Four months ago, Millwall's poor performance in the Christmas Express schedule caused the defending league champions to decline one after another. They once fell out of the top four or five in the standings and ranked sixth in the league.
After selling Drogba and Essien in the winter transfer window, things seemed calm inside Millwall, and the team regrouped and its performance stabilized.
But this stability does not mean that he is invincible, but that he is steadily improving, without the shadow of the strongest mad lion. His strength is roughly at the top of the Premier League, not a state of transcendence.
At least, that's what the situation in the standings shows.
Fleet Street is happy, even the Premier League fans are happy.
For a league, suspense is the most important thing.
The suspense of the Premier League title this season is more intense than in the past few years.
The Three Wizards fight for hegemony!
When there are six rounds left in the league.
Millwall rushed back to third place in the league from sixth place at the half-way mark, only 1 point away from the top spot.
Manchester United and Arsenal are neck and neck with the same points, followed closely behind by Millwall.
Millwall was eliminated on both fronts of the domestic cup competition. Instead, they were eliminated in the Champions League group and moved to the Europa League as the third place in the group. In the two-leg home and away knockout competition, Millwall seemed absent-minded and occasionally played a game.
A shocking defeat, but they can always come back and advance in the second round. Therefore, Millwall's tasks this season are only to compete for the league title and the Europa League.
Although Klinsmann received some praise for his coaching in the second half, after all, he successfully stopped Millwall's downward trend in the league rankings and worked hard to get back into the championship group. The 1-point gap can be ignored.
, it’s just one or two games anyway.
However, there are more and more controversial news surrounding Millwall.
"Joe Cole gets jealous and gets into a fight again!"
"On the night of the FA Cup exit, Lampard, Ashley Cole and Robben were having fun in the nightclub."
"Ronaldinho, who lost the Ballon d'Or, never smiles again. He is a cancer in the Millwall locker room!"
"Larsson, who was silent, received sympathy and support from many Millwall veterans, and the Millwall locker room was divided!"
"Henry was privately dissatisfied with being placed on the wing and complained: Why should I give up the center to Klose?"
"Kaká's father threatened that if Millwall doesn't give Kaká a starting job, the Brazilian genius will seek a transfer!"
...
April 12th.
Aldridge brought his two sons to Old Trafford and sat in the VIP box to watch the game.
It is not uncommon for Fleet Street to hype Millwall news, and what is said in newspapers is obviously not to be taken at face value, not to mention that information channels are always obtained in a "guessing" or heretical way, which is unconvincing.
In the sixth-to-last round of the league, Manchester United faces Millwall at home. The two teams are one point apart. There is a high probability that the final suspense of this season's league championship will be determined.
Because there is still a league match between Arsenal and Manchester United. If Millwall wins this game, then Millwall will be able to sit back and watch in the next five rounds of the league. And if Manchester United wins, the final championship may belong to Manchester United.
The battle with Arsenal will begin at Highbury after two rounds!
For Manchester United, although the relationship between Beckham and Ferguson dropped to a freezing point, Ferguson still sent Beckham in key battles.
For Millwall, Klinsmann has stabilized a relatively gorgeous offensive system in the second half of the season. The performance is not bad, and there is indeed potential to be tapped. The two midfielders in the midfield can attack and defend well, with Alonso and Nedwy.
Germany is in charge, and Lampard is added behind the attacking trident, creating a large diamond-shaped attack group.
It's just that Klose was placed at center, and Henry moved to the wing. Fleet Street rumored that Henry was dissatisfied with playing winger. It can't be said to be unreasonable. Henry himself is capable of playing winger, but he is obviously more qualified to play center than Klose.
As for the joke that "Ronaldinho is Aldridge's biological brother" before, it has now become "Klose is Klinsmann's biological son."
Larsson was abandoned due to poor form in one or two games. Cristiano Ronaldo is still young and his performance naturally has ups and downs. Henry has played as a winger since his comeback. Klose, on the other hand, is an unstoppable main center no matter whether his performance is good or bad.
This game made Aldridge furious!
In such a crucial battle, Ronaldinho, Henry, and Klose are all out of shape!
They looked positive, but they had lost all their aura, and they didn't know whether it was fatigue or numbness. It felt like they were just playing a routine game, and Nedved's shouting at them only added a lot of useless personal poor performance to Manchester United.
The defense line is made of paper and can be broken down if you want to attack it?
In view of the fact that Millwall did not have a full-time defensive midfielder, Ferguson deliberately switched to attacking the center. The effect was not obvious, but it made people feel that this was the right way to play, because he saw Nesta and Southgate frequently filling in and assisting in defense.
Hastily destroying the opponent's offense, you know that at a certain moment, the crisis will appear at the critical moment. If it were not for the excellent defense and interception awareness of the two defenders, I am afraid that it would have been riddled with holes.
When the full-time whistle sounded, all the Red Devils fans in Old Trafford let out a collective voice.
"Millwall! Who is the boss in England?"
The scoreboard showed a dazzling score.
1:0
Manchester United scored the only goal of the game through a set kick. In a sports battle, they still could not get past the final defense line composed of Southgate and Nesta.
The person who contributed to the Red Devils is a figure familiar to thousands of Red Devils: David Beckham.
At the end of the game, Aldridge stood up and saw the Millwall players on the field leaving the field quickly with their heads lowered, as if they were stingy in expressing their disappointment.
Klinsmann was stunned in place until Ferguson came over to shake hands with him before he came back to his senses and shook hands with the opponent in a coping manner.
Below the box, countless Red Devils fans turned around and laughed mockingly at Aldridge.
At this moment, Aldridge is either the greatest young coach in England, or the most hated creator of the Mad Lions in the eyes of the Red Devils.
At a young age, Burt put on a fierce look with gnashed teeth, clenched his fists and stood in front of Aldrich, looking at the demonic fans below without showing any signs of weakness.
Earl turned around and leaned into Aldrich's arms. The child who kept saying that he had grown up secretly wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes.
Aldridge left Old Trafford with his two children and ignored a text message from Ferguson inviting him to the office.
On the plane ride home, Aldrich kept thinking.
Finally, he came to a conclusion.
The earth does not revolve around him.
He hopes that his family will be happy, he hopes to spend more time with his family and enjoy life, and he also hopes that the crazy lion can continue to transcend the world in the post-Aldrich era.
How could everything in the world go as he wished?
During the eight years he coached Millwall, he gave up a lot. The first one was time. He devoted all his energy to his work. Therefore, even if he had innate advantages, he felt that he should be responsible for his success.
Got it.
Now, he wants to sit back and watch, admiring the team he has built that is invincible and still at the top. It seems too naive.
After returning home, Bert and Earl became unhappy and began to avoid Aldrich.
The next day, Fleet Street published a blockbuster special report.
"The Lions' dominance of the Premier League is over!"
After Millwall lost to Manchester United, Arsenal also swept the Saints Southampton 6:1 at home. The two teams with the same score at the top left Millwall 4 points behind.
With 5 rounds left in the league, Millwall's hopes of defending the league title are getting slimmer, because 4 points represents a two-goal gap.
Although Manchester United and Arsenal will still stage a fierce battle, Millwall's next five league rounds also have strong bones. First of all, they will challenge the Magpies Newcastle United in the next game, and they will also play the Red Army Liverpool in the final game.
Both teams are aiming to get tickets to the Champions League in the top four, and now they are all ranked in the top six. You can imagine how difficult the competition is.
In view of this, Fleet Street couldn't wait to declare that Millwall's dynasty was over. This season, it would no longer be able to dominate Europe. At the same time, England's internal rule also collapsed!
On Thursday night, after dinner, Bert and Earl wiped their mouths and ran upstairs. Aldrich called out, but neither of them pretended to hear.
Aldrich frowned slightly and said to himself: "Is there going to be some domestic violence? They have not been obedient at all in the past two days, and they have not agreed to it. It is not good to go on like this!"
Yiwen, who was clearing away the tableware, heard this, put down the plate in his hand, came to sit down next to Aldrich, and said softly: "They have really grown up."
"Um?"
Aldrich turned his head and looked, puzzled.
Yiwen held his hand and said softly: "After you came back from Manchester that day, they secretly asked me if Millwall lost to Manchester United. Are you sad? I told the truth. I told them that you must be feeling sad.
It's very painful. So, they have been avoiding you for the past two days, do you know why?"
Aldrich probably guessed it, and for some reason, he felt a little sour in his heart. He didn't know whether it was because he was moved, or because he was really proud of his child.
Two young masters who don’t know what it’s like to feel sad, do they know how to understand the feelings of adults?
Yi Wen continued: "They think you left the club in order to make them happy. Although they like to have you around, they also hope that you can be happy. You are the omnipotent father in their hearts, and this is most of them.
Over the years, they would often secretly watch your past coaching games at Millwall, just to see you in high spirits on the sidelines and your father who could be crazy and happy."
Aldrich closed his eyes just to hide the moisture in his eyes. He shook his head and smiled bitterly: "It's not fair to say that. At home, I have more joy, but I'm not crazy."
Yi Wen smiled and said: "But you haven't noticed it yourself. You will also be distracted at home, especially when you are eating breakfast in the morning. If you pick up the newspaper and open the sports section, you can't help but feel excited when you see the news about the crazy lion.
Frowning, and then thinking for a while, you didn't realize that when you made these actions, Earl and Bert always had their mouths flattened, as if they were worried about you. They are really good children. I hope that Bonnie can be like them in the future.
."
Aldrich let out a long sigh, not sure whether he was happy or sad. Yiwen stood up, reached out from behind him and kissed him gently on the face. Finally, he said in his ear: "Don't feel indebted in your heart. I
I hope this family is your support, not your burden, just like Bert and Earl, they want you to be happy, and I hope too,
Play golf, watch horse racing and dog racing, go shopping, participate in amateur cycling competitions, go on diving trips... In the past six months, your life has been irregular at all, and you are always trying to find a suitable rhythm. Go back
, if you don’t go back and just watch Millwall fall step by step, you won’t be willing to do it.”
Yiwen cleared the table, and Aldrich was still sitting at the table, thinking about her words.
At this time, his cell phone rang, and he glanced at the caller ID.
