The Young Lion

Thank you Thieves for your reward! ——

In April, England was in full swing. The Premier League, the FA Cup, and the overlord of the Premier League, Millwall, were the only Premier League team to participate in the Champions League. They forged ahead in the European arena. It can be called a good show, especially the suspense of the Premier League has always existed. Chelsea's hot pursuit of Millwall has always been the focus of public opinion on Fleet Street.

The penultimate round of the league, two days after the FA Cup semi-final, Millwall will face the challenge of Manchester United at home. When attending the pre-match press conference for an interview, a reporter asked Aldrich such a question .

Millwall played the FA Cup in the middle of the week, but when it comes to the weekend, your league game is the first to start. On the contrary, Chelsea, which has a week off, is the last to start. Do you think the FA schedule is fair? ?.

The atmosphere at the press conference became delicate, and many reporters laughed without saying a word.

The Guardian reporter asked this question, seemingly speaking for Millwall and standing on Millwall's standpoint, but in fact he was hiding his murderous intentions and wanted to lead the topic to the place that Premier League fans are most concerned about nowadays.

Mourinho stole the limelight, even though Chelsea has always been second in the league, but when Chelsea can't win the game, Mourinho will have many, many reasons to divert the attention of the outside world.

Keep people from discussing why didn't Chelsea win the game?

Instead, discuss the remarks thrown by Mourinho.

Among them, Mourinho believes that the FA's schedule for Chelsea is very unfair. For example, some opponents have an extra day off, and Chelsea have one less day off.

This is simply nonsense.

But unfortunately. This trick has been tried and tested. Because Mourinho secretly changed the concept. Putting Chelsea in the role of the underdog, the powerful is naturally the FA. The outside world likes to see such stories of rising up to attack the powerful and chasing the protagonist of the weak.

Aldrich cleared his throat and coughed twice, and said lightly: If there is no double-match schedule in a week, the Premier League games are very regular, Saturday and Sunday. There is a game on Monday night, mostly on Saturday and Sunday. Go ahead. If, if the FA wanted every team to get what you call a fair break, then the schedule would be like this, Millwall would always play on a Saturday or Sunday, or on a Monday, and our games would always be Is it possible to fix it on a certain day of the week? Impossible! Because the schedule will definitely crash, for example Millwall is fixed on a Saturday. But our opponents are fixed on a Sunday, so. How do we play? There must be a The team has one more day off, or one less day off,

Even two days. This topic is really boring. I think people who criticize the unfair schedule are just covering up something. In other words, if you always have one day less rest than your opponent, then your league should end a month and a half earlier, but no, we all I finished all the league matches in May. The fact is that sometimes you will have one or two days less rest than your opponent, and sometimes you will have one or two more rest than your opponent. If everyone complains about this reason, huh , Why are you still playing football? Let's debate with the calendar and schedule.

The reporters in the audience were happy.

Aldridge said whatever he wanted, and he didn't care about starting a fight. He naturally understood that the reporter's question was actually aimed at Chelsea coach Mourinho.

If he avoided it, it would appear to be a sign of weakness, not to mention what would he have to be afraid of the other party?

Even though he has a good relationship with the FA, Aldridge has never complained about the FA's schedule, nor has he received any kind of convenience. Just like this season, when the FA arranged the schedule at the beginning of the season, they must have thought about it. Make it difficult for Millwall to defend the title.

Because if Millwall wins the championship easily, it will naturally be detrimental to the global promotion of the Premier League brand, so there will be a wave of devil's schedule in the final stage, which will increase the excitement. Similarly, Chelsea also has one, although it is less than Millwall. Strong dialogue, but Aldrich still has no complaints.

The Guardian reporter continued to ask: But now there are coaches in the Premier League who criticize the schedule. What do you think of this phenomenon?

It's not just Mourinho who will criticize the schedule, Wenger will too.

Aldridge replied calmly: I don't really care about other people's opinions, but as far as I am concerned, the head coach needs to protect the team, but sometimes overprotection of the team is not good, sometimes in the face of failure, You have to make the players aware of the root of the problem, not how or how other people are blocking you, the difficulty of adding external forces, the fact is that if you can be stronger, you should overcome these difficulties, in my past coaching for more than ten years In the process, I always hope that the players will face the difficulties, recognize the reality, withstand the pressure, and then overcome everything. This is my philosophy, and it is also the football philosophy that Millwall should uphold and carry forward. We have many excellent players, It’s about growing up in that environment and making your name known on the football field.”

The reporters got new news materials and stopped putting pressure on Aldridge, hoping he could give more.

Tomorrow is a league game, and the topic should return to the topic.

Regarding whether the FA Cup loss to Manchester United will have an impact on tomorrow's league, Aldridge said solemnly: I am quite satisfied with Millwall's performance in the FA Cup this season. The steady growth of some young players, including the emergence of newcomers, like Moutinho, Messi, Veloso, Ramos, their performance in the first few rounds of the League Cup and FA Cup deserves praise, they are steadily improving Growth, they represent the future of Millwall. As for the loss to Manchester United, there must be an impact. Millwall will not ignore the loss. If others take it from us, we will naturally get it back. Very good, the opportunity is ours Right now, tomorrow we welcome Manchester United at the Lion King Stadium.

The next day, East London was sunny in the afternoon, and the Lion King Stadium was packed.

Wild Lions fans held back their grievances in the stands.

Manchester United seem to have come here with a more relaxed mentality.

They won the tickets to the FA Cup final. As long as they don't lose all of the last four games in the league, winning one or two games will ensure their qualification for the Champions League. The final goal of this season is the FA Cup.

Come here today, maybe I can take a snipe at Millwall, not to mention helping Chelsea, but he-damn-seeing Millwall is not happy!

Aldridge and Ferguson met again on the sidelines within a short period of time. The two did not communicate, but simply shook hands and returned to the coach's bench to wait for the start of the game.

Manchester United's starting lineup today is no different from the starting lineup in the FA Cup, while Millwall has changed everything except the goalkeeper.

Before the start of the game, the live camera locked on Southgate who was sitting on the bench looking lonely.

For Southgate, his career has been death sentence by Fleet Street.

The poor performance in the FA Cup semi-final made him the target of criticism from some outside football critics.

However, some serious newspapers are more objective and full of warmth. They have sympathy for Southgate and rationally analyze his future.

Obviously, Southgate is no longer worthy of Millwall's starting lineup. At the same time, for future construction, Millwall's substitute may not need a veteran who will be 35 years old next season, although he can Bring some experience, but he himself is unstable on the field, how can he intuitively contribute to the team?

Considering that he was the captain of England to win the World Cup, and he was seriously injured because he went to the European Cup with the England team, this prevented the big newspapers from making negative articles on Southgate's poor performance, and more about his contribution And the positive meaning of being in Millwall.

The Wild Lions fans who watched the game live on TV couldn't help feeling sad when they saw Southgate's lonely expression, and many Wild Lions fans who watched the game collectively in the bar fell silent.

It is heartbreaking and regrettable.

But the pain in the hearts of outsiders will never be as good as the pain in Southgate's own heart, and there are bursts of pain.

Looking at the teammates who have already appeared on the court, Southgate's eyes are quite complicated.

Yearning for the green field, galloping on the stage of passion, but now, I have lost the qualification to go into battle.

What made him most miserable was that even though Aldridge comforted him privately after the FA Cup semi-final, he relieved him and told him: The team needs him!

He is needed to support young players, he is needed to impart experience in the locker room and set an example for young players.

However, Southgate knew in his heart that it was time for him to say goodbye.

When unable to contribute to the team, Glenshire chose to leave, and when the team needed him, Glenshire came back again.

Now, it's Southgate's turn to make his own choice.

He thought about persevering, working hard, and burning his life for the mad lion!

But the reality forced him to bow his head. He was not a particularly strong central defender. What he needed was flexibility and agility, but his physical fitness declined after a serious injury, which made him lose the capital to truly gain a foothold in the Wild Lion.

Looking at the back of Aldridge standing on the sidelines, Southgate suddenly looked back to normal, the melancholy in his eyes disappeared, and his tense face relaxed.

The head coach who is younger than him has gone through 11 years of ups and downs with him. These 11 years should be worth the 11 years of too many players, even stars. It was a period of glory. It is an indelible legendary journey in memory.

Personally, he has no regrets.

The only thing I want to say is sorry to the club. He couldn't end perfectly. When the team needed him most, he disappointed many, many people!

His career has been flawless and worth it!

Time to make the only contribution he can make.

That is to take off the Wild Lions jersey, turn around and leave.

Can you still wear the jersey of other teams?

Southgate never thought of that kind of thing.

So he made a decision.

retired! (to be continued...)

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