To the disappointment of the excited media, Millwall did not respond as they had hoped, and the chairman and manager of Millwall were silent about the matter, perhaps they themselves knew they were at fault...... But the media are very unhappy, they spent so much effort, what did they get in the end? It's just a popular and unknown head coach!

Sometimes the media calm down and think about it and feel as if they are being overshadowed by Tony. Don took advantage of ...... For who is the only one who has benefited in this matter? It was the big-mouthed Done who not only led the team to a 7-1 sweep of Millwall at Newden Stadium to advance to the semi-finals of the League Cup, but also managed to raise the profile of Pierce. Bruce's report on the subway made Donn very popular among fans, and now almost all of England knows that Nottingham Forest has a manager who dares to confront football hooligans in order to protect the team, and those dangerous football hooligans are surprisingly honest in front of Donn.

His only punishment was to receive a bill to compensate for the plastic baffle next to the visiting seats at Newden Stadium.

After an investigation, the FA concluded that Coach Donn had not acted excesses, and as for the war of words between Forest and Millwall, it was a personal feud between the two clubs, and the FA would not intervene. Otherwise...... Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal, Manchester United and Bolton, Manchester City and Manchester United, Liverpool and Everton, West Ham and Millwall, Nottingham Forest and Nods County, Manchester United and Arsenal...... If the FA had to take care of the feuds between these clubs, then they wouldn't want to do anything else for a year.

The investigation report was quite unfavorable to Millwall's home fans, who concluded that Millwall's failure to stop the fans' excesses in time led to the fan disturbance in the stands. At the same time, after the incident, the chairman of the Millwall club shirked his responsibilities to the FA, in view of the Millwall fans in the history of repeatedly causing trouble to their stadiums, the FA imposed a fine of 15,000 pounds on the Millwall club, and ordered the Millwall club to improve the atmosphere at home, strengthen the supervision of fans, and strictly prohibit the recurrence of similar fan disturbances.

Fortunately, there were no dead people in this scuffle, and if there were dead people, the punishment would definitely not be a matter of fine money. London is preparing to bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games, and the slightest negative impact could have incalculable consequences. From this background, the FA is quite light...... Due to the Carabao Cup schedule and Christmas, the League One 24th round was postponed to 27 February 2004, so Forest had nine days after the Carabao Cup to prepare for the next round of the league, giving Donn valuable time. Just like when he first took over the first time at Forest, he had 14 days of training after the FA Cup.

Maybe it's a coincidence, maybe it's a fateful arrangement. These two lengthy preparations gave Donn time to familiarize himself with the team and time for the team to breathe a sigh of relief.

The media hype did not affect the team's training, as Donn conducted closed training and did not allow any media to approach the training base.

Rebrov was basically fixed in the midfield position, and it looked like Donn was playing 451, a single striker. But it's not that simple. When Donn watched the game, he took the view that formation is no longer the most important component of football. When it comes to tactics, the era of first talking about formations has passed, and the era of relying on a formation to sweep the world football for thousands of years has long passed. The game is handed over to the TV broadcaster before the game, and then the formation map that is played on the screen means nothing to the team. A real coach should make appropriate adjustments at any time according to the situation of the game, and the formation is just a reference.

It looks like Nottingham Forest are now ditching last season's 442 and switching to 451, but when it comes to the real game, sometimes the formation is still 442, but there are some local changes. For example, Rebrov is still a striker, but he is a hidden second striker, which not only avoids letting Rebrov fall into the opponent's encirclement, but also effectively plays his good skills and is good at dribbling and sharing the ball, and the threat of inserting in the back row is greater.

A seemingly simple change in position has allowed Rebrov to score in two consecutive games. Sometimes great coaches are like that, and ordinary changes make great results. Don't think of football tactics as complicated, if it's too complicated, the coach will get dizzy first, so smart people tend to simplify things that originally seem complicated.

For example, Brian. Clough is very good at doing this. He once had a good deal with Roy, who made his debut for the Forest team. Keane said, "Don't think so much, young man. You go up, pass the ball to the guy in red (the traditional colour of Nottingham Forest) and run forward, it's as simple as that. ”

Roy. Keane kept this phrase in mind throughout his career, and faithfully carried out the tactical instructions given to him by the old man, and in this way he went from the rising star of Notting Forest all the way to the Irish national team, to the Red Devils Manchester United, to the captain of Ireland, and to the leader of Manchester United.

Keane's football was as simple as that, and he succeeded.

Donn also wants his players to understand tactics more simply, and thinking too much on the field can be counterproductive. For example, his request to Taylor is to fight for the first point, and then either shoot or pass, and don't think too much about the rest.

The request given to Rebrov is to follow Taylor, pay attention to the second point, whether he passes or shoots after catching the ball, or passes it, is up to him.

The manager can't play in place of the players, so it's impossible to explain every move of the players, and it's more important for the players to understand it themselves.

That's why we say: first-rate players play with their brains, second-rate players play with their bodies, and third-rate players ...... Can't kick a ball.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been described as a 'super sub' because he has always made the most of his limited playing time for the team. Alex Ferguson has praised him as a player who "can read the game off the pitch and has a super high level of comprehension". You know, the benches are often more difficult to do than the starters, because they usually don't have a lot of time to spend dozens of minutes getting into the rhythm of the game. When they are needed to play, it must be the time when the results are achieved quickly, so they are required to get into the game as quickly as possible and understand the situation on the field immediately...... These are basically impossible tasks for people who don't know how to kick football with their brains. Therefore, why are there so many substitute players, but there are only a few who are called "super substitutes".

In addition to the team's tactical drills and the adaptation of the players to their new positions, Donn has another task.

By the time the league reopened, it was already after Christmas, and he was going to start thinking about replacing Dawson and Reed from now on. Aside from Reid, no one in the Forest squad has been able to play left midfield. Donn found himself lucky, Reed didn't even suffer any injuries during the year, and he didn't lose a single game. Then you have to look around for the left wing-back, the value can't be too high, the ability must not be bad, the poor Don can't look down on it, he doesn't want to buy players for a rush, and there are more ambitious goals waiting for him in advance.

There's good news for Donn. Leeds United's results continue to slip, the stock price has fallen again and again, and the team is now in fear. Around Elland Road (Leeds United's home elland_road), rumours spread that "once the team finally drops into the first division, the club will declare bankruptcy and all players will be put up for sale".

Don knew in his heart that this was not a rumor. His chance came. So he again asked the old scout Ian "in a private capacity". Situ Lei. Mr Moore went on a trip to Leeds and lobbied heavily for Allen Lee, who had not yet signed a professional contract with Leeds United and was in the youth team. Lennon (aaron_lennon) wants him to switch to Nottingham Forest. Donn's advice to Moore was to "convince Lennon, if not himself, his parents and family." If necessary, he will be bribed with money, and in short, he cannot be allowed to sign with Leeds United. Tell him where Leeds are now, get him to think seriously about his professional future, and promise him that Forest will be promoted to the Premier League this season. If the final promise is not fulfilled and the Forest voluntarily relinquishes his ownership, he can go to any team he wants. This condition can be written into the contract, and if Forest does not comply, Lennon can take the club and Donn himself to court."

Of course, if Lennon's family is a staunch Leeds fan and loyal to the club, the team also values Lennon very much and prepares him with a lucrative contract, which leads to an unsuccessful buyout, and Don has a backup plan, but it just needs to spend a little more money. He believes there is nothing in Leeds United, which is in deep financial crisis and on the verge of bankruptcy, that money cannot buy. The £8 million from the sale of Dawson and Reed gave Done the right to look at players who he had previously only been able to see but not touch.

In fact, in terms of offensive players, Donn's shortlist has a long list of names, and there are far more offensive talents than defensive talents in today's football. Even if Reed is gone, it won't have much impact on the team. The biggest influence is actually the captain of the team, Michael Murphy. Dawson's departure.

Donn always believes that Tottenham Hotspur is willing to pay 8 million pounds, mainly to buy Dawson, and Reid is just a "plus", or half sold and half given. Because there are too few good defenders right now.

Dawson is gone, with the current combination of central defenders in the Forest team, maybe the promotion is not a big problem, but what happens after the promotion?

(To be continued)