The Young Lion

After the international break, Aldridge was thankful that the players returned to the team intact.

Only three days away from the weekend league, Aldridge and his coaching staff were waiting for the players on the training ground early.

Benitez, Jansen, and Babu stood beside Aldrich, and the four of them formed a circle discussing something with serious expressions.

After changing their jerseys and coming out of the locker room, the players got together to discuss the grouping situation of the Champions Cup.

They are full of longing for the Champions League, which can be heard from their speech.

When the players assembled, Aldridge first reprimanded them with a straight face.

You seem to have forgotten that we have an important league game to be held in three days! I understand your feelings very well. I am also very excited that the highest level of the club's intercontinental competition is about to usher in life, but you must not forget your identities. You are Defending champions of the Premier League, we are now tenth in the league! Shocking tenth! Liverpool have successfully scarred us, Wimbledon and Leicester City have also got what they want from us As a result, this weekend, we are a guest at Stamford Bridge, do you want to give a weekend gift to your rival? Forget about the Champions League and go all out to prepare for the weekend league!

When the players heard Aldridge's stern warning, they unanimously put away their relaxed expressions and faced the next training seriously.

When the players were doing warm-up exercises, the coaches did not participate, and Aldridge was still discussing with the coaching staff the focus of tactical training for the next period of time.

Originally, there was the first round of the Champions League group stage in a week, and the main players returned from the national team. Aldridge should implement the rotation plan to face the weekend league.

But the situation in the Premier League standings forced him to send the strongest lineup to face the derby with Chelsea.

The league has gone three rounds without a win. This decline must be stopped immediately. Especially after the start of the Chelsea league, the momentum is very fierce. It is also necessary to suppress the upward trend of the sworn enemy.

The only positive factor is probably that Millwall played at home in the first round of the Champions League, and the game was held in London, which minimized the disadvantages caused by continuous combat.

After the players warmed up, Aldridge called six players to his side, and Benitez called eight players to his side.

Ballack, Schneider, Nedved, Larsson. Trezeguet, Shevchenko and six players stood in front of Aldridge in a fan shape.

Aldrich held the tactical book and said to them: Listen carefully to my next words,

If you cannot understand what I am asking of you, then our team cannot continue to improve.

The six nodded solemnly.

Millwall is in trouble, and the whole of the Premier League knows it.

No matter how many people watched or secretly laughed at them, there are still many people who are still looking forward to how Millwall will break the predicament of the new season.

How to break the dense defense?

Liverpool, Wimbledon, Leicester City have managed to taste the sweetness of Millwall, but this is not the mainstream of the Premier League.

In addition to Liverpool's very thorough defensive counterattack against Millwall. Playing other teams is still aggressive, and so are other teams.

so. Fleet Street is not worried that this unhealthy trend of defensive counterattack will become the main theme of the Premier League.

Because of Millwall's outrageous strength, last season's firepower was full of fire in the Premier League. This bloody storm made other teams in the Premier League shudder. Therefore, only when facing Millwall, most teams in order to avoid losing , put on a negative posture that does not want to win.

This is a critical period for Millwall. Once the current decline cannot be reversed, and if they are helpless in the face of dense defense, it is likely that other teams will continue to implement this tactical thinking, then Millwall will become the leader of the Premier League. Laughing stock: It's good to play well, but you still can't win the ball!

Aldrich knew in his heart that only once, twice, three times in a row, those teams that played the ultimate anti-counterattack tactics finally lost, would they get rid of the current situation.

When the opponent feels that passive defense can't even get a draw, the tactical thinking will return to the original point: I still play my own style and fight hard, and I can't get points just by being beaten, what is the picture of playing football!

Aldridge showed six players his tactical board, which was clearly marked with the offensive player's running route, passing route, dotted line and solid line.

This is the team tactic we have built in the past three years. It was a great success last season. From the point of view of passing and running, we are advancing layers and interlocking. The simplest description is: the backcourt players give the ball to the The midfielder, the midfielder passes to the frontcourt players, and after other players move up, use the width of the pitch and the lateral transfer of the ball to tear up the opponent's space, and then the scorer seizes the opportunity to threaten the opponent's goal.

The six players listened very carefully. Even though they didn't have a deep understanding of tactics when they first came to the team, they may not be able to describe the essence of the tactics they executed after day after day of training and competition. , but he knows how to play football with his eyes closed.

In the past, our attacking players in the midfield ran laterally to tear up the space, such as David, he ran laterally in front of the defenders to attract the defensive attention, which gave Andre and Henrik a sudden inside threat. The opportunity of the goal, but now, our opponents often deploy heavy troops within the first 40 yards of the penalty area. They use the number of defenders to make up for the defensive gaps that may be exposed. This requires changes in the movement of our offensive players, and There is more tacit understanding, and the requirements for game reading ability are also higher. Maybe one or two players used to create opportunities by running positions, but now three, four, and five players are required to run together to create opportunities for their teammates to score goals.

After Aldridge finished speaking, he turned over the next page of the tactical board and showed them the new tactical training that started today.

The movement of players is complicated, and simply relying on a fixed and rigid route will not have much effect. Aldridge often creates various environments for players to try, and then mentions it from the sidelines. Today's tactical board. The schematic diagram of the running route is also very simple. But the real difficulty is to form a tacit understanding in actual combat.

We need to strengthen the deep tearing of the frontcourt. The opponent uses two or three defensive lines to strengthen the lateral interception, but I don't think their midfielders can form a perfect combination with the defenders. They will have an instant change of position when marking. , man-marking loopholes can also be exposed between role transitions.”

Aldridge explained the key points of tactics to the players and let them communicate with each other.

There is no change in the general direction of the tactics, but the changes in the details require the players to have a deeper understanding and have higher requirements for their cooperation.

when training starts. Aldridge let them play half-court offense and defense.

The attacking side is the six-man team he ordered by ear.

Benitez made the other eight players form two shrinking defenses.

In addition to the goalkeeper, defenders Mills, Herguera, Southgate, Zambrotta, plus four midfielders: Gattuso, Makelele, Glenshire, Duff.

When practice began, Aldridge stood on the sidelines to observe the offense's performance.

They still played the old tactical routine of tearing horizontally at the beginning. Under the reminder of Aldridge's constant shouting, the offensive team gradually found its status. The performance has improved little by little. They have been playing football together for more than two years. The tacit understanding between two or three people has long been formed, but now they are required to have four or five people, five or six people in one attack. Form a team tacit understanding, interlocking, without anyone.

And this is not the best tactic in Aldridge's ideal, Millwall still lacks one element.

A super player who can tear through the opponent's defense from point to point!

Larson is the perfect finisher, Shevchenko can pass and shoot, and Trezeguet is top-notch in terms of pull and impact. However, none of the three on the front line has the ability to change the situation of the battle by themselves.

In Aldridge’s plan, the team will have the last element of a world-class team after two seasons at the earliest, and the contributor of that element is the Brazilian who is working hard to collect goals and assists in the reserve team: Ronald Dinho.

This is still the fastest time, because the team has to wait for Ronaldinho to grow up, wait for him to gain a firm foothold in the Premier League, wait for him to feel like a fish in water, and wait for him to transform into a green magician.

Even if the opponents in the past were afraid of Millwall, at most they only defended with eight players in the backcourt, and then two people looked for opportunities in front, but this season, the opponents they encountered in three consecutive rounds were all defended by nine players in the second half. People are harassing in front, and fighting back is almost a gamble on luck.

Under such circumstances, the lack of Millwall's personal breakthrough ability is fully exposed.

Aldridge did not complain. Under the current conditions, he will strive to do his best and maximize the integrity of Millwall's team football.

Three days later, the London derby struck.

Aldridge was suspended, so he didn't even go to the pre-match press conference. Benitez came forward for him, but the scene was deserted. Fleet Street didn't want to waste time on the Spanish fat man.

The East London derby has definitely disappeared in this season's league, and it is still unknown when West Ham United will climb back to the Premier League. Footprints have accumulated strength, making the Blues a force to be reckoned with in London and even the Premier League.

Millwall has proved himself with the championship, and the Blues have accumulated a lot of money, and they are only short of trophies to declare their rise.

This is not only a derby battle between rivals in London, but also a focus battle between two Premier League upstarts.

Chelsea has played a lot of beautiful tough battles in the past two seasons, overturning teams such as Manchester United and Liverpool, and making them praise giant killers. Although they are not the favorites for the league championship in the new season, they are no problem as spoilers.

Aldridge appeared in the box at Stamford Bridge, and beside him was Ivan. The handsome man and the beautiful woman appeared in the live broadcast camera calmly, and the two looked down on the stadium like solemn gods.

In the stands of Stamford Bridge, fans of the Blues Chelsea played an arrogant banner.

Millwall, who is the leader now? Where is the wild lion?

Since Millwall entered the Premier League, he has never been ranked behind the London team after five rounds in the new season, but after five rounds this season, Millwall ranked tenth in the league, and Chelsea unexpectedly topped the list!

The Millwall fans stood with their arms folded in the visiting stands, scoffing at the outrageous taunts from the Chelsea fans.

Brady directly commanded the Lion Roar members to act immediately. Today's Lion Roar fan organization is the most influential fan group in Millwall, especially their behavior in the stands can not only encourage the players, but also cheer with the opposing fans. Don't fall behind.

Soon, the Roar members in the stands adjusted their positions spontaneously, and then Brady waved his hand, and five rows of members turned around. The striking English letters on their backs formed a declaration in response to Chelsea.

champion

Chelsea: 4

Millwall: 5

Someone has been waiting for twenty-six years

Someone just had a party four months ago

This demonstration slogan consisting of a word or number or punctuation mark behind each fan quickly attracted the attention of the live camera.

At the same time, Brady pulled up a large number of comrades and sang in unison: Hey, Chelsea, look over here, look over here, and answer our question: who has been waiting for twenty-six years, who watched the mad lion win the FA at Wembley Cup, who lost all the Premier League records to the Wild Lions? Chelsea, Chelsea, answer me, answer me, or you all just cry and cry...

Some of Chelsea's most diehard fans watched the Lions fight back, some gritted their teeth, some remembered the fiasco at Wembley a few months ago, the closest they had come to a trophy in recent years, but, revisiting old dreams His hopes were severely shattered by the Wild Lion.

Hateful Millwall, obviously winless for three consecutive rounds, obviously our Chelsea ranked first in the league standings with four wins and one loss.

Why are you crazy?

Why? (to be continued..) ()