Goalkeeper: Darren. Ward (1), Barry. Roche (12), Paul. Gerald (25).

Defender: David. Oyer (2), John. Thompson (3), Clint. Hill (16), Wes. Mogan (5), Layton. Barnes (22), Pascal. Zim Bonda (23), Herard. Pique, 24, Matthew. Epson (33), Fernando. Hierro (6).

Midfielder: George. Wood (13), Demitrio. Albertini (4), Blanya. Gunelson (8), Eugen. Pope (31), Chris. Commons (20), Ashley. Yang (18), Aaron. Lennon (17), Frank. Ribery (7).

Forward: Freddy. Eastwood (11), Niklas. Bendtner (21), Pete. Crouch (9), Mark. Viduka (10), David. Johansen (30).

That's it for Nottingham Forest's final squad for the season, with their own shirt numbers in parentheses. When the list was announced, all eyes were on Frank. Ribery. This young man, who can't play in the French third division and is in danger of losing his job, actually wore the number 7 shirt at Nottingham Forest!

You must know that the numbers in the team are often smaller and closer to the main position. What does it mean for Donn to give the number 7 to Ribery? It means that he values this French Scarface very much. Tony. Donne's eyes have never disappointed anyone, so is there anything powerful about this Ribery?

The skepticism about Ribery stems from the fact that they do not yet know what Ribery is capable of, and there is no disagreement within the team about the arrangement of this number. Because from the first day he came to this team, Ribery showed his ability on the flanks in training, his dribbling, his pace are weapons that allow him to gallop around the flanks, and in addition to that, his shooting is also very good.

Even his direct competitor Chris. Commons, after a week of training contact, also had to admit that the Frenchman was better than himself: "Is the French third division all at this level? ”

Donn smiled and replied, "No, Frank is the exception. ”

Scarface was taciturn when he first joined the team, he didn't like to talk, and he always seemed to worry that his teammates would laugh at his looks. In fact, while the players did marvel at the shocking scar on Ribery's face, no one mocked and humiliated him. Tony. That's not going to happen with Donn's team.

Don deliberately asked Ribery to tell him about the origin of his scar in the locker room, and everyone sympathized with him.

Finding that his teammates did not look down on him for this, Ribery's nervous heart finally let go. His words gradually increased, and he soon regained his lively surname. Although he doesn't speak English yet, he is working hard to learn and wants to integrate into the team as quickly as possible.

He knows how hard his job is now. With a subsidy of only 150 euros a month, and not even being able to pay the rent, not everyone is "lucky" to experience. He knew how hard it was for him to live in the past, so much so that he had a special affection for money. His current weekly salary at Nottingham Forest is £6,500, which is not a high salary in the team, at most mid-range, but for the poor Franck Franck Ribery, it is much more than he had earned when he played at any club before, and he knows that if he performs well, better pay will come sooner or later, and the better he performs on the pitch, the sooner it will come.

The manager values him, he is treated well, his team-mates are on good terms, a new environment, a new league...... What else did he have to worry about? He just wants to get the Premier League up and running and prove to everyone that he's Frank. Although Ribery is from the French third division, he is worthy of the salary given by the team and the trust of the manager!

Donn didn't know what Ribery was thinking, but he could tell that the Frenchman was working very hard in training. Such a momentum that he used to work in George. Wood saw it. For those who have been poor, they will especially cherish the current opportunity to make money, and they are not qualified to slack off.

There are many successful people, but they all have one thing in common - those who succeed work a thousand times harder than those who lose. It doesn't matter if the effort is voluntary or forced by life.

George. Wood succeeded, and his debut is still impressive. Don believes Ribery can succeed as well...... Joke! At the World Cup in Germany, the head coach of the French national team, Domenech, will definitely be called from me! With the level of development of the British media, Ribery must have made a name for himself earlier than he did when he played in France. Now I just hope that Ribery will not forget his current heart after he becomes famous.

After deciding on the first-team squad, Donn cleared out some of the people the team didn't need, either going to the reserves, or opting to be loaned or sold to other interested clubs.

Unlike the sense of accomplishment of buying people, Don still has a lot of affection for the team he has led for half a year, and he can't help it when he sees that these people who were still together last season fighting for championships and promotion places have to leave. If the team wants to develop, then those who can't keep up with the strength can only be eliminated. There were a lot of people in the original Forest squad who couldn't adapt to the Premier League, they were limited, and it was impossible for Forest to pay them a salary for nothing and let them mess around in the team.

Although professional football has a warm side, it is still brutal in general. If you don't meet the requirements, you will be eliminated, and no one will sympathize with you at this time, because that is the reason why you are not at home.

Fortunately, everyone knows this and no one has any illusions about being able to stay in the team. A lot of people have seen Forest's signings this summer and understand their situation - the Forest team doesn't have your place, rather than staying in the team and playing in the reserve team at the end of the day, polishing your form and reputation, it is better to find another way out while someone still remembers you at this time.

Rebrov is gone, Ian. Jace is gone, Gareth. Taylor is gone, Chris. Douig is gone, Matthew. Louis-Jean is gone, George. Robertson is gone, Danny. The sauna was loaned to Gareth. Williams is also gone...... The team that Donn took over was completely different from what it is now.

Those who should come are coming, and those who are supposed to go are gone. Don and David. Chris Lak faced a stable team and was finally able to devote himself to the team's tactical training.

He realized his vision at the European Championships.

He was hit by Greece's success, and while Forest look high-profile in the transfer market, Donn knows that defence is key if they are to establish themselves in their first Premier League season. If nothing else, Forest will maintain the same midfield as last season – two defensive midfielders and two wing-backs with excellent individual qualities. The main task of a defensive midfielder is to defend, to build a wall in front of the backline, and the task of attacking is not heavy. Don has high requirements for the two full-backs, requiring them not only to actively return to the defense, but also to be able to participate in the attack in time, and many times they have to fight alone with the opponent, individual skills are particularly important, they are not only full-backs, they can pass the ball and assist, but also have to be wingers, who can shoot and score by themselves to solve the battle.

Chris. Cummons, Frank. Ribery, Ashley. Yang and Allen. Lennon, these four people, Don believes that they can fully meet their requirements, otherwise there is no need to buy them.

Unlike the Carabao Cup final against Middlesbrough, Donne's defence emphasises the importance of midfield control, and it is too dangerous to give up midfield to the opposition and then let the opponent lay siege to his goal.

Regardless of whether the Forest team is attacking or defending, the midfield is something Donn must take and the chain reaction of the midfield getting out of control is terrifying. That's why he works so much more in midfield than up front.

George. Wood and Albertini should occupy the two starting midfield positions, Wood is young and has excellent physical strength and can be handed over to him defensively, while Albertini assists Wood defensively, relying mainly on his experience and passing to run the midfield. He did that when he was in Italy and AC Milan, Donn is confident he will have no problem with Forest.

At the back, a definite candidate for the main position is Hierro. Even though he's thirty-six years old, Donn thinks he's more than up to the task. His experience is what the team needs most on the field, and as for the shortcomings such as slow turning, Wood is there...... Afraid of what?

The person who is partnered with Hierro should be Matthew. Epson, Weiss. Both Mogan and Piqué are still too tender, Clint. Hill's defensive positioning has left him on the bench as well. The good news for Piqué is ...... Although the centre-back could not be a regular player, Donn intended to try his hand at right-back - a period of his remembered history when Piquet was loaned to Zaragoza, he was initially unable to play at all, and then Diogo was injured and he was sent to a cameo role at right-back, and he did well in his new position. At the beginning of that season, in order to make up for Pique's 20 games, Zaragoza made Pique's panacea, playing as a central defender, a full-back and even a defensive midfielder. And Pique's work in these positions is not bad, Don also recognized Pique's comprehensive surname, although he will not deliberately train Piqua to be a panacea in order to meet his previous commitments, but what coach doesn't like to have a few well-rounded players in the team?

When the team is attrition due to injury, one more all-round player also has one more opportunity for choice and buffer time. Of course, Donne still has to focus on developing Piquet to play centre-back, and this position is what he likes and does best.

※※※ During the summer training camp, the Forest team played several warm-up matches, and most of the opponents were English domestic teams. Forest's fame has not yet been able to make them invite them to a warm-up match by an overseas club.

The result of the game was won and lost, and Don didn't care about the result at this time. Warm-up matches are not set up for the pursuit of victory, and for coaches, warm-up games generally have two main functions:

First, let the team coach inspect the competitive state and physical condition of the players who have returned to the team after vacation and started training, and find problems and solve them in time.

Second, let the coaches inspect the run-in problems of new and old players, test the actual effect of various tactics in training, find the most suitable one for the current staffing of the team, and continue.

The warm-up match is a typical "process is more important than result" competition. In the warm-up game, Donn focused on the performance of a few new players to see if they were optimistic about integrating into the team, so as to decide whether to give them more opportunities when the league started.

Although the Forest team is a multi-front team, Donn does not plan to use the rotation system. The stability of the squad is more important than anything else, not to mention that his team has not yet had the luxury of being able to rotate. He needs to determine the main lineup for the new season through warm-up matches, and then fine-tune on that.

Hierro will not be able to last a full season, he will be the main force at the beginning of the season, but later Donn will consider gradually increasing Pique's playing opportunities, and it will be the young people who can rely on in the future.

Albertini's situation is different, and judging from his age and competitive form, it is not a problem for him to be the main midfielder for a season...... Unless injured. Midfielder Donn is looking to stabilize, and it's George. Wood and Albertini have been paired together, and he has been cultivating a chemistry between the two since training, and although one speaks Italian and the other English, they also have a common language, football.

The feedback from the training gave Don confidence in his plans, Albertini and Hierro are very, very good players and very, very good big brothers, and Donn wants them to teach the kids in the team and they do their best.

Although Pique is from Barcelona and Hierro is from Real Madrid, they are all players wearing red Forest jerseys in the Forest team, and many times, Don has seen Hierro take the initiative to stay, lead Piqué to practice, share his success with this young man, tell him when to grab, when to delay, and how to get in the spot...... And Albertini and George. Wood was almost a natural pair. George. Wood is a somewhat silent and somewhat arrogant person who is not likeable. But Albertini was able to get along with such a withdrawn Wood. Done even went so far as to ask Albertini in private what he thought of his young partner in midfield, and Albertini liked Wood for the reason that he was serious, hard-working, and not lazy.

Albertini was not one of the most ostentatious people when he played for the card-heavy AC Milan team, and his approachability and helpfulness earned him the respect of his team-mates. How else would he have become AC Milan's vice-captain?

So Donn, who knew all this, handed Albertini the captain's armband to him the day after he joined the team. Having a player who had just arrived on the second day of the team and who didn't speak English was the captain of the team, which was unbelievable to the media.

Don stood his mind and ...... The effect is really good.

Albertini has been more active since wearing the captain's armband, always taking the initiative to help the rest of the squad, whether it's a veteran player or a newcomer to the Forest squad. I didn't feel like I was just coming to the team, so it didn't seem good to do this kind of thing. Perhaps this is a person who is naturally suited to be a leader.

When Donn asked Wood to study with Albertini, Wood asked him, "What exactly?" ”

At first, Donn wanted to list many of Albertini's merits and let Wood pay attention to learning, but after thinking about it for a while, he found that it was too much trouble to say them one by one, because there were so many advantages of Italians. So he simply said, "Learn everything about him, both on and off the court." ”

Tony. Donn said so, George. Naturally, Wood did just that.

Done himself didn't expect that he was just looking for an experienced veteran for the team to strengthen the midfield, but he didn't expect to find a very good teacher for Wood. Now that he decided to train George. Wood's leadership skills.

As a head coach, he also needs to cultivate his own lineage among the players, otherwise when he is in a deep crisis in the future, who will be willing to take the initiative to stand up for himself?

George who was brought into professional football by himself. Wood is the best candidate.

While Don is leading the first team to make final preparations for the upcoming new season, Don's work in the youth team is slowly getting on track. Unlike Donne, when Tang first joined the Forest youth team, his colleagues didn't seem to trust him too much. But soon Tang was impressed with his efforts, after all, for him, these jobs are familiar with the road.

He speaks English fluently and knows everything about the country, and he knows the Forest team as well as his own home, and he can call out almost all the people in the youth team...... When he was brought back to Nottingham Forest by Donn, he felt the memories that had been sleeping in his heart begin to come back.

It was an opportunity for him to be re-brought to the Forest by Donn. His passion for football and his quest to be a great coach never died.

The youth team was just his first step.

(To be continued)