Translator:
Nyoi-Bo Studio
Editor:
Nyoi-Bo Studio
A week after the FA Community Shield, the 04-05 season of the English Premier League officially began.
At the moment, all of England had their eyes on Arsenal. They were only two matches away from breaking the undefeated record that had been held for 25 years. From the overwhelming victory over Southampton with a score of 6:1 on 7th May 2003 in a rescheduled Home match in the 02-03 season, Frenchman Arsène Wenger’s football team broken a series of records in English football: Preston North End had maintained a no-loss streak through the 1888-89 season, which was an incredible achievement despite only having 22 matches in a season; Burnley had maintained a 30-match streak with no defeat in the 1920-21 season, losing only three matches at the beginning of the league before revitalising themselves and rampaging to the end of the season (that was also the first time in club history that they became league champions); Leeds United had won 29 matches with no losses in the 1973-74 season; and Liverpool had had an unbreakable 29 matches without defeat in the 1987-88 season.
At the beginning of the season, Arsenal already had a stunning streak of 40 league matches without defeat. Today, the only record that stands in their way is the undefeated no-loss record of 42 games by Nottingham Forest led by Brian Clough between the 1977-78 season and the 1978-79 season!
If they locked down the first two matches in the season, Arsenal would already be on par with this record. After that, they just need one more match to break the old record and set a new one for undefeated matches.
At this point, Arsenal was in great condition. Even if they had to face Everton in their first match as an away team, there was little to worry about.
And as expected, Arsenal easily triumphed over Everton with a score of 4:1 in the away match and maintained a streak of 41 victories!
On the other side, Tony Twain’s Nottingham Forest appeared to have met with a little trouble…
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During the summer transfer, Nottingham Forest was constantly in action. Their activity was even comparable to Chelsea, who was owned by a Russian tycoon; they were in the limelight. People had high hopes for Tang En’s team, and even the local media in Nottingham looked well upon the new Forest.
In their first round, Forest was to challenge Blackburn in an away match. Before the match, Tang En spent a lot of effort researching their opponent—the team, the players, and the manager. He investigated and analyzed all of them. As such, he believed that he was already familiar with Blackburn. As usual, he led his team to the home of Blackburn Rovers, Ewood Park, with great confidence.
After 90 minutes, the Forest team, who had been filled with hope for the new season, lost 0:1 to Blackburn.
Although it appeared to be very good, based on the score, for a newly promoted team to lose by only one ball to a veteran team, it was not really so. The scores would never be able to fully show the difference between the two teams.
For this match, Tang En had used the 442 formation, which was most practiced one during trainings. He also sent out the 11 players who he felt were in their best conditions. The goalkeeper was Darren Ward. The two center backs were Fernando Hierro and Matthew Upson. The right back was the frenchman Pascal Chimbonda, whose performance had completely surpassed John Thompson during trainings, while the left back was Leighton Baines, who held a strong footing as one of the main positions through the last half of the previous season. Midfielders were positioned side-by-side, with Frenchman Franck Ribéry on the left, Ashley Young on the right, and George Wood and Albertini steadfastly guarding the path through the middle. Finally, on the forward line were the partners Freddy Eastwood and Mark Viduka.
Additionally, on the substitutes bench were goalkeeper Paul Gerrard, full back Wes Morgan and Gerard Piqué, midfielder Kris Commons, and forward Peter Crouch.
This formation was Tang En’s strongest. In the trainings before the season, it was also shown to be the most stable starting line-up. Tang En believed that it was comparable to Blackburn Rover’s.
But Blackburn, who had only been ranked 15th in the previous season, taught Forest a good lesson. It was naïve to believe they would become a strong Premier League team because of the new players bought over the summer. The Premier league was a completely different world from the EFL.
Failure is inevitable when you compete in the Premier League with the same attitude as when playing the EFL.
Many promoted teams did not perform as well as expected. Although part of this was due to a lack of investment in the transfer market, a big part could also be attributed to their mentality.
From what happened on the field, the problem with Forest clearly lay in their transition between defense and offense. Albertini seemed to have difficulty getting used to the intense speed of the playstyle in English football, resulting in a lag in rhythm. For Wood… other than defending, he could not be expected to do anything else.
Tang En knew about these problems. To counter them, he asked the two side midfielders to be more active and try for breaks when they had possession, opening up a path from the wings. At the same time, the two forwards were to frequently switch their positions and constantly move back and forth to attract the attention of Blackburn’s defensive line. This would create space for the side midfielders to break through.
The idea was good. Only 10 or so minutes into the game, Forest’s wings had already begun creating difficulties for Blackburn. But Blackburn’s manager, Mark Hughes, quickly realised Tang En’s intention, and that the greatest danger from Forest came from the wings. Due to the player allocation in Forest’s midfield, there was no way they could threaten Blackburn’s goal from there. Hughes then strengthened his defense on the wings. Therefore, although Ribéry and Ashley Young tried to breakthrough several times, it was to no avail. At times, they could not even turn after receiving the ball. They were completely suppressed.
Forest’s offense was dependent on the two wings, so when Tang En noticed that Ribéry and Ashley Young were closely marked by their opponents, he decided to activate the second-level offense manoeuvre and have the side back join in to support the offense. Pascal Chimbonda and Leighton Baines were both side backs that liked and excelled at supportive offense. In the usual trainings, Tang En also requested for both side backs to actively go on offense, creating greater depth in Forest’s offensive ability.
The engagement of the side backs in offense livened up Forest’s offensive maneuvers, and the teams went back and forth with each other, switching rapidly between offense and defense. However, the first half still ended with a score of 0:0. In the second-half, after Mark Hughes had familiarized himself with Forest’s attacking strategies, he found a method to completely cripple Forest’s wings: he requested for his team to strengthen their offense in the wings, going head-to-head with Forest on both ends. To counter offense with offense; to defend by going on the attack. With a lack of experience and still-developing coordination, Forest’s wings were gradually suppressed. And then… the Blackburns scored.
When Blackburn’s veteran full back Craig Short took a corner kick and scored the only goal of the entire match, Ewood Park went into a frenzy. The Blackburn Rovers had a good start, and Forest tasted a bitter defeat.
Despite losing the first match of the league, Tang En did not behave as people expected and rage at the players. Instead, during the press conference after the match, he admitted that his team did not do very well, but that was because, he said,
You cannot expect a team that swapped out nearly half of its main players over the summer to be able to make exceptional plays or have offense that is natural and fluid. I am very satisfied that we lost only one ball to the home team.
That’s right. Tang En did not even come close to losing his temper with his players after the match. Losing was within his calculations. He took it as payment for his first lesson in the Premier League. And if he was right, he still needed to pay the fee from time to time. Nottingham Forest was not Arsenal, and Tony Twain was not Arsène Wenger. He had no interest in glorifying the past record set by his own team 25 years ago. Those who wished to maintain an undefeated streak should continue, as should those who wished to stake a claim on being champions. Tang En’s goal was simple: To stand firm in the Premier League and continue on.
Rather than blaming the poor performers on the team after their loss, he’d rather think about what could be improved on the team. He still had a week’s time. He could collaborate with the managerial team to further improve during their training.
After the first round of matches ended, the media commented on each team’s performance. The remark given to Forest was
disappointing.
The media felt that Forest had failed to give them a good show after spending 12 million pounds during the summer and buying 11 players. Instead, they stuck to a boring routine of attacking from the wings and played into a dead-end.
Yet, Tang En strongly believed that persisting in the direction of attacking from the wings was the right move. He only needed to sort out the coordination between the midfield and wings when going on offense, such as the players’ positional awareness and other small details. At the same time, he hoped Albertini would get used to playing in the Premier League quickly. If Albertini could display just half of his prowess from his prime at AC Milan, it would be enough to bring Forest’s midfield to life.
Seven days after August 22, City Ground welcomed its first home match for Forest, four years after their last time hosting a match in the Premier League. To numerous fans of Forest, it was a significant and memorable day.
On match day, City Ground, with a spectator capacity of 27 thousand, had no empty seats. Though the fans were disappointed by their loss in the first match, they still remained fervent supporters of the young team. Since they had entered the stadium, the entire place was filled with endless waves of singing.
When Tang En was still a fan, he had often watched the La Liga, mainly for Real Madrid and Barcelona. Watching this, Tang En could not help but sigh at the cultural differences in football between England and Spain. Directing a match in such an environment was the dream of nearly every manager.
For the loyal fans, they absolutely had to win this match.
