Nevertheless, Gary Lineker hit the nail on the head with an evaluation of Nottingham Forest he had made a long time ago:
This is a young team, dynamic and energetic. So, they are not afraid of any opponents and display a strength beyond any of our expectations when they play against strong opponents. But because they are young, their performance is very unstable. Therefore, when you want to have high hopes for Manager Twain’s team, they are likely to disappoint you. And when you no longer have any hope for them, they can surprise you. So… don’t believe any bookmaker’s analysis of the team before the game. That’s all nonsense.
After winning their first game of February, everyone agreed that Twain’s team should continue to close the gap on Chelsea and that it was time to put pressure on them. Instead, they lost to Arsenal in the 25th round on the February 4 home game.
In the previous round, the difference between both teams was only three points because Chelsea had tied with Aston Villa in their away game. However, in this round, Chelsea beat the strong team, Liverpool, by 2:0 at their home ground, whereas the Forest team lost to Arsenal at home.
The three-point gap between the two teams had widened to six.
At this juncture, Twain’s team did not have the ability to press on Chelsea. When the Champions League began again, they would be powerless to try and catch up to Chelsea in the league.
The focus of the team was not constant; it could change at any time. Now, they were focused on the league. In time, the Champions League would obviously be more important than the league tournament.
Wenger turned the tables on Twain in their match. His team beat Nottingham Forest with their eight-game winning streak in the City Ground stadium and ended Nottingham Forest’s eleven consecutive unbeaten rounds after they had lost to Newcastle United in the away game last November 19th. Simultaneously, this victory also allowed Arsenal’s ranking to return to the top five in the league. They were only one point away from the league’s fourth-ranked Liverpool.
Therefore, when Twain shook hands with Wenger with a worried frown after the game, Wenger teased him. “This isn’t too bad. Ferguson’s team is still twelve points behind your team!”
“They haven’t played the game in this round yet,” said Twain as he shook his head.
He was not worried about Manchester United. He was just upset that he had failed to seize the opportunity to catch up with Chelsea time after time.
Manchester United’s game was over the next day. With their bad luck last year continuing in this year, Manchester United finally won their home game by 4:2, defeating Fulham. They narrowed the gap between them and the league’s second-ranked Nottingham Forest by nine points. This might be good news for Manchester United, as it let them see some hope. However, for Nottingham Forest, it was a wake-up call.
Unfortunately, Tony Twain did not see it. The nine points were still within the safety zone for him. He focused all his energy on the preparations for the Champions League round 16.
On February 11th, in the league’s 26th round, with their winning streak recently ended, the Forest team regained another victory. They defeated Blackburn Rovers at home with a score of 3:1. But the game was not as easy as the score. The Forest team only ensured their victory at the last minute of the game. After the score reached 2:1, they were constantly in the position of having to deal with Blackburn Rovers’ counterattacks.
The Nottingham Forest supporters definitely would say it was because Twain had deployed nearly half of the substitutes to preserve their strength for the Champions League round 16. However, it was true that the young Nottingham Forest already showed signs of fatigue from competing on three fronts simultaneously.
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On the evening of February 22nd, visiting Glasgow, the capital city of Scotland, Nottingham Forest ushered in the first round of their Champions League round 16.
Football in the city of Glasgow was always linked to religion and politics, which was related to their particular environment. Every year, the “Old Firm”—represented by the Protestant Rangers Football Club and the Catholic Celtic F.C.—waged battle in their city with a highly regarded derby.
Although the Scottish Premiership could only rank as second-rate in Europe, the Rangers and Celtic teams were still strong teams, not to be underestimated.
Twain had made very detailed arrangements for the game before he set out.
Fortunately, this game was just an ordinary Champions League round 16, and not the derby between the “Old Firm”, Celtic and the Rangers. Twain’s team did not represent any religious groups or interests, so he did not have to worry about being stabbed from behind by the fanatical Rangers fans after he got off the bus.
Certainly, if his team eventually defeated the Rangers team, he and his players might have to consider that point. After all, this was a city that was crazy about football.
During their warm-up in the stadium, the Forest players could hear the hissing and verbal abuse from everywhere in the stands. They tried every means to disrupt their opponents as the home fans.
Having to play in this environment so far from Nottingham really made the Forest fans break into a cold sweat for the team they supported.
“Don’t believe in that nonsense!” Twain told his players in the locker room before the game, “We’re not the Celtics. This is not their f**king ‘Old Firm’ game! It’s just an ordinary Champions League round 16 match that does not represent anything. We’re going to play today how we normally play.”
Before the game, the Scottish media announced that they were going to show England the Scots’ passion for football. The pro-Rangers media also started to feed the city’s frenzy, even citing some sensationalized data. In 1984, for example, the world was shocked by the Heysel Stadium disaster; but not many people knew that during the “Old Firm” derby that year, there were two attempted murders, two slashing cases, one hatchet wounding incident, nine stabbing injuries and thirty-five group brawls.
There were even people shouting a murderous slogan: “Football matches are modern warfare.”
They want Nottingham Forest to cower before the fight.
But Twain did not buy it.
“But I’m telling you these things, so people don’t think we’re afraid of them.” Twain raised his right arm and clenched his fist in front of everyone, “If they want war, we’ll give them war!”
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The competition was very intense. The showdown between the two competing teams could not compare with those of the powerhouse clubs such as Chelsea and Barcelona, Real Madrid and Arsenal, or Bayern Munich and AC Milan, but this still might be the most entertaining game out of the four Round 16 games held tonight in the terms of viewership.
Neither side played conservatively. They mainly played offense. In the first half, both teams had already scored three goals; the home team, Rangers, led by 2:1.
During the halftime interval, Twain grumbled in the locker room. Getting one away goal did not mean victory for him. He wanted a complete victory, from the goal count to the overall points.
“It’s disgraceful that there are those who think that we should be happy with one away goal! This is other teams’ pathetic thinking, not Nottingham Forest’s! If the Scots think we’re satisfied with this score and that they can relax in the second half, they’ll be making a big mistake!”
“George! Destroy their offense at every point and every line to give us enough protection for our offense!”
In the second half, George Wood unceasingly darted around and appeared in every corner of the field to halt the opponent’s attacks. The statistics after the game proved his efforts: his individual fouls totaled thirteen in the game. He was fouled against seven times and presented with one yellow card. He ran a distance of up to thirteen thousand kilometers and passed the ball sixty times with a success rate of thirty-nine times. He successfully tackled seventeen times out of twenty-one. His headers succeeded ten of eleven times and he made eighteen errors. He became the target of constant jeers at Hampden Park. But the more he was hated by his opponents, the more he proved his success.
The ESPN commentator was amazed at Wood’s stamina. In this fast-paced and highly confrontational competition, he was still sprinting with his full strength until the last minute of the game, showing no signs of physical exhaustion. The closer he got to the end of the game, the more desperate his opponents felt about his sprinting.
The Rangers were finally worn down by Wood’s extreme stamina, and they could not organize their offense as the ferocious George Wood could appear in any corner. He could suddenly show his cleats, do a “reasonable collision”, or harass. When the attacking players faced him, they had to expend more physical energy than usual and brace themselves to break through the defense. It was simply too draining! Nottingham Forest’s offense suddenly attacked in the last ten minutes of the game. While the opponent’s physical strength was flagging, they scored two goals consecutively within seven minutes and turned the tides.
The boos in Hampden Park reverberated in Glasgow’s night sky. Tony Twain’s bright smiling face was magnified under the spotlight.
“… 3:2! Three away goals and one victory. Tony Twain’s team is well on its way to entering the top eight of the Champions League!”