The Young Lion

Thanks to I am Yuanye and 158386756 for the reward!

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As the defending champion of the Premier League, Millwall's summer signings naturally received widespread attention.

But judging from the signing process announced by the club, the Wild Lions fans are numb.

We are really Wang Xiaoer celebrating the new year: every year is not as good as every year!

Thinking back to how glorious it was when Aldridge first took charge of the team, the League One team became the team with the highest transfer expenditure in England that summer, spending more than 10 million pounds, which was very encouraging.

But in the next two years, they will either only buy two or three people, or simply buy zero investment in the transfer market. Seeing that this year, as the defending champion, the finances are also abundant. After all, the new Premier League broadcast contract has greatly increased, and the team will play in the Champions League. , The money is rolling in, not to mention Stam and Phillips contributed a huge sum of 18 million pounds to the club after they left the team.

No one thought that Millwall, who is not rich, actually spent less than 3 million pounds on the transfer of the first team in the summer!

Duff of 2 million, Gudjohnsen is free, Van der Meyde is free, and Klose is 100,000 pounds.

If Aldridge is newly appointed to take over this team, he must be scolded bloody by the fans.

However, everyone seems to be used to this way of life. During the media street interviews, the fans reacted lightly to this. They were neither disappointed nor satisfied with the club's signing work.

At the press conference, the reporters chased after Aldridge. Want to request more news materials.

Richard of the Daily Mail asked bluntly: Will Millwall bring in players next?

In fact, Millwall introduced a lot of players in the summer. But they all report to the youth team. This kind of signings, Fleet Street does not pay attention at all. The teams all over England will supplement the youth teams in the summer. There are too many young faces coming and going. Who is interested in caring about these children? Unless it is a young player who performed exceptionally well in the Youth League and the FA Youth Cup that season, he will additionally appear on the news pages of mainstream newspapers.

Aldridge leaned on his chair and said calmly: Millwall's transfer door for this season has been officially closed, no players will leave, and no more first-team players will be brought in.

The reporters immediately looked at each other in blank dismay.

They are all anxious for Millwall!

Richard said with a hint of worry: Compared to the investment of other strong teams in the Premier League in the summer.

Isn't Millwall worried about competitiveness in the new season? To be honest, Millwall's investment is not even comparable to that of other strong teams.

Facing this question, Aldrich fell into silence for a while.

In addition to the introduction of Stam in the summer, Manchester United also introduced Sheringham, and the transfer market invested about 20 million pounds.

Liverpool's lineup is already strong enough, and they spent five million pounds on repairs to introduce five players, Friedel, Dundee, and Riddell. The transfer fee of 150,000 pounds for free Staunton and Gudnasson is not worth mentioning.

The most eye-catching is the London team, each spending money like water.

Tottenham have introduced Roman - Vega. David Ginola, Les Ferdinand, Jose Dominguez, just took away the two main players from Newcastle United cost 8 million pounds, plus two other players, Tottenham's summer investment is close £15 million.

Tottenham's rival Arsenal, Wenger has great expectations for his first full coaching season. In the summer transfer market, Arsenal's board of directors also gave generously, except for the transfer of several young players under one million pounds. , Wenger brought Emmanuel Petit from Monaco, the Ligue 1 champions last season, and Luis Boamot from Lisbon. Ajax brought Peter Pan Overmars to Highbury, worth 7 million pounds, and Arsenal have spent more than 13 million pounds so far in the summer.

Millwall's arch-rival Chelsea, Betts continued the signing policy of excessive borrowing and investing in the transfer market. In addition to the transfer of less than one million pounds, Chelsea brought back a young defender Baba Yaluo from Belgium. Huye, French defender Rambod, attracted Poyet with a high salary in free transfer, and used the Bosman Law to introduce Norwegian high center Flo at a super low price of 300,000 pounds. The most important transfer was their transfer from Blackburn. Bought back Le Saux, who left four years ago. When he left that year, the transfer fee of Le Saux was 700,000. Four years later, Chelsea bought it back for 7 million. Chelsea invested about 14 million pounds in the summer.

None of these three clubs can make up for half of the investment in the transfer market. Among them, Chelsea and Arsenal have invested more than 10 million pounds in the transfer market for two consecutive years. They urgently need team records to increase team income.

Unknowingly, one of Arsenal and Chelsea has the capital to regain its glory, and the other has accumulated strength bit by bit and embarked on the road to rise.

The reason for Aldrich's silence is that he has a clear understanding of reality.

Other teams have become stronger, is Millwall standing still?

Of course not, just look at the main lineup. Although Millwall has left Stam, other players are still growing and improving in terms of experience, technology, teamwork, etc. Millwall's starting 11 should be better than last season. Strong, because they have experienced the baptism of champions.

But a team is not only composed of 11 starters, but also needs to have a substitute who can play and fight.

Millwall is lacking in this regard, and Aldridge admitted in his heart that if players like Van der Meyde and Duff are sent to play, their expectations must be very low. Most of them are mainly training, rather than performance requirements. Add pressure to them, and the surprise effect is basically zero.

Sighing, Aldridge spread his hands and said: So, you all think that Millwall's signing work is not good, so please do me a favor, I have 10 million pounds here, you tell me, I should buy it Who? I hope this is a professional discussion and not some nonsense that adds to the fun. You name some of the names that come to Millwall to make my team stronger. Or. These players can quickly integrate into Millwall tactical system.

When asked by Aldrich, the reporters were immediately speechless.

Everyone looked pensive, and if they thought about it carefully, maybe they really did what Aldridge said. It wasn't that they didn't have money to buy people, but that they had become famous stars, and it might not be easy for them to buy them.

In Millwall's tactical system, many roles are elusive.

The organizational function of the front waist has been greatly weakened. A winger is not like a winger, and a center forward does not stand up. Although full-back assists are not new, how can a full-back who can attack and defend be so easy to find?

If you want to say which link is the weakest, it must be the goalkeeper.

But Bout is still young and his performance is stable.

You can only say that he can't make more world-class saves, but he is more stable than his predecessor Keller, and he can surprise you occasionally, which is already very good. The Premier League does not have a Golden Glove award yet, but Bout beat Schmeichel last season. Seaman, James and other well-recognized excellent goalkeepers have become the best goalkeepers in the Premier League, and his strength is also affirmed, but he is not so famous, which leads to the impression that he is not particularly strong.

The reporters couldn't answer Aldridge's questions.

Blame Millwall for bad signings, but they can't give particularly good advice.

Most of them have a strange feeling that even if Overmars is given to Millwall, Overmars has stronger personal strength, but he seems unable to replace Shevchenko's winger position, even if Ronaldo, who is the most popular in the limelight, is brought Replacing Trezeguet, you also feel as if Millwall will not necessarily be stronger.

This is the problem of the combination of the player's style of play and the team's technical and tactical system. It has nothing to do with the level of the player's strength. It is a problem of the overall integrity of the puzzle.

Because Millwall's tactical philosophy is unique, Aldridge's team style is very different from the mainstream, which directly leads to the players he needs to be very special in terms of ability requirements.

Like Overmars, is he strong? Aldridge would say: very strong!

But even if Aldridge was given an Overmars for free, he would think it was a hot potato.

How long will it take to change his habit of taking the ball to the bottom? How long does it take for him to integrate into the tactical system, passing the ball instead of dribbling too much? And in the winger position, let him train the ability to outflank and grab points closer to the goal.

Half a season, a season? or longer?

Aldridge doesn't know, especially if this player is already a star.

It's like sending out a good person card in a relationship: you are excellent, but we are not suitable.

Because of this, Aldridge also has a headache. He can't find a substitute who can fight, so he can only give young players more opportunities. Anyway, buying other seemingly capable players also requires a long time to adapt and integrate. .

Therefore, he basically does not consider players over the age of 23, because after the age of 23, most players can no longer make greater changes in their technical ability and playing habits. Increased awareness.

These reporters finally got up and left with a frown.

Each of them seemed to be heavy-hearted, and they were all thinking about the same problem.

Is Millwall really weird?

Is there really no famous star outside who can play for them?

How special is the tactical system created by Aldrich...

The four rookies were all dumbfounded. This was really an unforgettable press conference for them.

Our head coach directly confused the reporters.

Although this was not a fierce verbal confrontation like a war of words among scholars, these reporters came happily and left with heavy hearts, as if they had undergone a baptism of thought. A little plump.

The next day, Leo training base.

After the expansion, there is a brand new building here, which is almost double the size of the training hotel they stayed in in the past three years.

First-team members came out of the building in their training jerseys, talking and laughing.

Aldridge chatted with several coaches on the sidelines.

Meulensteen and Moniz were very excited today. After returning from their vacation in the Netherlands, they found that there were so many good seedlings in the club, which made them go crazy with excitement.

For example, Vicente's speed and foot skills are already outstanding at the age of 16, and the coaches know that he is a talent at a glance.

This is enough for Meulenstin and Moniz to be busy. The former is the technical director and the latter is the technical coach. They have to formulate different training plans according to the characteristics of the players. Therefore, after chatting with Aldridge for a while, the two You have to go to the youth team to observe the players, and after a period of observation, you can study the corresponding technical training plan.

Hey, wait a minute, come over here first, there are still four players here that you need to focus on training.

Mullenstin turned around and smiled after trotting halfway, Okay, we'll come back later.

After finishing speaking, he and Moniz ran to the youth team again... (To be continued..) ()