On Monday, before leaving for the European war, the Millwall coaching staff's beer night went on as usual.[][]..[]
Aldridge does not regularly appear at such gatherings, but the activities go on as scheduled every week. Members of the coaching staff relax and chat about everything, or simply drink and play billiards.
game.
Aldridge, who was wearing casual clothes today, was leaning against the bar counter with a glass of wine in his hand, lost in thought.
Next to him, Villas-Boas and Blanco were discussing Millwall's recent performance and problems that occurred in specific games. They expressed their opinions, sometimes frowning, sometimes lamenting. It must be said that football matches always make people sigh.
The element of luck.
What would have happened if the shot had not hit the goalpost or crossbar?
If that foul had not been made, or if the referee had missed a certain penalty, where would the game have gone?
Aldrich suddenly said something.
"We're going to change our strategy."
"What?"
Stramaccioni, who was also holding a wine glass on the other side beside him, asked curiously.
Blanco and Boas both looked towards Aldrich, waiting for the next step.
Aldridge took a sip of wine and said solemnly: "We can't lose any more points in the league, at least we can't be separated by another point by Chelsea. This point is very critical and will affect the entire season!"
The three coaches couldn't help but nodded.
On this point, Aldrich spoke out what everyone is thinking.
The consensus of the coaching staff is: only 5 rounds have been played in the season, and Chelsea is 9 points ahead of Millwall. This is not a big problem!
But if Chelsea expands its lead to 10 points or more before the end of the first half of the league, then the situation will take a turn for the worse, from a situation that seems not worth worrying about to a catastrophic one.
situation!
9 points is a single digit.
10 points is a double digit.
In fact, the difference is only 1 point. But the psychological impact is huge!
Millwall's players will certainly not give up, no matter how far behind, there is nothing to worry about.
However, Millwall's mentality will change, and eager to close the gap, it is easy to breed anxiety!
In other words, it is easy to make your mentality unbalanced!
Aldridge will not change his view of Chelsea. Chelsea will not be "stronger" than last season. At least the league's ability to score points cannot exceed last season!
Because Chelsea's potential problems have not yet been exposed.
Chelsea cannot always be so smooth. And once this smooth momentum stops, other problems will arise.
Aldridge has been coaching the team for many years. Not only has his own team experienced various problems, but he has also learned enough experience from opponents in the same league. He has seen countless lessons from failures.
The key is that Millwall cannot let Chelsea feel completely comfortable before problems arise.
Even if you don’t expect Chelsea to suddenly collapse, you still have to create pressure on Chelsea from behind and make Chelsea nervous!
Only under heavy pressure will problems become more severe when they break out!
Blanco rolled his eyes and probably guessed what Aldrich meant by "changing strategies."
He asked softly: "Champions League?"
Aldridge nodded and said: "Two days later we will be a guest in Glasgow. The strategy remains unchanged. We will still play the game with the main force. However, in the subsequent Champions League, we will leave it to the substitutes. We will use the main force to ensure that we get points in the league!"
Rotation is a must. For Millwall, which is under huge pressure every year, if there is no rotation, or if the players' physical fitness cannot be reasonably allocated, they will inevitably encounter various problems at the end of the season.
According to past practice, the Champions League is more important than the league. Even the wealthy clubs mostly focus on the Champions League to ensure that they can advance to the Champions League without pressure and then compete with their opponents in the league.
Just like in the past, Millwall mostly played four games in the Champions League group stage, looked at the points, and there was no pressure to qualify, and then stopped and let the substitutes play the last two or one game. The rotation at the same time would make up for the Christmas schedule.
Prepare.
This season, the league got off to a bad start, and Chelsea won five consecutive victories, which forced Millwall to change its strategy and shift its focus.
What we need to protect now is not the Champions League, but the league.
Aldridge's strategy is to get 3 points in the first Champions League game. In the next five games, there will be three home games and three home games with substitutes. He believes that he can win at least two wins as long as the remaining two away games are
It's not a total defeat. Millwall's qualifying is still not a problem. During the same period, the main force is trying to score as many points as possible in the league to catch up with Chelsea, at least before the end of the first half of the league, that is, in the next 14 rounds of the league.
The 9-point gap was reduced to less than 3 points, a gap of one game!
After confirming the team's strategy adjustments for the first half of the season, Aldrich didn't say anything more. The coaching staff already knew the remaining specific work.
The team's meticulous work planning, especially for games, is not about recruiting strong players. Today, "If you are good, you will come on, if not, you will be substituted." For the schedule planning for a period of time, it is natural to make arrangements in advance, except for emergencies that may cause
Apart from making one or two adjustments in a hurry, overall the game is proceeding step by step according to the coaching staff's plan.
Most of the colleagues on the coaching staff have families. They go out to hang out for a while in the evening and don't want to play crazy. Therefore, when the time is almost up, everyone leaves one after another.
Aldrich never left. He was waiting for someone, checking the time on his phone from time to time. He had also sent a text message to that person before, making sure to meet here.
When it was approaching nine o'clock in the evening, someone came over. Aldrich had already put away the wine glass and replaced it with two glasses of juice, waiting for the other person's arrival.
The visitor was Cristiano Ronaldo, who was naturally familiar with Aldrich. He sat next to Aldrich without anyone noticing, and said hello: "Hi, boss, good evening. What do you want to talk about with me?"
Cristiano Ronaldo was straight forward and seemed to be in good spirits.
Aldridge looked up and down at Cristiano Ronaldo, who was wearing casual T-shirt and jeans. Of course they were all famous brands. He also had earrings and his hair was carefully combed.
Aldridge would not think that Ronaldo dressed up specially to meet him. He must have spent dinner with some beautiful woman, and perhaps turned down a nightlife date.
Rubbing the surface of the cup gently with his fingertips, seemingly unconsciously, Aldrich looked calm, not looking at Ronaldo's eyes, but looking at the liquid in the juice cup.
He said calmly: "Cristiano, what do you think of your performance in the past two years?"
Ronaldo looked stunned. After thinking for a while, he replied: "I think it's pretty good, but I can still be better. I'm working hard to improve every day."
Aldrich nodded in approval and said: "Well, not bad, not bad, not bad..."
He kept repeating "not bad" like a repeater, but his voice became lower and lower.
Ronaldo realized that the topic Aldridge wanted to talk to him must be serious. He thought that Aldridge was thinking about the wording, probably because he was afraid that his words would cause differences between the two.
So he said bluntly: "Boss, what do you want to say? Tell me directly. Even if you are dissatisfied, I will listen carefully."
Aldridge raised the corner of his mouth, shook his head slightly, and said: "If I am dissatisfied with you, you must be unhappy and feel unfair. In the past two years, your presence on the court has become stronger and stronger, and your contribution to the team
It's also improving. Your average post-game rating has been stable at the upper-middle level. There are no terrible games, but there doesn't seem to be any particularly memorable games. Cristiano, in fact, 99% of the coaches in the world should be right about it.
How do you feel about your current situation?
Satisfied, because you are just like you said: not bad. However, I am worried that you, who are not bad, will always be 'not bad' this season, and will still be 'not bad' next season, and so on.
, are all at this 'not bad' level. Kaká, who came to the team later than you and has been integrated into the team for a shorter period of time, has already begun to play a key role in certain games. I don't know if this has an impact on you.
, will make you reflect on whether you have any problems."
Ronaldo fell into deep thought after hearing this, and he began to think about this problem seriously.
Aldridge turned his attention to Ronaldo at this time.
If you only look at the field data, Cristiano Ronaldo is very good.
He averages goals + assists per game, comparable to the stars of other giants.
However, when it comes to a super strong team like Millwall, the data is actually just that, don’t take it too seriously!
Because in a 90-minute game, if Millwall plays crazy, all suspense will disappear in 10 or 20 minutes. If the opponent collapses, then Millwall can produce jaw-dropping statistics!
If you analyze Ronaldo's data in detail, you will find that it is filled with a lot of "icing on the cake".
In other words, among the 10 goals, maybe 5 are insignificant to the overall situation of the game. They are nothing more than whether the score is 3:1 or 4:1.
The ability to fight hard, and when players need to step up at critical moments, it is difficult to see Ronaldo.
This aspect is also the most fearful of competition.
Kaka's data is actually not as good as Ronaldo's. On the one hand, it is determined by Kaka's position. On the other hand, it is also related to the fact that Kaka has been in the team for a short time and his playing time in the past two seasons combined is not as much as Ronaldo's.
But Kaka clearly gives off an aura of fearlessness on the field!
No matter what the situation is, Kaka is trying to play a more important role. At the critical moment, it is hard to say whether he can become a hero, but even if he missed becoming a hero, he at least left this shadow, which makes people
I saw his determination and fighting spirit.
However, it is difficult to see such a situation in Ronaldo.
It seems that Cristiano Ronaldo is stuck in Portugal in the summer of 2004, like that player who wants to work hard for the national team, but can't do anything earth-shattering.
Within the Millwall team, the new generation of players has their own problems, and Aldridge now has to start improving the problems bit by bit.
Ronaldo has Ronaldo's, and Villa also has Villa's. The problem with Villa is actually more intuitive, that is, Villa lives in the shadow of Henry. This is what Villa must do in the future. To get rid of this shackles, the problem of Ronaldo is a common problem among young people. They become famous early and are too nostalgic for the colorful world. (To be continued, please search Piaotian Literature, the novel will be better and updated faster!
