hotter than Ronaldo: "We're going to beat Nottingham Forest at home, I can't imagine we're going to lose at home. ”

Nani, the young man, looked arrogant. "Who do you think is the biggest threat on the opposing team?" The reporter asked him. His response was: "None of them are a threat. ”

His words annoyed the Forest players, with Pepe being the first to stand up and express his displeasure with Nani: "I hope he has a chance to play and then I will let him know what a threat is. ”

Eastwood said: "I'm glad they have the whole team in mind, like everybody wants their opponents to be idiots. He beat around the bush and called Nani an idiot.

George. Wood wasn't one to want to get into a verbal argument with someone, preferring to shut them up with a vicious foul. When he was pestered by reporters, he had to say: "I'll know when it's time for the game." ”

Know what?

He didn't say it, but I believe the media believed it - George. Wood is going to give those bastards who look down on them a hard look!

※※※

The war of words between the coaches, the players, and the supporters on both sides is endless, and this is a special scenery of professional football. All of these are foreshadowing, cushion scenes prepared for the final game.

Three days flew by, and Nottingham Forest returned from Glasgow Rangers and spent only one day in Nottingham before heading to Manchester again. It's not a good thing for the team to prepare for the tournament to run around so often. The team was unable to continue the systematic preparation training, but fortunately, due to the early decision on the qualifying places, the Forest team has actually been preparing for the game against Manchester United since the last round of the league. For several of United's main points of attack, the team has made detailed arrangements in training. The way the team attacks is also reflected in training.

The only thing to worry about is the fitness of the team to run two away games in three days.

Before the game, countless experts and fans analysed that Nottingham Forest will play their best defensive counter-attack at Old Trafford. After all, no team would dare to play against Manchester United here, and in that case, the result would be a miserable death without exception......

But this time around, Donn intends to do the opposite – he wants to play this game in a way that no one else could have imagined.

"We attack." At the tactical preparation meeting the day before the game, Donn was straight to the point. "I bet Ferguson wouldn't have thought we'd have the guts to do that, so I'm asking you all to press and take the lead from the start. The sooner we score, the better it will be for us. He snapped his fingers.

"Boss, what if we don't score in the opening period?" Eastwood asked questions.

"Slow down a bit, defend and keep attacking."

Don seems to be determined to conquer the Theater of Dreams with an attack.

Due to the attack, Shaheen replaced Thiago as the starting line-up for this game. Nottingham Forest's formation also changed from a parallel 442 to a diamond 442. The two wing-backs will be involved frequently, and when the two sides are deadlocked, the two full-backs will stay at the back to participate in the defence and rarely come forward to assist. At the same time, George. Wood was responsible for the defense in this game, leaving all the offensive work to his teammates up front.

Although it is an offense, Donn has not forgotten that defense is the foundation. So it's almost impossible to see Donn's team completely ignore the defense...... Maybe he did it in the last five minutes of the game when his team was still down by a goal.

※※※

Ferguson really didn't think of Tony. Donn dared to play against Manchester United at Old Trafford. He felt that Downe was a pragmatist, and if he wanted to get out of the way at Old Trafford, or even win, then a defensive counter-attack was clearly the most suitable.

Although the outside world is dissatisfied with his insistence on the main tactic of defensive counterattack, they think he is cowardly and timid. But Donn was never shaken by outside criticism.

Ferguson felt he already knew Tony well. Don was wrong, but this time he was wrong.

Before the game, Wood and Manchester United captain Gary. Neville guessed the coin, he guessed and lost, so United got the right to pick the edge. And Nottingham Forest got the kick-off, which is actually a good thing for Donn's Forest team, because they can control the football at their feet from the very beginning of the game.

There has been a misconception that Nottingham Forest never cared about possession, and they have come up with stats to prove it – Nottingham Forest have been below their opponents in 90 per cent of the game, regardless of the outcome.

But in reality, Donn just doesn't care about the ineffective possession of the ball that repeatedly falls in his own backfield to make up for the possession, and he focuses on being able to form a dangerous attack in the opponent's half at the end. As long as you can score a goal at the end, even if you only have two passes from start to finish. So although he always had less possession than his opponents, he was able to win.

Most people who watch other teams play will probably have this idea that when the football is not at the feet of that team's players, their supporters start to worry about the opponent scoring a goal. Because it's really dangerous to let the football be controlled by the opponent's feet.

But watching Nottingham Forest's game, Forest fans have become accustomed to the scene of the opposing team possessing the ball while defending themselves. In their eyes, once the football falls to the feet of the opponent, then it is the opposing fans who should be worried. They're going to come up and attack, and if they come up, they're going to have a lot of space behind them, and that's Nottingham Forest's chance.

But today's game at Old Trafford is about to change the perception of Forest fans.

Nottingham Forest kept the ball at their feet after kick-off, but were in no hurry to launch a fast attack. Rather, it seems to be a casual inversion of the foot near the center circle. In the past, when Nottingham Forest played, it was rare to see the scene of backfield players backing and forth, because Donn thought that it was useless to fall in the backfield, and at the same time he lost the opportunity and sharpened his own side. So he's always been fast-paced.

Now, they're sitting on their feet at Old Trafford and passing the ball backwards. In the end, the ball was passed to Akinfeev by Woodgate. Boos began to ring out from the stands at Old Trafford against Nottingham Forest.

Berbatov rushed up to make a gesture into the box to cut off the ball at Akinfeev's feet, and behind him, Rooney, Ronaldo and Tevez pressed on him.

Akinfeev didn't give Berbatov a chance to break the ball, and when the two were still 10 meters away, he kicked the ball straight into the front of the pitch with a long pass.

"Long pass! It's a good fit for Nottingham Forest! The narrator teased.

In this game, Donn sent out a man on the front line not tall center Kic, nor Ibisevic, but the former Manchester United veteran Ruud van Nistelrooy, and his partner was Eastwood.

Due to the injury suffered by Fernandez in the previous game, Lennon played left wing-back in this game, and Bentley accumulated yellow cards and was suspended, so the right midfielder was replaced by Abonlahus. Donn wants to use the speed of these two men to make a good assault on United's wide defence. Ruud van Nistelrooy received the ball despite Carrick's marking, and used his skills and experience to keep the ball firmly at his feet and wait for his team-mates to pick it up. Carrick tried hard to break the ball behind his back, but his place was gone, and he would definitely not be able to break the ball unless he fouled it.

Just as he was about to foul, Ruud van Nistelrooy passed the ball to Shahin.

After receiving the ball, Shaheen sent a diagonal pass to the wing. On this side near the coaching benches of both sides, a whirlwind blew, and it was Abang Laho!

Abonlaho is quite fast, and Patriot's defender on this side is Patrice Evra, who is also a fast player, and the two can be regarded as opponents.

Before Abonlahor could receive the ball, Shaheen's through ball was tackled out of the touchline by the speeding Evra.

Ferguson had a smile on his face when he saw the scene from the sidelines. This is the Nottingham Forest he is familiar with, and it doesn't look like the forest is any different from what it used to be.

The Forest team is characterized by a lot of through passes, and they are very fond of those penetrating passes, although the success rate is not very good, but if they let them succeed once, it can be fatal.

In order to deal with this kind of direct pass, Ferguson did not play Scholes, but deployed Hargreaves and Carrick in midfield, two midfielders with excellent running ability and a focus on defense. At the same time, the backline is required to pay attention to the help of the defense and not give the Forest team the opportunity to play a through ball. In attack, once the through ball is intercepted by Forest, it is immediately counter-attacked, Carrick and Hargreaves are not actually the kind of passers who can organize the attack, so Manchester United's main attackers are Ronaldo and Rooney in midfield, who are responsible for bringing the football to the front and then passing it to Berbatov or Tevez.

Now it seems that they are doing a good job. Shaheen's through ball was disrupted by the quick-witted Patrice Evra.

Nottingham Forest's possession from the kick-off was ended by Eastwood's long-range effort from the top of the box. The ball he shot was deflected off the goal.

Some people may think that Nottingham Forest are attacking so aggressively only because they got the kick-off, and they don't have to do it in vain...... But it didn't take long for the Forest to let them know they were wrong.

After United's shot was saved by Akinfeev, he didn't kick wide, but threw the ball in his hands to attack. Wood played the ball to Shaheen, who again sent in a diagonal cross, but this time in the direction of Lennon on the left.

Thirty-five-year-old Gary. Neville didn't pounce on Patrice Evra to make tackles, knowing he was at an absolute disadvantage in terms of speed, but his experience could help him take on Lennon. So he chose to retreat slowly, not giving Lennon room to sprint.

It worked, and although Lennon managed to get the ball, he found that he was unable to break through the United captain's defence. Nottingham Forest's fast attack couldn't be played, so they could only pass the football back and grind it slowly.

Ferguson sat in the dugout, chewing gum in his mouth, a gesture that marked his last name. When he's sure, he'll do it. After watching Nottingham Forest's performance in the opening five minutes, he was more and more confident of winning the game.

It's no different from Nottingham Forest in the past. Five more minutes, if they can't get on the scoresheet, Toney. That Donn guy will definitely direct the team to retreat and then wait for an opportunity to fight Manchester United's counter-attack.

Ferguson is not worried about this style of play, and their week-long training has been tailored to the tactical characteristics of the Forest team. Once Forest can't score in the first 10 minutes and can't get the game into the track they're used to, then the unlucky ones will be Toney's turn. Don is gone.

After the opening, try to score first, then shrink the defense, lure the opponent out, and then rely on the stubborn defense and speed to play the opponent's counterattack.

Ferguson has studied the Forest's tactics and playing habits quite thoroughly, and he firmly believes in Ferguson. Don couldn't escape the palm of his hand.

Now Ferguson suddenly regretted why he didn't take the victory or defeat of this game to Tony in the first place. Don made a bet that if he won, the two would sign an agreement that he would retire at the end of the season and put Donn in charge.

(To be continued)