Chapter 135 Wood's Struggle (Part 1)

The crushing defeat to Liverpool seemed just a small twist, as Nottingham Forest won the game with an absolute advantage in the fourth round of the England League Cup, and they eliminated the League One (formerly English Two) team Cochester 4-0 away.

On November 14, in the 13th round of the league, Nottingham Forest defeated Middlesbrough 2-1 at home, maintaining a complete victory in the confrontation with McLaren.

From an outsider's perspective, the Forest team is completely fine now and is moving on the right path.

But in the 14th round of the league on November 20, Forest lost 0:1 away to Tottenham Hotspur.

The bad luck is not over. On November 25, Spain's Villarreal home love song stadium, and the third round of the League Cup group stage, Nottingham Forest lost 0:2. George Wood was really like a first-time child in front of Argentina's midfielder Roman Riquelme, and he was completely helpless. Wood always felt awkward when defending Riquelme. The change in the Argentine rhythm made him confused and didn't know how to defend, and he was very helpless.

Later, Albertini went to help Wood, and there was no way to organize the offense. The four midfielders of Nottingham Forest allowed Riquelme to be held back by themselves. After the game, the Spanish media gave Riquelme a high score of nine points, which he could fully deserved, while George Wood was scored by three points. The media commented that this young man had no idea what he should do in the game. The failure of the Forest team was directly related to his poor performance.

After the game, facing reporters' overwhelming doubts about Wood, Don Eun gave away the sentence "I never commented on my players after the game."

To put it bluntly, if we win, it’s okay to listen to me say good things. If I am happy, you are happy too. But if I lose, I’m sorry, if I criticize my players, I will close the door of the locker room and whisper. Why should I tell you reporters?

On the day of the game, the Forest team took a flight back to China overnight to prepare for the local league three days later.

On the plane from Spain to England, Donn paid special attention to Wood. The boy seemed very silent. He didn't say much, so he turned into a mute at this time.

Although they lost a League Cup group match, it was away after all, and the situation was not serious enough to lose the group match that would not happen. Their next group match was to face the Belgrade guerrillas who were not strong at home. They could qualify as long as they tied.

Everyone is actually aware of this, so other players returned to normal after a brief depression at the end of the game. Even young players have a deeper understanding of football than George Wood. They have encountered more than once failures since they started training and have learned how to face this situation. A failure of this level of failure is not to be sad and depressed for a few days, but it will be better for a few hours. After a sleep, I found that life and the world have not changed much.

They are doing their own things on the plane, chatting, listening to music, watching movies, sleeping and resting... and that is no different from any away game after any away game.

Only Wood, the idiot, is still affected by failure.

Tang En turned his head and looked at it several times, and found that Wood was stern and his eyebrows were deeply locked. He had been like this since the whistle sounded at the end of the game. Everyone was in a bad mood at that time. The expression was similar, and now he was the only one who seemed a little different.

Donn looked around, then got up from his seat, walked to Wood's seat, and patted Albertini on the shoulder: "Dimi."

The Italian understood what the head coach was going to do, so he got up and exchanged seats with Donne. He sat next to assistant coach David Chris Lack, while Donne sat next to Wood.

Wood was completely immersed in his self-space and did not notice that someone had changed around him. Don En woke him up: "George."

Wood looked at him sideways.

"Have you called your mom?"

He nodded.

"Well..." Tang En adjusted his seat. He rested his head on the back of the seat and closed his eyes and pretended to sleep. "Did you talk about this game?"

He couldn't see Wood's expression and movements, and after a while he heard Wood's deep voice: "Yes."

"What did your mother say?"

"She said...I'm playing well."

Tang En raised a smile on his lips. Sophia would never doubt her son's ability, nor would she say bad things about his son.

"Look, there are still people who praise you. What are you worried about with your frown?"

"Mom, she..."

"Do you think your mom is lying to you?" Done blocked George Wood's throat.

Wood was stunned for a moment, then shook his head: "No."

Don En smiled and opened his eyes: "George, how many years have you played football? Do you know how long did that Argentine play? Your mom didn't lie to you. She said you played well. It's because she knows you better than those stupid reporters. You performed very normally in this game. We lost not because you performed poorly. It's because Riquelme, the number 10 is so outstanding. The problem is that simple. " He shrugged his shoulders and spread his hands.

Wood looked at Tang En, but did not speak, but Tang En fully understood what he meant. He nodded: "Yes, don't think of this matter so complicated. There are always some who have strong strength and some who have weak strength in this world. Some who have strong strength in the past, but now they are weak, and some who have strong strength in the future. Rikelme is strong now, but you are weak now..."

"But, I'm not willing to give up..." Wood suddenly came out to interrupt Tang En's endless talk.

Tang En, who was interrupted, was not unhappy at all. Instead, he looked at Wood and asked: "I didn't hear what you said just now."

"I said..." Wood gritted his teeth, "Even if he is better than me, I will not be willing to lose to him."

Tang En smiled silently. He found that he was worthy of being valued by him, and his temper and personality looked like he was...

"I understand, fully understand your thoughts. But it's useless to not be willing to lose to him, just sitting here and sulking. George, do you remember the first time I went to the youth team to watch your game?"

Wood nodded. He tackled Eastwood's legs that day and his performance could not be worse. He thought that his path of making money from football would end here, but he was scolded by the man in front of him in the locker room, which made him persevere again, and finally obtained a first-team contract through his own efforts.

"You performed in that game so terrible." Tang En shook his head and recalled, "At that time, you had only been in the system training for more than two months. You had no idea what to do on the court, so you thought of a fool."

In order not to disturb others, Tang En lowered his voice and said.

"And...you remember the Youth FA Cup with Arsenal Youth Team?"

Wood continued to nod.

"You successfully defended the opponent's midfield core and let him suffer all the hardships in front of you. Do you know what the kid you are looking at is the backwards?"

This time Wood shook his head.

"He only won the World Junior Football Championship half a year ago, the best player in that competition. In other words, he was the best player in the world in that age group. But he had no chance of being seen by you."

Faced with Don En's praise, the expression on Wood's face did not change at all.

"Later you got the opportunity to play for the Forest first team. Think about that game... I still remember your debut, which is impressive and perfect." Don En closed his eyes and said intoxicatedly. He did not exaggerate. When Ribery succeeded in the English League, he was not as excited as when he saw Wood become famous in the first game. Don En knew that Ribery would definitely succeed. Even if he was not in the Forest team, he would go to Marseille a year later, and he would become the best player in Ligue 1 in two years, and then be taken to the German World Cup by Domeneke and become famous in one game...

Just like watching a movie with suspense, everyone else watched it with relish. Only Tang En himself knew the result a long time ago, so he became a little bored.

George Wood is different. Don Eun had never heard of this name before, and there was no such figure in international football. When he was soft-hearted and allowed Wood to join the youth team for training, he didn't know if this kid could play in the end. It was precisely because of his ignorance of the future that caused this suspense. When Don Eun saw the dazzling George Wood in the Forest and Reading match, a huge sense of accomplishment instantly filled his heart, which was almost comparable to the fact that he would win the League Cup championship in his own hands.
Chapter completed!