The Young Lion

Bryan Robson led the team to Old Trafford. If there are Manchester United fans who have nothing to do at night and come here to watch an FA Cup semi-final, it must be supporting Middlesbrough, except that Robson was once Manchester United. In addition to the meritorious captain, it is no secret that Manchester United fans hate Millwall.

As the protagonists, Aldridge and Robson, when the two greeted each other before the game, the atmosphere was very harmonious. The two chatted for a while. Robson congratulated Millwall for winning the Premier League title and also prepared them for the European Cup Winners' Cup. Cheers to the finals.

Robson is one of the first head coaches who knew Aldridge. The opponents he knew earlier basically did not make it to the Premier League stage. Even in the League Cup and FA Cup, the probability of meeting is extremely low. can be ignored.

Aldridge accepted the blessing in a low-key manner, and then the two returned to the coach's bench. There was no difference between the host and the guest in a neutral position, but Middlesbrough still occupied the home team's locker room and the coach's bench. Care, no harm.

It is said that Middlesbrough struggled in the league, but they rushed to the semi-finals of the FA Cup, and they also participated in the League Cup final. Unfortunately, Robson lost to the rising star Martin O'Neill.

This phenomenon is not too strange. Cup games are a hotbed of upsets. It is normal for relegation teams to come to the League Cup and FA Cup finals. Even low-level teams winning the championship is nothing new.

The game started with the sound of the gong under the lights of the Theater of Dreams.

Millwall played very conservatively after the start. They relied on the interception ability of the midfielder to stop Middlesbrough's attack.

The midfield partnership of Juninho and Emerson is actually very reasonable and powerful. Juninho is known as the most creative midfielder in contemporary Brazil, and Emerson is a defensive midfielder. The division of labor between the two is reasonable. Clear thinking. Coupled with Ravanelli, the pulsating striker with good scoring efficiency, Middlesbrough's configuration is the envy of most teams in the Premier League.

Maybe they are eager for success, thinking that they can eat their opponents in one go with their strength. Their performance is much worse than people expected. At least in terms of strength on paper, Middlesbrough is definitely not the relegation favorite expected before the season.

In the semi-finals, the final is only one step away, and the championship trophy is only 180 minutes away. So this is definitely a crucial game.

Aldridge dispatched a lineup that surprised the experts in such an important game.

In fact, he is still training troops today, but not mainly training tactics.

It's about training the mentality of the team.

He let the veterans in the main lineup drive young players to adapt to the mentality of the big scene.

As a strong team, it should be mature and patient, and the pressure should not increase sharply because of the attention the game receives, and then the mentality will become unbalanced.

Let Nedved, Makelele, Southgate and other players come to hold the line and give it to Lampard. The mental support for players such as Mills to calmly face the game.

In this way, Millwall was not in a hurry to press forward after the opening. They did not deliberately pursue a fast pace. Even though Middlesbrough had the creative Juninho, facing Millwall, who had accumulated a lot of midfielders who could attack and defend well, their offensive formation was methodical. Cut, Juninho commanded the team to attack, but played without threat.

Millwall's offense relies on individual combat capabilities. Nedved, Phillips, and Shevchenko cooperate in the midfield. Lampard or Ballack take turns to plug in. Because of their outstanding personal abilities, a pair Not losing the wind for a while, Millwall invested less offensive troops, but had many opportunities, but luck was not very good, Phillips missed the goal with several shots.

Aldridge stood in front of the coach's bench and turned his head to communicate with Jenson. He was considering whether to let the players play long passes, but there was no offensive fulcrum ahead.

Just as he was hesitating, Millwall scored.

Middlesbrough couldn't attack for a long time and began to press aggressively. As a result, they were hit back and the city gate was declared lost.

That was when Ballack dribbled the ball through the middle during the counterattack. Nedved attracted Emerson's attention. Ballack drove straight in and gave the ball to Phillips until the penalty area. This demon knife immediately saw blood. .

After Aldrich saw the goal, he gave Jansen a wry smile.

There is no need to discuss it.

The game is good now.

This conceded goal is probably the epitome of Middlesbrough this season. They have very strong strength, but once their offense is blocked, their mentality becomes impatient, they press on regardless of the consequences, and then they are counterattacked by their opponents. In the Premier League , Their number of goals scored is seventh in the Premier League, but the number of goals conceded is the first in the Premier League. Even if their defense is a little better, I think they should not fall into the predicament of relegation.

Middlesbrough tried to stabilize the defense after conceding the ball.

But the ball has been conceded, so what else?

In particular, Millwall's game rhythm today is tepid, there is no obvious change, just patiently looking for the opponent's flaws, and then changing the situation locally through personal ability, which made Middlesbrough focus on defense and ended the first half Later, I regretted it too much, wasting more than 20 minutes in vain.

Aldridge praised the team's performance in the locker room. In this kind of knockout match, the training of mentality is more obvious, because in the league, if you are not in a hurry to attack, if the opponent is not in a hurry, then it is completely meaningless. There is still points to be gained in a tie, but knockout matches are completely different. The strong side can hold their breath more. It may not be meaningful to compete with weaker opponents, but this will become especially critical when competing with equal opponents.

In the stands of Old Trafford, more than 30,000 Millwall fans came here to cheer for the team today.

Their frantic enthusiasm completely overshadowed the worried Middlesbrough fans.

Opponent fans still have to worry about staying in the Premier League, while Millwall fans are more emotionally pure.

The Wild Lions are the defending champions of the FA Cup, and this season, fans believe that the next most important game is to step into the FA Cup final.

The day before, another FA Cup semi-final had come to an end, and a team got tickets to the final ahead of schedule.

It is Millwall's sworn enemy: Chelsea!

Because of this, Millwall fans roared in the stands to cheer for the team.

Get rid of Middlesbrough. Go to the final to kill Chelsea's championship dream!

second half. Aldridge replaces Shevchenko with Gronkshall. Gattuso replaces Makelele.

The formation remains the same, but the style of play is much simpler and rougher.

Because Middlesbrough must go all out to attack.

Aldridge stood on the sidelines with a dignified expression.

This time is a hurdle to test the team.

The removal of Makelele, a key figure in the defense, is undoubtedly a test of the team's defense.

Gattuso and Makelele are two completely different defensive players. Gattuso relies on his strong physique and running ability to sweep back and forth, but there is a big gap with Makelele in predicting the ball path in key areas In terms of defensive skills alone, Makelele is obviously better than him.

But Gattuso is more imposing. This intangible mental force, which overwhelms opponents aggressively, is also a key quality.

To Aldridge's satisfaction, Gattuso withstood the test, at least with the assistance of Lampard and Ballack, he completed the defensive task conscientiously and brilliantly on the court, but this was not enough, far from being able to play alone Going miles.

Middlesbrough attacked for 20 minutes but had no rules, and the non-threatening slam just made the ball fly into Millwall's penalty area repeatedly but was quickly thrown out.

Mills hoisted a long pass from the right to the frontcourt.

Phillips, who had already run out of space on the left side of the front court, stopped and looked up to the sky and sighed as soon as he started sprinting.

The pass was so outrageous that it went directly into the opponent's penalty area. The Middlesbrough defender stopped the ball and passed it to Juninho in front. The latter was impatient to attack and just turned around. But he didn't notice that Ballack came up, cut off the ball under his feet, and knocked his heel to Gattuso behind him without looking back. Gattuso didn't stop the ball and hit Lampard horizontally.

Lampard took a step, and then passed a long diagonal pass to the right. Glenshire sprinted from the side to the center. The moment he received the ball, he took the ball to the center. After heading towards the penalty area, he took a long shot.

boom!

The ball hit the crossbar and bounced back. Middlesbrough's defenders slammed on the brakes and turned to look outside the penalty area. Phillips appeared there strangely. Before the ball landed, he jumped up and shot in the air.

The ball flew across an inconspicuous arc and into Middlesbrough's goal, and the goalkeeper didn't respond.

World wave! Wonderful volley shot! This is Millwall's super substitute, remember his name, Kevin Phillips! This kick definitely has a chance to compete for the best goal of the year! Millwall's striker It's so enviable, Aldrich Hall should give Phillips more chances, look at his goal, is this a shot that an ordinary striker can hit?

Aldridge had clasped his hands and covered his mouth on the sidelines, but he felt very sorry for Glenciel's long-range shot hitting the crossbar just now.

But in the next second, Phillips' stunning volley shot caught his eyeballs.

Aldrich left his hands away from his mouth, keeping his mouth in an O-shape, and forgot to close it for a long time, as if he couldn't believe what he saw with his eyes.

While it wasn't a barb shot, it felt like a stunt in a football commercial.

Because the ball was first bounced off the crossbar by Glenshire, Phillips volleyed and shot without waiting for the ball to hit the ground. If there are no other players on the field, this can definitely be used as an advertisement, especially the shot. Afterwards, the flight trajectory of the ball directly rushed into the dead corner of the goal. Given him a thousand or ten thousand chances, he might not be able to achieve such a jaw-dropping effect!

The stands at Old Trafford were boiling, and the Wild Lions fans were jubilant up and down. Even the Middlesbrough fans started to applaud after seeing the wonderful goal.

Why don't you just keep him. Sometimes you need a player like him to make a few unpredictable shots.

The coaching staff also ran out to celebrate, and everyone talked about how wonderful the goal was just now.

Jensen made a suggestion to Aldridge.

Aldrich's expression changed from shock to a smile, and finally to a wry smile.

He also wants Phillips to stay. At the age of the opponent, his technical characteristics have already formed, but he needs games to maintain his form. If he can integrate into Millwall's core tactical system, Aldridge will give him at least 25 games this season. But he was still unable to integrate into the team. Just like the goal just now, it was not achieved by the cooperation of the players, but by his personal ability to seize the second offensive opportunity, and it was difficult to maintain a stable scoring rate.

The opponent wants to leave, and Aldridge doesn't want to block the opponent's future. After all, Aldridge can't bet every time he uses Phillips, the opponent will reward himself with unexpected goals.

After being scored the second goal, Middlesbrough was a little disheartened, and the players gradually lost their fighting spirit on the court.

Because Millwall didn't give them any hope of victory in the first 70 minutes of the game.

They just created a few very reluctant chances to complete the shot, no threat.

In the end, the score of the game was fixed at 2:0, and Aldridge led Millwall to the FA Cup final for two consecutive years.

Middlesbrough can also focus on relegation. (To be continued..) (m)