As a head coach, you cannot passively make lineup adjustments. For example, if you find that a player's condition has begun to decline, you can let the player rest or make adjustments and find out the reasons to solve the problem.
The head coach has the obligation and responsibility to detect problems early and prevent them from happening. This is a reflection of the ability to control the team.
Sometimes the players' own stubbornness is not correct. For example, playing injured may be commendable, but the actual results may not be good.
Two days after the battle with Manchester United, Aldridge was sitting in the office at dusk on Tuesday, sorting out information. He had just held a pre-match preparation meeting with the players. The meeting was relatively relaxed because the next game was the Champions League group tomorrow.
In the last round of the tournament, Millwall has qualified early and plans to send all substitutes to play against the visiting Galatasaray. The result is that you don't have to worry about anything. What matters is whether the goal of training the players is achieved.
Dangdang
There was a knock on the door, and Aldrich raised his head and said, "Please come in."
The door opened, and a head leaned in. It was Ronaldinho.
Aldrich saw him coming over with a playful smile, sat down across from the desk, then placed an envelope on the table and pushed it in front of Aldrich.
Aldrich frowned and asked, "Do you think the vacation is too short?"
The envelope was given to Ronaldinho in the morning and also to other players in the first team, especially the offensive players. It contained Christmas cards and holiday notices for the players.
Since Millwall has six players shortlisted for the Ballon d'Or, and Christmas is approaching, and the recent schedule has been relatively light, Aldridge simply gave them a collective holiday to attend the Ballon d'Or ceremony. After that, he spent Christmas with his family.
Festival. I will report back after taking a break for ten days. Start preparing for the second half of the league.
Ronaldinho smiled and shook his head and said: "Boss, I only need three days of vacation, three days before and after Christmas."
He is different from other players. His family is in Brazil. Except for the summer, he can only go back once for Christmas. Even if he reports to the national team, the timetable is very tight. After all, if you go to the national team, you have to go back.
Training for a game is not a vacation.
Aldridge sat back on the boss's chair, stared at Ronaldinho for a minute, then chuckled and said, "I'm giving you too much vacation, is that too much for you?"
Ronaldinho shrugged: "I don't want to look special in the team."
Aldrich nodded and said: "Well, I understand, then you will return to the team on the 27th."
Ronaldinho stood up and waved goodbye to Aldrich with a playful smile. He gently closed the office door.
A few minutes later, Pirlo Nedved, Larsson, Henry, and Schneider, the five players who were also selected for the Ballon d'Or, also placed envelopes on Aldrich's desk.
They have the same idea as Ronaldinho. Some people think the vacation is too long, and some people don't want a vacation at all.
After seeing them off, Aldrich stood up, walked to the floor-to-ceiling window and looked at the beautiful sunset in the distance, closing his eyes and smiling happily.
The next night, Wembley.
Aldridge stood in the locker room before the game. Among the 11 players wearing the starting jersey today, some were nervous, and Villa was one of them.
He sat there and sorted out his jersey, sneakers, shin guards and other equipment early, and sat upright waiting for Aldrich's pre-game speech.
"We have already qualified for the Champions League group stage. There is only one requirement for you today: just perform at the same level as you did in training."
After saying that, Aldrich turned and walked out.
Villa looked shocked.
This, this, this is it?
Although other players such as Glenchard, Lampard, Gattuso and others are substitutes, they are also battle-hardened. When dealing with this kind of pressure-free game, they actually have to do what Aldrich said: perform well.
, it is enough to show the results of training.
At Wembley, Aldridge met Trim again. This time, he stepped forward to shake hands with the other person, exchanged a few words and left.
The attendance at the stadium has dropped a lot because Millwall has qualified early and Aldridge said before the game that he would be on the bench. It is normal for the enthusiasm of neutral fans to fade.
"The final round of the European Champions League Group H group stage will end today. Millwall has 5 games, 4 wins, 1 draw and 13 points to advance to the top of the group. Galatasaray has 5 games, 1 win, 1 draw and 3 points.
With a loss of 4 points, there is a 3-point gap between Hertha Berlin, which is second in the group. They are in the same situation as AC Milan, and they must defeat their respective opponents to have the possibility of advancement. At least such an opportunity, Millwall sees it
It was given to Galatasaray, and today they sent all their substitutes to fight."
Goalkeeper: Keller.
Defenders: Ferreira, Neal, Barzagli, Cole.
Midfielder: Gattuso, Lampard, Larmour.
Forwards: Van der Meyde, Villa, Grenjaer.
Aldridge sat down today and watched the game with his chin in his hand.
Even though he was on the bench, he was not worried about the game at all.
He likes this kind of game the most, not specifically who the opponent is, but the situation of the game.
Galatasaray comes to the away game. If they want to advance, let alone a draw, they must win!
And because there is a possibility that the three teams will tie the points, they must win by a big score.
The opponent has no other choice. He must break the boat and attack the main territory instead of the guest!
After learning from the experience of playing AC Milan away from home, Aldridge asked Neal to partner with Barzagli to provide experience and strengthen the defense in the back line, which was at least a reassurance.
And this young defense line has had a battle with AC Milan, and its confidence has improved. At least it will not be tied up. In addition, Galatasaray's hard power is not as good as AC Milan. Facing the opponent's crazy attack, the pressure will be less.
.
This game is going to go about the same way Aldrich predicted.
Trim set up a radical 4123 offensive formation, and at the same time let the players race against time and score goals on the sidelines.
On the basis of Millwall's good defense, the defensive counterattack was very successful.
Less than 10 minutes into the game, Glenchard and Villa each missed a single chance!
The scene was very exciting, especially eye-catching, because Galatasaray attacked fiercely. Millwall's counterattack was also sharp and deadly.
It's a pity that at the end of the first half, the score looked unstable.
1:0
Neither Grenjaer nor Villa scored. Instead, Van der Meyde and Larmour worked together. In the end, Larmour calmly pushed the ball in the penalty area and changed the score.
In the second half, the two sides changed sides and fought again. The Turkish "Emperor" simply didn't even want the defensive midfielder, and went directly to 433, with three forwards, one central midfielder, and two attacking midfielders.
Soon, his team was punished. The defense without midfielder interception was full of loopholes. In the 49th minute, Larmore assisted Villa, who successfully countered offside, and sent the ball into the goal.
2:0
Aldridge makes a substitution.
Klose is on, Villa is off.
Joe Cole (on), Larmour (on the bottom).
When Villa came off the field, he may have hoped to get praise from Aldridge, so he walked in front of Aldridge very slowly, but Aldridge's expression did not change and he just nodded towards him.
What is this?
Villa sat down with some disappointment and accepted the congratulations from his teammates.
After a while, he remembered what Aldrich said to him on the bus. Instantly, he felt relieved again.
Yes, he scored one goal, but he also wasted at least three golden opportunities. Should he be praised?
If Henry or Larsson get that opportunity, they can at least score twice.
Be normal and keep working hard.
In the 68th minute of the game, during a counterattack, Klose assisted Grenchar, who hit the ribs with a 45-degree long shot, expanding the score to 3:0.
Aldrich used the last substitution, bringing on Vicente to replace the goal scorer Glenchard.
After that, the game returned to normal. Galatasaray fell behind by three goals. It was undoubtedly a dream to reverse the situation. Their players also accepted the reality. In order to prevent it from turning into a massacre, they chose to be conservative and stabilize their defense to avoid losing a player.
ball.
The uneventful last 20 minutes came to an end at a slow pace.
Aldridge stood up and walked over, shook hands with Trim, then turned and walked into the tunnel.
Millwall advanced to the top 16 with an undefeated streak of 6 games, 5 wins and 1 draw in the Champions League group stage.
AC Milan in the same group still failed to win Hertha Berlin in the last round. Hertha Berlin, which got a draw, entered the top 16 as second in the group, while AC Milan benefited from Galatasaray's double defeat by Millwall.
After finishing third, he was able to move to the UEFA Cup.
The dust of the Champions League group stage was settled, and the next day, the first round of the UEFA Cup group stage also came to an end. The day after that, Aldridge and his colleagues on the coaching staff gathered in the club's entertainment room at night, drinking beer, chatting and watching TV.
The draw ceremony for the four groups in the top 16 of the Champions League was in progress. Aldridge was talking and laughing with his coaching staff, and there was no sense of nervousness at all.
When the draw results for Millwall's second round group stage came out, Villas-Boas excitedly stood up with his fists raised in the air and cheered, and the other coaching staff also roared excitedly.
Millwall's signing couldn't be better!
Bordeaux, Feyenoord, Lazio, Millwall.
The top 16 draw, 4 groups, 4 teams in each group, two group firsts and two group second places.
Millwall itself qualified first in the group. In the new group, Lazio was also the first place in the previous round of group matches. The only top players in the group second only to Lazio in terms of strength were Rosenborg and Sparta Prague. The key is that the two
The second place in each group, Feyenoord and Bordeaux, should be the two weakest second places among the eight groups, which excludes Hertha Berlin, which cannot be placed in the same group as Millwall.
From this point of view, Millwall's signing is very good.
While others were celebrating, they found Aldrich looking thoughtful.
"Aldrich, aren't you happy?"
Klinsmann asked in surprise.
Aldridge smiled slightly and said: "I would rather be in a group with Bayern Munich, Barcelona, ​​Fiorentina or Porto."
"ah?!"
Everyone's expressions became shocked.
The group situation Aldrich mentioned is almost the strongest group with the lowest probability of death in the second round of the group stage!
Jensen wondered: "What's the benefit of this?"
"In this way, you can defeat two or one strong enemy first, and the probability of encountering a strong enemy again in the knockout rounds will be lowered."
Everyone suddenly understood and heard Aldridge continue: "In order for the players to maintain their condition, we were divided into relatively weak groups. In other words, before the knockout rounds, the test and pressure were not great, but once we entered the knockout rounds,
It is not a good thing to suddenly encounter a powerful enemy whose strength is far different from the previous opponent."
After hearing what he said, most of the joy of the coaching staff immediately disappeared.
When they summarized the reasons for their elimination from the Champions League last season, one of the points that no one can ignore is that before encountering Bayern Munich, Millwall was too smooth. They defeated Dynamo Kiev without any suspense in two rounds of the quarterfinals, and then suddenly
Playing against Bayern Munich, an opponent with such a significant gap in strength will cause certain restrictions on performance during the game.
If we compare the schedule for winning the Champions League last season, they faced Juventus directly in the quarter-finals. In the semi-finals against Monaco, one man was sent off at the beginning, and the difficulty of the game actually increased a lot.
It was precisely after such difficult victories that Millwall became more calm in the final, able to perform at its best and at an extraordinary level. (To be continued...)
