The Young Lion

Thanks to zdh216 for the reward!

Benitez drank beer to relieve his sorrows, and he didn't get drunk. He seemed to be complaining but also from the bottom of his heart. He said in a deep voice, I really envy you.

Aldrich raised his legs and said, What is there to envy? I coach the team like walking on eggshells, and I worry about it every day.

Tell me about your team building process. After I was fired, I watched the game video at home for a month. I wanted to find out the reason for my failure, but I couldn't find an answer to convince myself.

In the field of coaching, those who have the potential to become excellent coaches must have a tenacity in their hearts that will not admit defeat.

Aldridge got up and went to get a few more bottles of beer and put them on the tea table. He said sadly: The only advantage I have over you is that when I took over the team, I had the power to tear down the team and rebuild it. At that time, Millwall It is a top six team in the League One, and there are many capable players in the team, but I can only let them go, because they will not listen to me, and the way of thinking about playing football cannot be changed in the short term, so, I Cleaned up the team and bought the players I wanted, no, the best players I could buy.

Benitez raised his hand to interrupt him, and said confusedly: What do you mean? I watched the live broadcast of Millwall's game. Your players are great. Why, aren't they what you want?

Aldrich shook his head and said: No, I can only say that I choose the best under limited conditions. Look at the players on my team. Where did they come from before? Larsson was dug from the Netherlands. Trezeguet was brought back from Argentina, Schneider was from the Bundesliga team, Nedved was from Eastern Europe. Stam was from the underdogs of the Netherlands. In the main lineup, Thuram, Southgate, Marc Lele, Pires, plus Larson, these people spent almost 10 million pounds! Two years ago, Fleet Street laughed at me as a foolish upstart, but I want to dig Ajak The main force of Stanley, to dig out the good players of the Italian team. To dig out the stars who have become popular in Ligue 1, not to mention whether the club is sold or not, how many players would be willing to come to Millwall? That’s it, if it wasn’t for me in the contract. Few players have signed an automatic termination clause for failure to upgrade, and they may not come! At first they came here to seek gold! I paid them several times or even dozens of times their original salary.

Benitez couldn't turn his head around. Nervously asked: But obviously you made money, how much is Larson worth now? How much is Nedved worth?

Aldrich shook his head and smiled wryly: You can't do that. Let me give you a simple example. In 1992, George Weah transferred to Paris Saint-Germain. How much was he worth? 5 million US dollars. How much did I pay for Thuram in 1994? ? £3 million! And Weah is a striker and Thuram is a defender. If it were you, you must think I’m out of my mind! I spent more than one million pounds on Pires, do you think the owner of the opposing club would Wouldn’t you feel bad? Makelele and I also spent more than two million pounds, and he was a full-back in the team at the time.”

Benitez was taken aback,

In this era, the value of offensive players is obviously much higher than that of defensive players. Even in Italy, which is famous for its defense, defensive players can at most close the gap with offensive players.

Zidane, who will be transferred to Juventus in the summer of 1996, how much is the transfer worth? 3 million euros, of course. There was no euro at this time, and it was converted from the exchange rate, but this value was also related to the player's contract period.

Although the current Ligue 1 has a higher status in European football than later generations, it is not the center of European football.

Aldridge's difficulty in buying players is obvious, and high salaries and high prices have dug out several mainstays. Then others are the introduction of undiscovered talents from second-tier or even third-tier European leagues.

Benitez figured it out and said, In this way, it will be very easy for you to build a team.

Aldridge snorted, waved to him and then got up and went upstairs, Benitez put down the bottle and followed behind him.

On the second floor, there is a room where Aldridge studies his own team. The shelves in the room are full of videotapes, all of which are the team's games and training videos.

He pointed to a row of videotapes on the shelf and said: When you watch all the videotapes of Millwall last season in order, and then watch the videotapes of this season in order, you will know what my process of building the team is like. gone.

Benitez is very interested in the video tape, and he started to play the video tape while sitting on the single sofa. Moreover, he did not treat himself as an outsider, picked up a notebook and a pen from the desk next to him, and started watching the video. Write and draw in a notebook.

The video lasted more than 90 minutes. When he fast-forwarded and slowed down deliberately, Aldridge was by his side.

In the middle of the night, after watching the first ten games of Millwall last season, Benitez turned his head and said to Aldridge: Is your team's tactics too monotonous at the beginning?

Aldridge shrugged and said, What do you think? After buying players, you can make them perfect directly? These players are like a mess when they first arrive in the team. You have to water, blend, and shape the players you want step by step. Sand doesn’t make sandcastles by itself.”

Only then did Benitez understand what Aldridge meant by walking on thin ice.

The team needs a shaping process at the beginning, and there is also a question of order, whether to start with offense or defense. There is no absolute difference between the two, but both require patience and skills. Aldridge just chose Start with the defense first, and some coaches can start to adjust the team's offense, and then gradually make up for the defense in the process of overwhelming momentum, and finally achieve a balance between offense and defense. The two lead to the same goal.

Aldridge's team is young, and the heavy blow of failure is unbearable, so he can only start from defense.

I went to bed.

Aldridge said hello and turned to leave. Benitez just nodded, and then continued to watch the video. For coaches like them who study tactics, once they start studying the game video, they will enter a crazy situation. state, often do not feel the passage of time, and only stop when the mind is exhausted and the brain is blank. Benitez is now in a state of high spirits. He wants to study the secret of Millwall's success, so even if it is late at night, he does not intend to rest.

Aldridge only thought he was on vacation and he still had a job. If you don't greet well, you can't greet well, anyway, he is going to sleep by himself.

The next day, when Aldridge went out, Benitez sat on the sofa in the studio and fell asleep. Aldridge ignored him and went back to the team to preside over the training.

Because the club also issued a ticket to the fans who caused the accident. This has made the relationship between Millwall and the fans very tense these days.

Fans were divided into two factions, one side was the demonstration led by extreme fans, and the other was the group of fans led by Brady's lion roar, who held banners outside the training ground.

One side reads Aldrich you failed us!

On the other side it reads Always support Wild Lion!

It seems that the two do not match, and there is no meaning of confrontation, but Aldridge is the club owner after all. Lion's Roar's declaration can be regarded as cheering for Aldrich.

The atmosphere outside the training ground made the players a little distracted, after all, the noise outside the field is very annoying.

However, in the next few days, the extreme fans who caused trouble in East London were taken away by the police for investigation. Before the arrival of the weekend league, the voices of the opponents became weaker and weaker, because the leaders among them all entered the police station.

The Lions Den was packed, as Millwall's stadium was originally small. With the sudden increase in the team's reputation, the stands are full, and neutral fans can't buy tickets if they want to watch the game.

In the penultimate fifth round of the league, Millwall played against Aston Villa at home.

This is the third time the two teams have met this season.

Once in the league and once in the League Cup final, Millwall's record was one draw and one win.

Aldridge sat in the box and watched the game with his father, and Benitez also appeared beside him to watch the game.

When Aldridge heard the commentary reporting Aston Villa's roster and formation on the TV in the box, he suddenly felt speechless.

His heart was full of gloom, and he originally planned to send a substitute to play this game, but yesterday the locker room collectively asked for the main force to play. The players naturally wanted to hit the league championship. Facing the players who were united as one, Aldridge could not go against their collective will and could only choose to compromise.

Aston Villa is currently ranked fifth in the Premier League, although from the traditional ranking point of view. Only by breaking into the top four can they hope to enter the European competition next season, but the FA Cup semi-final list is released. In addition to Manchester United and Millwall, the other semi-finals are Liverpool and Nottingham Forest, unless Nottingham Forest can finally Holding the cup, otherwise, the top four teams will get a ticket to the European Cup Winners Cup, then the fifth in the league will get a ticket to the UEFA Cup.

There is little hope of getting into the top four, because the first group is Newcastle United, Manchester United, Millwall, Liverpool is left behind by the top three, but Liverpool can open the gap behind the teams by six points, so, The race for fifth place in the league was fierce.

In addition to Aston Villa, which temporarily ranks fifth, there are Arsenal, Everton, Blackburn, Tottenham, and Nottingham Forest. The smallest gap between them is equal points, and the largest is four points. In five rounds, everyone has hope to get the fifth place.

Because of such a cruel situation where every point counts, Brian Little, following the 532 defensive formation in the League Cup final, is more thorough today as a guest at the Lion's Den Stadium, with a 541 formation.

The attitude is obvious: I just want one point!

The game turned into a half-time drill, with Millwall unable to do anything against Aston Villa's impenetrable walls, especially when the opponent strengthened a midfielder.

Benitez saw that Millwall's attack could not go in, turned his head and said to Aldridge: The opponent's formation should be 5131. If it is more detailed, it is 14131.

Aldridge nodded, Aston Villa was really determined to have a draw.

In addition to Simeka dragging the central defender, midfielder Taylor also played a role similar to that behind the three midfielders, except that he was a defensive midfielder sweeping back and forth, and the three midfielders were originally defensive. Basically, Aston Villa's defensive system has really become a strong fortress with double insurance inside and outside.

Millwall's offense was only smooth on the periphery, but when it came to the dangerous area, it was submerged in the dense defense and it was difficult for the village to enter.

How?

It can only depend on luck. Millwall's tactical system this season is a bit difficult to face dense defense. The wing is strong and the center is a bit weak. Next season I will make the wing as strong as the center.

Aldridge is a little helpless, this is a problem with the tactical system, just like Arsenal playing 532, if they face dense defense, most of them will be a dull 0:0.

Millwall's current 442 is strong on the wing, but only depends on Nedved in the middle, which is difficult for some strongmen. He doesn't have much room to play when he is constantly marked by the opponent.

In the end, the game was fixed at a score of 0:0.

In the whole game, Aston Villa had zero shots, and Millwall had 17 shots and only 5 hit the target.

Aston Villa and Millwall have one point each.

Originally thought that Millwall's championship was over, but the news from the other side was unbelievable.

Newcastle United drew with Leeds United, and Manchester United lost away to Southampton.

Millwall still maintained a three-point gap with Newcastle United, but tied with Manchester United, relying on the advantage of more goal difference than the opponent to climb to second place in the standings. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to the starting point to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my biggest motivation. Mobile phone users, please go to read.) 9 (m)