353 Round One: City Ground Part 1 (2/2)

John said to Tang En, ”Tony, to be honest, we're no longer that interested in watching you guys play against weak teams. We want to watch Forest match up with strong teams. The stronger our opponents, the more excited we get.”

Tang En rolled his eyes. ”You guys just can't wait for Forest to lose?”

”No. Who says we'll lose? I believe that the stronger our opponents are, the greater our chances are of victory,” John said with a laugh. ”Tony, this is the confidence you gave us.”

”Real Madrid is not just a team we've traditionally called strong.”

”Of course, we know. That's why we're looking forward to this even more.”

John raised his beer as he stood and opened his arms wide, shouting, ”Cheers to Forest Team and this incredible grouping! Cheers for Forest Team! For victory!”

”For victory! For Forest!” The people in the bar yelled. Tang En held his beer as he lightly shook his head.

He could not let these people down; that gave him even greater pressure than aiming to get the championship.

Tang En, coming back to the present, found himself still on the training grounds. With a wave of his hand, he signaled for the players to quiet down.

”Very good. No matter what kind of opponents you meet, you can't lose your spirit and confidence. Now, go train!”

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In fact, Tang En did not believe that surrendering was the only way out of facing Real Madrid. Truthfully, it was not just Real Madrid. Even if pitted against any rich and powerful team from Continental Europe, Tang En would not simply surrender.

In recent years, Real Madrid had been full of internal conflict; all sorts of negative news emerged endlessly from their locker room, and the team's capabilities deteriorated year after year. Tang En could use that when the time came.

He remembered that this season was the time when the ”Galácticos” would fall apart; the season of their separation and departure from the historic stage. Just before the end of the season, Zidane would announce his official retirement after competing in the World Cup. Even before Zidane, already in summer at the beginning of the season, Figo had joined Inter Milan on a free transfer. This period of history had played out the same way as it had in Tang En's recollection. Tang En was certain that the era of Real Madrid's ”Galácticos, Fight of the Superstars” would soon come to its end in this world.

Even on their home grounds, it was probably going to be a great challenge to take down Real Madrid. However, Tang En intended to try; his original plan was to hold onto one point and defend, using high pressing as a strategy and sticking relentlessly to them. Sacrificing their offense and stamina, they would firmly hold back Real Madrid.

Now, he suddenly wanted to see if he could win.

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After the fourth round of the Premier League, between the end of August and mid-September, Forest had no matches to play; they could put all their focus into preparing for the Champions League Group Stage.

Tang En intended on going all out against Real Madrid on Forest's home grounds. In that case, he needed to adjust his strategy. It was almost certainly useless to try to defend in this match. Due to Wood's absence, Forest's defense system was severely crippled. Tang En figured that he might as well throw caution to the wind and make a gamble. Anyway, if he only defended, the odds of losing a ball were huge. If they attacked… They might get lucky and even score.

However, the starting line-up was causing some headache for Tang En. While George Wood was not the only defending midfielder on the Forest Team, he was the only one in Tang En's eyes. Tang En could not trust Gunnarsson's abilities; not in a match like this.

On another note, Sun Jihai was bought to be their utility player. However, faced with Real Madrid, Tang En did not dare to let Sun Jihai be a starter against a team at their level. Furthermore, he knew that Sun Jihai excelled not in defending, but in assisting. Now that Forest's offense was not lacking in manpower, the problem of defense in the central midfield was becoming apparent.

Either Piqué or Pepe could play briefly as an interim defensive midfielder, but they were, in the current season, Forest's immovable center back duo. If one of them went to play as a defensive midfielder, who would play as a center back? Matthew Upson? Wes Morgan? Neither of them could set Tang En's heart at ease.

His head starting hurting. Why was their first Group Stage match against an opponent like Real Madrid? Wood's ban from matches affected the condition of the entire team. And it just happened that Wood's substitute was immensely difficult to find; it had to be a player whose abilities were somewhat on par, yet also a person willing to sit on the bench for more than 30 matches in a season. Any player with such abilities would likely be poached by another club. Why would they choose to be a substitute on Forest?

In the end, Tang En decided to move Pepe forward into the midfield to play as a defensive midfielder. He had played that position for a period when he was in FC Porto, so he was not unfamiliar with it. For the center backs, Tang En partnered Piqué and Wes Morgan, forming a young defensive line.

Frankly, Tang En did not have any confidence in the duo's ability to defend against Ronaldo and Raúl.