136 This Is Eastwood! Part 1 (1/2)

Chapter 136: This Is Eastwood! Part 1

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

This was the day that Eastwood and George Wood first met on the training field. As the rest of the team all watched their new teammate's style at the gates, they did not appear to be that unfamiliar with Eastwood. Some jokers even cracked jokes to Eastwood about the horse. A very likeable smile remained hanging on the the Gypsy's face, and he did not seem to take the jokes to heart at all.

Only when he saw George Wood did the smile on his face disappear. He did not greet Wood, shake his hand, or make any other gestures to signify his goodwill. Wood did the same. But this did not mean that Wood bore a grudge like Eastwood did. That was simply the expression he usually wore when meeting strangers. He had long forgotten the name and face of the player whose leg he had once broken due to a reckless foul tackle.

Tang En witnessed the scene from the side. Out of ”goodwill,” he did not remind George that he had once broken his new teammate's leg. Personal grudges between players had to be resolved at a suitable time.

For now… Let's just leave it alone.

Eastwood was an extrovert and an optimist by nature. This was evident from his continuous smile, and from the fact that he had continued playing football even after he had broken his leg. Tang En was not the least bit worried about him being able to adapt to the team.

But would the Football Association let him on the field?

Nottingham Forest's opponent in the third round of the FA Cup was West Bromwich, which was in League One. Currently, West Bromwich's ranking in the League was not bad at all; they were in second place, with a total of forty-six points after twenty-six rounds of matches. They were only five points beneath Norwich City, first in the league. However, it was very close to the teams ranked beneath it; there was only a five-point difference between the second place and sixth place teams in the League. A piece of information that was advantageous to Tang En's goal of being promoted to the Premier League by the end of the season, was that the fourteenth ranked team was only two points away from the eighteenth ranked team, and three points away from the twelfth ranked team. On top of that, there was also only another three-points difference between the twelfth ranked team and the ninth ranked team. The teams in the middle were very close in terms of points, with three teams having thirty-three points, two teams having thirty-five points, and two other teams having thirty-six points.

As long as Nottingham Forest won the few upcoming crucial matches and did not make any serious mistakes, it would be able to steadily improve its ranking and return to the first group of the League. Once its ranking entered the top ten, Tang En would be able to launch into a sprint towards qualifying for the playoffs.

Nottingham Forest was currently ranked eighteenth in the League with a total of thirty-one points. But it was precisely because the teams' points were so close that Tang En dared to ”boast” about his team returning to Premier League by the end of the season. This was not an unfathomable miracle. It was simply born of a lack of understanding and analysis on the part of those who felt that way.

To Tang En, January and February would be the most crucial period for the team. If the team messed up during that period, then they would really have to hope for a miracle if they were going to catch up.

The two matches at the end of January were matches which Tang En had to win.

Following this train of thought, Tang En eventually decided to give up on the FA cup. He hoped that West Bromwich would advance as far as they could in the FA Cup, and, if possible, he hoped that they would advance straight into the finals. That way, their attention and efforts would be split on both ends, allowing Nottingham Forest to overtake them…. I hope that West Bromwich, who has advanced into the finals of the FA Cup, will proceed to make an ”impressive record” of qualifying for the UEFA Europa League as a team in the second tier football league! Tang En thought to himself. As for the English Premier League qualification, Nottingham Forest will just have to ”bite the bullet” and take their place!

Tang En, who had devised this plan, told the coaching staff to plan their training sessions to target Nottingham's next opponents — Sunderland. That would be an away match, and Sunderland was currently ranked fourth in the league.

To Tang En, this match belonged in the category of, ”We have to win at all costs, no matter what methods we use.” This category included all of the matches against teams which were currently ranked higher in the league than Nottingham Forest.

Since it was an away match, Tang En continued to insist on adopting tactics which prioritized defense. Sunderland's past records on their home grounds were relatively good, with seven wins, five draws, and one loss. This record was good enough for them to be regarded as the kings of their home turf. Challenging an opponent like this would definitely not be easy. The only thing that Tang En could use to his advantage was that Sunderland's back defensive line was awful. They had conceded thirty-eight goals, the most among the top six teams. Even Bradford, which was ranked second from the bottom, had only conceded thirty-nine.

Hence, the coaching team used this to devise a training plan. Rebrov would be stationed in the middle of the field, and Gareth Taylor would be at the forefront. These two people were the team's greatest investments of the season, so none of the coaching staff would dare to not use them. Tang En moving Gareth to the reserve team for two matches was already a testament to his character. If he was a ”good-guy” manager like Ranieri and did not dare to offend anyone, then the team would be an absolute mess. It was precisely because of this that Chelsea's new boss Abramovich was already unable to stand its performance this season anymore.

But that was beside the point.

The person to whom Tang En paid special attention during training was the team's newcomer, Freddy Eastwood. After two days of trainings, all of the coaching staff was completely at ease regarding this player who had once broken his leg. In terms of ability, he did not have any problems.