champion godfather

Chapter 818 Volume [-] Crimson's Gift to Barcelona
When the team returns to Wilford from London's Heathrow Airport, they will be disbanded on the spot. They will have a half-day rest and start training again tomorrow morning.But Tang En and the two assistant coaches don't have any holidays.He took the two of them straight to the department in charge of daily maintenance of the training ground.

The person in charge of this department is Thompson Isaacson, an elderly man who has spent his whole life in turf maintenance in Wilford, and now continues to serve the club with sixteen of his men.The [-]-person team is responsible for the daily maintenance of a total of eight training grounds in the North and South Wilford Training Base. The work includes leveling the field, turf maintenance, and some special requirements from the coaching staff.

Tang En came to them this time for "special request".

"Thompson, what is the training ground with the worst ground condition in the first-team training base?" Tang En's straight-forward question made the old man stunned for a moment before he could react.

South Wilford is the training base for the first team. There are a total of four standard training grounds, each of which is the same size as the city stadium.Among them, No. [-] and No. [-] are the best venues. The forest first team and reserve team often conduct training and intra-team competitions there.Even the turf on such a venue is exactly the same as that used by the city stadium, and it is the best maintained.

Seeing Thompson's embarrassment, Tang En smiled and said, "Don't think too much, old man. I'm not here to ask questions. Just tell me that the training ground is in the worst condition."

"Uh... number three," Isaacson replied.

"How bad is it?"

"The field...we haven't had time to level it, and the turf growth is not satisfactory. Usually the team never uses that field, so we don't do much..." He still thought that Tang En was here to ask for guilt, and quickly gave himself team to explain.

Tang En patted him on the shoulder: "Take us to have a look."

So the old man led the way restlessly, followed by three coaches, who looked like they were escorting prisoners...

The No. [-] training ground is in the most remote corner of the training base, surrounded by dense forests, and the situation inside can hardly be seen from the outside. This training ground is actually after Nottingham Forest moved the training base from the city stadium to here. The first training ground used was gradually forgotten after the other three training grounds with more complete facilities and more convenient transportation were completed one after another.The three training grounds for the first team are basically enough, and the fourth one is left unused here, and no one cares about it.

Tang En knew about this situation, but today he wanted to confirm it with his own eyes.

The No. 80 training ground hidden in the depths of the dense forest revealed a barren and dilapidated atmosphere, and Dunn could even ask the taste of the [-]s of the last century from it.

"I was already in the club when it was first launched..." Isaacson couldn't help expressing emotion when he saw the training ground. "It was very lively at that time. It was gradually eliminated later, and the club's financial situation was not good at the end of the last century. There was no extra money to maintain so many training grounds at the same time, so it was completely abandoned..."

A group of people went off and walked around in person.Tang En found that it was similar to what Isaacson said. Since it was under maintenance and management, this training ground was no different from a wasteland.Although it is not overgrown with weeds and infested with hares, it is still very different from the other three training grounds that have been leveled with green grass.

"The ground is uneven... Oh, be careful!" Chris Lak grabbed Tang next to him, and his body swayed as he walked.

Tang took a deep breath and seemed to have sprained his ankle. "Nothing……"

"The quality of the grass is not good either, it's too hard, and it's easy to get scratched when training here." Isaacson added, and at the same time gave Tang a somewhat apologetic look.As groundskeepers, every piece of ground is their domain, so they feel guilty if they cause someone to get hurt.

After carefully walking around, Tang En stood on the sidelines and looked around again, then snapped his fingers: "Very good."

"Very good?" Isaacson didn't understand what the head coach meant by that.

"Smooth the field a little bit. Mind you, Thompson, I said level it a little bit. You know what?"

Isaacson looked at Tang En and shook his head in confusion.He couldn't understand the words.

"Well... that is to say, on the premise of maintaining the original appearance and style, the training ground will not have to be sprained when walking."

"Keep the original style? What does that mean?" David Chrislak also felt strange, and he asked Isaacson from the side.

"I need to keep this pitch with some ups and downs, the grass is rough, and the football falls on it and the force is uneven." Tang En explained.

"Why?" Isaacson and Chris Lark asked almost simultaneously.Only Tang suddenly showed a thoughtful look beside him, which made Chris Rack want to choke his neck after seeing it—"Just say what you know! Don!"

Tang shook his head: "I just thought maybe Tony had some bad idea..."

Tang En chuckled: "This is an idea I came up with on the plane. I won't be able to direct the next game on the spot. I'm afraid the UEFA people won't even let me into the locker room. Playing against a team like Barcelona, I think it's a loss for us. I have to make up for it elsewhere. You've all seen the quality of the pitch at Camp Nou, right?"

"Of course, it's much better than the...well, the training ground under our feet. It's a five-star stadium." Chris Lak wanted to say "the rotten vegetable field under our feet", but suddenly thought that Isaacson was in Side, it's too unfair to say that to an old employee.

"Ha, you're right, David. Their turf is of good quality. That's normal, after all, a team that always likes to keep the football under their feet, not over their heads, has very high demands on the pitch. We To use all means and methods to make trouble for them, in addition to tactics and psychology, I thought of the field. A bad field will greatly limit their performance."

"But, Tony. That will also limit our performance." Chris Lack has doubts.

"So I'm going to do this today. From tomorrow until the end of the game against Barcelona, ​​we have to train on this training ground. For example, we need to let our players adapt to playing on this kind of ground as soon as possible. To avoid injuries as much as possible. Then on the day of the game, I will ask the city stadium to become like this." He pointed to his feet.

Hearing what Tang En said, Chris Rack swallowed his saliva.He thought that Tang just walked slowly on it and sprained his ankle. If he ran and sprinted with all his strength on this kind of venue...

As Don said, it's really not a "good idea".

After explaining to Chris Lak, Dunn turned his head and asked Isaacson who had been stunned: "You only have half a day, can you do it?"

"Ah, uh... If it's just 'slightly' smoothed out, I don't think it's a problem, Mr. Dunn."

"Then please, Thompson. Let our people not get hurt easily here. If we win Barcelona in the end, I will send you a bottle of good wine!"

※ ※ ※

On the way out of training ground No. [-].Chris Lark expressed objection to Tang En's approach, he really didn't think it was necessary to do so.

"I don't think there is such a big gap between us and Barcelona that we need to borrow abnormal means to guarantee victory, Toni."

"Actually, David. The gap between us and them is indeed that big. Do you think we can easily win at home? Pepe can't play, Barnes and Fernandez have accumulated yellow cards and suspended, And me, I can only sit in the stands and wish you good luck. And who are they missing? No one is missing. Now that I think about it, we were really too polite in the first round..." Tang En rubbed his chin and smacked his lips. .

"Using bad venues and frequent fouls to limit their performance, disrupting their inherent game rhythm, messing up the game as much as possible. Finally...in this week, our team is asked to only practice long pass rushing Hang, I want to change the striker."

Seeing Tang En's expression, Chris Rack had already guessed who he was going to replace, so he was even more surprised: "Are you serious, Tony? That kid has only played three times as a substitute in the league and didn't score a single goal. You let him He appeared in such an important game, aren't you afraid of ruining him!"

"He's not as unbearable as you said, David. I have a sense of proportion." Tang En shrugged. "The only regret is that he is not strong enough... If he is a combination of Zigic and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, it would be great..."

"Just dream, you!" Chris Lak threw out a sentence angrily.

※ ※ ※

The next day Tang En arrived at Wilford early in the morning, ahead of most of the staff, players, and all media reporters.He ran straight to training ground No. [-].

The morning mist was still shrouded in this small piece of woods, and the No. [-] training ground was looming in the white mist. That scene reminded Tang En of the Journey to the West that he had read since he was a child.

Because it was so early, no one was there.Tang En left the field and walked around, then trotted around again, then nodded in satisfaction alone, and said "well done".

Isaacson deserves to be an old worker who has worked here for decades, not to mention his skills.It fully meets Tang En's wretched request.

It is necessary to ensure that the field is uneven and the quality of the turf is uneven, and it is also necessary to ensure that one's own people will not be easily injured when training on it.There are definitely risks, but this is beyond the control of turf workers.Those things are for the coaching staff to consider.

Stepping on the still uneven ground, Tang En laughed alone.

※ ※ ※

The players arrived at Welford for training at the usual time, and journalists gathered outside the pitch, waiting for the 15 minutes of public filming.Of course, more reporters came to interview Tony Twain, and they wanted to hear the latest progress of the spat between the two teams.

But what they saw disappointed them.

Tony Twain did not appear in front of everyone from the beginning to the end, and the only coach in the training ground was Chris Lack.

The players were as surprised as the reporters.They came out to prepare for training after changing their training clothes in the locker room, but found that except for assistant coach David Chris Lack, none of the other coaches was there.

After everyone was ready, Chris Lak said: "Guys, today we will change places for training."

"Huh?" Everyone's reaction was strange.

"Go to training ground No. [-]." Chris Lak pointed in one direction, and everyone looked along, only to see a dense forest.

"Where is that?" Most of the players don't know the specific place, because they have never trained in that kind of place.Some people even think that there are only three training grounds in South Wilford, No. [-], No. [-], and No. [-].

"Don't ask, just follow me." Chris Lak turned and walked towards the dense forest.

"But, those reporters..." Some players looked back at a group of media outside the barbed wire.

"Leave them alone." Chris Rack didn't look back.

The reporters around the field were surprised to see the team suddenly go to the depths of the training field collectively, just when they didn't know what happened.The news officer appeared in front of everyone with a smile on his face.

"Mr. Tang En suddenly informed the team that training will be closed. I'm really sorry everyone."

This is not the first time they have encountered such a situation, but the reporters still complained.

"How can there be a head coach who treats the media like this?"

"Is he frightened by Barcelona? Norwich, the bottom-ranked league opponent in the away game, still needs closed training?"

"Actually, I think he doesn't want to be surrounded by us and ask questions about that movement..."

Pierce Bruce shook his head in the crowd. He also didn't understand what Tony Twain was going to do.

A group of reporters dispersed unwillingly amidst complaints.

At the same time, the Nottingham Forest players were staring at their "new training ground" dumbfounded.

Tang En was smiling in front of them, like Mr. Demon who was trying to tempt them to jump into the lava hell.

"This is the new training ground you'll be using for the next week. It looks great, doesn't it?"

Eastwood murmured in the crowd: "This is probably the worst training ground I have ever seen..." He has the right to speak, and he must be believed, because he is the only one among the players who is on the ground. A person who has played in an amateur league.

"It looks a lot like a vegetable patch on a farm, but it's actually a vegetable patch."

Tang En's expression when he said this made people want to slap him.

The color of the turf in the training field the size of a regular football field is different, with patches here and there everywhere, and some of them don't even have turf, and the color of the soil is directly exposed.It was as if the top of the head had been randomly pushed by a razor clipper, which was horrible.

"Be careful, it's not as smooth as it looks... So today's warm-up is longer than usual. Don't be lazy, or don't complain after spraining your ankle that I didn't warn you in advance." After saying this, he motioned for Chris Lark to stand up and continue.

Chris Lack stood up with today's training plan in hand.

"Guys, our training task today is..." He felt a little funny when he said this, but he continued to pretend with a straight face, "...to adapt to this field!"

Some of the players laughed.Chris Lack immediately kicked his eyes: "This is not a joke! We are pressed for time, and you only have one day to adapt to the feeling of playing on this...vegetable field! If someone is injured here the next day, you won't get it." My sympathy!" He pointed to the other side, where the team medical team led by "Mario the Beard" Fleming was on standby on the sidelines.Everyone looked at them seriously.They were familiar with that look. Whenever a player was seriously injured during a game, Fleming and his colleagues would look at the injured part with this look, and then turn around and gesture to Twain for a substitution.

Seeing this situation, the laughter in the team gradually became smaller until it disappeared.They realize that the boss is not joking with them on a whim, but is serious, and this is a very serious thing.

Seeing that all the players realized the importance of this matter, Chris Lark raised his voice: "Warm up! Fully warm up! Let me move every part and every joint of your body! Even if the ankle is twisted to Ninety degrees, and you won’t get hurt easily! Then use your body to firmly remember the feeling of running every step here! Where it is deep, where it is shallow, where there is a pit, where there is a bag, where the football lands, there will be irregularities Don’t keep it in your heart or head, remember it with your body! If anyone gets hurt, it’s because your body didn’t remember it! Finally, I ask you to keep this week’s training content to the outside world!”

His voice was covered by the dense forest, and no outsiders could hear him.The reporters will never get any content about Nottinghamson's closed special training this week.

In order to welcome the distinguished guests from afar, Tony Twain spent a week preparing a gift for them.

Hope they like it.

(End of this chapter)