In the final of last season's promotion play-offs, they lost to Leicester City, a team with low hostility, and missed the opportunity to be promoted to the Premier League. This was a big blow to Derby County, which had no well-known players, and the shadow of the defeat.
This continued until the beginning of this season. The opponents who had one draw and one loss in the first two league games were all teams with poor strength. However, the teams at the top of the standings showed good form and seemed to wake up Derby County all of a sudden.
On the afternoon of the match day, Aldridge walked out of the locker room. When passing through the player tunnel, he paid special attention to the demeanor of the Derby County players and found that they were full of energy and high morale. Presumably the other team had also conducted internal mobilization before the game and was determined to win this game.
.
This is good!
Aldridge is now not afraid of encountering aggressive teams. The more motivated a team is, the more it can help his team grow rapidly. At the same time, it also gives him room to play tactically in defensive counterattacks.
On the contrary, Aldridge is most afraid of encountering a relatively conservative team, which will leave his team with little room to play offensively.
As soon as he walked out of the tunnel, the noisy sound of the Lion's Den floated into his ears. Amidst the noise, Aldridge calmly walked to the home team's coaching bench.
"Aldrich! Aldrich!"
The stands outside the tunnel were closer, and Aldrich unexpectedly heard someone calling him, so he stopped and followed the call.
In the nearest stand, a young male fan waved at him with a poster and kept shouting his name. When Aldrich looked over, he shouted even louder: "Aldridge, hey!
I'm Brady, have you forgotten me? Come here and sign me, you damn boy!"
Aldrich burst into laughter. Not far away, a young man of similar age faced a delicate face. If you didn't look carefully, it would be difficult to see the freckles on his face. At this moment, he waved to Aldrich with a matter-of-fact expression.
There were several young men beside Brady, and Aldrich recognized them at a glance. Like Brady, they were Aldrich's childhood friends.
Although Aldridge studies in various parts of Europe all year round, he still returns to London for a period of time every year. In addition to attending English football coach training courses, he will get together with these friends at other times.
Aldridge walked to the edge of the stands, and Brady handed Aldridge the poster and a pen in his hand.
The poster is Millwall's promotional poster for this season, with the heroic Aldridge in the center, and other first-team players standing coolly behind him, with the green field as the background.
Aldrich signed his name on the lawn at the feet of "him" in the poster, then handed the poster back and chuckled: "How are you doing?"
Brady took the poster back, looked down at it, and said with a smile: "I'm studying at the University of East London, it's not bad."
When the friends nearby saw Brady getting an autograph, they also asked Aldrich to sign it. Some signed directly on the jersey, and some signed it on the cap.
"Let's go have a drink after the game. See you at the same place."
Aldrich said casually while signing autographs, but he found that more and more fans asked him to sign autographs, and many fans around him followed suit. If this trend continues, Aldrich may not be able to finish signing until dark.
Brady grinned and showed his white teeth, pretending to be fierce and asked: "Aldridge, can we win today? Damn Derby County is so fucked!"
Aldrich returned the pen in Brady's hand, did not answer his question, and made an apologetic gesture to the fans around him who were still asking for autographs. Then he shrugged at Brady and turned towards the home team coach on the sidelines.
seats.
"Damn it! Aldrich, if you lose the game, be careful of us getting beaten up in a group! We will especially hit your pretty face!"
Aldrich turned around, smiled and raised his middle finger to Brady.
Wow
Many fans around saw Aldridge raising his middle finger toward the stands and let out a lot of exclamations.
But Brady's group of boys burst into laughter, and then shouted at Aldridge: "Aldridge, if you dare to lose the game, we will beat you to death! Hahahaha."
The fans around him all reacted.
I bet Aldrich knew these young people, and that middle finger was just a joke among his peers.
After understanding this, the laughter around them became even louder.
Millwall fans are all working class. They are not gentlemen. Their words and deeds are definitely not gentlemanly. It is normal to be rude and vulgar.
Aldridge, who would raise his middle finger when joking with his friends, is like a rebellious big boy. Not only will this not offend the fans, but even the older fans will smile heartily when they see this, as if they have seen what they were like when they were young.
shadow.
If Aldridge behaves like a gentle upper class person all the time, this will make them feel a sense of distance and strangeness. Even if Aldridge leads the team towards a good momentum, it may be difficult to accept it deep down.
For him, because people from the two worlds will always be separated, it is Aldridge who has working-class colors in him that is more easily accepted and tolerated by them.
Because the game hadn't started yet, the broadcast camera didn't capture the scene where Aldridge raised his middle finger just now, otherwise it would have been widely publicized.
Aldrich stood in front of the coaching bench as always, with his hands in his pockets and calmly waiting for the game to start.
The fans in the stands already had signs of tit-for-tat before the game started.
"5:1,5:1,5:1..."
Derby County fans in the corners of the stadium could only repeat the bloody score three months ago to humiliate Millwall.
Millwall fans could only shout sourly: "Cowards lost to Leicester City at Wembley!"
So what if we win?
Why don't you stay in League One like this?
And now we are ranked first and you are in the relegation zone!
There is not much hostility between the two teams, it is just a simple battle of revenge.
It's like fighting with a stranger.
Three months ago, Derby County beat Millwall to a pulp. Today, Millwall wants to beat Derby County to a pulp. When the game is over, it will soon be forgotten. This has a long history with Derby's mortal enemy.
There are essential differences between the immortality passed down from generation to generation.
The shouting war among the fans in the stands has begun, and the game begins after the referee blows his whistle.
As expected from the beginning of the game, Derby County launched a massive attack and had the momentum to turn the tables on the away team.
Thirty seconds into the game, he hit a long-range shot from outside the penalty area. Although the miss was outrageous, it was still a shock.
On the contrary, Millwall was very calm and seemed unable to adapt to the fierce pressing of the opponent's frontcourt. Thuram kicked the ball back to the opponent player in a hasty clearance, forcing Makelele to make a foul to contain Derby County's attack.
In the first three minutes, Derby County's high-pressure pressure left Millwall breathless.
The fans in the stands were very anxious.
What are you doing?
What kind of rhythm is it to lose?!
Aldrich stood on the sidelines very calmly, with his hands still in his trousers pockets.
In fact, he was not worried but happy.
Derby County's high-pressure press was mentioned by Aldridge before in the preparation meeting, and the players must have kept it in mind. However, the pace of the first two league games was obviously slow. Even if Xiu'an United bombarded them indiscriminately,
It's just a high ball, and compared to Derby County, which was mature and almost promoted to the Premier League last season, both United and Sunderland are still a level below.
Millwall's players just haven't adapted yet. As long as they stabilize mentally and adjust themselves, everything will be on the right track.
For the high-profile English League One, set-pieces are one of the important goal-scoring tactics, so when Derby County received a set-piece in the frontcourt, most of their players rushed forward.
The ball was hoisted into the penalty area. As a group of people jumped up to compete for the header, Stam fended off the Derby County players around him. After taking off, he pushed the ball out of the penalty area and consciously took advantage of the situation.
On the left side of the backcourt.
The ball bounced on the turf. Before the Derby County player rushed forward to grab the ball, Pires gently lifted the ball forward with his right foot. The ball drew a beautiful arc in the air and passed over the Derby County player's head.
Then, Pires sprinted with all his strength, and there was a large space in front of him.
At this moment, Aldridge took his right hand out of his pocket, waved it fiercely in the direction of Derby County's goal, and shouted with a ferocious face: "Come on! Don't be so slow!"
In fact, there is no need for him to say it. After being given instructions in the first two games and training, Millwall's frontcourt attacking four already knew what to do at this time.
Pires ran quickly with the ball.
Larsson and Trezeguet separated the distance and sprinted forward step by step.
Schneider on the right also quickly inserted along the wing.
The fans in the stands also roared wildly, and an exciting scene came into view.
One second, Derby County's frontcourt set-piece was still threatening Millwall's goal. Just in the blink of an eye, four Millwall players were sprinting forward on their respective tracks like track and field athletes.
The two players behind Derby County followed closely behind Larsson and Trezeguet. Pires took the ball, and Derby County players chased back at full speed behind him.
When Pires dribbled the ball close to the midline, he made a long pass. The ball jumped up, crossed the entire half, and flew diagonally towards the right.
The unmarked Schneider was right where the ball was flying.
But long passes like this while running at high speed test the players' technical abilities.
It would be a shame if such a good opportunity was wasted.
Millwall fans prayed in their hearts that Schneider would catch this long ball.
Standing on the sidelines, Aldridge's heartbeat was pounding like thunder.
The scene before him was the most perfect embodiment of his counterattack tactics.
Players jump in at high speed during counterattacks. The player holding the ball does not stick to the ball and quickly pushes the ball through the space towards the opponent's half. Not only does the opponent have no time to deploy defense, it even makes it impossible for the opponent to catch up!
He has confidence in Schneider!
If Pires' pass was not in place, there would be nothing to say, but the trajectory of the ball's flight was just right. Schneider, as one of the most skilled players among this generation of German players, can't say it would be easy to stop the ball while running at high speed, but if he performed well,
Definitely not a disappointment.
Sure enough, Schneider, who came in at high speed in the right corridor, only used the arch of his right foot to gently press the ball, and the situation where he was joked about "stopping the ball two meters away" did not happen to him.
.
Just the consistency of the footwork and movement in stopping the ball is pleasing to the eye.
After stopping the ball, Schneider did not dribble forward. His speed is not a specialty. If he dribbled the ball forward, his speed would give Derby County more time to defend. Therefore, he passed a half-high ball and flew diagonally.
Towards the front left, to the left of Derby County's penalty area.
The ball drew another arc in mid-air.
Millwall's two forwards and the opponent's two defenders were all running towards the Derby County goal. Schneider's pass was in front of them. The Derby County defender in the front point tried his best to tackle it, but
He couldn't use his toes to stop the ball from passing in front of him.
Trezeguet was shaken by the defender who put the tackle on the ball and missed the point, but he was still running forward.
Larsson, who was already running on the left side, faced the ball that fell in front of him. He lightly tapped it with his left foot. The Derby County defender chasing him was unbelievable and even prepared to pull Larson down outside the penalty area.
Sen's preparation, but he didn't expect that with the ball running at high speed, Larsson clearly had the opportunity to form a single goal, but gave the chance to score to his teammates!
The ball was knocked back to the center. Trezeguet, who was already unmarked, made a slight adjustment after receiving the ball and shot!
Seeing the ball being blasted into the goal, the opponent's goalkeeper had no reaction. Aldrich on the sidelines clenched his fists, raised his arms, turned around and laughed: "This is simply wonderful!"
From defense to attack to goal, the quick counterattack that took 11 seconds to score made Millwall fans' blood boil, and the Lion's Den instantly turned into a sea of carnival!
The Millwall players who scored this classic goal while running at full speed are like the blue lions on the club's emblem in the eyes of fans!
The entire Millwall Lion's Den stadium seemed to emit a lion's roar that shocked the world!
