After Millwall finished the fifth round of the first stage of the Champions League group stage, they left for Tokyo, Japan to participate in the Toyota Cup.
During this trip, Millwall declined all commercial activities and went to Tokyo for only one thing: playing games.
Business development and competitive competitions are mutually reinforcing and contradictory phenomena for clubs. If the two cannot be coordinated well, it may lead to a decrease in business and competition instead of an increase.
Millwall is still lagging behind Manchester United in the league. This is not the time to spend energy on showing off. Aldridge is still clear-headed. The basis for the club to make money is competitive achievements. Without the guarantee of on-field performance, it is impossible to make money.
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In Tokyo, Millwall's arrival still caused a huge sensation. In addition to the positive impact brought by the club's development of the Far East market in recent years, the club's performance on the field and Aldridge's concurrent appointment with the England national team also contributed a lot.
However, this time Millwall was very disrespectful and did not attend any business activities. Even if invitations piled up, they did not accept training interviews. They were completely closed training to prepare for the Toyota Cup.
This year's Toyota Cup opponent is Boca Juniors from Argentina.
The strength gap between European and South American teams is constantly widening, because the number of South American excellent players exported to Europe is increasing year by year. Millwall is full of experts, and the team is very mature. Facing such an unfamiliar opponent, they have to do
What you have to do is give full play to your own strengths and characteristics and take the initiative to control the game.
Specific to the tactical arrangement of this game, Aldridge asked the team to win quickly and avoid excessive consumption. This requires players to be energetic and try their best from the beginning, striving to win in 60 minutes or a shorter half.
The game is locked in time.
At the Tokyo National Arena, the Japanese fans present felt a little disappointed.
Millwall did not send Ronaldinho, but replaced him with Larmour, who played as an attacking midfielder, Klose, Henry, and Larsson as a front three.
This arrangement of troops was carefully thought out by Aldrich.
The most critical consideration point is the characteristics of South American players and European players.
South American players have made unparalleled contributions to the advancement of European football.
Their delicate and dexterous skills have had an absolute impact on European football, allowing defensive players in European football to improve their skills at the same time.
Some South American players who hang out in Europe can show off their prowess in front of European defenders, and they can use their skills to frustrate the opponent. However, this may not be feasible in South American competitions. South American players train and compete every day.
All you encounter are opponents with dazzling skills at your feet, so one-on-one defense is more flexible.
However, European players also have their own advantages, which are tactical discipline, integrity, teamwork, etc.
Ronaldinho's characteristic is to use points to lead the way, establishing local advantages to tear apart the opponent's defense. There is no doubt about his ability to combine the ball with others, but in today's game against the South American team's Copa Libertadores champions, his power will actually be weakened.
To put it in layman's terms, in the Premier League, he can pass his opponent by pedaling two bicycles and changing directions, but in the Brazilian League, he may need to pedal four bicycles and change directions twice to pass his opponent.
Furthermore, in the Champions League he played before coming to Tokyo, Ronaldinho played the entire game, so let him take a break.
In this game, Aldrich's targeted deployment was to restrict a Boca Juniors player in the midfield.
The only remaining classical attacking midfielder in the future: Riquelme!
As for the crazy Palermo on Boca Juniors' forward line, Aldrich doesn't care. He who wins the midfield wins the world. No matter how good the striker is, he will ultimately rely on a strong midfielder to deliver the bombs.
The most impressive thing about Boca Juniors during this period was that they defeated Real Madrid in the original history of the Toyota Cup. Riquelme gave a masterclass performance and embarrassed Makelele.
Endless.
Of course, this cannot rule out the problem of Real Madrid's own tactics of focusing more on offense than defense. There are a bunch of piano players in the frontcourt, but there are only a few people carrying the piano.
Aldridge stood on the sidelines with his hands behind his back. The person he was playing against today was Master Bianchi, who was also standing in front of the coach's bench and observing the game with a serious face.
Soon, he frowned.
Ten minutes into the game, playmaker Riquelme only touched the ball twice in the frontcourt!
It was clear at a glance that Millwall had targeted restrictions on Riquelme. Larmour and Pirlo double-teamed Riquelme. Of the two times Riquelme touched the ball, once he was beaten by Larmour.
He was knocked to the ground after a ground steal, and another time he easily broke through Pirlo, but was quickly destroyed by Gattuso.
Millwall came prepared!
After 10 minutes, the Millwall team fully entered the game state and began to increase the rhythm of the game and give full play to their strengths.
The advantages of physical fitness and teamwork began to become more and more obvious.
Aldridge raised his chin slightly, South America was gradually being distanced by Europe, and there was another very important factor: physical fitness.
Many players who are popular in South America will always be accused of poor physical fitness after coming to Europe. This has nothing to do with confrontation. It is the most intuitive. In the increasingly faster pace of the game, the physical fitness of South American players will increase as the game progresses.
The decline is very rapid, and there is a lot of football news that accuses a certain South American player of walking on the court. Sometimes, this is not a matter of discipline of the player itself, but a rapid decline in physical fitness, and he really can't run when he should run.
Physical fitness does not necessarily have problems only as the game progresses.
Today, Millwall, the team dubbed "Europe's Strongest", defeated Boca Juniors in the Toyota Cup.
In the non-stop running, Millwall's rhythm did not slow down. Boca Juniors followed this rhythm for 3 minutes, 5 minutes, without even a chance to breathe, and then, they couldn't keep up!
Today Millwall pays attention to tight teamwork, one kick, the rhythm is maintained at a very fast speed, and then the opponent is forced to play with this rhythm.
In the 27th minute, Millwall launched an attack. Gianluca Zambrotta stepped forward to receive Pirlo's diagonal pass. After passing Zambrotta-Lamore-Klose, Klose wanted to pass to Henry, but the opponent's defender
He took the first step back to defend and successfully intercepted the ball.
Henry immediately pounced on the defender with the ball at his feet. At the same time, Larsson, Klose and Larmour also used their movements to block the ball routes in front of him and on the left and right sides. Therefore, he could only make a big clearance.
Southgate rushed forward and headed the ball to Pirlo in front. Pirlo then knocked the ball across to Schneider who came up from the right. Schneider passed it straight to Larsson who was on the side. Larsson then
The ball was passed to Larmour who was advancing forward, and the latter kept the ball going straight to the left side of the penalty area. Klose failed to get the ball and was successfully intercepted by the opponent's defender.
Millwall once again used the same defensive tactics as before, forcing the opponent to make a big clearance and not even dare to pass back to the goalkeeper.
This time, the landing point of the clearance ball was controlled by Gattuso. He passed the ball to Zambrotta. Zambrotta observed and passed the ball to Klose, who was retreating to receive the ball. The latter passed the ball back to Lazio.
More and Larmore passed the ball diagonally to the right. Pirlo, who advanced forward, stopped the ball and made a pass.
In the penalty area, Larsson and Henry crossed paths to confuse the opponent's back line. Pirlo's pass seemed to be for Henry, but Henry covered Larsson after attracting the attention of the defensive player. Larsson
Sen diagonally inserted into the middle of the penalty area and took a step forward to the left in the direction of the ball. Then when the goalkeeper attacked, he passed the ball back to the other side. Henry, who had made a circuitous run, was unmarked and easily pushed the ball into the empty goal.
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Millwall's attack this time, from the offensive segments, was actually three waves of attacks at the same pace without giving the opponent time to breathe and adjust. The first two offensive routines were point-to-point. In the last fatal blow, both Pirlo
The forward penetration provided changes. Also due to his clever passing and the movement of the two forwards, Boca Juniors still failed to withstand the heavy pressure and declared that the city gate was lost.
Bianchi saw the team losing the ball on the sidelines and suddenly felt powerless.
Millwall made the most of their strengths and avoided their weaknesses. They hit the ball today and used teamwork to tear apart Boca Juniors' defense. Their excellent awareness of running without the ball and the players' physical advantages are their strengths. They also deliberately avoided it.
One-on-one with Boca Juniors.
One-on-one, European players obviously do not have an advantage compared to South American players, especially in offensive and defensive situations. The former's own skills are not a specialty, while the latter's opponents in local leagues and intercontinental competitions all have the best footwork.
They are good at technology. They are not only accustomed to this kind of pure frontal defense, but also have developed stronger skills. But defense does not only rely on technology, but also on key predictions, awareness of complementary defense, and teamwork. In this regard, they are on par with the top European teams.
There is still a big gap between defensive players.
Millwall broke the deadlock and scored.
Aldrich gestured to the players from the sidelines.
Tactics, change.
After Boca Juniors restarted the ball, they found that Millwall no longer pressed them, the defense retreated, and the positions of Klose and Henry also changed.
What is this for?
Shameless defensive counterattack!
Bianchi, who was nicknamed Governor, turned to look at Aldrich, who had put his hands in his pockets.
Europeans always say that South Americans are cunning and cunning.
But the young coach in front of him, who has a record in European football that is enough to make a difference in the past and the present, has perfectly used his cunning and cunning in his game tactics!
Aldrich inadvertently felt Bianchi's gaze. He did not look at the other person, but lowered his head slightly and raised the corners of his mouth, which was not obvious.
Boca Juniors is behind in the score and must increase its offensive intensity. Millwall is not afraid of the opponent attacking. Due to Riquelme's own position, Millwall can still exert more force on Riquelme even if it is a defensive counterattack.
Big defensive pressure.
Eight minutes later, Millwall made a whirlwind play and expanded the score.
Klose received Schneider's long pass in the center circle. Without turning around, he hit Henry on the left. Henry took the ball and ran quickly on the left. Klose, Larmour, and the right wing were in the middle.
The Larson jumpstart.
However, during the half-time attack, Klose was obviously being watched closely, so he consciously took away the defensive players. Henry was not reckless when he came to the penalty area, and passed the ball across the middle to the completely unmarked Larmore.
After stopping the ball, it went straight to the right front. Larsson successfully caught the ball in the penalty area after countering offside. He did not stop the ball and passed the ball directly to the other side of the goal. Henry reached it and easily pushed the ball into the goal.
The two shooters completed a pass and a shot for each other.
In fact, Millwall's offense is more powerful when it comes to defensive counterattacks.
But there is a prerequisite, that is, the opponent must attack and give them space to counterattack. There are only a handful of defensive players like Henry and Larsson who can catch up with them.
So Aldridge switched tactics when the score was ahead, and Boca Juniors had to attack. Now, instead, it conceded the second goal.
Aldridge looked at the time, turned and walked to the coach's bench, and said to Cristiano Ronaldo and Villa, who were placed on the bench today: "You don't have to go into the locker room during halftime, warm up outside."
Ronaldo was about to run out immediately after hearing this, but Villa grabbed him and smiled bitterly at him: "The boss said we should warm up during halftime, not now."
