Thanks to "I am Yuanye" and "158386756" for the reward!
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As the defending Premier League champions, Millwall's summer signings have naturally attracted widespread attention.
But judging from the signing process announced by the club, Lions fans are feeling numb.
We are really Wang Xiaoer celebrating the New Year: every year is not as good as the last!
Thinking back on how prosperous Aldridge was when he first took charge of the team, the League One team became the team with the highest transfer expenditure in England that summer, spending more than 10 million pounds, which was greatly inspiring.
But in the next two years, either only two or three people will be bought, or there will be zero investment in the transfer market. As the defending champion this year, the finances are also abundant. After all, the share of the new Premier League broadcast contract has increased significantly, and the team has to play in the Champions League.
, the financial resources are rolling in, not to mention that Stam and Phillips contributed a huge sum of 18 million pounds to the club after leaving the team.
No one would have thought that Millwall, which is not very wealthy, actually spent less than 3 million pounds on first-team transfers in the summer!
Duff is worth 2 million, Gudjohnsen is free, Van der Meyde is free, and Klose is 100,000 pounds.
If Aldridge was new and took over this team, he would be scolded by the fans.
However, everyone seems to be used to living like this. When interviewed by the media on the street, the fans responded indifferently to this. They were neither disappointed nor satisfied with the club's recruitment work. Anyway, they just read the playbook and wait and see.
At the press conference, reporters chased Aldrich and tried to get more news materials.
The Daily Mail's Richard asked bluntly: "Will Millwall bring in players next?"
In fact, Millwall introduced many players in the summer, but they all signed up for the youth team. Fleet Street did not pay attention to this kind of signings. Teams all over England will replenish their youth teams in the summer. There are too many young faces coming and going.
There are too many. Who is interested in caring about these "children"? Unless they are young players who perform exceptionally well in the Youth League and FA Youth Cup that season, they will be extra news pages in mainstream newspapers.
Aldridge leaned on his chair and said calmly: "Millwall's transfer door has been officially closed this season. No players will leave, and no first-team players will be introduced."
When the reporters heard this, they immediately looked at each other.
They are all worried about Millwall!
Richard said with a hint of worry: "Compared with the investment of other strong teams in the Premier League in the summer, isn't Millwall worried about the competitiveness of the new season? To be honest, Millwall's investment is even greater than the investment of other strong teams.
Not even a fraction of that."
Faced with this question, Aldrich fell into silence for a while.
In addition to Stam, Manchester United also introduced Sheringham in the summer, investing about 20 million pounds in the transfer market.
Liverpool's lineup was already strong enough, and they also spent 5 million pounds to introduce five players. Friedel, Dundee Liddell, free Staunton and Gudnasson were paid a transfer fee of 150,000 pounds.
Not worth mentioning.
The most eye-catching ones are the London teams, who spend money like water.
Tottenham successively introduced Roman Vega, David Ginola, Les Ferdinand, and Jose Dominguez. It cost 8 million pounds just to take away the two main players from Newcastle United. Plus
For the other two players, Tottenham invested close to 15 million pounds in the summer.
Tottenham's rival Arsenal, Wenger has great expectations for his first full season as coach. In the summer transfer market, the Arsenal board of directors also generously donated money, in addition to the transfer of several young players worth less than one million pounds.
, Wenger brought Ai from his old club Ligue 1 champion Monaco last season.
Manuel Petit, brought Luis Boa Moute from Lisbon. The most notable transfer was Wenger bringing Peter Pan Overmars from Ajax to Hebe.
, worth 7 million pounds, Arsenal have spent more than 13 million pounds so far this summer.
Millwall's rival Chelsea, Bates continues the policy of over-investing in the transfer market with loans. In addition to transfers of less than one million pounds, Chelsea has brought back a young defender Babayaro from Belgium and Dutch national goalkeeper
Huye. French defender Rambod, the free transfer and high salary attracted Poyet, using the Bosman rule
They introduced Norwegian high center forward Flo at an ultra-low price of 300,000 pounds. The most important transfer was that they bought back Saux Leaux from Blackburn Rovers who left four years ago. When he left that year, the transfer fee for Le Saux was 700,000 pounds.
, Chelsea bought it back four years later for 7 million, and Chelsea invested about 14 million pounds in the summer.
However, these three clubs have not been able to make up half of their investment in the transfer market in terms of selling people. Among them, Chelsea and Arsenal have had a net investment of more than 10 million pounds in the transfer market for two consecutive years, and they urgently need their team's performance to increase their team's income.
Unconsciously, one of Arsenal and Chelsea has the capital to regain its glory, while the other is accumulating strength bit by bit and embarking on the road to rise.
The reason for Aldrich's silence is that he has a clear understanding of reality.
Other teams have become stronger, will Millwall just stay where they are?
Of course not, just looking at the main lineup, although Millwall has left Stam, other players are still growing and improving in terms of experience, skills, team chemistry, etc. Millwall's starting 11 should be better than last season.
Strong because they have experienced the baptism of champions.
But a team is not only made up of 11 starting players, it also needs substitutes who can play and compete.
Millwall is lacking in this aspect. Aldridge also admits that if players like Van der Meyde and Duff are sent to play, their expectations will definitely be very low. Most of them are training-oriented and cannot be based on performance requirements.
Add pressure to them, and the effect of surprise troops is basically zero.
Sighing, Aldridge spread his hands and said: "Well, you all think that Millwall has not done a good job in recruiting. So, please do me a favor. I have 10 million pounds here. Tell me, I should go."
Who to buy? I hope this is a professional discussion, rather than just adding to the fun and nonsense. You name some names that can make my team stronger when they come to Millwall, or these players can quickly integrate into Millwall.
tactical system."
When asked by Aldrich, the reporters were immediately speechless.
Everyone looked thoughtful, and if they thought about it carefully, maybe it was like what Aldridge said. It wasn't that they didn't have the money to buy players, but that the famous players they bought might not be useful.
In Millwall's tactical system, many roles are elusive.
The organizational role of the attacking midfielder has been greatly weakened. The winger is not like a winger, and the center does not stand up. Although full-back assists are not new. But how can it be so easy to find a full-back who can attack and defend?
If you want to say which link is the weakest, it must be the goalkeeper.
But Bute is still young and his performance is stable.
You can only say that he can't make more world-class saves, but he is more stable than his predecessor Keller and can occasionally surprise you. This is already very good. There is no Golden Glove Award in the Premier League yet, but Buttley last season
He became the best goalkeeper in the Premier League over Schmeichel, Seaman, James and other recognized outstanding goalkeepers. His strength was also recognized, but he is not that famous. This led to the impression that he was not particularly strong.
Reporters had no answers to Aldrich's questions.
Accused Millwall of poor signings, but they couldn't give particularly good advice.
They probably have a strange feeling that even if Overmars is given to Millwall, Overmars is stronger personally, but he seems unable to replace Shevchenko's winger position, even if the most popular Ronaldo is given.
Replacing Trezeguet, you will also feel that Millwall will not necessarily become stronger.
This is a question of the combination of the player's style of play and the team's technical and tactical system, and has nothing to do with the player's strength. It is a question of the overall integrity of the puzzle.
Because Millwall's tactical philosophy is unique, the team style created by Aldridge is very different from the mainstream, which directly leads to the players he needs to have very special ability requirements.
Like Overmars, is he strong? Aldridge would say: Very strong!
But even if Aldrich was given Overmars for free, he would think it was a hot potato.
How long does it take to change his habit of taking the ball downfield? How long does it take to integrate him into the tactical system, passing the ball rather than dribbling too much? And he also needs to be trained to outflank and grab points at the winger position.
Ability to score goals close to the goal.
Half a season, a season? Or longer?
Aldridge didn't know. Especially when a player like this is already a star.
This is like giving out a good person card in a relationship: you are excellent, but we are not suitable for each other.
Because of this, Aldridge also has a headache. He can't find a substitute who can fight. He can only give more opportunities to young players. Anyway, buying other players who seem to be capable will also require a long time of running-in and integration.
.
So he basically won't consider players over 23 years old, because after the age of 23, most players' technical abilities and playing habits can no longer make major changes. Training is just to maintain their condition. Getting better is also because of experience.
Increased consciousness.
In the end, these reporters stood up and left with frowns on their faces.
All of them seemed to be in a heavy mood, and they were all thinking about the same problem.
Is Millwall really weird?
Is it true that none of the famous stars outside can play football here?
How special is the tactical system created by Aldrich...
The four rookie players were dumbfounded. This was truly an unforgettable press conference for them.
Our head coach stunned the reporters.
Although this was not a heated verbal confrontation like a battle of words, these reporters came happily and left with a heavy heart, as if they had undergone a baptism of thought. Aldrich's image in the hearts of these four players seemed to be restored.
A bit plumper.
The next day, Leo training base.
After the expansion, there is a brand new building here, which is almost a copy of the training hotel where they have stayed for the past three years and has been expanded twice as much.
Members of the first team came out of the building talking and laughing wearing their training jerseys.
Aldridge was chatting with several coaches on the sidelines.
Meulensteen and Moniz were particularly excited today. After returning from vacation in the Netherlands, they found that the club had so many good prospects, which made them crazy with excitement.
For example, Vicente's speed and foot skills are already outstanding at the age of 16. The coaches knew at a glance that he was a promising talent.
This is enough to keep Mullenstine and Moniz busy. The former is the technical director and the latter is the technical coach. They have to develop different training plans based on the characteristics of the players. Therefore, after chatting with Aldrich for a while, the two
You have to go to the youth team to observe the players, and only after a period of observation can you study the corresponding technical training plan.
"Hey, come over here first. There are four players here that you need to focus on training."
After trotting halfway, Mullenstine turned back and said with a smile: "Okay, we'll come back later."
After saying that, he and Moniz ran towards the youth team again...
