The Young Lion

After Chelsea lost the Lion King Stadium, the voice from Stamford Bridge was: When will Mourinho dismiss get out of class?

The good situation of the league in the new season was in vain in the middle of the game. Millwall reversed Chelsea strongly, from lagging behind to leading, and there was an astonishing gap of 14 points!

Abramovich's patience with Mourinho is clearly exhausted.

But if the team coach is dismissed rashly in the middle of the season, even if Abramovich thinks that the league is basically out of play, but Chelsea still has the Champions League, the impact of the coaching change on Chelsea may be equivalent to completely ruining all fronts this season.

After all, in this Chelsea team, not to mention Mourinho's direct lineage has the main players like Carvalho Ferreira, but also the players he introduced after he took office, Drogba, Essien, Petr Cech and other players have a relationship with him Obviously, if Mourinho leaves, no matter who the next coach wants to control the locker room, I am afraid it will be difficult to achieve perfection in a short time.

Under the leadership of Aldridge, Millwall moved forward steadily after adjusting to their best form in the new season. The morale boost brought by the victory over Chelsea was very obvious, allowing them to win the Christmas Devil without losing a point. record!

Stepping into 2006, Aldridge's life went step by step. The Millwall team did not need to be reminded by the coaching staff, and entered the rhythm of full concentration in advance.

More conscious than ever.

For Millwall, the goal of this season is very realistic. Although it seems distant, the players have set their sights there: the second three consecutive Champions League titles!

There is the World Cup in the summer, and there will be the UEFA presidential election at the end of the year. One after another, there are undercurrents surging behind the scenes.

in January. The FA Cup begins. The bench lineup, which had been rested and adjusted some time ago, began to explode. From the beginning of joining the FA Cup team, the whole journey has been in full swing. Facing non-Premier League teams, there have been frequent games with a goal difference of more than 4 goals in a single game!

Veloso, Moutinho, Messi's growth and improvement are obvious to all. Before ushering in the UEFA Champions League knockout round at the end of February, Millwall must allocate the physical fitness of the players reasonably. Like Aguero, he will occasionally be transferred to the first team to play for about 20 minutes.

Before the UEFA Champions League 1/8 finals, Millwall has extended its lead to 6 points in the Premier League. In the past 6 Premier League games, Millwall has 3 wins and 3 draws. The results are not particularly good. Their first half The terrifying winning streak that started in the middle of the season was also ended at this time, and Chelsea, who were not enough to rank second in the standings, did as the outside world expected. During the start of the Africa Cup of Nations in January, the team's league results fluctuated. They got 3 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss. Millwall had one more draw than them, so the points gap widened by 1 point.

After the match day in mid-February, England played the FA Cup schedule on the weekend. Millwall dispatched all substitutes to win the game, and then quietly waited for the opponents in the 1/8 finals of the Champions League to visit the Lion King Stadium.

The results of the draw were announced a long time ago.

Millwall vs Barcelona!

Most of the external media commented on the results of the draw in anticipation of such a matchup between giants, but the Catalan media complained for Barcelona!

The lottery system of the UEFA Champions League itself protects the interests of the giants. As long as the giants get results that match their strength, the probability of encountering a strong team in the 1/8 knockout round will be much lower.

Just like, if Millwall won the first place in the group, it is impossible for them to draw Barcelona, ​​which also won the first place in another group.

However, Millwall came second in the group stage, allowing Inter Milan to take first place in the group.

Millwall itself doesn't care, it doesn't matter who gets drawn, just play as usual. This is not only Aldridge's mentality, but also the consensus of the entire Millwall team. This mentality has grown from emphasis to persistence over the years. , shaped over time.

Therefore, the Catalan media cannot publicly accuse Millwall of being unkind: it is shameful to have the strength of the first place in the group, but not to strive for the first place in the group!

They slammed Millwall with the same view and position as UEFA, and once again said that Millwall lacked respect for the Champions League.

Damn, if you go all out in the group stage, can Inter Milan take the first place in the group?

Don't be kidding, if you don't get double-killed by Millwall, you will burn the incense!

Well now, Barcelona will face the European king and defending champion Millwall in the 1/8 finals.

In the pre-match press conference, Aldridge was only interviewed routinely, and he didn't want to fight with the media, no matter what the other side's position was.

In fact, apart from the local media, that is, Fleet Street, Aldrich can ignore the media of other countries or regions.

After all, external attention is always temporary.

Just like the Catalan media is now staring at Millwall, what is the point of Aldridge fighting with them?

After the 1/8 finals, no matter what the result is, the two sides basically have no intersection for a long time. The verbal dispute is like a bitch cursing, meaningless.

On the contrary, Fleet Street has sustained influence in the local area. Once Aldrich starts a war with the media, most of the time his opponent is Fleet Street.

On February 23, the Lion King Stadium was full of seats.

Tonight there is a cool breeze and the sky is not particularly clear. Millwall ushered in a challenge from Barcelona at home.

Aldridge's heart is still like water, facing today's Barcelona team, of course he is not as excited as facing the Dream 2 in history.

At least the current Barcelona lacks a core player in the original history: Ronaldinho.

However, without Ronaldinho, it does not mean that the team is worthless. The strength of the same period will be affected, but the gap may be the distance between the peak and the top middle. Iniesta.

Of course, there is Aldridge's credit for this. On the one hand, Ronaldinho was at Millwall. On the other hand, Aldridge tried to seriously introduce Iniesta from Barcelona many years ago.

This made Barcelona very vigilant. In addition to rejecting Millwall's formal purchase, it also paid more attention to Iniesta. A more important role, honed for more than two years, although Xiaobai Iniesta has not yet reached the peak, he still has a good fighting power.

Rijkaard doesn't like London. He led his team to this city last season. It is just west of the Lion King Stadium, another famous stadium in the city. He led his team to the knockout match with Chelsea, and the result almost made him wise. He was charged with the vicious crime of influencing the referee and secretly manipulating the game.

When I came to the Lion King Stadium today, I felt unprecedented pressure lingering in my heart.

Stepping into this top-level stadium, Rijkaard saw the young marshal standing on the sideline and casting friendly glances at him. Rijkaard walked over involuntarily. , but there is a sense of instant sight.

Aldridge has no grudges with Rijkaard, at least he doesn't dislike Barcelona. As a host, there is nothing wrong with welcoming guests with grace.

In his eyes, Rijkaard is a more regrettable role, not specifically referring to the chaos in the locker room when the original historical dream 2 collapsed, but referring to Rijkaard almost becoming famous in the 2000 European Cup.

In that European Cup, the Dutch team, one of the hosts, broke into the semi-finals under the leadership of Frank Rijkaard, and then a tragic thing happened.

The Dutch player stood in front of the penalty spot 6 times and missed 5 penalties!

It has achieved the Miracle of San Toldo that will last forever.

The longer he was coach, the more Aldridge felt sorry for Rijkaard.

Such a situation really made the head coach extremely helpless!

6 penalty kicks, 5 free throws were missed, and there was a chance to solve the battle within the regular time, but Italy's escape from death performed a miracle.

Aldridge returned to his familiar position in the stadium and stood still, waiting for the start of the game.

Regarding the encounter with Barcelona, ​​there must be pressure. Millwall is not strong enough to face Barcelona and still have the same mentality as a normal team, but the more pressure there is, the more excited the players and the coach will be.

Abusing vegetables cannot become a god!

The more kings they are, the more they look forward to challenging games deep down in their hearts. This is their motivation to move forward. The self-motivation may be a kind of fear deep in my heart. I am also scared to death on the court, and I am afraid to perform poorly.

But after all, Rijkaard is not one of Aldridge's most anticipated opponents in this era. The Barcelona he coaches is more like a product of the Dutch football philosophy. To put it bluntly, in fact, Rijkaard kept trying the strategy of playing cards with a good hand, and then found the best strategy, and then fixed it.

For all the admittedly beautiful and elegant Barcelona of this period, whose attacks were cloudy and ethereal, in the end, it was just as Rijkaard's heights in football represented: that's it.

Compared with the later Guardiola who was able to present the advantages on the football field to the world thoroughly and three-dimensionally, bringing subversive changes, and truly raising the football style to the level of substantive concepts, what is Rijkaard's style? It's just some popular modified definitions, which can also work on other coaches.

This is Barcelona. It is by no means unchanged for twenty years. Each period has different characteristics, and it is not really an inevitable qualitative change brought about by perseverance. (To be continued..)

...

... ()