Chapter Seventy-Nine: Romance of the Three Kingdoms?

After a crucial win in the semi-finals of the Champions League, Nottingham Forest's morale was high and although it was a double game a week, everyone was in very good shape.

Donn used a rotation system for the rest of the tournament, replacing more than half of his starting line-up, and Wood was given a break – even though he didn't need to rest at all, Donn wanted to give the other players more opportunities, so he let him go to the stand to accompany his mother.

Sun Jihai replaced Wood in the midfield position. The Chinese player has now completely confirmed the name of "jack-of-all-trades".

In an interview with a Chinese journalist, he once jokingly called himself "a brick of socialism, where it needs to be moved".

Up front, Nicolas Anelka, who rarely plays, was also given a chance to start, and he formed a partnership with Bendtner.

As the season draws to a close, rumours of Anelka's transfer are flying every day, with a number of clubs showing strong interest in Anelka, and it is said that the closest to him is Juventus, who are about to return to Serie A, and after Trezeguet's departure, they lack a quality and experienced striker.

Everyone believes that the French striker's days at the City Stadium are numbered days.

In the midfield, partnering Sun Jihai in the middle is Spanish midfielder Mikel Arteta, the left wing-back has been replaced by Petrov, and the right-wing midfielder has been replaced by Ashley. Yang was injured in a period of time by Allen. Lennon will be the only option here, and of course, Ribery can also make occasional cameos......

Wes. The central defender was also given a chance to start, and he was joined by veteran Ayala. Not being able to play for Forest in the Champions League is a bit cruel for Ayala, who can only devote all his energy to the league arena.

Since joining on loan, he has been consistent in the league, using his experience to help the Forest pair stabilize the young defence.

Gareth, who scored the winning goal in the semi-finals of the Champions Cup. Bell replaces Leighton. Barnes.

Such a big rotation was made only because the strength of Forest's opponents in the league was too weak. Don didn't want to hurt one or two more before the big game.

Forest's opponent in the round of 36 is Watford, a team that has been relegated early. Besides, the Forest team is still playing at home, and Donn is not worried that his team will lose at home.

The tactic he gave his team in this game was to attack, attack, and use the attack to suppress the opponent.

He proved right.

Amid the cheers of nearly 30,000 fans at the City Stadium, Nottingham Forest beat Watford 4-0.

Poor Watford wanted to show their fighting spirit, and a couple of attacks from the start of the game created some threat for the absent-minded Foresters.

But their attitude of dying and throeping angered Nottingham Forest. It turned out that the absent-minded players seemed to have suddenly woken up.

Twenty-seventh minute, Gareth. Bale breaks down wide and crosses. Bendtner scrambled down the middle and fired a powerful header into Watford's goal. 1：0。

Watford, who are behind them, are still not giving up, and they are also looking to take advantage of the space behind the Forest team to fight back.

Three minutes later, Watford, who wanted to play Forest's defensive counter-attack, was counter-attacked by Forest.

While they were attacking, Mikel Arteta played a long ball straight up the pitch at the back, and Nicolas Anelka received the ball and broke through with the ball on his own to face the onrushing Watford goalkeeper. He still has the leisure to cross the other party and then hit the door. The ball rolled into the empty net without any suspense.

2：0。

The goal completely destroyed Watford's fighting spirit, conceding two goals in three minutes, and the Watford players were no longer confident of equalising, and now their thinking is to "win with less".

At half-time, Donn praised his team's performance and told them to keep up in the second half.

He is not satisfied with the score of 2:0, if he can still score, just go for it, don't think about the boring thing of giving face to the opponent, anyway, the opponent is a team that is going to be relegated.

In the second half, the team followed through on his words. Beat Watford's backline into a sieve with a devastating attack. Donn is excited to use this opportunity to practice a variety of offensive routines.

Therefore, his substitutions in the second half were all offensive adjustments, and the defense line did not move anyone, and there was no intention of adjusting the back line.

Forest scored another goal in the second half thanks to Bendtner and Petrov to finally lock the score at 4-0.

At the end of the game, there was a huge cheer at the City Stadium cheering for their heroes. After every home win, this is a "repertoire" and there is no difference between the score and the strength of the opponent. In the eyes of these fans.

As long as it's a victory, it's worth celebrating. They had been suppressed for twenty-four years, and that desire for victory could not be unleashed in one or two victories.

The Forest players ran hand in hand to the stands to thank the fans. This is also the team's "repertoire", which is the ground that Donn has set out in the team rules that must be enforced after each home game.

The team has a good relationship with the fans, so he has no worries.

The players thanked the fans from the stands, and Don also raised his arms to applaud the stands. While clapping like this, he walked towards the corridor. At the entrance, he was stopped by Fat John.

"Tony. Another victory! John was lying on the railing of the stands. Leaning out and waving to Donne, "Four days later." Is there another victory? ”

"You're talking nonsense, John." Donn grinned, "We ......"

"Of course we will win!!" The fans in the stands took it in unison.

"That's right!" Don laughed as he pointed to the adorable group of fans.

"Goodbye, everybody. We'll see you in Athens then. Donn waved his hand and walked towards the mixed zone, and behind him was the incessant shouts of the fans:

"Athens! Athens! Athens! ”

Amid the roar of the fans, Donn walked to the mixed zone and waited for an interview.

"Coach Donn, you have such a high status in the hearts of the fans." Tang Jing, who had a press card on her chest, appeared in front of Tang En.

For this compliment, Tang En didn't mean to be modest and polite at all, he nodded: "It's because of my good results in leading the team." There is no such thing as a free lunch, let them like it. There has to be a reason. ”

Tang Jing is also used to his outspokenness, she smiled: "Everyone says that Nottingham Forest is a '1:0' team, and they all say Tony. Donn is a conservative coach, but this game we saw a Forest team that was constantly attacking.

”

"I don't care what tactics I use, as long as I can get the team to win, it doesn't matter to me whether I can defend on the counter-attack or go all-in."

"There are a lot of transfer rumours about Anelka right now......"

"Ah...... This one. Again, as long as there is a team that can offer us a price that we are happy with, it is not a problem. ”

"Can you tell us what the price you can accept?"

"Look at my mood." Don smiled slyly. "Alright, I have to go. See you in Athens, Don University reporter. ”

"There's one more round in the semi-finals!" Tang Jing shouted from behind.

Don looked back at her and said, "Do you want to make a bet?" ”

Tang Jing thought for a while and shook his head.

Don laughed and walked away.

Not long after the end of this match, the news of the other two venues came at the same time, due to the impact of the Champions Cup. The 35th round of league games between Chelsea and Manchester United has been postponed to 10 May, so the two teams are now playing one less game than Forest.

In the 36th round of the game, both teams were forced to draw by their respective opponents.

"Tie?!" Donn's eyes widened when he heard the news from Chrislac's mouth, and he couldn't believe what he had heard.

"That's right. Draw! Chrislac nodded excitedly. Chelsea drew 0-0 at Newcastle and Manchester United were held to a 1-1 draw at home by Middlesbrough! Neither team sent their full squad and rotated as heavily as we did. ”

After receiving a definite answer, Don was not happy at all. Instead, he frowned tightly.

Is this good news or bad news for him? It's hard to say right now.

Want to know why Chris Rac is so excited?

Let's flip through the league standings so far.

After a 2-0 win over Manchester United in the 33rd round, Nottingham Forest have 70 points, Chelsea have 76 points and Manchester United 78 points.

It was this game that made Manchester United feel that the league title was in jeopardy, and also made Chelsea see the hope of defending the league title again, and made Abramovich's spring heart begin to ripple.

This is a game that Donn has set up desperately. In order to let Chelsea and Manchester United fight for a league title, so that there is no time to care about the Champions Cup. The so-called "cranes and mussels compete, fishermen profit".

Judging by the first leg of the Champions Cup semi-finals, he succeeded.

If the situation continues like this, it will not be long before Nottingham Forest, the "fisherman", can reap the benefits.

Unfortunately......

Looking at the results of these two games, Donn muttered: "Mourinho and Ferguson have discussed this? ”

After 36 rounds, Chelsea and Manchester United have played one game less, with 80 and 82 points respectively. Nottingham Forest, on the other hand, were on the heels of successive victories over Charlton Athletic, West Ham United and Watford. Currently worth 79 points......

Is "A Tale of Two Cities" going to become "Romance of the Three Kingdoms"?

It would have been after the victory in this game. Liverpool in fourth and Arsenal in fifth are nine and eleven points away from Forest respectively, with Donn ready to come off the bench in the final two rounds. Let the main players rest and prepare for the Champions Cup.

In this way...... Even if he wanted to rest the team, would the club hierarchy and coaching staff, as well as the players themselves, agree?

Chris Lak was talking excitedly with the other coaches sitting next to him about the two games that had just ended, when Donn's cell phone rang in his pocket.

Glancing at the caller's name on the screen, Don sighed and picked up the phone.

"Mr. President."

"What's the matter, it doesn't sound like you're happy, Tony. Ha ha! "Evan. Dogety's excited voice came from the other end. "Do you know the latest results?"

Donne, of course, knew what game he was talking about. 'Got it, Chelsea and Manchester United were held to a draw.' He tried to keep his voice as low as possible, not wanting to attract the attention of the others in the car.

"We're only two points off top of the league, which is a really good situation!"

'But Manchester United and Chelsea have played a game less than us, Mr. President.'

'Of course I do, but the one game they played was against each other – Chelsea at home to Manchester United. The season is finally starting to get interesting. Do you know what my first thought was when I learned about this point situation? ”

"League Champion." Don uttered the word in a very calm tone.

He heard Evan snap his fingers on the other end of the line. "That's right! Tony, it's been four seasons and we've never been so close to the league title as we are today...... Don't you want to do something? ”

Donn looked around at the crowd, everyone was talking about the two games between Chelsea and Manchester United that had just ended, and even the players knew about it, and their eyebrows were fluttering.

"Mr. President, it's inconvenient to say now, when I get to Nottingham, I'll go to you."

"Okay, you come to my house tomorrow morning, at half past nine, I'll ask the driver to pick you up."

Hanging up the phone, Don found that Don was sitting next to him at some point.

"The chairman wants to win the league, right?" He asked.

Don nodded.

"What do you think? I don't think you're in a good mood. Don't you want to win the championship? ”

"Of course I want to, I dream of it. But the timing was too bad...... I don't want to be distracted before the crucial Champions Cup. Donn whispered.

"I thought you would be arrogant and promise to win all the championships......" Don said.

"Are you praising me or belittling me?"

"It's just a little surprising."

"Don, you should be clear. Even if we win the last two rounds, as long as the opponents win all of them, we are still behind with them having one game less.

Donn doesn't know who Manchester United and Chelsea will face in the final two rounds, but he thinks the chances of these two teams losing in the final two rounds are too low, after all, this is a crucial moment and both Chelsea and United will take it seriously.

"So in the round of the Lesser Tournament, Chelsea and Manchester United face off, no matter what the result, we can't win the final title: Chelsea wins, Chelsea wins; Manchester United wins, Manchester United wins; The two sides are drawn, Manchester United are the champions, and Chelsea are runners-up.

Nothing will change,"

Don nodded, and didn't speak. He felt that what Don said was also reasonable, the longing was very beautiful, but things were not as simple as the longing.

"If that's the case...... That's a shame. "Cold, Chris Lack's voice sounded. He leaned on the back of his seat and smacked his lips. "I saw that the championship was in front of me, but I couldn't get it."

Tang Ji shrugged: "How can there be a perfect thing in the world?" ”

The players were still excitedly discussing the probability of the team winning the league title, but the coaching staff was silent. Donn's analysis poured cold water on the coaches.

If that's the case, then what's the point of fighting......