Ferguson self-denied Manchester United's attempt to transform this season. No matter how he explained that he replaced Veron at halftime, this fact cannot be changed. In domestic competitions, four league games and one cup game have been defeated for five consecutive games, plus the Champions League in the middle.
After a draw, Manchester United was winless in 6 games in all competitions. After this 1:7 massacre at home, Manchester United was left with a torrential flood.
When Aldridge was interviewed after the game, a BBC reporter said this.
"No one was optimistic that Manchester United would win before the game. Millwall achieved an expected victory, but could you have imagined that it would be a 7-1 victory?"
Aldridge asked instead of answering: "Since Millwall and Manchester United meet, and the game is at Manchester United's home court, and the outside world is generally optimistic about Millwall, then, how big is the gap between Manchester United and Millwall?"
"This, Millwall is recognized as the strongest team in Europe, Manchester United is now in trouble."
"Let me answer your previous question. In the past, Millwall versus Manchester United would have been the top competition. Now, as most people subconsciously think, Manchester United is not Millwall's opponent. So, if we win against Manchester United,
Of course, as for how many wins, it is not very important. Of course, no one could predict the score of 7:1. I will leave the specific game review to the football critics."
After Aldridge finished speaking, he turned to leave. The reporter quickly asked loudly: "Mr. Hall, what do you think is the reason why the gap between Millwall and Manchester United is so huge?"
"Because Millwall has tapped out all the potential of the main lineup, we have been making progress and improving in the past few years. And Manchester United. They are just standing still. Even going backwards."
"So do you think Millwall are perfect?"
"Of course not, there is no perfect team, but the biggest problem we encounter now is: England, why doesn't there be a team that can challenge us? If traditional giant teams like Manchester United, Arsenal, and Liverpool can't bring their strength to the next level,
If it improves, Millwall may decline due to lack of matching opponents. If that happens, I can only say that this is a big conspiracy."
"conspiracy?"
"Yes, they did not use a correct and positive challenger attitude to stimulate the king. On the contrary, they used a negative and weak way to kill our fighting spirit, and then when our mental fatigue affected our strength, we became different from them.
When the levels are the same, come back and try to challenge our dominance."
After speaking, Aldrich turned and left.
The next day, "The Sun" intercepted footage of the game. The moment Aldridge and Ferguson were talking with each other not far away.
The text accompanying the picture is a sentence in front of Aldrich.
"Why? Why can no one challenge Millwall's dominance? Is this your conspiracy?"
David Miller wrote in his column: As Hall said after the game, if the top teams in the Premier League cannot improve their strength and put pressure on Millwall, Millwall, now the strongest in Europe, may indeed lose due to a decline in fighting spirit.
It affects strength. This is not Hall's unfounded worry. A super strong team needs to challenge and pass difficult battles.
Fighting to maintain combat effectiveness and fighting passion, but looking at the current standings, Millwall has 13 wins and 3 draws, with 42 points. Manchester United is 18 points behind them. Arsenal will visit the Lion King Stadium in the next round. They are in the 16th round.
In the game, they achieved a record of 8 wins, 5 draws and 3 losses, with only 29 points, 13 points away from Millwall.
With such a huge lead, Millwall cannot feel the pressure from its competitors at all. In other words, does Millwall have any competitors? According to their current momentum of scoring points, Millwall is very likely to win this season.
Refresh the Premier League points record again. If this comes true, I can boldly predict that even if
Millwall will retain their main lineup next summer, but their performance in the league will definitely decline significantly, because they do not need to score 100 points to win the championship. As long as they score 90 or 85 points, they may be able to steadily win the championship.
The league championship is won, but if this happens, will Millwall still be as strong as it is now?
...
In the final round of the first group stage of the Champions League, Millwall faced Porto at home.
Before the game, there was pressure from the Italian media, who were worried that Millwall would betray Juventus. Aldridge rarely got angry at the pre-match press conference.
Faced with the difficulties faced by Italian reporters, Aldrich became furious and took action.
"If you don't know how to respect a team, don't come to London and embarrass yourself! I don't need you to remind me what kind of team Millwall is, and it should maintain the dignity of the giants at home! It's not your job to do my job.
Point your fingers! The whole world knows what kind of tricks you are playing, Juventus
If Juventus is eliminated in the end, it is their own fault. The Champions League is a stage for the strong, not a place to pray for mercy and sympathy. Whether Juventus is eliminated or promoted has nothing to do with us. Aren't you ashamed? The Serie A giants have fallen.
To the point where the Premier League giants control their destiny?"
After Aldrich finished speaking, he walked away with a cold face. The Italian reporters dared not speak out in anger, and the mocking laughter of the Fleet Street reporters rang out.
Millwall has won all 5 games and is the first team to qualify in advance among all groups. It is also the first team to secure the top spot in the group. As it is a routine in the last round, they will naturally not be the main force, and the Italian media will
This is a reason to put pressure on Millwall.
It's funny to say that in the last round against Juventus, Millwall was on the bench. The Italian media didn't say anything before the game. Instead, this round they accused Millwall of disrespecting Porto.
Porto probably wishes Millwall could just stop playing as a substitute and go to the youth team instead!
At the Lion King Stadium, Aldrich sent a full substitute lineup with a formation of 4231. Porto was eager to score points to advance to the top 16. If Juventus had a draw, Porto could advance with a draw, so after the game started,
Porto faced Millwall with a defensive attitude.
Aldridge was standing on the sidelines directing the game. He didn't know that in the stands of today's game, there was a future Porto coach, Mourinho.
Mourinho came here with the Porto manager to watch the game.
After Benfica was fired, Mourinho coached in the middle and lower reaches of the Portuguese Super League Liana for the past six months. His record was almost the same as when he coached Benfica. However, because he was coaching a small team, his coaching results were better.
There are many reasons. In addition to Porto taking a liking to him, there is also the reason why Mourinho's agent Mendes was the matchmaker behind the scenes.
Mourinho carefully observed Millwall's technical and tactical play on the field, as well as Aldridge's every move on the sidelines.
Starting from the time when he was an assistant coach in Barcelona, he studied football tactics in his spare time. A large number of cases studied in his work came from Millwall, especially Aldridge's on-the-spot adjustments when the game situation changed. This was all due to his careful attention.
The key content of the research.
Aldridge is now recognized as a tactical master in football. His 433 for pressing offense, 4231 for counterattacks, and 4321 built in England have made Aldridge famous in the coaching circle.
He is not a firm seeker of a tactical style. According to outside analysis, it is his flexible and changeable style of taking advantage of the situation that ensures that Millwall can cope with different game environments, sudden difficulties and other unfavorable situations.
Turn bad luck into good luck.
After all, it is difficult to say that there is absolute restraint in football tactics, but there will be situations where there are targeted restrictions. Persistence in a style may sound valuable, but it may not create unparalleled brilliance in the world.
Porto's lineup is not bad, it is first-rate and lower-tier, especially their players have potential, and they can improve the team's strength by half as long as they grow up.
In today's game, Porto seemed a little hesitant, treating the game conservatively while worrying about the situation at Juventus.
Their calculations are more pragmatic. Juventus does not take the lead and they do not take the initiative.
This is a bit risky, what if Juventus scores in the 90th minute?
They can't control that much. Don't look at Millwall as a substitute. Now they are playing away from home. Didn't Juventus still use the substitute lineup against Millwall in the last round? What's the result?
That's what they thought, but the game didn't develop according to the script they imagined.
In the 31st minute, Larmore moved to the center from the left, took the ball and sent a through ball under the cover of Kaka, which penetrated the back waist line and cut straight into the space between the center back and full back in the penalty area on the other side.
, Villa rushed behind the opponent's central defender, got the ball, pushed and shot into the far end of the goal.
"Millwall led 1:0 at home, and it was the young player Villa who made the contribution. Larmour's pass was amazing. His game reading ability is the best among the substitute players."
Aldridge was filled with emotion when he saw Lamore's pass.
The biggest advantage of this abandoned Liverpool player is his ability to read the game. Coupled with the technical skills developed in Liverpool's youth training system, he is indeed weak in confrontation, so Aldrich no longer uses Larmour as a forward.
Instead, let him play a role similar to Ronaldinho, delivering shells to the forwards.
As for the wonderful pass just now, Kaka can't pass it now. It has something to do with the tacit understanding. After all, Larmore has been playing together with Klose and Villa for a long time.
It is with capable substitutes such as Larmour, Pedretti, Neal, etc. that Millwall's overall strength is particularly strong.
Seeing that Porto had conceded the ball, they no longer cared about what was going on at Juventus and directly opened up their formation to fight Millwall.
After the team scored, Aldridge asked the formation to retreat.
In the following games, Millwall repeatedly performed whirlwind games.
Villa, Klose, Kaká, Larmour, these are all players who need speed and explosiveness.
Porto conceded another goal before the end of the first half. It was Ramole again who dribbled the ball from the left and then suddenly shifted the attack. Villa did not take credit after entering the penalty area and gave Klose an assist.
The more Porto played, the more impatient they became, and their movements became louder.
After the opponent's mentality problems, Millwall scored one goal after another. In the second half, Kaká and Klose scored another goal each. Millwall defeated Porto 4:0 and blocked Porto from the top 16.
, Juventus defeated Celtic at home and qualified with Millwall with 9 points.
But Aldrich couldn't be happier with the big win in this game.
Porto's extremely aggressive fouls in the second half resulted in injuries to Larmour and Villa.
If the technical and tactical style of play is not changed, the only substitute forward available to Millwall's first team is Klose. (To be continued...)
