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Chapter 255 Xu Baogen vs Ferguson

April 1, Old Trafford.

Nick sat in the box to watch the second round of the 00-01 English League Cup semi-final.

After watching this game, Nick will return to Germany to participate in the 19th round of the Bundesliga.

Due to a goal loss in the first round, Manchester United launched a fierce attack on Nottingham Forest's goal at the beginning of the game. In terms of strength, Manchester United must be much higher than Nottingham Forest, so Nottingham Forest was completely passive on the scene.

Essien's task was particularly heavy. Facing Keane, Scholes and even Beckham's attack in the middle, Essien was a little flustered from the beginning, but slowly adapted to it.

In the 18th minute, Keane was knocked to the ground by Essien's dribble when he was about to take a long shot, but the referee did not call a foul, so Keane got up angrily and pushed Essien.

Essien rushed forward and pushed Keane back without showing any sign of weakness, and almost pushed Keane to the ground.

Nick watched in the box and laughed loudly: "Hahaha, this big black guy is really interesting, he dared to touch Keen, a villain, so kind."

The referee came over and warned the two. Originally, their actions were enough to apply for a yellow card or even a red card, but considering the smoothness of the game, the referee only verbally warned the two not to make trouble.

Essien's toughness has begun to inject confidence into his teammates. Even if Manchester United is playing at home, what is there to be afraid of?
So Nottingham Forest's counterattack came quickly. In the 23rd minute, 'Brother Scar' Ribery broke through Gary Neville's defense from the left and then cut into the penalty area with a strong shot, but was kicked to the ground by Keane who returned to the defense.

"Damn, foul, foul, Brother Scar kicked the ball first, and Keane kicked Brother Scar's foot!" Nick stood up excitedly, waiting for the referee to award a penalty kick.

However, the referee ignored it and signaled the game to continue.

This suddenly caused the dissatisfaction of the Nottingham Forest players, and they gathered around to find the referee to argue.

Thirteen hundred Nottingham Forest fans also booed. Although Keane had played for Nottingham Forest for a while and had a good relationship with Nottingham Forest fans, he has become the target of public criticism.

But the referee gave the leader Dawson a yellow card, which made Nottingham Forest coach Xu Baogen very excited. If the fourth official didn't stop him, the Chinese coach would probably rush into the field to find the referee.

The game continued, Manchester United still controlled the situation, but Nottingham Forest's counterattacks from the two flanks prevented Manchester United from pressing too high, so it was difficult to break the balance of the game for a while.

In the box, Nick had a smile on his face. Nick was very satisfied with his signings, and Hilton beside him also had a happy expression on his face. As soon as Nick made a move, he knew whether there were any.

In the other box, Manchester United chairman Edwards looked gloomy. The players bought by Nottingham Forest are too threatening. Anyone with a discerning eye knows that this is a treasure again. It seems that this team will never be able to dig it out.

What made Edwards even more depressed was that in the 44th minute of the game, Nottingham Forest launched a long pass attack by Dawson. Robben took the ball from the right and broke through the defense of the veteran Irvine.

After the Manchester United players protested, the referee still upheld the original verdict.

The penalty kick was taken by Robben himself. He successfully tricked Bosnich into jumping to the right with a fake move, and he kicked the ball into the lower left of the Manchester United goal. 0:1, Nottingham Forest took the lead. The score of the two rounds has become 2:0, and Nottingham Forest has an away goal.

United have to score 3 goals to qualify, can they do it?
Faced with such a situation, Ferguson immediately replaced Keane with Carrick. He hoped to use Carrick's familiarity with Nottingham Forest to beat his opponent.

But when Keane left the court, he looked unhappy and kicked a mineral water bottle when he passed by. The water bottle landed in front of Ferguson impartially, the bottle cap slipped off, and the water splashed Ferguson's trouser leg.

Ferguson's face immediately collapsed. In Manchester United, he is the king. Keane dared to do this, so Ferguson was thinking about how to punish Keane.

Seeing Carrick play, Nick couldn't help but smile: "Hey, I didn't expect Ferguson to send Carrick up. It's really interesting."

"He shouldn't pose any threat, right?" Hilton was a little nervous. Carrick played in Nottingham Forest for half a year and played well all the time.

"Don't worry, Manchester United needs to score 3 goals to qualify. We have an advantage." Nick shook Hilton's hand and comforted her. "By the way, when I saw Roy leave the field just now, I might be a little dissatisfied with Sir Alex Ferguson's substitution. You can test it out and see if Roy is interested in coming to Nottingham Forest."

Nick really likes a tough guy like Keane. If he can dig back to Nottingham Forest, it will not only strengthen the team, but also weaken Manchester United. This will be of great help to Nottingham Forest in the Premier League next season.

Carrick's first touch on the pitch nearly conceded Nottingham Forest's goal when a long ball from the center circle found Andy Cole in the penalty area, who fired a powerful shot that slid out of the net.

In the first half, Nottingham Forest led away by 1 goal. After the start of the second half, Manchester United players who had been baptized by Ferguson's 'hairdryer' at halftime began to play at the level of a strong team.

Their pressing style of play quickly opened holes in Nottingham Forest's defense.

In the 55th minute, Beckham made a cross from the right, and Andy Cole swung the header. Scholes got rid of Essien's defense, found the ball and volleyed it, rewriting the score to a 1:1 tie.

Old Trafford finally ushered in the cheers of the home team fans, but Manchester United is still behind in the total score. In the remaining nearly 40 minutes, they still have to score 2 goals, provided that Nottingham Forest does not score.

Seeing such a scene, Nottingham Forest coach Xu Baogen immediately signaled a substitution. He replaced Marlon Heywood with Yao Xia, a 'Cheetah', and prepared to use his speed to attack Manchester United.

It is definitely difficult to defend. Facing the powerful Manchester United, Nottingham Forest still has a significant gap in strength, but Nottingham Forest's offense is very characteristic, and it also poses a great threat to Manchester United's defense. With Ribery, Robben and Yao Xia three fast horses, they can definitely create good opportunities.

"This old Xu is really courageous enough. He dared to fight against Manchester United. I admire him." Nick praised Xu Baogen's substitution. It is a good way to control Manchester United with speed, and Robben and Ribery's ability to hold the ball is so good. Coupled with Yao Xia's impact, Manchester United's defense is not solid and will definitely be broken.

The fact is also the same. As soon as Yao Xia came on the field, he played one and one with Robben on the right. Erwin was still not tempered at all. Fortunately, Giggs returned to the defense and cleared the ball to the bottom line.

In the 67th minute, Yao Xia and Robben teamed up to make a wonderful breakthrough on the right. Robben finally got the ball and pushed the far corner in front of the Manchester United penalty area.

Seeing this situation, Ferguson couldn't sit still anymore, he rushed to the sidelines and raged at Irwin, and asked the central defender Sylvester to quickly fill in for Irwin.

Xu Baogen smiled again and again, sitting firmly like a clock, looking at the world's famous coaches on the opposite side anxiously, Xu Baogen wondered if he would become a legend of Nottingham Forest in the future?How does this beat Manchester United, is it qualified?

The game then began to heat up. The competition between the two sides in the midfield was very fierce, and the battle between Essien and Carrick was also very exciting.

Essien stared Scholes so hard that 'Ginger Head' started to move to the side. Although the pressure on Nottingham Forest's side increased greatly, the real threat to Nottingham Forest's goal was not very great. After all, the two crosses from the side still made it easy for the defense led by Dawson to deal with it.

And Carrick also regarded Jermaine Yenas as deadly, making the talented youth player of Nottingham Forest useless.

Nottingham Forest's quick counterattack also brought out Manchester United's ruthlessness. If you want to be fast, you have to be ruthless, accurate, and hit. The penalty scale in English football is very large, and ordinary foul actions will not be called.

Erwin began to use his physical advantage to bully Robben. After all, Robben is still young and his body has not yet fully grown, so colliding with Erwin will definitely suffer.

Gary Neville also made a fierce tackle on Ribery. This style of play is very effective against technical players. He is not afraid of being fouled or injured. Ribery didn't want to be included in the injury list when he came to England.

Therefore, Nottingham Forest's offense has also temporarily stagnated, but the Nottingham Forest players are not in a hurry. Now that the team leads the total score, there is no need to worry.

The stalemate between the two teams reached 80 minutes, and Ferguson immediately signaled a substitution.

Sheringham on, Yorke off, Solskjaer on, Butt off.

Sheringham is known as an 'old demon' and has scored a lot of goals. Solskjaer is known as a 'super substitute' and has a high risk factor.

When Ferguson replaced these two forwards, he must have wanted to seize the last 10 minutes and attack aggressively.

Xu Baogen also responded immediately, but he actually replaced forward Li Bing with Fletcher, who had just been introduced from Manchester United, and the team played a strange no-forward tactic.

Fletcher is a product of Manchester United's youth training, but now he is playing for Nottingham Forest, so Fletcher's mood is completely different from Carrick's opposite. He has a deeper affection for Manchester United, but now he must fight for the new owner.

Fletcher lived up to Xu Baogen's expectations. He tackled Ryan Giggs on the right as soon as he entered the field, and then launched an attack with a long pass. The ball came to Robben's feet.

Robben is also tired at the moment. After fighting for more than 80 minutes, this small body really can't stand it. English football is more tiring than Dutch football.

But Robben did not dare to relax, the game is not over yet.

Seeing Erwin rushing up again, Robben suddenly had a flash in his mind, and his foot feinted, luring Erwin to stretch his legs, and then he leaned his foot on it, and with a 'scream', Robben fell down!
Because Robben moved too fast, almost everyone didn't see what was going on, so the referee ran over, a bright red card was highlighted, and Erwin was sent off with a red card.

Erwin was dumbfounded, he felt that he hadn't kicked Robben, but how could this kid fall down?

Seeing Erwin walking to the sidelines with a depressed face, Robben glanced secretly, with a casual smile on the corner of his mouth.

The form on the field changed again. Manchester United played 10 against 11 and fell behind in the total score. Ferguson had no choice but to rely on the players' performance on the spot.

But the chance of a free kick at the edge of the penalty area at Nottingham Forest is still very threatening. Ribery, Robben and Essien all stood in front of the ball, and the three of them had three ways of playing.

After the whistle sounded, Ribery and Robben feinted and then ran away. Essien rushed up and shot with a burst. The ball flew across the turf from under the Manchester United wall where it took off, and crashed into the net.

1:2, Nottingham Forest took the lead, and the total score has become 3:1. If Manchester United wants to turn around, they will have to score 3 more goals. This is simply an impossible task.

Seeing the goal, Nick waved his fist excitedly. Essien really lived up to his promise. Such a player is much better than Carrick, and he spends less money. Now the fans of Nottingham Forest will stop making trouble, right?
Sure enough, the Nottingham Forest fans had already chanted Essien's name in the stands, and the love in their hearts was beyond words.

"Black tank, good job!"

"I love you African buffalo!"

"GOOOOOAL! Nottingham Forest is about to win again, old Scotchman, this is the end of you!"

"Haha, double kill, double kill Manchester United, we are too strong, the Premier League, we are coming, tremble, scumbags!"

When Manchester United saw that the general situation was over, the players stopped fighting hard. Only Solskjaer and Sheringham who had just played were still working hard.

If you stay in the green hills and still play in the league, whoever wants to fight hard will not be lovable.

The League Cup championship is far less important than the Premier League championship, so as the time approached 90 minutes, Manchester United players basically gave up.

Xu Baogen also immediately replaced the exhausted Robben with Chiellini, and the Nottingham Forest players also suppressed their excitement, and patiently swayed on the field to kill time.

But when the referee blew the final whistle, all Nottingham Forest players jumped up excitedly, 3:1 in two rounds and double-killed Manchester United. What could be more exciting than this?
Xu Baogen also walked up to Ferguson a little excitedly, ready to shake hands with Ferguson.

"Congratulations. This team is not easy. I'm curious how you recruited so many good players. The No. 19 (Franck Ribery) and No. 21 (Arjen Robben) have a bright future. If you want to sell them in the future, please remember to notify me as soon as possible." Ferguson relieved the pressure at this moment and said with a smile.

"I'm sorry Sir Ferguson, we're lucky. But please don't take their ideas. Nottingham Forest won't survive only by selling players. We need good results, we need more championships. I hope that next season in the Premier League, we can play wonderful games again." Xu Baogen resolutely rejected Ferguson's recruitment of Robben and Ribery. These two players will definitely become Nottingham Forest's offensive weapons in the future. How could he sell them to future competitors like Manchester United?

Ferguson smiled, but cursed in his heart: Damn Chinese, don't think that you can show off in front of Lao Tzu just because you won a round of the League Cup. Lao Tzu's achievement of winning the Triple Crown is not something that a Chinese turkey like you can achieve.

Xu Baogen also cursed in his heart: Guier, you are nothing more than that, I will kill you next season.

After defeating Manchester United, Nick celebrated briefly with the team, and then Hilton announced the release of the £50 bonus promised before the game, which made the players even happier.

The incentive mechanism can bring motivation to the players. Although this amount of money is not a lot, it is very useful for Nottingham Forest, which is dominated by young players. If you can make money after playing well, why not do it?

Nick already has a conclusion in his heart: Nottingham Forest can beat Manchester United today, and conquer the Premier League in the future, what is impossible?

(End of this chapter)