An uncompetitive league cannot produce an absolute powerhouse in European football. A club without fierce internal competition can hardly reach the top, let alone achieve dominance.
Millwall is very strong. This is the intuitive impression from the outside world. However, in Aldrich's view, if Millwall is to remain strong, internal competition must be intensified. Henry, Ronaldinho, Nedved, Pirlo, etc.
When the absolute main force feels a sense of crisis, they must not only defeat all powerful enemies externally, but also defend their position internally and meet the challenges of newcomers.
Therefore, after the main structure of Millwall's first team was stably formed and reached a certain level of strength, Aldridge's focus began to shift to training and training rookies. This seemed to be a precautionary measure, but its purpose was never to train anyone.
The successor is either a capable substitute for the regular rotation, or a surprise player for emergencies. He needs young players like Alonso, Villa, Barzagli, Ashley Cole, etc.
He grew up quickly, giving the main members of the first team pressure and a sense of urgency.
Don't slack off. If you relax even a little bit, they will be replaced by new people!
Natural selection and survival of the fittest are the laws of the entire world, and they certainly apply in the football world.
In the game against Feyenoord, Aldridge has already seen the potential displayed by these young players, and has begun to turn their talents into real strength bit by bit. This is a very good phenomenon.
1:2
Feyenoord fell behind.
Millwall substitution.
Aldrich was very pleased that the Youth Army could take the lead in the 70th minute. Now, he can't ask for more. Joaquin and Vicente went straight up and down the wing and were almost exhausted. Joe Cole was in the midfield.
It is everywhere, and it has reached the end of its power.
At this time, Aldridge must play his role as head coach to help this young army retain what they regard as an extremely precious victory.
Grenciaer, Van der Meyde and Gattuso played together.
Millwall's formation changed to 4213, Gattuso and Pedretti formed a double midfielder, Alonso was a central midfielder. The double forwards and Villa attacked the city.
When Vicente, Joaquin, and Joe Cole came off the court, Aldridge stood up and hugged these three people respectively.
Feyenoord's players were attacking almost irrationally. If they lose to Millwall, a team that should be called the second team, at home, they will become a laughing stock.
The rise of a star on the green field is always accompanied by the fall of one enemy after another, becoming the background to set off the glory of the winner.
With Gattuso strengthening the defense in the middle, Feyenoord was getting further and further away from scoring even though they attacked fiercely.
In the 83rd minute, Grenjaer received a long pass from Van der Meyde on the left and transferred the ball. Facing Feyenoord with an empty defense, he ran the ball long distance and made a single kill in the cover of Villa's movement.
Entering the penalty area, he faced the goalkeeper and scored Millwall's third goal with a blast.
1:3
Millwall sealed the victory.
When the whistle sounded at the end of the game, Millwall's youth team jumped up and down with excitement. This was originally an insignificant game, but for them, it may be a milestone game in their careers!
After the game, the media took the trouble to identify these young troops and began to give them the nickname So-and-So II. However, from Millwall to the fans, everyone did not care about the public opinion of the game. Their eyes were set on the top 8 draw!
During the draw ceremony, when the vs symbol was drawn between Millwall's name and the name of another team, the scene was frozen in a heart-shaking moment.
Bayern Munich vs Millwall
“The Champions League’s peak showdown is ahead of schedule!”
This was the headline in almost all media the day after the draw results came out.
This season, the two teams recognized as the strongest in the entire European football world met in advance in the quarter-finals!
Millwall are the favorites to win the championship and are ranked first.
Bayern Munich is the second favorite to win the championship, followed closely behind.
Even though Bayern Munich hated Camp Nou last season, this season Bayern Munich and Millwall still leave behind Manchester United, Real Madrid and other giants.
Although Millwall did not face strong opponents in the two rounds of the group stage, their unimaginable performance in the league made them the favorites to win the championship. Although Bayern Munich was unsurprisingly dominant in the league, they failed in the Champions League.
China defeated the rest of the group with a strong attitude to advance. For example, in the group stage, they defeated Real Madrid with a total score of 8:3 in a home and away match.
(Original history: Bayern faced a challenge from Bayern Leverkusen in the league this season, and the competition was stalemate. However, in this book, Leverkusen’s record was affected by the lack of important figures such as Bute, Schneider, and Ballack.)
In countless taverns along the Thames, when Millwall fans got the news of the draw results for the first time, all the fans cheered!
After defeating Munich a year ago, everyone in the Wild Lions was unwilling to accept it. From players to fans, everyone wanted to compete with Bayern Munich again. If possible, they would really like Millwall to participate in the Bundesliga and remove Bayern Munich from the Bundesliga.
He was kicked down from his position as the class bully.
Early on Friday morning, Aldridge came to the training ground to start a new day of work.
Now, players are no longer particularly excited about participating in the Champions League, and they no longer talk about their opponents with interest in training.
They are used to facing all enemies with a normal mind, but today, a trace of something unusual still spreads within the team.
The players were silent during training, with serious and focused expressions, as if they were all new to the team and behaved with their tail between their legs. They did not dare to joke or gossip, and worked hard to become the "three good players" in the eyes of the coach.
Aldridge is a lot like saying thank you to UEFA.
Thank you so much!
It puts us on par with Bayern Munich.
He was originally worried about how to keep the team's fighting spirit and not become mentally slack due to the huge advantage of the league.
As soon as the UEFA quarter-finals draw results came out, haha, it was like giving the entire Millwall team a shot of stimulant.
At this time, they encountered the architect of Millwall's only European defeat in the club's history, Bayern Munich!
It couldn't be better!
"It seems that no one has forgotten last year's game."
Klinsmann stood next to Aldridge and was filled with emotion.
Having gone through hundreds of battles, he naturally has memories of losing that he will never let go of until the day he dies.
However, it can make a team and everyone remember the loss unforgettable. From another perspective, Bayern Munich is also quite awesome.
"At this point in time, among the top eight opponents, Bayern Munich is the best. Haha, what a blessing."
"Do you think drawing Bayern Munich is the best result? They are the favorites to win the championship."
Klinsmann looked surprised.
Aldrich laughed it off without explaining.
Success in defending the league title is just around the corner. If the top eight cannot draw an opponent that will definitely stimulate their fighting spirit and fighting spirit, then Millwall is likely to lose their morale before the start of the Champions League semi-finals. And it will be too difficult to mobilize at that time.
, just like a person who is already very sleepy starts to squint his eyes. No matter how hard he tries to cheer up, he is just struggling with his eyelids fighting.
In the afternoon, Aldridge called Nedvěd and Ronaldinho in front of him and talked for a long time.
In order to prepare for Bayern Munich, this time, Aldridge needs to strike first.
In fact, before encountering Bayern Munich last year, Millwall was in a stage of self-change and should adjust its posture in time.
In the past, they were dark horses. No matter how strong or weak the opponents they encountered, they would treat them as a piece of cake. Aldridge's effectiveness in picking off opponents has always been very good.
But when playing against Bayern Munich, Hitzfield lowered his stance and let Millwall take action. Bayern Munich struck from behind. Millwall, or in other words, Aldridge, was a little uncomfortable with it. He was used to cracking opponents and counterattacked.
He was not fully prepared for how to adjust after being cracked by his opponent.
But over the past year, Aldridge has been rapidly making up for his shortcomings in coaching ability, so he always expects his opponents to cause trouble for him, just like playing chess, he always hopes that his opponents can break the game in order to hone himself.
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In the weekend's league match, Millwall will face the challenge of Leeds United at home.
O'Reilly, who was high-profile and imposing before the two teams played against each other in the first half of the season, is now extremely low-key.
Beat Millwall?
This possibility was never mentioned.
Use a diplomatic language to deal with the media, such as the team will go all out and he will be satisfied as long as the players do their best.
Aldrich gave the opponent an 8:0 score a few months ago, but now he is not showing off his power, and simply said it was just an ordinary league game.
Millwall is just waiting to announce the league title, but Leeds United are still trapped in a fierce competition.
For the top two in the standings, Millwall is ahead of third-placed Arsenal by more than 20 points, and Manchester United is also ahead of Arsenal by more than 10 points. First, second, and third are divided into three levels, and third place has reached
The points gap for sixth place is within 6 points of two games.
Arsenal, Leeds United, Liverpool, Chelsea, the top four compete for hegemony, oh, that’s wrong, the top four compete for third place with a Champions League qualifying spot.
There are only seven rounds left in the league, and these four teams will fall behind if they are not careful.
The good news for Leeds United is that at least they are not ranked sixth, but ranked fourth. Even if they lose, they will not fall into the status of the chasers.
Over the weekend, Aldridge welcomed O'Reilly and his team to the Lion's Den.
Millwall sent out all its main players to play today, without any concern for the upcoming quarter-finals of the Champions League, and they were a guest in the first round.
"Millwall's starting lineup is very strange today, Andy, have you noticed?"
"The main players have not changed. Are you saying that Millwall should send in substitutes?"
"No, I mean, Ronaldinho played as an attacking midfielder and Nedvěd played as a left winger."
"Maybe it's just a change of position. Millwall's frontcourt offensive players often do this, change positions."
"No, no, Ronaldinho has been active in the midfielder area for 20 minutes since the start of the game. He has not moved to the wing."
"But it looks like it's working out pretty well."
There is a big gap in the ability requirements of players between playing on the wing and playing in the middle.
Therefore, many players can only play wide, because when playing wide, they can ignore one side, and in one-on-one situations, they only need to consider the defensive players on that side of the field.
In the middle, front, back, left, right, and in all directions, if you want to break through one-on-one or firmly control the ball, the area that needs to be observed will become larger, and the ability requirements will become higher.
Ronaldinho can play as an attacking midfielder. Today can't be said to be his first time playing because he often switched positions with Nedved in previous games to create a threat in the attacking midfielder area. Today, Aldrich fixed him in the attacking midfielder area.
In the waist position, he does not want Ronaldinho to make a breakthrough in the middle, he needs Ronaldinho to use more creativity in this area!
And this move is specifically designed to deal with Bayern Munich! (To be continued...)
