The Young Lion

Millwall hosts Coventry in the third round of the English Premier League.

For this game, Aldridge is determined to win.

The atmosphere on the scene is still hot, which makes the golden commentary partner of Sky TV also infected.

Hello everyone, Martin Taylor and Andy Gray will explain this round of the Premier League game again this weekend afternoon. Millwall, who has performed poorly from the pre-season warm-up match to the last round of the league, has encountered strength today. Not as good as their Coventry. In yesterday's press conference, Millwall coach Hall only said one sentence. It's just a warm-up match, what do you think of that, Andy?

The outside world thinks he is just talking hard, but I don't think so. Objectively speaking, he is adjusting the player's state. In the first few games, Millwall did not field the strongest lineup. This is a fact. For example, in the past two games In the league, the midfield partners are Lampard, Ballack and Gattuso. Their performance cannot be said to be bad, especially when the average age of the three is only 19 years old, they still played tenacious games. There are many highlights. , but lacks maturity and luck, so I am looking forward to today's game, after Pires and Thuram left, what kind of football Millwall can play today without two main players.

The players who played today are full of energy, and they are already gearing up for a big fight.

In the locker room before the game, Aldridge did a good job of boosting morale.

Millwall's clarion call for the Premier League title is officially sounded today, before the title is won. No one can relax, we have to tell the whole of England why we are called Wild Lions!

This makes the whole team full of one belief: victory!

The game started, Coventry and Millwall have the same points, but in the last round they got a draw at the home of the London Hammers, and they also want to tenaciously get points on the tiger falls Millwall .

But their wish soon came true.

Millwall's main line-up retains the framework of last season.

Neither Pires nor Thuram are irreplaceable roles, and their departure will not hurt Millwall.

Even, Shevchenko joined the striker and Schneider, who has a stronger assist ability, officially became the main right back. Millwall's offensive firepower has not decreased but increased. Especially when the role of Pirlo has not attracted widespread attention, Nedved is still considered to be the core of the frontcourt offensive playmaker, and his marking is the focus of all opponents, which gives Pirlo a lot of space .

have to say,

The last FA Cup eight-ball bloodbath against Liverpool last season was too important for Pirlo. It was a baptism and a key game for self-transformation. It gave him a huge confidence boost, and he began to show his talents steadily in the role of organizing midfielder.

Nedved drew fire for him in the frontcourt, Pirlo calmly dispatched in the back, Millwall's offense played extremely smoothly, and the offense from left to right has been challenging the nerves of Coventry's defense.

The offense flocked to Coventry's goal like a tide. Even if the offense was over, Coventry's counterattack would always lose the ball quickly. Millwall's defensive consistency and tactical execution are very high. The striker retreats and participates in the defense is not just a pretense. They effectively cut the opponent's offensive formation to form a siege. Once the defense is successful, they will switch from defense to offense. Immediately pushes forward quickly.

Millwall's offensive hierarchy is also very clear, and the lines are kept at an appropriate distance. Not only are the front-end offensive threats frequent, but they also firmly control the second offensive point, which makes their offensive often continuous.

Schneider and Shevchenko hit the wall and then dribbled the ball to the bottom. He made a precise cross and sent the ball to Trezeguet's head. Trezeguet headed the goal, the ball unfortunately bounced off the lower edge of the crossbar and bounced out on the ground.

The sighs of the audience were not over yet. Shevchenko, who entered the penalty area after playing with Schneider, just hit it. Facing the rebound ball, he jumped high and scored a header. He lay on the ground and did not get up. The goalkeeper was helpless.

The Ukrainian scored! It's his second goal of the season, the last time he scored a face-saving goal for Millwall against Middlesbrough, you can see that His new season is very good! He can score goals with his head and kicks. Millwall's young players are really enviable. Ferguson is looking for a super striker in the summer, and Hall sent Pires away in the summer, but he is not worried at all, because He has Shevchenko as a replacement, and it's obvious. Shevchenko is a better scorer in the box, a lad who doesn't look particularly strong is impressive.

After Shevchenko scored a goal, he hugged Trezeguet. Although he has been in Millwall for a year, he always feels that he is still a little young. It has nothing to do with his strength, but to show his own release. He scored a goal, but he didn't dare to celebrate, as if he was afraid of being blamed for his poor performance in the future.

Aldridge smiled and applauded on the sidelines. For putting Shevchenko on the right winger, Aldridge used him more to score goals than to create opportunities, because the right back has a good assist ability. Ned, while the left winger Larsson is more comprehensive, able to pass, shoot and rush, plus Capdevila's support and assists straight up and down, Larsson can better share Nedved's face The defensive pressure is also a disguised release of Nedved.

Coventry's offense can't be played because they can't control the ball. It's not that Millwall always plays with the ball and walks the monkey on the court, but Millwall's anti-grab defense is very good. For underdogs whose passes are not accurate enough, whether they are playing ground passes or high-altitude lobs, it is difficult to surpass Millwall's defensive barriers.

Thirteen minutes later, Nedved and Larsson completed a classic two-to-one cooperation on the left side of the penalty area. Larsson picked a pass from the penalty area. Nedved went forward and then shot the ball. The opponent's goalkeeper didn't respond, but the ball hit him in the chest, and the goalkeeper fell to the ground, but the ball that popped out was easily pushed into the empty goal by Trezeguet.

The opponent's goalkeeper got a kick in the chest, which was similar to playing a round of bouldering in the chest. He received nearly three minutes of treatment on the sidelines before he recovered. Then return to the field and the game continues.

In the 40th minute, Pirlo stepped forward to respond to Nedved's pass, unexpectedly came to the front of the penalty area, and then tore apart the opponent's defense with a wonderful through ball. Shevchenko successfully received the ball and crossed it against offside. Sen swept the ball into the goal from the back point.

It only took 40 minutes for the striker trident to complete all the goals.

In stoppage time in the first half, Pirlo took a corner kick and central defender Stam scored with a header. The score was fixed at 4:0 at work.

The fans were very excited to watch the first half. Millwall is back, and the crazy lion that is so fast and oppressive is back!

In the second half, Coventry retreated across the board in order to avoid a bloodbath with a bigger score, but Millwall's offensive was still wave after wave. Aldridge replaced two players in the 60th minute. Ballack replaced Pirlo and Ruud van Nistelrooy replaced Trezeguet.

In the remaining time, the whole Millwall team attacked the opponent's goal. In the 70th minute, Ballack scored the fifth goal of the field with an eye-popping world wave in response to Nedved's return to the penalty area.

Millwall's firepower was fully fired in this game, and the opponent was powerless to fight back.

Aldridge has sat down, he just applauds after every goal, to be honest. Playing Coventry, winning six or seven is not considered strength, it can only be said that the two teams are not at the same level.

Moreover, Millwall's current tactics are also advanced. Based on their more running, this is their advantage. How long can this advantage lead? Aldridge doesn't know, but at least one or two years will be fine, because it involves a conceptual issue, which can be achieved not only by the head coach, but also by the cooperation of the players.

Because Aldridge's team is young. Players will cooperate with many of his ideas. This is their common pursuit, and it is not unilaterally who has achieved who.

The new physical training introduced last season will be significantly more effective this season.

Coupled with the steady improvement of the players' personal skills, Aldridge firmly believes that this group of players can achieve unprecedented brilliance.

In the 83rd minute of the game, Nedved also responded to Van Nistelrooy's ball in the penalty area and volleyed the ball into the net. Millwall led by six goals!

Aldridge stood up and waved his arms in celebration, because the goal was so wonderful, it was the frontcourt offensive combination that tore through the opponent's defense through continuous passing transfers. Not many passes, eight kicks, but almost every kick is crucial, using the width of the field and space. The tacit understanding between the players played an important role.

After sitting down, Aldridge saw Benitez drawing Millwall's goal route in his notebook, he laughed: This kind of goal cannot be copied, and we don't practice these in training. The things we get are actually very simple, but because of the simplicity, in actual combat, on the ever-changing court, all kinds of wonderful goals can be bred.

Benitez raised his eyebrows and sighed a little bored.

Aldrich began to wander, thinking about something more mundane: money.

Millwall received almost 8 million pounds in TV broadcast revenue last season, which is related to their wins in both cups, of which the Premier League broadcast revenue accounted for about 70%.

This season will be a little more than last season. It sounds like it’s only five or six million pounds. In fact, according to the current Premier League broadcast contract, the average club is only about three million pounds. Of course, this is an average distribution. However, the Premier League share is not based on the principle of equal distribution, but part of it is evenly distributed. Because of the large number of live broadcasts and the high ranking of the league, Millwall has received broadcast revenue second only to Manchester United and Liverpool. Although Arsenal are not ranked low, they There are too few live broadcasts, and they still haven't shaken off the shadow of dull football. For that kind of game, the fans in the stands are drowsy, let alone the audience in front of the TV.

If it comes to next season, the broadcasting contract of the Premier League will be greatly improved. At that time, only by the standards of last season, Millwall can easily break through tens of millions of pounds in Premier League broadcasting revenue. Therefore, next summer, Aldridge plans to Renew the contract and raise the salary of the players in the team. I hope that the players will not want to leave by then. He may not be able to get the top salary in the Premier League, but he will not be stingy with the salary that meets their worth.

In the future, after the new millennium, the broadcast income will increase even more. It is not a problem for a wealthy team to earn more than 30 to 40 million pounds per season, plus the Champions League, domestic cups, and tournament bonuses. Part of the income, for a giant like Manchester United, is hundreds of millions of pounds in their pockets, and this is less than half of their operating income.

Aldridge cannot operate with debt like Manchester United, although it is the responsibility of the Glazer family, but after more than ten years, Chelsea owes more than 700 million pounds, Arsenal owes 400 million pounds, and Liverpool owes more than 200 million pounds. Wall can't afford it at all. Some of them don't care, and some of them can earn and spend.

There is no doubt that Millwall must take the road of commercial promotion and globalization.

In terms of the concept of team building, Aldridge does not intend to always only do short-term plans for three years like other teams, investing a lot of money to buy stars who can fight. What he wants to build is Millwall's hematopoietic function. This is undoubtedly very difficult, but he does not have the financial resources of Abramovich or the royal family of Abu Dhabi, and he does not plan to go public in the United States to raise funds like Manchester United.