From the looks of the 30 minutes of the match, Nottingham Forest's performance did not seem to have much difference from the past. They were unable launch an offensive stance that made their opponents afraid. Rebrov's existence instead dragged down the entire team's performance.
Taking advantage of the state of disarray Nottingham Forest's offense was in, Crystal Palace scored a goal at the 39th minute mark of the first half! The scorer was Andrew Johnson, Crystal Palace's best shooter. He had already scored 16 goals in the first half of the season, and was ranked first in the shooter's ranking.
"Oh! Andrew Johnson! This is his 17th goal in the season. Wes Morgan, who had just joined from the youth team, is still too green. His mistake allowed Crystal Palace to take the lead."
Seeing his own team score, Simon Jordan suddenly jumped up in the stadium's VIP lounge, startling Doughty. He was so carried away that he celebrated this goal in front of the home team's chairman, as if his team had already won the match.
Edward knew that this person did it on purpose and wanted to embarrass him. Too abominable!
However, after waiting for Jordan to finish his butt-shaking dance, Doughty still forcibly extended his hand toward him and said, "Congratulations, Mr. Jordan."
At the same time, he was shouting in his heart: Tony, what are you doing?!
When Tony, who was seated on the manager's seat, saw this misplay, he only shook his head and did not say anything else. Morgan was too green, that was something that he definitely knew. But that was the price to pay for utilizing teenagers, and he was prepared to bear the price right from the start.
Walker looked at him before asking, "Is everything just like 11 months ago?"
"Hmm?" Tang En did not understand what Walker was saying.
Walker pointed at the viewing platform and said, "You don't do anything in the first half of the match, and then you make everyone's eyes open wide in the second half."
"You really understand me, Walker." Tang En smiled. "The second half will decide the victor!"
During the time when the match was in progress, Tang En had been trying to make clear a question in his mind. In his memory, after Rebrov had been abandoned by Hotspurs, he had basically left the mainstream football scene. As such, it was unlikely that a Chinese football fan like Tang En could hear much news about him. He even thought that this person had retired. Afterwards, when Tang En once again saw Rebrov appear on the Ukrainian football team during the 2006 Germany World Cup, he was extremely shocked, as if Poborsky was still on the Czech national team.
He remembered that the person who formed the Ukrainian team's frontline duo with Shevchenko was no longer Rebrov, but someone else—Andriy Voronin. However, Rebrov was still a core member of the team. Since he was not playing as a forward, then what position was he playing?
Tang En tired his best to search his memories, but during the 06 World Cup, Tang En only paid attention to Shevchenko, and really did not pay much notice to Rebrov. When Crystal Palace's Andrew Johnson scored, he finally recalled, midfielder!
Rebrov was playing as a midfielder at that time!
During the few years when he left Kyiv Dynamo, he turned into a midfielder organizer from a killer. Was there some unknown backstory which he did not know at that time? And would this story be related to Nottingham Forest and Tang En?
Thinking up to this point, Tang En finally understood. He did not know in the previous world, who was the person who made Rebrov play as a midfielder instead. However, it was very clear now that, should the Ukrainian team still be able to make a historical advancement into the World Cup Finals in the current world, then Rebrov who would be playing as a midfielder must be caused by him!
By the end of the first half, Nottingham Forest was temporarily down by one ball on their home ground. Despite Crystal Palace being in the lead, the Nottingham fans on the viewing platform did not appear to be dejected at all. The jeers directed at the manager and the players, which had been prevalent in the past, also did not appear. The fans all believed that Tony Twain's team would not let them down.
The plump John stood on the viewing platform and looked at the players who walked back to the changing room with their heads lowered, as well as Tang En who was standing by the side of the field. He shrugged his shoulders at the people beside him and said, "We all know that this guy loves to go all out in the second half. Lads! Let's go drink some beer to moisturize our throats, we'll be extremely busy in the second half!"
In the past, Tang En would always be the first person to walk to the changing room when the whistle sounded. However today, he stood at the side of the field and waited for someone to exit the field.
Rebrov lowered his head and headed toward the changing room. The depressed him did not see the team's manager walking toward him.
"Serhiy Rebrov," Tang En called out the name of this restless Ukrainian. "If you don't raise your head soon, you will knock into the utility pole."
Startled, Rebrov raised his head, "There are no utility poles on the field." He looked at Tang En who was grinning, and knew that he had been played by the manager.
"Hmm, you know that there are no utility poles on the field, so seems like you are still conscious." Tang En nodded his head. "Don't rush to go back, I have something to say to you. I heard… you failed to qualify for the Ukrainian national football team?"
This question was considered a direct hit to Rebrov's wounds. He remained silent for a while before nodding his head. "Manager, I hope the team is able to put me up for listing either during the winter break period or after the season."
Tang En was not at all shocked at Rebrov's proposal. "Why? Because you failed to qualify for the national team, so you hope to start over from another place?"
Rebrov shared his thoughts. "I think that I'm not suitable for English football, and that coming to England to play in itself, was a mistake."
Tang En shook his head. "You think you finally found the root cause for your poor performance? You really disappoint me… If you want to leave, I won't stop you. But do you think there are still any teams who are willing to accept you? Oh, maybe some English League Two teams might happily accept you. But are you willing to go to that sort of place?"
Rebrov did not utter a single word, because deep down in his heart, he was also unsure whether leaving the team would solve everything. He was merely taking a gamble.
"I will agree to place you on the transfer market. Not during the winter break period, but only after the season ended. Before this, I will give you 45 minutes as your last chance."
Rebrov raised his head and looked at Tang En, unsure of what this new manager was planning to do.
"If you want to prove your worth to the other clubs, the next half of this match will be your last chance. If your performance still doesn't improve, you can only sit on that bench for the rest of the season. Don't think that I'm threatening you. Better treatment and getting more teams to be interested in you, those things can only be acquired by you. In the next half, you will play as an offensive midfielder." Upon saying this, Tang En turned around and left the field. Rebrov looked at his back, and the last sentence made him go deep into thought.
During the halftime break, Tang En did not criticize the team's performance in the changing room, and only did some adjustments to the player line up. The defensive midfielder, Eugen Bopp, replaced center forward Jacob Burns, who did not perform well. This was a very normal substitution, but Tang En's decisions after that made everyone, including Walker, shocked. He did not substitute out Rebrov who had been constantly underperforming, but instead made the Ukrainian play as an offensive midfielder!
The condition which Tang En gave Rebrov was to make use of his own techniques to create an opportunity for his teammates. Only when the opportunity was prime, would he try to shoot the ball. If he did not have the confidence to aim accurately, then he should pass the ball over to his other teammates in the other positions. In other words, it meant more passing and less shooting for him.
After deploying the tactics for the second half, Tang En's cell phone rang. He looked at the number, and it was actually a call from Doughty.
"Des." He pointed to outside the door.
Walker nodded his head, indicating that he knew.
Tang En walked out and closed the door, before he answered the call.
"Tony!" The call just got through, but Edward's furious voice could already be heard rushing out from it.
"What's the matter, Edward?"
"Can this match be won?"
"Erm, I am unable to promise you anything before the match ends." Tang En looked at the field outside, and saw the reserve players warming up. What he had planned for, was to end the match in a tie. After all, Rebrov still needed time to accustom himself to his new position. Moreover, it was Tang En's first match after taking over the team. It would therefore be unrealistic to have too high expectations for it.
"No! You must win, must win!" Doughty shouted over the phone.
Tang En felt that it was rather strange. "Hey, Edward, does the boss of Crystal Palace owe you a lot of money?"
"No, but I just hate that guy!" Upon hearing this, Tang En could completely imagine how angry Doughty was, and the sight of him shouting at the phone and flailing his arms about. "I hate him very very much! That b*stard actually dares to look down on me… and our team! Tony, didn't you say that you only pursue victory? There's such a chance right now. Defeat him, humiliate him!"
To think that Doughty, who always appeared extremely amiable, would have such an angry moment. Looks like that Crystal Palace boss must have done something extremely overboard.
Tang En pouted, before saying, "Alright, I will try to obtain victory over Crystal Palace."
"No, not try. You must! Must!" Doughty corrected.
"Alright, alright, I must win Crystal Palace… Must, must."
Once again returning to the changing room, Tang En looked at the players and suddenly decided to tell them what just happened. Perhaps, it could have quite a considerable effect on them.
"Does anyone know who that call was from?" He whipped out his phone and shook it.
Nobody nodded their heads, but nobody shook their heads, either.
"It was the club chairman."
Everyone focused their attention on Tang En, wanting to listen to what he had to say.
"Hmm.. He is currently extremely angry with the team's performance in the first half, because Crystal Palace's boss looked down on us in the VIP lounge. Crystal Palace's boss felt that it was a given for us to be losing to his team, and even more of a given that we would lose to them by the end of the match. This made Mr. Doughty, who loves the team, extremely furious. He cannot tolerate seeing the team he loves humiliated by other people. Do you all mind being looked down on by a team that is beneath us?" Tang En asked expressionlessly.
The players were already unhappy with the actions of Crystal Palace's boss. Someone screamed out, "Of course, we mind!"
"I also mind it a lot, so we have to obtain victory by the end of the second half, to tell them that, low-rankers like them better behave themselves!" Tony Twain, who appeared indifferent just mere moments ago, suddenly erupted like a volcano.
"That's right!"
"Shut that idiot's mouth up!" Tang En flailed his hands around violently.
"That's right!!"
"Make him… reap—what—he—goddamned—sowed!" Tang En emphasized on each and every word he shouted.
"That's—right—!!!"
From the looks of the 30 minutes of the match, Nottingham Forest's performance did not seem to have much difference from the past. They were unable launch an offensive stance that made their opponents afraid. Rebrov's existence instead dragged down the entire team's performance.
Taking advantage of the state of disarray Nottingham Forest's offense was in, Crystal Palace scored a goal at the 39th minute mark of the first half! The scorer was Andrew Johnson, Crystal Palace's best shooter. He had already scored 16 goals in the first half of the season, and was ranked first in the shooter's ranking.
"Oh! Andrew Johnson! This is his 17th goal in the season. Wes Morgan, who had just joined from the youth team, is still too green. His mistake allowed Crystal Palace to take the lead."
Seeing his own team score, Simon Jordan suddenly jumped up in the stadium's VIP lounge, startling Doughty. He was so carried away that he celebrated this goal in front of the home team's chairman, as if his team had already won the match.
Edward knew that this person did it on purpose and wanted to embarrass him. Too abominable!
However, after waiting for Jordan to finish his butt-shaking dance, Doughty still forcibly extended his hand toward him and said, "Congratulations, Mr. Jordan."
At the same time, he was shouting in his heart: Tony, what are you doing?!
When Tony, who was seated on the manager's seat, saw this misplay, he only shook his head and did not say anything else. Morgan was too green, that was something that he definitely knew. But that was the price to pay for utilizing teenagers, and he was prepared to bear the price right from the start.
Walker looked at him before asking, "Is everything just like 11 months ago?"
"Hmm?" Tang En did not understand what Walker was saying.
Walker pointed at the viewing platform and said, "You don't do anything in the first half of the match, and then you make everyone's eyes open wide in the second half."
"You really understand me, Walker." Tang En smiled. "The second half will decide the victor!"
During the time when the match was in progress, Tang En had been trying to make clear a question in his mind. In his memory, after Rebrov had been abandoned by Hotspurs, he had basically left the mainstream football scene. As such, it was unlikely that a Chinese football fan like Tang En could hear much news about him. He even thought that this person had retired. Afterwards, when Tang En once again saw Rebrov appear on the Ukrainian football team during the 2006 Germany World Cup, he was extremely shocked, as if Poborsky was still on the Czech national team.
He remembered that the person who formed the Ukrainian team's frontline duo with Shevchenko was no longer Rebrov, but someone else—Andriy Voronin. However, Rebrov was still a core member of the team. Since he was not playing as a forward, then what position was he playing?
Tang En tired his best to search his memories, but during the 06 World Cup, Tang En only paid attention to Shevchenko, and really did not pay much notice to Rebrov. When Crystal Palace's Andrew Johnson scored, he finally recalled, midfielder!
Rebrov was playing as a midfielder at that time!
During the few years when he left Kyiv Dynamo, he turned into a midfielder organizer from a killer. Was there some unknown backstory which he did not know at that time? And would this story be related to Nottingham Forest and Tang En?
Thinking up to this point, Tang En finally understood. He did not know in the previous world, who was the person who made Rebrov play as a midfielder instead. However, it was very clear now that, should the Ukrainian team still be able to make a historical advancement into the World Cup Finals in the current world, then Rebrov who would be playing as a midfielder must be caused by him!
By the end of the first half, Nottingham Forest was temporarily down by one ball on their home ground. Despite Crystal Palace being in the lead, the Nottingham fans on the viewing platform did not appear to be dejected at all. The jeers directed at the manager and the players, which had been prevalent in the past, also did not appear. The fans all believed that Tony Twain's team would not let them down.
The plump John stood on the viewing platform and looked at the players who walked back to the changing room with their heads lowered, as well as Tang En who was standing by the side of the field. He shrugged his shoulders at the people beside him and said, "We all know that this guy loves to go all out in the second half. Lads! Let's go drink some beer to moisturize our throats, we'll be extremely busy in the second half!"
In the past, Tang En would always be the first person to walk to the changing room when the whistle sounded. However today, he stood at the side of the field and waited for someone to exit the field.
Rebrov lowered his head and headed toward the changing room. The depressed him did not see the team's manager walking toward him.
"Serhiy Rebrov," Tang En called out the name of this restless Ukrainian. "If you don't raise your head soon, you will knock into the utility pole."
Startled, Rebrov raised his head, "There are no utility poles on the field." He looked at Tang En who was grinning, and knew that he had been played by the manager.
"Hmm, you know that there are no utility poles on the field, so seems like you are still conscious." Tang En nodded his head. "Don't rush to go back, I have something to say to you. I heard… you failed to qualify for the Ukrainian national football team?"
This question was considered a direct hit to Rebrov's wounds. He remained silent for a while before nodding his head. "Manager, I hope the team is able to put me up for listing either during the winter break period or after the season."
Tang En was not at all shocked at Rebrov's proposal. "Why? Because you failed to qualify for the national team, so you hope to start over from another place?"
Rebrov shared his thoughts. "I think that I'm not suitable for English football, and that coming to England to play in itself, was a mistake."
Tang En shook his head. "You think you finally found the root cause for your poor performance? You really disappoint me… If you want to leave, I won't stop you. But do you think there are still any teams who are willing to accept you? Oh, maybe some English League Two teams might happily accept you. But are you willing to go to that sort of place?"
Rebrov did not utter a single word, because deep down in his heart, he was also unsure whether leaving the team would solve everything. He was merely taking a gamble.
"I will agree to place you on the transfer market. Not during the winter break period, but only after the season ended. Before this, I will give you 45 minutes as your last chance."
Rebrov raised his head and looked at Tang En, unsure of what this new manager was planning to do.
"If you want to prove your worth to the other clubs, the next half of this match will be your last chance. If your performance still doesn't improve, you can only sit on that bench for the rest of the season. Don't think that I'm threatening you. Better treatment and getting more teams to be interested in you, those things can only be acquired by you. In the next half, you will play as an offensive midfielder." Upon saying this, Tang En turned around and left the field. Rebrov looked at his back, and the last sentence made him go deep into thought.
During the halftime break, Tang En did not criticize the team's performance in the changing room, and only did some adjustments to the player line up. The defensive midfielder, Eugen Bopp, replaced center forward Jacob Burns, who did not perform well. This was a very normal substitution, but Tang En's decisions after that made everyone, including Walker, shocked. He did not substitute out Rebrov who had been constantly underperforming, but instead made the Ukrainian play as an offensive midfielder!
The condition which Tang En gave Rebrov was to make use of his own techniques to create an opportunity for his teammates. Only when the opportunity was prime, would he try to shoot the ball. If he did not have the confidence to aim accurately, then he should pass the ball over to his other teammates in the other positions. In other words, it meant more passing and less shooting for him.
After deploying the tactics for the second half, Tang En's cell phone rang. He looked at the number, and it was actually a call from Doughty.
"Des." He pointed to outside the door.
Walker nodded his head, indicating that he knew.
Tang En walked out and closed the door, before he answered the call.
"Tony!" The call just got through, but Edward's furious voice could already be heard rushing out from it.
"What's the matter, Edward?"
"Can this match be won?"
"Erm, I am unable to promise you anything before the match ends." Tang En looked at the field outside, and saw the reserve players warming up. What he had planned for, was to end the match in a tie. After all, Rebrov still needed time to accustom himself to his new position. Moreover, it was Tang En's first match after taking over the team. It would therefore be unrealistic to have too high expectations for it.
"No! You must win, must win!" Doughty shouted over the phone.
Tang En felt that it was rather strange. "Hey, Edward, does the boss of Crystal Palace owe you a lot of money?"
"No, but I just hate that guy!" Upon hearing this, Tang En could completely imagine how angry Doughty was, and the sight of him shouting at the phone and flailing his arms about. "I hate him very very much! That b*stard actually dares to look down on me… and our team! Tony, didn't you say that you only pursue victory? There's such a chance right now. Defeat him, humiliate him!"
To think that Doughty, who always appeared extremely amiable, would have such an angry moment. Looks like that Crystal Palace boss must have done something extremely overboard.
Tang En pouted, before saying, "Alright, I will try to obtain victory over Crystal Palace."
"No, not try. You must! Must!" Doughty corrected.
"Alright, alright, I must win Crystal Palace… Must, must."
Once again returning to the changing room, Tang En looked at the players and suddenly decided to tell them what just happened. Perhaps, it could have quite a considerable effect on them.
"Does anyone know who that call was from?" He whipped out his phone and shook it.
Nobody nodded their heads, but nobody shook their heads, either.
"It was the club chairman."
Everyone focused their attention on Tang En, wanting to listen to what he had to say.
"Hmm.. He is currently extremely angry with the team's performance in the first half, because Crystal Palace's boss looked down on us in the VIP lounge. Crystal Palace's boss felt that it was a given for us to be losing to his team, and even more of a given that we would lose to them by the end of the match. This made Mr. Doughty, who loves the team, extremely furious. He cannot tolerate seeing the team he loves humiliated by other people. Do you all mind being looked down on by a team that is beneath us?" Tang En asked expressionlessly.
The players were already unhappy with the actions of Crystal Palace's boss. Someone screamed out, "Of course, we mind!"
"I also mind it a lot, so we have to obtain victory by the end of the second half, to tell them that, low-rankers like them better behave themselves!" Tony Twain, who appeared indifferent just mere moments ago, suddenly erupted like a volcano.
"That's right!"
"Shut that idiot's mouth up!" Tang En flailed his hands around violently.
"That's right!!"
"Make him… reap—what—he—goddamned—sowed!" Tang En emphasized on each and every word he shouted.
"That's—right—!!!"
