The sunny city of Europe, the evergreen Valencia all year round, who can not love this place?
Even on a cold autumn night, in the stadium where tens of thousands of people gathered, Aldrich could still feel the refreshing breeze, which made him energetic. He was commanding a stress-free game from the sidelines. The tension was overwhelming.
It's a bit lacking, but I can still enjoy the fun that this job brings.
Battle-hardened stars were playing on the court, and Aldridge only observed from the sidelines without yelling at them to tell them how to play. This kind of work is often done when he is leading young and inexperienced players.
Do.
His tepidness made the Spanish fans in Mestalla unpredictable. It seemed that this young coach was enigmatic and his strategizing skills were difficult to estimate.
England, in the previous five games, had 1 win and 2 losses in the three European Cups and was eliminated from the group stage. In the European World Cup qualifiers, it was 1 draw and 1 loss, especially the last game at home. Against this background, today, Aldrich
England, led by England, leads Spain by two goals in the away game and has the upper hand on the field!
Whether it was European fans or skeptical media, in the first 60 minutes of a friendly match, Aldridge had no intention of hitting back at anyone, but he had already silenced the doubters.
In the 60th minute, Aldridge stood on the sidelines, the assistant referee held up the substitution card, and England made three substitutions at a time.
Alan Smith, Joe Cole and Gerrard came on, replacing Heskey and McManaman Scholes respectively.
When the substituted player walked out of the field, Aldridge stretched out his right hand on the sidelines, and the three substitutes walked past him in turn and patted his palm.
After this change of personnel, England almost became an engineering regiment.
Scholes and McManaman are all players who can control the ball. Smith and Gerrard came on the field. Aldrich wanted to try it out to see Smith's role on the front line and give Jay
Ladd has more freedom in the frontcourt to see what he can do, while Joe Cole is experiencing it. He will play Scholes' role. There must be at least one player in the frontcourt who can control the ball and get rid of it.
The 60th minute was like a watershed. Spain eased the pressure and began to take the initiative on the field. It frequently put pressure on England's defense, but England's offense on the other side was not as smooth as before.
The routine can be played, but unfortunately, Joe Cole and Gerrard are not as good as Scholes and McManaman in getting the ball in the frontcourt, so the offense often stalls at the front of the penalty area.
Spain has returned to its pressing offensive football style. The number of shots has increased significantly, and the delicate and smooth coordination has regained its vitality. However, it did not get an excellent scoring opportunity. Seaman made a steady save on the shot near the penalty area line.
Try to keep the city gate intact.
No matter what, Seaman is still the most powerful goalkeeper in England during this period. The 37-year-old goalkeeper has not withstood a stronger test today, just like Millwall's Butt, whose success rate of divine saves is not obvious. But the
Every ball saved was missed.
Smith and Gerrard invest more in defense, and their hard-working characteristics are hardly an advantage in Aldridge's eyes.
Fighting on the court is what you should do, but fighting with skill is advisable.
However, when the defensive pressure is high, it is better for offensive players to actively participate in defense than not to defend at all.
Perhaps the English fans at the scene became nervous because England began to be beaten by Spain, but Aldridge was happy inside.
It's nothing to be surprised if the frontal attack is defeated and the defense is successful. Two or three consecutive pressing attacks are the key to testing a team's defense.
Today, Spain's forward partners Raul and Tristan seemed to lack a tacit understanding. When continuous attacks continued to tear England's defense apart, Spain got two good opportunities, but Tristan and Raul did not form a tacit understanding of passing and running. Once Tristan failed to pass
The ball was knocked back to Raul who wanted to complete a 2-1 and forced a shot. Tristan's header was sent to Raul. As a result, the opponent did not realize it and started slowly and missed the excellent scoring opportunity in front of the goal.
Aldridge inspected the team's defense on the sidelines. It can be said that England's midfield and backfield defense system is a combination of Millwall + Manchester United.
Neville, Beckham, Bart.
Southgate, Ashley Cole, Lampard.
Plus a former Millwall player, Ferdinand.
In the formation arrangement, Manchester United is responsible for the right + center, and Millwall is responsible for the left.
This ensures that players have a better understanding of each other during partial defense and it is easier to communicate and collaborate defensively.
In the process of being torn apart by the opponent's continuous large-scale transfer of the ball, Southgate directed the movement of the defense. He was the lubricant and leader of the defense that combined the Manchester United and Millwall teams.
For the time being, the effect is not bad. Among the successful combinations that were penetrated by Spain, they basically belong to the defensive flaws of the English team, such as Butt's defensive ability, and the obvious strength of Lampard and Ashley Cole.
On the weak side, Beckham occasionally made defensive mistakes in his new position.
Among these factors, except for Bart's personal ability that cannot be improved in the future, there is a lot of room for improvement. As long as the areas that can be improved are improved, the defensive quality of the team will also improve a lot.
Time passed by, and Spain was still unable to score. Playing at home, their formation was getting higher and higher.
Enrique's pass from the wing was blocked by Beckham with his body. Neville stepped forward to grab the ball from the air. Enrique knocked Neville from behind and committed a betrayal foul.
Before Neville could get up, Beckham had already put the ball in place and directly passed the ball forward.
A very strange scene in the frontcourt.
England's forward Smith was not at the forefront. Instead, Joe Cole caught the ball with his back in front of the two centre-backs.
He knocked the ball back to Smith who was in the back position, then moved laterally to open up space and received the ball again. At the same time, he completed a turn and then made an overhead pass.
Gerrard, who was running forward when Beckham launched a long pass, succeeded in countering offside, another one-on-one goal!
Gerrard's speed is definitely not good when it comes to dribbling with both man and ball. But with Joe Cole over the top, Gerrard started early and reached the highest speed when countering offside. The opponent's defender then turned around to chase, which was obviously too slow.
.
Aldridge wanted to see Gerrard's ability to handle such a one-on-one ball. Whether he was calm enough and whether he had the footwork to complete the goal.
However, Spain failed to make Aldrich achieve his wish.
Casillas attacked. Just after entering the penalty area, Gerrard stepped forward and felt that the ball was too wide, but he was brought down to the ground by Casillas.
The referee decisively called Casillas for a foul and pointed to the penalty spot.
There were boos at the Mestalla. The Spanish fans thought that Gerrard took a big hit and lost control of the ball. He must have dived!
Aldrich put his hands on his hips and looked disinterested.
This goal was a penalty kick. There is no doubt that even if Gerrard took a big step, Casillas did not touch the ball. If Gerrard was not brought down, catching the ball would result in an empty goal.
Scoring one more goal in a friendly match means little. Gerrard won a penalty, and the result looks good. But from another perspective, if he had been calmer and more capable of handling this kind of ball, the ball would have already flown into the door.
Among the training sessions Aldrich arranges for the national team, penalty kicks are a must-practice event.
This is also to make up for tactical shortcomings. If you encounter a top team that focuses on defense, it is normal to drag into a penalty shootout in international competitions. Practice more penalty kicks. Aldrich feels that it is better to practice other routines in the club.
The training content should be cost-effective.
Team vice-president Beckham stood in front of the penalty kick. There were only 4 minutes of regular time left in the game. This penalty kick would at best rub salt into Spain's wounds.
Beckham's penalty kick was scored in one stroke.
"3:0! Who could have imagined such a score before the game? Fleet Street's pessimistic remarks before the game are obviously the wrong target. England leads Spain 3:0 in the away game!"
Camacho looked disappointed. Occasionally he glanced at Aldrich. This was the first time the two had played against each other. I am afraid they would not have many opportunities to meet again in the future. Camacho paid the price for his underestimation of the enemy or his wishful thinking in training and debugging tactics. In a friendly match
It doesn't matter. But it will definitely trigger a storm of public opinion. The honeymoon period between him and the Spanish media seems to be coming to an end.
When the full-time whistle sounded, Aldridge took the initiative to go to Camacho and shake his hand, then turned and walked towards the tunnel. As a result, he was blocked by a group of reporters.
"Mr. Hall, this is your first official game coaching the England national team. England defeated Spain 3-0 in an away game despite not being favored. Are you satisfied with the team's performance? This score will have a great impact on England's next World Cup.
What impact will the qualifiers have?”
Aldridge looked around absent-mindedly and responded casually: "As I answered in the media interview before the trip, this is just a friendly match. The outcome is not important. I am sorry that the Spanish national team does not seem to pay attention to this."
In the game against England, we fielded our strongest players, but they didn’t. I
My players and I attach great importance to the quality of this friendly match. Therefore, my players invested more and worked harder in the game. This is the reason why we won, but when it comes to the World Cup qualifiers, that is another situation.
Yes, today's victory can help us regain our confidence. For other things, it is too early to draw conclusions."
"We saw that England adopted a new technical and tactical style of play today. Is this the change you brought to the England national team?"
"Of course, every head coach has his own style. If I can't inject new elements into the England national team, especially changes in technical and tactical play, then I will not become the head coach of the national team.
I am very happy that the players have accepted my tactical concepts and implemented them firmly on the court. We have a good basis for cooperation and the start seems to be wonderful, but this is just the beginning and there is still a long way to go."
Aldrich simply answered a few questions, stopped being interviewed, and left.
The whole England team seemed quite excited after the game. They thought it was a hearty victory. Teammates high-fived and hugged each other in celebration. Beckham, who was further back but still had a lot of limelight, even took off his jersey and talked to his opponent.
Exchange and show off your muscles.
A friendly match against Spain allowed the England national team to regain some confidence from its previous defeat in the European Cup and poor performance in the World Cup qualifying matches. Every player's eyes seemed to be shining brightly, full of expectations for the future, and that
After the game, they all looked for the figure with their eyes: Aldridge, who was the source of their confidence.
It doesn't matter whether the cat is black or white, if it can catch mice, it is a good cat.
The England national team's new tactical play was indeed suppressed miserably at certain times during the game, but the power of the counterattack also fascinated them.
