As the sun sets, Aldrich whistles in his mouth under the afterglow, and keeps shouting at the players on the training field who come to the training ground to coordinate short passes.
"Robert, don't wait for the ball! Run out of space! The court is very big, do you want to dance on the spot?"
"Lucas, press forward, have you seen Claude's position? If you take another step forward, Michael's path to the ball will be blocked!"
"Pavel, there is no good route for the ball in front. When you are double-teamed, don't blindly break through. You can split the ball to both sides or pass it back! As the core of the midfielder, your first task is not to throw the ball away.
If you make a mistake in passing the ball, it will be fatal!"
...
The players on the training ground were sweating profusely and training diligently under Aldridge's supervision to ensure that everything he required was perfect.
When the training was over, Aldridge dismissed the team without much nonsense, and he and his colleagues on the coaching staff picked up the balls from the training ground one by one and put them away.
After everything was cleaned up and the sky gradually darkened, Aldrich walked under the shade of a tree to light a cigarette. Jenson came closer and was curious to find that Aldrich had a frown on his face, as if he was hiding a deep sadness.
In the heart.
"What's wrong? Are you unhappy? We won the game the day before yesterday. In the first eight rounds, we had five wins, two draws and one loss. We are the top team in the standings."
Aldridge scratched his head and sighed: "I'm thinking about whether it's time to unleash the team's offensive capabilities. But I'm a little worried that the newly established defensive system will collapse."
Two days ago, before the FIFA match day, Millwall won 2:0 at home against the underdog Burnley. This victory was not a dazzling one. Millwall did not create many opportunities.
But I got it all.
When facing a passively defensive team or a team with a solid defense, Millwall's chances of succeeding through counterattacks become increasingly slim, and the offense in positional battles is slightly conservative. Therefore, the team's recent atmosphere
Somewhat dull.
Aldridge knew without asking that Schneider, like Pires, would definitely like to go deeper into the enemy's territory to show off his talent. Nedved, the immortal iron man, would also move from penalty area to penalty area in a wide range of situations.
But Aldrich was hesitant.
The main lineup has played seven games in the league without conceding a single goal. This kind of defensive effect is surprising. Aldridge believes that even with this conservative style of play, they will not be able to say that they are stable at the end of the season.
There is no problem in winning the championship steadily and being promoted to the Premier League, and at least qualifying for the play-offs.
But the players are obviously not satisfied. The young and dreamy players want to show more talents.
Aldridge is not satisfied either. Offensive football is the trend in football, but defense is a necessary condition to bring championships. He is just worried that this step forward will destroy the solid foundation of the past.
The league has only passed eight rounds, not even one-fifth of it. Aldridge planned to make further adjustments when the league was halfway through, but the team's depressing atmosphere made him face a choice at this moment.
"I think we can give it a try. The training reports of the past two months show that at least the main lineup has made obvious progress in teamwork and coordination of passing and receiving."
Jensen said this.
Aldridge thought for a while and nodded. He knew that he did not have absolute authority in the team. Winning is winning, but as long as something happened that made the players feel conflicted, maybe he was only eighteen years old.
The head coach will have an irreparable rift with the players.
"Mr. Hall, I have your phone number!"
The staff at the training ground shouted in the distance, and Aldridge said a simple goodbye to Jenson. After walking back to his office and picking up the phone, he heard a familiar voice, which made him suddenly realize.
The professor is leaving for Japan!
Just outside the main entrance of the club, stood a slender middle-aged man, Arsene Wenger, who was fired for the first time in his coaching career.
He gazed thoughtfully at Millwall's old club building, seemingly looking for something to pique his interest.
"Arsena!"
Aldridge waved and shouted to Wenger from across the road, and Wenger turned around with a smile on his face.
It was already dinner time, and Aldridge invited Wenger to his home.
Barnett had already lived in West London, and Andrew only came home every now and then. In the huge villa, there were only Arthur and Amelia. They were very surprised when they saw Aldrich bringing back a guest.
Happy.
At the dinner table, Arthur solemnly expressed his gratitude to Wenger. Aldridge was studying abroad and receiving some care from Wenger during the time he spent in France.
After dinner, Aldrich invited Wenger into his study.
"Monaco has had a poor record since the beginning of this season, so I'm out of class. But I'm lucky. A club has already invited me to coach. Aldridge, you're so smart, can you guess where I will coach?"
Although Wenger's tone was relaxed, Aldrich could hear the bitterness in his words.
After all, he left a club where he had coached for five years.
Where is his next stop?
Of course Aldrich knows that Nagoya Grampus of the Japanese J-League.
However, he smiled and shook his head, pretending not to know.
He knew that there was no need for him to appear unpredictable at all times, as that would do no good except to show off.
Besides, he didn't want to discuss this topic in depth. There were many reasons for Monaco's poor record, among which Aldridge poached defense general Thuram for a high price and high salary.
Wenger sat back in his chair and said calmly: "I will go to Japan at the end of the month."
After finishing speaking, Aldridge never answered. Wenger looked at him doubtfully and asked: "What? Are you not surprised at all?"
Aldrich shrugged and curled his lips and said, "Well, I was very surprised, so I was speechless."
"Hypocritical! Forget it, let's talk about your team. I came to London this time just to see your team."
Wenger held hot tea in his hand and stared at Aldrich with a smile in his eyes.
Before coming here, he never expected that Aldridge's team would actually be ranked first in English League One, even though there was almost no gap with the teams behind them, and they even ranked first based on their goal difference advantage.
But it was enough to surprise Wenger. After all, this is a newly formed team, and it is mainly composed of young players. It can only lose one goal after eight rounds of games, which is absolutely inseparable from the head coach's strategizing.
Aldridge knew everything he wanted to talk about, and he spoke eloquently about whatever Wenger wanted to talk about, including his team building philosophy, tactical system, and even the club's business prospects beyond the scope of the head coach.
However, Millwall has always been a second-tier team in the league, and the topic between the two finally returned to the top level of the Premier League.
"Yesterday I watched an England national team game at Wembley. Before the game, there was a phenomenon that made me feel incredible. Aldridge, why do people in this country seem to hate Manchester United so much? I used to know Manchester United in France.
, should be the most popular team in the UK."
Wenger frowned, puzzled by this question.
Recalling yesterday's national team match in his mind, he sat in the stands and waited quietly for the game to start. However, half an hour before the game, a repetitive song rang out from the stands at Wembley Stadium.
"If you hate Manchester United, then stand up!"
As a result, in the repeated wave of singing that continued to gain momentum, in less than ten minutes, all the fans in the audience stood up!
Aldrich laughed helplessly upon hearing this.
"This issue is very complicated, but Manchester United is indeed the most popular team in the UK. Let's put it this way. There are 22 teams in the Premier League. Each team must have many die-hard fans, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, etc.
, but the fan base in the UK is larger. Those ordinary fans, those watching TV at home, do not have community football fans.
Fans who belong to a football club will naturally like Manchester United. When television broadcasts entered thousands of households, it was the glorious moment when the Busby boys rebuilt their dynasty. In addition, the generation of England's main team that won the World Cup had Manchester United players as the core.
, so Manchester United has the largest number of fans in England."
"Then the fans at Wembley will hate Manchester United?"
"Where is Wembley?"
"London."
"Almost all London fans hate Manchester United. There are more factors, including political factors. Manchester is absolutely loyal to the Queen. Economically, Manchester, once the world's factory, is gradually declining, but London is open, flamboyant, diverse, traditional and cultural.
, Manchester
Old-fashioned, London, haha, this is the confrontation between cities, Arsène, you will understand all this in the future, just like Manchester and Liverpool are only half an hour away, but they are two completely different cities.
The circumstances of hostility are more indescribable than mortal enemies.”
Wenger heard this and murmured: "Is this the birthplace of modern football?"
British football has a history of hundreds of years. If football was just an ordinary sport or game, it would not be able to develop and grow, and it would not be enough to make football the most popular sport in the UK.
Football is war in peacetime.
Behind it are the sparks of passion caused by the collision of politics, culture, tradition, economy, history, people's hearts, etc.
If you look at the map of the UK and point your finger, you can almost find the grievances and hatreds caused by football there.
English football is never lonely, because there is so much chaos here!
Aldridge and Wenger discussed some of the most popular teams in the Premier League.
Manchester United, which has won two consecutive championships, needs no further discussion. The Red Army Liverpool has already become famous in Europe. Leeds United and Newcastle United are still in the ascendant. However, there is one team that Wenger and Aldridge have discussed for a long time.
That is last year's league runners-up Blackburn Rovers, who were only 4 points behind Manchester United.
This is a team with no background, located in a town with a population of only 100,000.
But the speed of its rise in a short period of time is staggering.
The reason why Aldridge is willing to talk about this team in depth is mainly due to the development of future football trends.
Jinyuan Football!
Who is the originator of England's gold dollar football?
This is definitely not the Chelsea of ten years from now.
But Blackburn!
Steel tycoon Jack Walker returned to his hometown to take over Blackburn Rovers, injecting 30 million pounds of capital into the club, transforming the team that could not even afford the train fare to play away games at the time, and have the power to challenge for the championship throne.
strength.
Thirty million pounds may be just the transfer fee for a top star ten years later, but in the early 1990s, thirty million pounds could turn a team around!
Blackburn invited Liverpool King Dalglish to coach, and the team recruited many first-class players, almost all of whom were at the European national team level.
The already impressive Blackburn Rovers almost won the league title last season. The team's devilish striker composed of Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton was unstoppable. Last season, they defeated the Bundesliga giant Bayern Munich in the UEFA Cup.
Good show.
This is the impact of the golden dollar on football. Coupled with the fact that Bosman's Law is about to usher in a new era of football, the traditional football rules will undergo earth-shaking changes.
Although Aldridge has also brought an investment of 30 million pounds to Millwall, I am afraid it will be difficult for him to continue his large investment. In order to make both ends meet during this period of change in football, Aldridge still needs to plan a lot.
.
ps: Thanks to "Take off your slippers" for the reward!
