The Young Lion

Thanks to Thieves and m4—a1 for their rewards!

------------------------

In the same round, Manchester United defeated Everton 2-0 at home. Ferguson should thank Arsenal and successfully sniped the defending champion. In this way, Manchester United opened up the gap with Millwall by 9 points. Although Arsenal Winning, but still 10 points away from Manchester United, we have witnessed such a situation at this time last year, just swapped positions between Manchester United and Millwall, and the point gap between the two teams at that time made the second place even more desperate 16 points. I hope Millwall can adjust his state quickly, otherwise Millwall will directly watch Manchester United on the championship podium at home in the last round of the Premier League. Hall once said that if possible, he Will make the team line up to welcome the opponent who is crowned champion early, but I think he will definitely do his best to avoid this possible scene.

After the loss, Aldridge took the initiative to go to Wenger to shake hands. At this time, he probably understood Wenger’s previous mood. After shaking hands, he didn’t say anything more. He didn’t leave in a hurry, but went to the field to talk to every player. Shaking hands and communicating, some players were depressed, their moods fell to the bottom, and they were unwilling to talk more. Aldridge patted their shoulders to encourage them, and the last one walked into the player tunnel.

The post-match press conference was full of turmoil. Although there was no deliberate finding of faults, many problems were still very acute.

Aldridge was fierce in his defense of the players, especially Ballack.

He denied that Lampard would perform better than Ballack if he played, but it is a fact that the German did not perform well in this game. The reversed goal also came from his mistake in the counterattack and was caught by Vieira. Chance hit another wave of counterattack. Let Millwall lose even a draw.

The state of Capdevila after his return from injury is also worrying. The problem of the thickness of Millwall's lineup was completely exposed. Aldridge tried to interpret the team's problems with a normal mentality. He believed that losing is normal. No team can lose. Especially under such a tight schedule, if the team is not in good condition, then it is necessary to prescribe the right medicine. After adjustment, the team will get back on track, which will take some time. Unless it's an unstoppable downward trend, that's the big problem.

Just before losing to Manchester United and Arsenal, Millwall remained unbeaten for several consecutive rounds and performed very well, but the outside world will not give tolerance, Millwall's brilliance last season. They have become the target of public criticism. For this kind of team on the cusp of the storm, many people have a mentality of watching a good show. They don’t want to see Millwall continue to be brilliant, and they are tired of Millwall’s continued success. They just want to watch defending. The champion stumbled, and watched this team fall to the bottom. That's exciting.

The next two weeks will be cup time, and Millwall will play two consecutive cup games, one in the FA Cup and one in the League Cup semi-final against Middlesbrough in the first leg.

Aldridge called a coaching meeting after returning to the club.

There was a moment during the Arsenal game where he reflected.

Because Arsenal are based on defense and do not give their opponents room to attack. Originally, they often encountered this situation in the first half of the season.

Placing the bus is the situation they have encountered the most in the past few months, but they shrink the half court when there are many opponents. When Millwall broke through the wasteland and attacked, the opponents counterattacked with only one or two, two or three.

But Arsenal's counterattack is another way of playing, it is an organized and planned counterattack, and Aldridge has reflected on the reason. From such an Arsenal, it was the original Millwall.

In League One and the first year after being promoted to the Super League, Millwall played 442. Among the two forwards, Larson retreated. Similar to Bergkamp, ​​the two wings have both speed and breakthrough, relying on defense to give themselves Fight for offensive space, and move forward quickly after switching from defense to offense.

This set was the basis for Millwall to settle down in the past, but now it is rarely played in the Premier League. At least they still use this style of play in the Champions League, but the formation is different.

The reason why they can't play in the Premier League is because the opponents also defend. They are the defending champions. If they defend, the opponents will be very happy. Everyone takes time to finish the game and everyone is happy to get a point.

In terms of mentality, Millwall is a strong player, which has led to the pretentiousness of new players and teenagers.

Aldridge and the coaches focused on the growth of several new aids in the past six months, and finally discovered a sad fact.

In addition to their daily training skills and physical improvement, their tactical literacy, especially their understanding of Millwall's football philosophy, is really not flattering.

The reason for discovering this fatal flaw was still in the game against Arsenal.

Aldrich found that Gudjohnsen's defensive loopholes were particularly large. If he was playing against a weaker team, he would not be able to see the problem at all. After all, the opponent's offensive firepower was limited, but Arsenal was different. On the side, Pires and Overmars, each of them has strong individual capabilities.

If Gudjohnsen takes a slow step, he will be thrown off a block, and a second of hesitation will cause loopholes in the entire defensive system.

In the offense, whether it is Gudjohnsen, Duff, or Van der Meyde, their performance is not satisfactory, because they do the same job in the limited playing time: attack, attack, attack... .

In the Premier League, a field that emphasizes confrontation ability, skills alone are not enough. When they are not able to gain the upper hand in physical confrontation, or even evenly matched, the difficult battle is undoubtedly a hell test for them.

In the meeting room, Benitez continued to point out the mistakes of the players in the game on the big TV screen. The other coaches took it very seriously. A large part of their work was to correct the mistakes of the players in the game during training. and let them improve.

Aldrich was in a trance. After a long time, Aldrich suddenly knocked on the table, and everyone looked at him.

I think the rotation strategy we made in the first half of the season was wrong.

Are you going to let the main lineup go all out for the league to close the points gap? Aldrich, it is also dangerous to do so, because whether it is the league or the Champions League, it is more than six months. You have to make sure The overall continuity of the team, once the physical distribution is unreasonable, then at the end of the season, when the most needed strength is in the last 1/3 and 1/4 stages, the team may already be at the end of its strength and powerless!

Jason frowned and offered his opinion.

Craig also supported Jenson. Said: Our rotation strategy in the past three seasons is correct, which not only guarantees the results, but also improves the young players.

Aldridge waved his hand and said, No, I'm not saying there's a problem with the rotation, but rather, uh. There was a directional error in the rotation based on the opponent.

Everyone was confused and didn't understand what he was talking about.

Aldrich stood up, walked to the blank blackboard, and wrote a series of numbers.

Pointing to 1-14, said: Before the season, considering the intensity of the game and the impact of injuries, we will let the main lineup face the first two teams we have divided. That is what we think of as the upstream team and the mid-range team. team, their position in the standings is probably between 1-14, and the remaining 15-20 will be handed over to the substitute lineup, right?

Everyone nods.

Aldridge continued: In the general sense, the strength of a 15-20 team is definitely not as good as a 1-14 team, so we let a weaker bench lineup play a weaker Premier League team. Thinking like this, originally That’s right. But we ignore the fact that we are the Premier League champions! Even a 15-20 team will choose to be tactically conservative for the sake of points and a draw, and our substitute players do not What is the direct result of not having excellent attacking ability? That is, players with speed and skill like Van der Meyde and Duff can't play their advantages in the game. They can't develop their defensive awareness. They seldom stand the test of the opponent's fierce offense, and they stay in the frontcourt to attack and attack, but the offense is a mess, and the defense is still not practiced in the game. This is the biggest problem! We made a directional error!

The coaches looked at each other, finding Aldridge's question somewhat surprising.

If you change to any rich team, when you need to rotate, you will let the substitute play the underdog. Isn't this a normal thing?

However, many giants lost the victory they should have been aiming at because they underestimated the underdogs and faced the game with a Tian Ji horse racing thinking method.

That was the case for Millwall in the first half of the season.

Benitez asked with a sinking face: Then how do you think to adjust?

Aldridge wiped the tactical board and re-wrote a series of numbers on it.

The 1-8 and 15-20 teams, the strongest and weakest teams in the Premier League, are handed over to the main lineup. The former is a top-level contest, and the latter is more sure of the main attack and can avoid losing points to the greatest extent. The rest, the 9-14 team, will be handed over to the substitute team!

In that case, our substitute lineup is not superior in terms of strength, or even completely disadvantaged.

Aldridge said firmly: So we have to adjust our tactics and play from the bench. We have to play conservatively and let the opponent attack, so as to exercise the defensive ability of the rookies and improve their team defensive awareness. On the basis of defensive counterattack, they can also play to their advantages, making them more and more confident and improving steadily.

But what if the opponent is also conservative? Just like Tottenham, we sent a substitute lineup at White Hart Lane, but the opponent is still satisfied with a draw.

Aldridge spread his hands and said: So, we have to let the opponents know that we will be in the young lineup, and spread the news before the game. Of course, this is my task, and I have to play psychological warfare with the opponents.

Benitez asked curiously: What are you going to do?

As I said, announce the starting list in advance, and then wait for the opponent's reaction. We will play with a group of children in the eyes of the opponent. Will the opponent still have the nerve to stick to it? As I said, the Premier League in the 9-14 stage The team, they are carefree, the pressure to relegation is not so great, and they are further involved in the European war and are limited by their ability. They are nothing more than looking forward to a breakthrough in the domestic cup competition. Therefore, in the league, they don't have to lose their dignity. The average age of opponents is less than 23 years old. Are they willing to be conservative? Do their fans agree? The directional error of our previous strategy is that the team that seems to be the weakest is actually the most able to give up everything and try to stay in the Premier League Yes, so, we want to strive for points as much as possible and at the same time train young players, so we need to change this strategy.”

The coaches nodded after looking at each other. It has to be said that they felt that what Aldridge said made sense.

Mid-range teams play against Millwall's substitute lineup, at least if they don't have to stick to it, they can't blame Millwall's main lineup, and the opponent sticks to it. Unreasonable, the pressure of public opinion will be very high.

The coaches began to formulate a rotation strategy based on the schedule, and when Aldridge was trying his best to adjust the team's state, the winter transfer market was in turmoil again! (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my biggest motivation. Mobile phone users, please go to m. to read.) ()