On Christmas Day, Millwall's squad players and coaching staff took the bus north to Seven Sisters Street.
On a day like today, Millwall travels lightly. Normally, the team administrator would take leave early and let him go home for the holidays.
Highbury Stadium was packed with seats, and the Christmas atmosphere lingered in the stadium stands. Many fans dressed up as Santa Claus to watch the game.
The atmosphere of this London derby was suddenly completely different from before.
Two or three years before Arsenal's decline and Millwall's rise, even if there was no hatred between Arsenal and Millwall, there was some hostility between Gunners fans and Lions fans. Now, the two teams are in the same city.
The hatred in the Derby relationship is very weak. It can be said that there is no hatred at all. There is only a lack of weakness between competitors.
Competition and hatred are two different things. Just like Millwall and West Ham United, there is hatred between Chelsea. It does not change due to the opponent or their own league ranking or the strength of the team. The competition is more like that between Manchester United and Millwall.
Due to the relationship between the two teams, there is almost no friction between the fans of the two teams, but no one wants to be inferior to the other in the stands. The war between the fans in the stands is more passionate than hot.
Aldridge didn't have anything to talk to Wenger today. He sat on the coaching bench early and waited for the game to start.
Wenger was rather depressed. Arsenal maintained the initiative to defend the title in the league, but ranked third in the Champions League group and was eliminated. At the end of the Champions League group draw, everyone thought that Arsenal would have no problem qualifying in that group, but unexpectedly they ended up not winning.
You can't even get second place in the group.
"My dear viewers, Merry Christmas. Today at Highbury, we will see the local derby between the defending champions Arsenal and Millwall. There is only one point difference between the two teams. Arsenal is in front and Millwall is ahead.
In the rear, Manchester United is one point ahead of Arsenal and Chelsea is one point behind Millwall. The top four teams are
There is only one point difference from first place to fourth place. There is a saying in the media that the London team is now besieging the Manchester team. In fact, it seems to be the same. The focus of English football is now undoubtedly turning from Manchester.
London, Millwall, Arsenal. Chelsea, this is the backbone of London's strength."
"Martin, don't you want to talk about today's game?"
"I just don't want to give the audience too high expectations. Although the two teams are ranked second and third, Millwall is short of major generals today, and Arsenal's offensive firepower has also declined slightly this season, so this game
I think it’s definitely not as exciting as the Christmas games that Millwall played in the previous two years.”
"Both teams are defensive teams. The league is about to be halfway through. Arsenal's number of goals conceded is actually in single digits, only 8, while Millwall has conceded 13 goals. The defenses of the two teams are at a disadvantage.
The Premier League is the top two, and in terms of offensive firepower, the two teams are not much different, but compared to last season, there are obvious differences.
Arsenal's French teenager Anelka began to partner with Bergkamp to attack. Millwall's golden trident last season completely disappeared in the first half of this season. Ronaldinho performed best in the first half of the season.
And Nedvěd is not in the squad, I think the excitement of this game will definitely be greatly reduced."
"Haha. Wenger was evenly matched with Hall last season. He defeated Millwall and scored 3 points last season. It was one of the key battles for Arsenal to win the championship. In addition, Wenger defeated Manchester United away from home. I think if Wenger wants
To defend the title in the league, we must win the home game against Millwall. I can't predict what Hall's thoughts are. He is lagging behind in points. According to common sense, he should take the initiative to attack, but in the team
When key players are clearly missing, he doesn't have many options."
Arsenal's defense this season is simply going against the grain. The average age of the five senior defenders is over 32 years old, but they are full of unparalleled energy. Their defensive level is directly catching up with Graham's record of few goals conceded that year.
, but considering that it was an ultimate counterattack tactic with 5 backs, and now it is a regular defensive counterattack with 4 backs, Arsenal's defense under Wenger has reached a new level.
Millwall's lineup today gives people the feeling that they can't compete with Arsenal.
Midfielder: Van der Meyde, Gattuso, Lampard, Makelele, Grenjaer.
Forward: Ruud van Nistelrooy.
Aldridge deployed two defensive midfielders, and put four people in the offense, two full-backs, Galampard and Ruud van Nistelrooy. The offensive formation was a large diamond four-man formation.
Wenger came to the sidelines fifteen minutes before the start of the game. He was also sitting on the coaching bench. After learning about Millwall's starting lineup, he frowned and felt that he had made a mistake.
According to the experience of last season, even if Millwall played away from home, they should have played 433 or 442. Unexpectedly, they played 451. The midfielder was obviously focused on defense.
Now it's troublesome.
Arsenal's offensive firepower has declined in the new season. Although Anelka is also known as a genius, his number of goals has not reached the level of a world-class forward. However, judging from his age, he can average two goals in two games.
One goal is really amazing. Think about it, Alan Smith only scored one goal in four or five games and he was called a genius killer. It is not an exaggeration to think that Anelka is expected to be a world-class killer in the future.
When Aldridge summarized the reasons for his failure in the league last season, he also conducted a self-examination.
Millwall lost two key battles, one away against Manchester United and one away against Arsenal.
Although they beat each other at home, the away defeat gave the opponent three points, which was particularly conspicuous given that they were only one point away from winning the championship at the end of the season.
Where did Millwall lose?
Aldrich thought it was his problem.
In the first half of the league, Millwall was lagging behind in points, but they took the initiative in the away game, which increased the risk of conceding goals and ultimately lost the game.
If Millwall can stabilize their mentality, or Aldridge himself can stabilize himself, forget about the points gap, and face it with a normal mind, maybe Millwall will have better results in those two games.
Today he made it very clear to the players: Our goal in the game is not to lose.
It sounds a bit unambitious, but this is the reality. Millwall is not arrogant enough to come to Highbury and face Arsenal, the top defensive team in the league, and still win the game.
Nowadays, the Premier League no longer relies on passion and bravery to break through. With the influx of foreign players, the strength of each team has steadily improved, and the overall level of the Premier League has increased significantly.
It would be naive to overwhelm opponents by just relying on hard work. More than half of the Premier League teams' forwards have completely bowed before Arsenal's top five defenders.
Aldridge believes that winning the league no longer relies solely on hard power, but also requires very high standards for head coaches. He cannot, like before, instill the idea of passionately rushing into the team when he gets on the pole. He must learn to brake when the time is right.
Be patient, maintain morale on the basis of not losing, and avoid large fluctuations in the team's status. After all, the league is about who is more stable.
When the game started, the postures of the two teams were almost the same, six-man defense, four-man offense, even Millwall was in defense, and Lampard put more effort into it.
Ten minutes passed. The commentator, Martin Taylor, was very depressed.
"In the first ten minutes after the start of the game, the two teams engaged in a brutal stranglehold in the midfield. No one had a better chance to advance the offense into the dangerous area, and not a single shot appeared."
"Wait a minute, I think the head coaches of both teams want to win the game. They will be cautious in the first half. As the game time goes by, they will definitely give it a try later on."
Wenger looked at the situation on the field unoptimistically.
This group of Arsenal players has almost reached its strongest state in his hands. The transition between offense and defense is very smooth. It is difficult to criticize the team's offensive and defensive system, but there is a specific background, that is, they play defensive counterattack, and the opponent attacks.
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Positional warfare is not what they are good at. Therefore, in the Champions League, when other teams are more patient and conservative, Arsenal's mentality and experience are not as good as their opponents. The reason why Dynamo Kyiv won the first place in the group is because of their experience.
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If Wenger wants to change this situation, he must change the midfield. The combination of Vieira + Petit is fine defensively, but offensively, especially in positional warfare, it lacks talent, just like Aldridge versus Lampard.
The usage preferences are the same as Pirlo's.
Although there is Bergkamp in Arsenal's team, there is really no No. 10 player in the traditional sense in the starting lineup.
Wenger believes that this is what Arsenal lacks. When the opponent also plays defensive counterattack, Arsenal does not have many opportunities for positional warfare. The lack of team creativity is the fatal reason that restricts this team's richer play style.
In the 17th minute of the first half, the first shot of the game finally appeared. It came from Pirene's hasty long shot in the face of a defensive double-team after cutting inside.
Bute easily took the ball into his arms, and then Millwall counterattacked. After breaking through Pettit's defense in the frontcourt, Glenchard also shot a long shot, and the ball slipped out of the goal.
The two teams could not create good opportunities in the positional battle. They almost relied on the offensive players' personal abilities to try to change the score, but the effect was not good. After all, the two teams paid great attention to defense.
The atmosphere in the stands at Highbury was lively, the game was dull and indifferent, the fans were entertaining themselves, it was Christmas, was it crying?
Aldrich sat motionless, resting his chin on his hand as he watched the game.
When a strong team beats a weak team, the attack can be devastating and powerful.
The strong dialogue is sometimes a bit boring, and the defense levels faced are different.
Especially today's Arsenal, the outside world appreciates Arsenal's style of play. To put it bluntly, they are particularly passionate when counterattacking.
As long as the opponent attacks and the offense is frustrated and switches from defense to offense, Arsenal's offense will have a large space. The midfielders and frontcourt players will take advantage of their speed to pass and move, tearing apart the opponent's defense layer by layer in the 40-50 yard advancement space.
, and then scored a goal. Millwall still played well with this method of scoring, but when facing a top team that focuses on defense and does not press forward, it is difficult to perform such an offense.
The rhythm of the game in the first half was fouls, interceptions, long shots, star players dribbling the ball and being intercepted...
Neither side had an absolute chance to score, and then the first half ended.
Before entering the locker room, Wenger carefully observed Aldridge's expression and found that the other party's expression was indifferent. Wenger didn't know why, but felt a little cold in his heart.
This feeling is like Aldrich seeing Lippi smoking a cigar in Turin.
Wenger would rather see Aldridge disappointed or worried, or even happy, so that he can guess what Aldridge is thinking.
But seeing Aldridge, whose expression was as calm as usual, Wenger could not guess the opponent, but also thought that Aldridge was invulnerable.
