As we enter April, the atmosphere among the fan groups of each team in East London is different.
Charlton fans are relaxed and relaxed. The team has no worries about relegation and may even get tickets to the European competition. They don't have high demands. At the moment, they just enjoy every game and concentrate on cheering for the team.
Hammers fans have witnessed the team being relegated from the Premier League to the English League One for many years. This season is going well. As long as West Ham United does not collapse at the end of the league, they will definitely return to the Premier League next season!
It is estimated that many Hammers fans are already looking forward to the next restart of the popular East London Derby with Millwall in the Premier League.
Lions fans are a little nervous now.
We are neck and neck with Manchester United in the league. There are only 7 rounds left in the Premier League. The results will be announced soon. The Champions League has reached the quarterfinals. Whether the team can stage a miraculous defense of the title is too early to think about this. However, considering the difficulty of this achievement,
Lions fans are afraid that the same situation will happen again when they were defending their title.
There is also pressure within the Millwall team, and this pressure has actually been with them since before the season.
Because they are the public enemy of the entire Premier League and the most watched team in Europe, and they also have the pressure of being unbeaten in the league at the beginning of the season.
But top teams must have strong ability to withstand pressure. At the end of the season, Aldrich did not decompress the team as he did in the past. On the contrary, he needed the team to use fighting spirit to overcome the pressure and rush to the fifth level in one go.
End of the month!
After the FIFA match day, Millwall ushered in Everton, who was aiming to avoid relegation in the league.
The Champions League quarter-finals will be played in three days. Aldridge will give rest to the main players who have returned from the national team. The more pressure they are under, the less panic they can have. This is his coaching style.
When the 90 minutes of the game ended, the Lion King Stadium fell into a brief silence. Then, the song of the crazy lion sounded again in the stands.
The score on the scoreboard is 1:1.
Millwall managed a draw.
Manchester United visited Anfield in this round and returned home with two goals. The situation that was originally tied with Millwall turned into a 1-point lead for Millwall.
Millwall topped the league table, but Aldridge couldn't be happier.
Everton didn't take all three points, which was an unpopular result.
At the same time, since Millwall's unbeaten streak ended at Goodison Park in the first half of the season, Everton has really become Millwall's bitter enemy this season.
Aldrich didn't know whether to be angry.
Everton, when looking forward to each season, they are in the middle of the Premier League, but every year they barely escape relegation until the end of the season. It is not an exaggeration to say that they are relegation monsters, but when you think about their lineup, they are far from strong.
It shouldn't be at a level that is worthy of relegation, but it can only make people feel that they hate iron.
At this stage, it is really difficult to beat the relegation teams, even if they are playing at home. The opponent must win every point, which is almost like grabbing food from the tiger's mouth!
The momentum within the Millwall team is high. Every player is extremely serious in training and prepares meticulously for matches.
Aldridge now supervises the team's training like a hands-off boss, often posing with his hands behind his back as he patrols like a majestic old man.
The increase in the overall age of the team means that the players' mentality has reached a mature and stable period, and they have seen the vast sea. At this time, the pressing pressure of the league and the Champions League is just a small wave in the eyes of many senior players, trying to make them panic.
It’s all very difficult, and I feel like I’m standing still despite the wind blowing from east to west, north and south.
When Schneider returned from the national team, he specially gave Aldrich a bottle of fine wine from their winery, and Aldrich happily accepted it.
During the training break, Ronaldinho and Villa sat in front of Aldrich. There was plenty of sunshine today, which made people feel lazy. Training in this kind of weather is good or bad. It can easily make people sleepy. The best weather is
That kind of cool climate is invigorating.
"Boss, is it difficult to defend the Champions League?"
Villa raised his head and asked curiously.
This year's Champions League situation is different from previous years. Although Millwall has entered the top 8, it is only one of the four Premier League teams. Fleet Street represents England. Millwall can only say that it has a high hope of entering the final, but the media is more
I hope to see other Premier League teams go further. It would be best if all the top four teams are occupied by Premier League teams. As for whether Millwall can create new history, they don't really care.
For this reason, Millwall's voice for defending the title is not high, and the outside world has also deliberately created an argument that it is difficult to defend the title, with the intention of putting pressure on Millwall. The purpose of the media outside the UK must be to disturb the morale of the military.
Just like Aldridge's psychological warfare when putting pressure on Manchester United, which one do you want, the league or the Champions League? It's time to make a choice, be careful!
Aldridge sat on the grass, clasping his knees with his hands and smiling: "Only five teams in history have defended the Champions League, Real Madrid, Benfica, AC Milan, and England's Nottingham Forest and Liverpool. It's difficult, it must be difficult,
But precisely because of the unexpected difficulty, when you do it, you will feel an unparalleled sense of accomplishment."
In the context of this current time point, the so-called "no successful defense of the Champions League after the restructuring" has not been proposed.
The system was reformed in 1998, and it is only now 2001. There are many reasons why the difficulty of defending the title has increased sharply after the reform. One is that there are more participating teams, and the competitiveness has improved a lot. Before the reform, only the league champions of major leagues can participate in the Champions League.
The champions of those second-tier leagues cannot shake the first-tier leagues
Championship, after the restructuring, the runner-up of the mainstream league, the strength of the third and fourth place, far exceeds that of the second-rate league champion. You can imagine how competitive they are, and the situation of defending the title has become cruel. Secondly, in the era after Bosman's Law, strong
The stronger the team, the easier it is to recruit stars, and the strength limit of strong teams is being raised year by year.
"Only five teams have successfully defended their title. If we can also successfully defend our title, we will be the sixth."
Villa put his hands on the grass behind him and looked at the sky with misty eyes.
Although this is not a rare sixth place, it is still a shocking honor.
Ronaldinho lowered his head and said nothing.
He has worked very hard this season, especially at the end of the season when he is already halfway through defending the Champions League.
To defend the Champions League, Millwall had one chance, but failed in Munich last time.
Even though Ronaldinho has been relieved, it does not mean that his ambition has begun to disappear. As the sixth team to successfully defend the Champions League, Millwall's name will become special among the giants!
"Don't think so much. We haven't even passed the top 8 yet. We want to defend our title, and others also want to win. When we reach the level of the top 8, no one will give away the victory easily."
Aldrich smiled after finishing speaking.
Can you not want to?
Even he himself is extremely eager to successfully defend the Champions League. In this way, his three Champions League wins in four years not only make Millwall's dynasty more convincing, but at the same time, his own coaching performance has also reached a new level, with three wins.
The Champions League will allow him to equal Paisley's record of Liverpool winning three Champions Leagues in five years. In terms of time, he is even better.
But if he really couldn't do it, he wouldn't criticize him too much. Don't be arrogant when you win but don't be discouraged when you lose. Lose is failure. There is nothing to panic about, but you can't lose to yourself.
The team is actively preparing for the game in a good atmosphere, and everyone is working hard with actions to put their names in the new history books.
Millwall's major fan organizations are also taking action, buying away tickets in large quantities and rushing to the away game to cheer the team up close.
When having dinner with Brady and his wife before, Brady even laughed and laughed, and many members of the fan organization were already prepared to skip work.
The Champions League game is in the middle of the week, and most fans have to go to work the next day, but if they go abroad to watch the game, if the team can achieve a result they are satisfied with, the fan group will naturally celebrate, and no one will watch it in a disgraceful way.
Immediately after the game, I had to catch a flight back to China to prepare for work the next day. After celebrating, the next day’s work was in doubt.
After preparing for the game, the entire Millwall team set off, boarded their special plane, and arrived in Valencia, Spain, to challenge the Bats as a guest.
Mestalla, the home of the Bat Legion, the burial ground of many strong teams in the past two years!
"In the first leg of the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals in the 2000-01 season, Valencia welcomed the defending champion Millwall at home. It was like a fateful meeting again. The fans, coaches, and players of the two teams would definitely not be able to calm down.
!Last season's Champions League final, Millwall defeated Valencia to win the Champions League trophy for the second time. This season, people think that Valencia's strength has plummeted and cannot win the championship.
Although Cooper had a place in the goal feast, he used his excellent coaching ability to make Valencia all the way to the quarterfinals. This is admirable, just like the previous season when Millwall sold half of the team in the summer.
It’s unbelievable that they can reach the semi-finals even though they have the main lineup. Although Valencia has the home advantage, when they meet Millwall, the gap in strength cannot be ignored.”
Aldridge walked into the stadium and stood on the sidelines, looking around the stadium. This was not his first time here. It was here when he led the England national team to play an away friendly match in Spain.
However, today there is a real sense of sight that things seem to be different from people.
The large number of Bat Legion fans in the stands are still different in characteristics from the Spanish national team fans, and the momentum created is also completely different from that of a friendly match.
Valencia fans must be feeling aggrieved and want revenge. They want to let the crazy lions bleed here to repay the pain of last season's Champions League final defeat.
When the Lions fans came to the away game, they were equally excited and made loud cheers in the stands, which was comparable to the fans of the home team.
Before entering the stadium, when they came into contact with or watched Valencia fans on the streets around the stadium, they would find the opponent's hostility. It was a gesture that the Wild Lions fans were very accustomed to. They felt unwilling to lose because of the defeat on the stadium and wanted to wait.
Meet as soon as possible to complete your revenge.
The Lions fans don't take it seriously now, and even joke: They should be glad that they are a Spanish team, not an English team. After spending two or three years in the Premier League, they know that the more they think about "revenge", the more they will let themselves go.
pain.
The number of teams in the Premier League that dare to talk about revenge before playing against Millwall is 1, 2, 3, and definitely less than 4.
Valencia coach Cooper appeared in the stadium with a serious look on his face. He took the initiative to shake hands with Aldridge before the game. The two did not know each other before, but they met again and showed their courtesy as landlords.
.
When looking forward to this game, he has been saying that Millwall is the favorite to advance, and Valencia must show all the courage to defeat Millwall.
Aldridge respects Cooper from the bottom of his heart. Valencia poached many of their main players last summer, but they performed very bravely this season. Being able to reach the top 8 is a good proof. You can't get there just by luck.
here.
But respect comes from respect, Aldrich's expression changed, and there was fierce murderous intent in his eyes.
In the cruel green arena, someone must fall!
Defending the Champions League, whether it is for my disciples or myself, is a supreme honor. Anyone who stands in my way will be immortal! (To be continued...)
