Millwall defeated Tottenham 4-0 in the first game of the new season. This result was not unexpected.
After the game, Aldridge said in an interview that it was nothing to make a fuss about winning this game. Although he was happy, the team's mentality would not fluctuate because of the victory over Tottenham.
The subtext passed to the outside world is: Tottenham is not strong enough, and Millwall cannot be complacent about defeating Tottenham.
Manchester United, who are tied with Millwall as favorites to win the title in the new season, were held to a draw by Everton at Goodison Park. It seems that they have not yet recovered from their poor performance in the Charity Shield.
Next year is a major competition year. The Premier League starts early and the schedule is compressed intensively. Aldridge can't wait to face his opponent in three days.
Because the opponent they faced in the next game was the traditional powerhouse Liverpool, which was in decline.
After the victory over Tottenham, the team was given a day off and returned to training the next day. Aldridge was very enthusiastic about his work and was smiling when he attended the press conference before the trip.
The reporters present could probably guess what Aldrich was thinking.
"Aldridge, you seem to want to play against Liverpool, why?"
Aldridge sat on the stage with the corners of his mouth raised and said casually: "Because Liverpool is a young team and the head coach Houllier is also my friend. I will look forward to playing against my friends on the sidelines. This is the fun of this job."
One, and I also want to see the performance of Owen, Gerrard and Carragher."
"Why? Are Millwall interested in them?"
The reporter who didn't know what he was talking about asked seriously. Richard, who was sitting next to him, was suppressing a smile. He had been covering Millwall for many years and had already seen through Aldridge's misinformation.
Aldridge put away his smile and said seriously: "Yes. Millwall is very interested in them. But it was four years ago when I personally came to invite them to join Millwall, but they refused. At that time, the Liverpool media
It has been reported that Liverpool later gave Gerrard their professional contracts. From that day on, although Millwall did not intend to introduce them in the transfer market, I still paid attention to them. I wanted to see their career development.
"
The reporter who asked the question nodded frequently and recorded Aldridge's words in his notebook. For him, he may think this is big news. The door to the transfer market has not been closed. The Millwall coach has publicly declared that he is concerned about the three young players of Liverpool.
Performance, who can guarantee that there will not be heavyweight transfers in the next 20 days?
Even if there is a heavyweight transfer, it can only happen to Owen. As for Gerrard and Carragher, they are not even stars.
Some reporters present lowered their heads and laughed secretly. They felt that the reporter who asked the question had been fooled. Richard simply laughed loudly and asked: "Aldridge, if tomorrow's game is Liverpool visiting Millwall, will you still be like this today?"
Are you excited?"
Aldridge smiled silently, and after a while he nodded and said: "Of course, Liverpool, England's traditional giant Liverpool, of course I will be excited!"
"Who believes it? Have you ever been excited before Liverpool came as a guest in the past two years? It's obviously because you can go to Liverpool to see your children, why don't you say it frankly?"
"No, no, no, Richard, are you questioning my professionalism and work attitude? It is impossible for me to do things for personal gain. Let me tell you, I love Anfield, from the first time I stepped into Anfield as the manager.
When I was young, I fell in love with that stadium, which is full of glory and history. No coach would refuse to play there, even though it may make people feel dangerous, but this is what the coach enjoys!"
Not only Richard, many reporters present laughed and booed him!
Aldridge spread his hands helplessly, and finally said through gritted teeth while suppressing a smile: "Believe it or not, it's up to you. Tomorrow's game will make you realize whether I am fully committed to the game!"
When Aldrich stood up and left, Richard shouted loudly: "Your excuse is too hypocritical. You want to spend more time with your son. Does this have anything to do with whether you value the game?"
Aldridge quickened his pace and left the field quickly.
The next day, the team went to Liverpool. The whole team got off the plane and got on the bus and headed to Anfield.
On the way, some of the players were listening to music, some were reading, some were chatting, or some were simply looking at the city street scene outside the car window.
Aldridge had no special feelings for the city of Liverpool before, but now his mentality has become slightly more subtle after coming to this city. This is the place where his son was born.
Thinking that today's newspapers were exaggerating that he led the team to visit Liverpool, but actually he was in the mood to see his son... Well, Aldridge was stunned for a second, this idea always felt a bit weird.
Shaking his head, he was worried that the players would be distracted by this.
Before arriving at Anfield, Aldridge stood up and clapped his hands, asking all the players to look at him. Those who were listening to music took off their headphones, those who were reading closed their books, and those who were chatting closed their mouths. They looked at Aldridge curiously.
Strange, I don’t know what the boss is going to say.
"Liverpool, I don't want to emphasize how strong they are. In fact, in the past few years, or since we entered the top league stage, the Liverpool we have faced has been worse than every year, and capable players have also been affected by lifestyle issues.
The team began to clean up or relegated to the sidelines. Maybe you no longer have the advantage in your heart.
Liverpool treat Liverpool as a strong enemy, and even think that they may not be much different from Tottenham, but what I want to say is that in the past few years, Liverpool's away record has been a fatal factor that restricted them from challenging for the championship, but their home record is very
Stable, in some seasons we only lose two games at home, and in other seasons we lose up to four games at home
, In other words, on average, we lose three games at home every season. 19 Premier League teams visit Anfield, and only 3 or 4 teams can win from there. We are not here for tourism. If you
If you are interested, you can stay in this city for a while after the game, but for the game, we definitely want to
You have to leave with three points, so even if you think Liverpool is not strong enough, I allow you to despise the Liverpool players, but I hope you value Anfield as a stadium and can win at Anfield. I don’t think it can be used as a source of pride.
Capital. But at least it can make our sense of achievement and satisfaction more substantial!”
The players nodded to each other after listening to Aldrich's words.
They came to visit Liverpool and were very calm.
It was so calm that they themselves felt weird.
Liverpool, Liverpool was once famous in Europe and founded the dynasty that dominated Europe!
Why do they have such a dull reaction when playing against Liverpool?
Perhaps, as Aldrich said, they have played against Liverpool every year in the past few years, suppressing their opponents in the league, and only being eliminated once in the cup, and they were eliminated as substitutes for young players.
Having actually fought against each other and defeated the opponent several times, the sense of importance naturally faded away in my heart.
But the game still has to be played. It is a good thing to have a peaceful mind, but it is a bad thing if the fighting spirit decreases.
Aldrich's current effort to mobilize their fighting morale is to divert their attention.
If you only focus on Liverpool's player team and put Tottenham jerseys on your opponents, you really won't feel that there is much difference.
Therefore, Aldridge needs the players to be as powerful as possible because of Liverpool's history and use Liverpool's past glory to stimulate the players.
Anfield is still an Anfield with a terrifying home atmosphere in the Premier League. The loud singing of the Red Army fans never stops. This is a stadium that Ferguson defined as "dangerous". Aldridge didn't have too much sense of crisis when he came here. Maybe Liverpool
Maybe it’s because he is not a mortal enemy of Millwall. He just enjoys it. There are not many teams that can elevate the team’s strength to a higher level because of their fans. Liverpool happens to be one of them. Fighting against such an opponent, Audrey
Wonderful in it.
Before the game started, Aldridge stood on the sidelines and whispered to Gerard Houllier. It was not Aldridge who came to greet the owner, but the owner took the initiative to come to communicate with him.
The conversation between the two focused on "whether Millwall wants to poach Owen?"
After Aldridge verbally promised that he was no longer interested in Irving, Houllier felt relieved.
As for Gerrard and Carragher, to be honest, they haven't made a name for themselves at all.
But since this is a player that Aldridge personally invited a few years ago, Liverpool Club naturally pays special attention to it.
But they also don't know what kind of outstanding players Carragher and Gerrard will become in the future, and in what direction they will be trained. They don't know for sure.
Aldridge has always believed that the biggest reason why Gerrard can only become a "Liverpool legend" is that in the early stages of his career, he never had a clear position on the field.
Aldridge likes role players and has clear specialties. When used, he can divide the labor in a reasonable and clear manner, allowing the team's 11-person puzzle to achieve effective complementarity. For example, Makelele is defense, Pirlo is organization, and Nedved is offense.
There is no confusion about the midfield system.
And for a player like Gerrard, his position is very vague.
Is it OK to guard him? OK.
Can we organize him? Yes.
Is it okay to attack him? Yes.
He is good at all three, but he is not the best at any of them!
If you let him play defense, he will be ravaged by top offensive players. If you let him play organization, it will be difficult to penetrate the top defense line in terms of offensive scheduling. If you let him play offense, his ability to seize opportunities seems to be unsatisfactory, especially when dribbling the ball.
Xiang Ling, who is also an offensive player, is definitely more powerful than him in the role of attacking midfielder or number nine.
The future development trend of European football is that even the top teams will allow at most one player to only attack and not participate in defense. Other players, excluding the goalkeeper, must shoulder the defensive task.
In other words, for a player like Gerrard, defensive ability is the foundation, so next, he needs to strengthen his special technical characteristics in offense.
The most common evaluation of Gerrard in the future is his comprehensiveness, but this comprehensiveness just means that his overall strength is very strong, but he seems to be unable to compete with those top players with special skills.
Especially in the mediocre England national team, looking at Gerrard's national team career, it is almost difficult to find a game in which he performed particularly well, and those players with special characteristics, even in the weaker national team, are still very difficult to find.
Can shine brightly.
It is a pity that in the early stages of Gerrard's career at Liverpool, during the most critical period of improving his technical ability and fixing his position on the field, he did not meet the key points and correctly train his famous teachers, who could further train him and sometimes play behind him.
He sometimes plays as a midfielder and sometimes as an attacking midfielder. Sometimes he assists and sometimes scores goals. He runs all over the field without stopping. But what is his role? He changes every year.
Carragher is even more tragic. He is still a substitute in the new season, but Houllier defines Carragher as a substitute for full-back. Therefore, for a long time in the future, Carragher will be a flaw that was exposed at Anfield.
