91 Beautiful Tackle Part 2 (1/2)

Chapter 91: Beautiful Tackle Part 2

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

On Nottingham Forest's youth team, there were two people Tang En paid the most attention to. The first person was Gareth Bale, who had been personally poached by Tang En from Southampton. He would occasionally take the time to observe Bale's training progress and see if he was improving.

Bale was very obedient. Although Tang En forgot to tell him the reason for switching him over to the position of left back, he still continued to practice his techniques as a left back. Although there were no notable results currently, he still continued to practice. Another thing that Tang En paid much attention to was Bale's free kick practice.

What made Tang En extremely excited was that, after going through proper guidance and practice, this kid's talent in the aspect of free kicks was finally showing. According to Bale's father, Bale loved free kicks. Now, he only did one thing during his physical education classes in school and in his backyard after he returned home—practiced his left foot free kick.

Standing by the side of the field and seeing this kid kicking the ball over the moving human walls time and again, Tang En felt as if he was witnessing the birth of another Beckham. The feeling of achievement from witnessing a player's average abilities gradually become outstanding, was one that could not be expressed with mere words. It was just like, like…. like giving birth to a child and raising him up with one's own hands.

These young players were his children, and Tang En was their father.

As for the other person whom he paid much attention to, it was naturally George Wood. His attention toward Wood was already publicly known, and the entire youth team knew that this silly kid was highly regarded by the manager. However, there were few who could tell the reason why this was so. Wes Morgan was one of those who understood the reason.

After leading the team for four matches, Tang En did had not sent Wood onto the field even once. Every time, Wood would be on the substitution name list, but he would merely watch from the side. Tang En did not give him a chance to go onto the field for even a single minute. Kerslake thought that Tang En was worried that this kid would go up and injure another person from the opposing team again. However, Tang En, himself, knew very clearly, his reason for doing so.

Did George Wood know? Tang En had no idea. This lad did not speak much usually, and if one did not take the initiative to ask, Wood would not reveal anything. If Wood had something on his mind, it would just sit there and ferment, buried in his heart. Therefore, Tang En decided to have a talk with Wood one day after training.

After a full day of training, the players of the youth team started leaving the training grounds, discussing where they would go and what they would do that night. This was a good chance for them to rest and relax. Tang En and Kerslake never interfered with the players' personal lives, as long as they did not go overboard with it.

After bidding farewell to Kerslake and the rest of the coaches in the office, Tang En hurried toward the changing room. There were still a few players who had just finished showering and were sitting and chatting half-naked while waiting for their bodies to dry. Among them was the youth team's captain, Wes Morgan.

Tang En's entrance interrupted the young men's discussion. He looked around, but did not find George Wood. He asked, ”Anyone seen Wood around?”

Morgan stood up and said, ”No, Manager. We haven't seen him come back.”

”Hmm?” Tang En thought that it was strange. ”Haven't seen him come back?”

Morgan nodded his head before pointing to the north. ”I saw him walk directly in that direction right after training ended.” After thinking for a short while, he added, ”And he was hugging a football ball.”

Upon seeing Morgan point in to the north, Tang En had already guessed—George Wood must have run off to the second field to do some extra training on his own. This kid!

”Thanks a lot. Hope you have a great time tonight!” Tang En bade farewell to the players and walked toward the second field.

Upon reaching the second field, it was just as Tang En had expected. Under the evening sun, George Wood was continuously doing the same fundamental practices that he had been doing for the past year: headers, passing, dribbling…

Seeing this, Tang En did not feel touched at all. In fact, he was slightly angry. He quickly rushed forward and stepped on the football ball that Wood kicked.

George Wood's eye shifted upwards from Tang En's foot and saw an angry Tony Twain.

Tang En raised four fingers and displayed them in front of Wood's eyes. With a slight tinge of anger in his voice, Tang En said, ”Four hours. The maximum training duration that the UEFA has set for youth players.” After that, the four fingers turned into two fingers, and it seemed as though the number had been reduced.

”Twenty hours. The maximum training duration for youth teams in a week. Do you know why they had to specifically make such a rule, George?”

Wood shook his head. He did not care much about this. To him, training and practicing was all that mattered to him.

”It is to prevent people like you from doing stupid things like this!” Tang En reprimanded sternly. ”Do you know why I stopped your fundamentals trainings here after moving you to the team? If you continue to train for two more hours after receiving three to four hours of highly intensive training daily, your body will crumble before you become successful and famous!”

Tang En said it in an intimidating tone and had originally thought that George Wood would be frightened by it. Instead, he shook his head and replied in a nonchalant manner, ”I don't find the daily training of the team too tiring.”

Shit! Tang En scolded in his heart.

”Are you King Kong or Hulk? Alright, I don't care how much your current body can take. In any case, you have to stop training at once and go home!” Tang En stepped and rolled the ball back and forth, as he thought about how he could successfully flick the ball from the ground to his hand in one try. He was unwilling to lose face in front of his own player.

Tang En, who was focused on thinking about how to flick the ball, did not notice that George Wood had already fixated his eyes on the ball, and was following Tang En's movements closely.

After pulling the ball back and forth around ten times, Tang En estimated that he should only need one try to succeed. He pulled back his right leg forcibly, and rolled the ball back slightly. After that, he kicked the ball forward quickly, and flicked the tip of his foot. He was met with the ball that was rolling back, and it looked just like he had used a shovel to ”shove” the ball up!

Haha! I did it! Tang En, whose football skills were extremely terrible, wanted to laugh out loud, but he suddenly felt a gust of wind beside him! Sensing danger, he instinctively arched his body backwards. After that, he saw clearly...