This year's Christmas War will not be held on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, but on the 27th.
As the last league game of the first half of the league, Millwall will go away to challenge Milton Keynes, a newly promoted team that is also struggling in the relegation whirlpool.
Due to the obvious gap between strength and weakness, at the pre-match press conference, Fleet Street paid more attention to the just past Ballon d'Or selection. Unsurprisingly, the World Footballer of the Year will also be won by Pavel Nedvěd.
When Aldridge was asked about his thoughts on Nedvěd winning the award, he smiled and replied: "In the past few years, people have always been finding faults, saying that Nedved is not as good as a certain player in this way, and seems to be a little worse in that way.
, I have always said that such comparisons are meaningless, because no player is absolutely perfect, no player can do all decathlon, but Nedved has become a phenomenal player, and at the same time, will also become a player in the next fifteen years.
Template for attacking midfielder players,
The club will use Nedvěd as a standard to require players in the same position, physical fitness, defensive awareness, interspersed running in a wide range of activities, series attacks, just the right time to insert the threat of scoring, etc. I am very happy with his efforts.
It has been rewarded, and I am honored to have a player with exemplary professionalism like him. I hope that every Millwall player, especially the young players, can follow Nedved as an example. In this way, Millwall will become stronger and stronger.
.”
Now that Aldrich has said these words, the media naturally cannot refute them.
But for a long time in the past, people always liked to criticize Nedved for his lack of talent.
This is an ignorant prejudice. Indeed, on the court, there are too many forward midfielders who look energetic and pleasing to the eye when playing football.
But that's it. Playing well does not mean that the game is practical, nor does it mean that it has a positive effect on the entire team. This is not a fancy performance. Doing a few moves to win applause will not change the score.
Because of this, Aldrich often responds in only one way: Find me a player who can replace Nedved!
From now on, this kind of verbal spat will come to an end.
On the one hand, some people are talking about who is better than Nedved. On the other hand, they are unable to find a candidate who can truly replace Nedved at Millwall. This situation makes the media crazy. The situation is so subtle, and it seems obvious.
He appears to be an average star, but he just can't find a suitable candidate who can definitely replace him.
When Nedved started scoring goals, all the media shut their mouths. After a period of silence, they changed their tone and began to sing praises for Nedved.
On the match day of the 27th, several players who participated in the Ballon d'Or returned to the team on time. They only missed two days of training during the Christmas period, but they returned to the team and still did not enter the game squad.
In the away game, the lively substitutes were full of energy and defeated Milton Keynes Keynes 3:1 in the away game.
Millwall ended the first half of the league with a winless record of 19 games.
This is no longer news, and Manchester United has also won the past two rounds. The gap between the two teams is still 15 points, and the hope of reversal is extremely slim.
Two days later, the Premier League started at a fast pace, with Millwall returning to London for an away game. There was a London derby with Graham's Tottenham.
Graham used the old-fashioned defense and successfully sniped Millwall at White Hart Lane, ending in a 0:0 draw.
Millwall's winning streak is set at 19 consecutive wins in a single season and 23 consecutive wins across seasons.
In response, Aldrich said with a smile after the game: "Well, we stopped setting records. Maybe it's a good thing. It can reduce the pressure on the players and help our next performance."
Setting records and creating new history is bound to be an exciting process. However, in this process, pressure will gradually accumulate. The new record has been rewritten, and the pressure is relieved at this time. The timing should be pretty good. If we try again
After a few league games, it was almost time for the European war to start in February, and my mental state at that time was not as relaxed as it is now.
Nedvěd won the Ballon d'Or and was a positive spiritual stimulus to his teammates.
Players such as Henry, Larsson and Ronaldinho immediately asked to play after arriving in January.
For them, to gain more personal honors, there is no doubt that they must rely on the support of field data.
If a striker doesn't have a good number of goals to capitalize on, why should he compete for personal honors?
Their desire to compete is strong, but Aldrich still needs to make adjustments to the team.
Therefore, in the league, he began to use the strategy of using the main force in the offensive team and using substitutes in the midfield and backfield.
In the newly started FA Cup, the strategy of using substitutes for the offensive team and the main force for the defense is adopted.
January 4th
Nedvěd presented the Ballon d'Or to the fans at the Lion's Den Stadium, and the whole team took a group photo. The fans also applauded the steel giant. All Lions fans believed that Nedvěd deserved the award.
, just like the club’s declaration every summer when it rejects other clubs’ attempts to buy Nedvěd: Even if it costs 100 million pounds, we won’t sell him!
The visiting Liverpool players watched the Millwall starting players take a group photo, especially the Ballon d'Or Award held in the hands of Pavel Nedvěd, who was standing in the middle. It would be a lie to say that he was not envious, but so what? Also
I can only envy it.
Aldridge chatted with Houllier for a few more words, and the other side congratulated Aldridge on training another Mr. Ballon d'Or. His reputation as the "King Maker" is now widely known.
Aldrich had no choice but to be humble.
When the game started, the two men's positions instantly became hostile.
Millwall played six absolute main players today.
The forward trident is Garnedved, the backcourt is Southgate and goalkeeper Bute.
Pirlo rested on the bench, with Lampard starting in midfield.
It seems that Millwall's starting strength has declined, but this situation has thrown Houllier into a difficult problem.
Millwall is obviously strong in offense and weak in defense. Of course, this is a comparison based on their entire starting lineup.
What about Liverpool?
Offensive or defensive?
If you defend, wouldn't that mean letting the opponent's gorgeous attack group wreak havoc?
If you attack, what should you do if you are hit and fight back?
Offense and defense are a whole. No matter what choice you make, risks cannot be avoided.
This game really made Houllier so angry that he had a heart attack. He did have a heart attack...
Liverpool started with a defensive counterattack.
However, we did not dare to invest too many troops in the counterattack and relied on only two or three players to counterattack, which had little effect.
So Liverpool increased their investment in counterattacks.
In the fast pace, Liverpool's counterattack failed and turned around. After being hit by a counterattack, Carragher, who served as a full-back, was abused by Ronaldinho. He was not a full-back in the first place, and he lacked top quality.
With experience in the competition, he almost collapsed after being teased by Ronaldinho.
Carragher's defensive predictions were almost never correct.
He blocked the inside line and Ronaldinho went down. He blocked the baseline and Ronaldinho easily broke through him.
If it weren't for the 3H defensive combination that had a better understanding than at the beginning of the season, Liverpool would have been beaten into pieces in the first half.
At the end of the first half, the score was 2:1.
Ronaldinho and Henry each scored one goal.
In the second half, it became Millwall's defensive counterattack. Liverpool was unwilling to fail to score a point in the away game. It had to attack. In this attack, the 3H defense combination could not stop Millwall's sharp and quick counterattack.
Larsson scored twice in the second half to help the team defeat Liverpool 4:1.
The league match against Manchester United and the match against Liverpool became two case studies for comparison in Fleet Street after the game.
Football commentators agreed: If Liverpool faces Millwall like this and is timid and chooses to be conservative from the beginning tactically, then the result will inevitably be a bitter defeat. The reason is very simple. There is no defensive line for any team in the Premier League.
Can withstand Millwall's super attack group!
Although Manchester United lost, they had seen the hope of victory! If they had better luck, such as Lampard's final long shot missed, or Van der Gou successfully saved the ball even if it was blocked out of bounds, in the end Milvo
Erdu may not win.
Outside public opinion believes that in order to score points from Millwall, we must attack boldly and fight vigorously and in a targeted manner.
As for whether it can be like Tottenham's way of setting up an iron bucket formation and running for a draw from beginning to end, the risks and benefits are not proportional.
This is an arithmetic problem.
If you defend the tie cowardly, you will get 1 or 0 points.
If you attack boldly, 3, 1, or 0 points are possible.
And Tottenham got a draw result?
On the contrary, the fans' support for Graham dropped, and White Hart Lane fans calling for him to get out could be seen everywhere. Why? Because such a draw makes the fans more arrogant than defeat!
In the next month, Millwall achieved two wins and two draws in four league games, scored a lot of goals, and conceded more goals. The reason was not only the decline in their own starting strength, not sending all the main players to the battle, but also the lack of competition with their opponents.
It's really about starting to actively attack.
During the same period, Manchester United only achieved 3 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss in six league games in the second half of the league. In February, Manchester United lost to Newcastle United led by Robson. The score was an embarrassing 3:0, which caused Manchester United to lose to Millwall instead.
The gap has widened again.
The gap went from 15 points to 16 points.
There are still 13 rounds left in the Premier League. Major European betting companies have made adjustments. For Premier League championship betting, Millwall's winning option has been closed. Manchester United's winning odds have soared to 60 times, followed closely by Arsenal's winning odds of 150.
times.
There are still three months until the end of the Premier League season, which is a long time. There seems to be room for miracles to happen in 13 rounds of the league, but now only fools will bet on Manchester United or Arsenal to win the championship.
Although Millwall has begun to shift its focus and slightly despises the league, Aldrich is considerate. Ronaldinho, Nedved, and Pirlo may not be in the league, but Henry and Larsson are
It is inevitable that these two people are scoring more goals in the league than each other!
Even the incredible number of goals scored by Phillips in the league is behind Larsson and Henry, and Phillips has opened up a gap of 7 goals with the fourth-ranked player in the scorer list. There is no doubt that the Premier League Golden Boot,
Even comparing the scorer ranking data of other European leagues, there is a high probability that the European Golden Boot winner this season will be born between these three people.
Henry scored two more goals than Larsson, and his evaluation this season has been rising all the way, starting to surpass Larsson, because most of Henry's goals were scored in sports battles, and a few of them were set pieces.
In response, Larsson scored from five penalty kicks.
In mid-February, the Champions League resumed, much earlier than in previous years, after all, there were more games.
After Millwall won two consecutive games in the FA Cup and advanced, they began to make an all-out push for the Champions League.
But just as the Champions League was about to start, Aldridge fell into the whirlpool of public opinion off the court.
Having just attended the press conference before the Champions League game, Aldridge drove away from the club in the evening. A high-end car parked in front of the door, blocking Aldridge's way.
When Aldrich pressed the horn, the window of the opposite car rolled down, and the face of an old friend he hadn't seen for a long time came into view.
"Aldrich, get in my car and let's talk about important things."
