The Young Lion

Thank you Thieves for your reward!

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Aldrich was so engrossed in Simon Barnes's column that he didn't even realize he was in one position for nearly 10 minutes!

Who is Quentin Crisp? Aldridge is not interested in knowing, but what he said, that rule, and the sentence Barnes wrote seemed to make Aldridge bewitched.

Never chase the person next to you, hold them back and let them be on your level.

These words kept echoing in Aldrich's mind.

Even looking back at Barnes' analysis, Aldrich's thinking was also going on at the same time.

He can also understand why Barnes said that the early construction of the national team was placed on the role of the weak and succeeded.

Because to narrow the gap between the two sides on the football field, the mainstream method is utilitarianism and defense!

In those games where there is a huge gap between the strong and the weak, more than 90% of the weak teams rely on defensive counterattacks to defeat the strong. Bigger doesn't live up to its name.

England was utilitarian in the early stage and regarded itself as the weak. The team can do this, because they lost the European Cup, their poor record in the World Cup qualifiers, and the danger of missing the World Cup. How could they be proud? No amount of confidence and arrogance had been shattered.

Using utilitarianism, pragmatism, and defensive counterattacks to allow oneself to hold back opponents who are stronger than them, the gap between the two is narrowed, and then seize the opportunity to give the opponent a fatal blow. This is the survival philosophy of the weak. And is widely used.

What made Aldridge think deeply. Barnes said he is good at using this rule. Because of Millwall's success.

The strong will definitely not take the initiative to close the gap with the weak.

But Barnes has a word that is extremely admirable.

'England have to go leisurely to win the game'

laid back?

On the football field, leisure is not a compliment!

In the traditional English concept, what exists on the football field is a bloody battle, life and death.

Aldridge could grasp that what Barnes was trying to convey was not the casualness of a player walking the court.

It's a kind of control over the game!

This is also a key factor in Millwall's success, dominating the heat of the game.

England didn't have a 'control the game' style of play before, not even now. There are very few teams in English football that can use control the game to a high degree of proficiency. On the one hand, it is too difficult to achieve due to fierce competition, and on the other hand, it is the influence of England's traditional style of play.

Aldridge thinks more and has richer associations. When the Premier League is catching up and becoming popular all over the world, how can the Premier League brand successfully sell overseas?

It must have relied on the crazy rhythm of the game at first, and this rhythm was beyond the control of both teams in the game, which is similar to a out of control state!

It is also because of the out-of-control state that the dramatic progress of the game is even more fascinating. If everyone has the awareness of controlling the game and puts it into practice. Then the overall rhythm of the game will be difficult to accelerate for a long time.

Many of the fans who don’t like Barcelona and Spain in the future are also because the two teams’ game control is too strong, so strong that they don’t accelerate until the critical moment, so the game becomes a lullaby for a long time.

Aldrich's eyes gradually brightened. Barnes' masterpiece made his thinking very clear. He can roughly understand the Greek style of play and the technical and tactical system. However, the core philosophy has not been fully grasped. Barnes gave It inspired him, so that he can put himself in the situation to foresee the changing trend of the situation when the two armies confront each other on the field.

Didn't Rehhagel's Greek team hold back all the strong teams, making them reach the same level in the abstract sense at a certain point in the game, and then sneak attack to win? !

There must be an element of luck in this, but core strength is the foundation, because luck will not always appear on the same team, and it will appear continuously!

Stella Marcioni stared at Aldrich strangely. He had already finished his breakfast, and Aldrich remained motionless for more than ten minutes. He seemed to be thinking about something, and his expression only changed slightly. At first he frowned, and finally his eyebrows relaxed. , Then he made a movement, took a sip of coffee, and showed a uncomfortable expression, obviously because the coffee was cold, which caught him by surprise.

Aldridge put down the newspaper, asked the waiter to bring him another cup of coffee, and then continued to eat breakfast with a relaxed expression.

Stella Marcioni took the newspaper he had just put down and read it. He read Barnes's article, but he didn't feel particularly impressed.

To be honest, like the columns of Barnes and David Miller, the layman looks at the excitement, while the insider looks at the doorway.

The people standing on the threshold are confused.

Can't understand what it means to win at a leisurely pace, and can't really understand what the bullying in quotation marks is expressing.

Stramaccioni didn't understand what attracted Aldridge to this article.

He asked curiously: Is this column report very connotative?

Aldridge finished his cup of coffee, wiped his mouth with a napkin, and said with a smile, This article, uh, um, can help England increase the probability of defeating Greece, by about 20%, hehehe.

ah?

Stella Marcioni exclaimed, and he looked down at the article again, as if he wanted to see the mystery from it.

After breakfast, Aldridge immediately went to the training ground to wait for the players.

How to deal with Greece, he has real countermeasures!

He will not give ideological education lessons to the national team players and interpret Barnes' articles for them. That is meaningless. He only needs to tell the players what to do in the game to win, and that is enough!

 …

When the England team concentrated on preparing for the quarter-finals against Greece in Aldridge, the European Cup group stage came to an end.

The Dutch team beat Latvia with 3 goals and scored 4 points.

The fate of the Dutch team itself is not in their hands, because before the final round, the Dutch team only had 1 point. The Czech team in the same group qualified ahead of schedule with 6 points. The German team drew both games. As long as the Czech team is won, the German team will get second in the group.

The situation of this group is 99% the same as the situation before the last round of the group match in Group B where the England team was in. The 1% difference is only in the number of goals scored and conceded.

Unlike England's loss to Croatia in the last game of the group stage, although the Czech team also released water, the absolute main players like Nedved and the young rookie Rosicky did not play, but the German team scored first. It was reversed by the Czech team!

The Czech team advanced to the top 8 with a record of three victories!

The Dutch team also reached the top 8 with the second place in the group.

After the German team returned home from the group stage of the last European Cup, this year's European Cup was also eliminated after the same group stage!

The reform of the German team is imperative. There are still two years to go before the local World Cup. For the national team, time is tight. The German Football Association immediately started to change coaches after the German team lost the European Cup. Siman was recalled to the country, and Beckenbauer supported his disciples to lead the German team into a big era of renewal!

 …

After the group stage, the battle of the European Cup continued. There is no day off.

The quarter-finals between hosts Portugal and Croatia will start at the Stadium of Light in Lisbon.

Aldridge focused on preparing for Greece in the England training camp for two consecutive days, and he will not overthrow the England team's established tactical approach. Make adjustments on this basis and respond to the war with Greece in a targeted manner.

In the pre-match press conference, Aldridge expressed his fear of Greece.

Being able to break through the tight encirclement in the group with Portugal and Spain, the Greek team has proved its own strength. At the end of the European Cup group stage, four traditional strong teams have left. This phenomenon is worthy of vigilance in England, Spain, France, Germany , Italy, these teams have very strong strengths, England and them are on the same level with no obvious gap, they were eliminated, why not England? We must pay attention to the Greek team, and now we cannot imagine the semi-finals and The final, if we are a little distracted, maybe the quarter-finals will be the end of England's European Cup.

Speaking of Rehhagel, who once played against Aldridge in the world preliminaries, England also defeated Greece, but Aldridge shook his head.

Historical records are meaningless, absolutely nothing! You are only half right, the loser? Yes, I led England to defeat Greece led by Rehhagel, but that was only a game more than two years ago, 90 minutes There is no reference for tomorrow's game. England is about to face a brand new Greek team. Rehhagel will definitely cause trouble for England, just like they beat Portugal and drew with Spain. He has This ability, the Greek team also has this ability. England? Of course I hope to advance to the semi-finals, but the football world is not a fairy tale world.

 …

On this day, the host Portugal sent Croatia home 2:0 with the outstanding performance of Deco, Figo and Ronaldo, becoming the first team to advance to the semi-finals.

The next day, Aldridge led his team out of the hotel and took a bus to the Alvadra Stadium.

In Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, there are two top domestic teams in Portugal, Sporting Lisbon and Benfica.

The Stadium of Light in Lisbon is the home of Benfica.

The Albadella Stadium is owned by Sporting Lisbon.

On the way to the Alvadra Stadium, the players in the England bus looked serious. For three consecutive days, Aldridge reminded them with practical actions that they must attach great importance to Greece, which can be said to have reached the level of repeated orders.

With Aldridge's authority in the team, if he does this, no one in the team will dare to take Greece lightly.

This is very different from playing against the French team.

Just like fighting against Germany, Argentina, and Brazil in the past, and now fighting against France in the European Cup, Aldridge doesn't need to remind the players so much.

Everyone in the world knows their opponents are strong!

England is not sure of victory!

Of course, he will be wary of his opponents and play with a low profile.

But Greece is different. Their image of underdogs will lower the vigilance of their opponents. In terms of posture, the strong will of course stand in a position of contempt for their opponents.

If Aldridge does not deliberately aggravate this warning, it is difficult to have a big effect on the impact of the game by just relying on serious training and preparation.

Two hours before the game, the England team arrived at the Albadella Stadium. This stadium, which has a slightly smaller capacity than the Stadium of Light in Lisbon, is also a five-star stadium reviewed and assessed by UEFA.

After the warm-up training, Aldridge reiterated the tactical requirements of today's game in the locker room.

The players did not know how many times they heard it, but before the game, no one dared to express their impatience.

In the past seven years, Aldridge has never been overturned in the gutter. At critical moments, his role as the coach will be very prominent and important. If players dare to question or underestimate Aldridge’s words and deeds at this time, thinking that the coach is too nervous , then, they are hopelessly stupid, because Aldrich has experienced many more big scenes than them. No one handed over the championship trophy to Aldrich, all because of his brutality and viciousness. It was mercilessly plundered!

Especially this competition, the European Cup.

No one will question Aldridge's ambition.

If he wins the European Cup, Aldridge will become a legendary coach in the football world! (to be continued..) ()