Godfather Of Champions

When Cousin Tom was excitedly discussing the upcoming match with Shania, she had the urge several times to remind him to change out of his black and white Newcastle jersey. In the end, she managed to restrain herself.

Shania herself wore a red coat, though it went unnoticed by her cousin.

As a result, when she got to the away spectators\' stand at St James\' Park and was surrounded by all of Forest\'s fans in red, she felt at ease. But for her poor cousin…

In a square of red, one can imagine that a Newcastle fan in his black and white jersey would stick out like a sore thumb.

Tom Sawyer shrank back into the crowd as the surrounding Nottingham Forest fans looked at him with expressions that seemed to harbor ill intent. Judging by their physiques—burly people with arms as big as his thighs—they were clearly not to be trifled with. He could only pray that the men would not drink too much. Otherwise, it was hard to tell what would happen.

"Should I be hoping for Newcastle to win or lose?" he muttered.

With Forest\'s fans currently cheering with their arms raised, no one paid attention to his whining. Shania also followed the men jumping and shouting. In their own house, Tom had never seen Shania acting so crazy before. He had always wanted to nurture the Brazilian girl to be a Magpie fan, but he had not expected her to be a Nottingham Forest fan instead. Was it because of that "Uncle Tony?"

"Uncle Tony" appeared very agitated. He was waving his arms wildly on the sidelines with big, exaggerated movements.

Tom took a glance at the scoreboard:

Newcastle 1:0 Nottingham Forest.

The goal occurred six minutes ago. The scorer was Alan Shearer, the "Angel of the North" in the hearts of Newcastle\'s people. When he saw Newcastle score the goal, his conditioned reflex was to jump up and cheer loudly with his arms up high. On seeing the surrounding Forest fans who had descended into silence, he sensibly sat down immediately.

"Perhaps a draw would be nice..." he thought to himself.

※※※

Since the team had lost a ball, Tang En had been standing on the sidelines without returning to the manager\'s seat.

Later, David Kerslake walked to his side from the seats and stood with him at the sidelines.

"Alan Shearer is incredible," Tang En sighed, "to still have that level of impact power at 30 years old."

He was referring to the ball lost by Forest team; a classic Shearer-style goal, speedy and powerful.

Even youthful and strong Piqué, in facing Shearer\'s sudden breakthrough and aerial battle for the header, was utterly defeated.

He was a step late in the jump, which resulted in him being pressed down by Shearer without any ability to resist. He could only watch from below as the opponent headed the pass from Bowyer straight into the goal.

Compared with Drogba, Shearer was clearly better at perfectly combining the use of his body, technique, and experience. Piqué was decimated.

Kerslake, who stood next to him, nodded. "We took him a bit too lightly."

Forest\'s previous strategy placed the focus on taking care of the most outstanding shooter in the current league season, a Dutch player called Patrick Kluivert. Before this, Souness had not made known to the public his starting lineup for the match, so Forest did not know who he would be fielding. Among Kluivert, Michael Chopra, and Alan Shearer, Tang En picked the first two as Alan Shearer got injured in their prior match against Man City. Though they had narrowly won, with score 4:3, Alan Shearer had had to be changed out early.

This made Tang En think that Shearer would likely be sitting on the substitutes\' bench for this match. After all, although Shearer was an older player, he was considered an important player in Newcastle\'s formation. Souness had no reason to allow Shearer to play with an injury. Prior to the match, there was constant leaked news of Shearer still being in recovery.

It turned out to be fake.

Not only did Shearer get fielded, he even scored.

"Alan Shearer, The Goal Machine." Tang En growled.

Compared to Shearer\'s stunning display, the other Forward, Kluivert, appeared somewhat lacking. His movements were not too enthusiastic and his shooting accuracy seemed off.

"He must have forgotten his shooting shoes in a room in some nightclub!" the television commentator said, teasing the Dutchman who was known for his nightlife.

The fans of Newcastle did not care about Kluivert\'s performance. Alan Shearer alone was enough to attract the attention of the entire stadium. Ever since Shearer had scored the goal, the singing of the Newcastle fans had not stopped for an instant. All of it was in praise of Shearer; there were nearly 50,000 fans singing different tunes in praise of their god.

With such an atmosphere in the away field, even Tang En, who was only on the sidelines, could feel the suffocating pressure. And the players running on the field felt it even more.

"David, we need to score a goal." Tang En turned to Kerslake. "The earlier the better. We need to beat down Newcastle\'s momentum! Get Viduka to withdraw outwards. Then, tell him to quickly cut in if number six from the opponent team gets pulled outwards. Also, get the two wings to throw out more diagonal passes towards the empty space behind Newcastle\'s Full Backs."

Kerslake nodded at each sentence from Tang En. He waited for Tang En to finish before turning to gesture towards the field. At the same time, he blew his whistle to get the players to take note of his gestures. All this was already specifically rehearsed during Forest\'s training. If they did not want to allow the opponent to easily see through their tactical maneuvers, they needed to use some signals.

In the face of Newcastle\'s immense offensive capabilities, their defense could not be compared. From the time of Kevin Keegan, it had been Newcastle\'s style to place more emphasis on their attacks and less on their defense. Geordies were pleased with themselves because of this. Without any reservation in their style of football, their fans were happy 80% of the time in a season. However, they could only get through the other 20% in sorrow and disappointment. While they were able to play offensive-style football that could win cheers and applause from even neutral fans, they were unable to win back a League Championship Cup for their own.

Could Newcastle fans be said to be fortunate or unfortunate?

※※※

When Boumsong realized that Forward Viduka, who in all the previous matches was usually right at the front, was beginning to move outwards to receive the ball, he naturally thought it was because of his own defense. He figured it must have been his close-marking defense against the Australian that forced the man to move back to receive balls.

The television commentator thought similarly. "Newcastle got a great increase in their morale. Nottingham Forest does not have any good opportunities; they can\'t even get within Newcastle\'s penalty area. Look at Viduka; he can\'t even receive passes at the front. He can only retreat to search for other opportunities."

Are you trying to break free from me?

Boumsong looked at Viduka\'s back as he ran out and grinned to himself.

Dream on!

He quickly followed Viduka to press on him.

Souness, who was outside the field, saw Boumsong run out of the penalty area to chase after Viduka. As he watched the strong Center Forward oddly retreat from the penalty area, he suddenly stood up from the manager\'s seat. He could smell danger in the moist air.

As Boumsong ran out, another young Midfielder, Steven Taylor, was also pulled outwards. Before the match, Viduka was one of the Forest players most talked about by Souness. Out of the current Forest team, England\'s managers were the most familiar with Viduka.

Souness had told his players that Viduka was a strong, remarkable player. He excelled at scoring goals and was currently Forest team\'s number one shooter; a prime target for them to take note of. 18-year-old Taylor took his words to heart. His eyes now saw only Viduka. Everything else around? He would just leave them to his teammates.

Nottingham Forest\'s captain, Albertini, was currently in possession of the ball. Newcastle\'s defensive Midfielder, Amdy Faye, went forward to press him but was passed with Albertini\'s technique. After passing Faye, the experienced Italian was in no hurry to pass the ball. He only faked a pass, resulting in a domino effect in Newcastle\'s defensive line.

Another defensive Midfielder from Newcastle, Nichy Butt, leaped towards Albertini, completely forgetting Freddy Eastwood who was beside him. Or maybe he took notice of him but did not think the Romanian would be any threat. It was already more than 30 minutes into the match, but Eastwood\'s chances of shooting had been pitifully few. He was hardly a threat to the goal guarded by Given.

To Nichy Butt, the man dribbling the ball in front of him was far more of a threat than Eastwood.

Souness suddenly widened his eyes and rushed to the sidelines yelling, "Watch that guy!"

He was pointing to Freddy Eastwood. From outside the field, he could see clearly; when Nichy Butt had leaped forward to guard Albertini, there was no one at all near Eastwood; he was completely unguarded!

Taylor finally noticed the blind spot and quickly turned to run towards Eastwood. At that moment, Albertini passed! But he did not pass to Taylor\'s target, Eastwood. Instead, he unexpectedly passed it into the wings, to Franck Ribéry.

Based on his stellar performance in the recent rounds of the League matches, the Frenchman was beginning to gain more and more attention. Newcastle\'s players also paid Scarface special attention. When Taylor saw Ribéry receive the ball, his first reaction was to expect him to dribble past. The defensive line needed to be fortified – he needed to fill in for the defense. If Ribéry passed Carr, it was just free space!

Thinking of this, the young Center Back ignored what he saw earlier and ran from Eastwood\'s side towards Ribéry, together with Carr.

Ribéry, who was in possession, immediately moved upon seeing Taylor. He was waiting for exactly this moment. He kicked the ball diagonally, and it shot right between Taylor and Carr.