The Young Lion

Since Millwall made a rotation strategy adjustment in the middle of the season, Aldridge has changed. In the past, the high profile that he would only put on in front of rivals Chelsea and West Ham United has become his daily routine.

And there is also a faint poisonous tongue attribute.

When he wants to train young players, he will do everything possible to provoke his opponents, which makes him spend a lot of effort, such as studying the historical glory of the opponent's club and talking about it in front of the public media.

The general meaning is: once such and such a team was so brilliant, how chic and freehand or passionate the game was played, now, I really can't see such a shadow.

His psychological warfare has only one purpose: to irritate the opponent!

Let those opponents dare to fight the Millwall substitutes for real.

This has disadvantages and advantages. The disadvantage is that the opponent's anger is provoked by Millwall on his own initiative. If they really show their power, it seems that Millwall can't win. It seems that Millwall is to blame.

The good thing is that this can better train young players.

Like the first half of the schedule, the young players went to fight tough battles, not to mention how weak the offensive players were. On the defensive end, Ferdinand, Materazzi and other players were doing nothing for most of the time. If you go up, you will always be counterattacked by your opponent. Don’t go up. , and just steadily get a tie, they can't stand the test, how can they improve their level?

Aldrich doesn't care that Millwall has become a public enemy of the Premier League. They have succeeded. It is normal for other teams to be jealous. Anyway, the opponent's bus to attack Millwall is essentially aimed at Millwall. It is better for him to lead the war and let The game has become more attractive, young players can also get a better training environment, and grow up as soon as possible in more stressful and more complex and changeable games. This is very important for the future of Millwall in the next three to five years.

Against this background, Millwall has entered a tense rhythm since January, and sparks flew everywhere in every game, regardless of whether the main player appeared or not. Even though not all games have been won, the team's overall performance is still worthy of the championship status. At least there will be no more blunders in the game. Sometimes when the ball is lost or tied, it means that the opponent played better and fought for victory with hard power. or a draw.

In the second round of the League Cup semi-final, Aldridge still used the substitute lineup. At the Lion's Den, Middlesbrough and Millwall scored 1:1 within 90 minutes, because the rules of the League Cup semi-final are very strange. Resulted in overtime. Millwall must go to the bottom of the boat!

If the game is tied after 180 minutes of the two rounds. The away goal advantage is invalid, but if the score is still a tie after 30 minutes of overtime, the away goal advantage is valid.

first round.

Millwall was a guest at the Riverside Stadium and stood 0:0 with their opponents. The second round returned to the home court and it was 1:1. In extra time, if Millwall fails to score, there will be no penalty shootout. Middlesbrough will go straight into the League Cup final.

Aldridge replaced three players in one breath before the start of overtime, and the three young players with abundant physical strength had an immediate effect.

Ronaldinho, Klose, van der Meyde.

Middlesbrough is not familiar with Ronaldinho. When their physical fitness declined and exhausted, Ronaldinho's personal performance produced a huge advantage locally on the field, and on the other side, van der Meyde, who served as a winger to deliver shells to the two strikers Klose and Ruud van Nistelrooy, Millwall In overtime, they scored three goals in a row, and finally advanced to the final with a total score of 4:1.

When the game finally came to an end. Fleet Street shouted: Lion Dynasty!

Because Millwall's entire League Cup road, almost no main players can be seen. Other strong teams don't pay attention to the League Cup and use it for training. The same is true for Millwall, but the result is obvious. Millwall's young team is even stronger. dazzling.

Millwall is no longer satisfied with only showing their advantages in talent reserves in the Youth League, Reserve League, and FA Youth Cup, and even set off a youth storm directly on the League Cup stage!

Ronaldinho has become the leader of his group of young Millwall players under the age of 21!

Millwall let the little ghost take charge in the domestic cup competitions. As the foundation of the club's survival, the league should be the main force to carry the banner, and at the same time strive for honor in the European arena.

After the winter break of other European leagues passed, the flames of war reignited.

In late February, Millwall traveled to the Ruhr area of ​​Germany under the great attention of the public, and made an expedition to Westphalia!

Aiming to win the UEFA Super Cup, a continuation of last season's title!

This year's UEFA Super Cup is different from future restructured events.

The future European Super Cup will be held around September, which can be regarded as a championship contest of last season before the opening of the new season in the European arena.

The current European Super Cup is not only played after the winter break, but also has a home and away two-round competition system.

As the continuation and end of last season's European competition, Millwall, as the champion of the European Cup Winners Cup, will compete with Dortmund, the champion of last season's European Cup Winners Cup, for the honor of King of Europe!

Borussia Dortmund, who defeated Juventus in the final last year, performed well in the Champions League in the new season. In the context of the departure of the meritorious coach Hitzfeld, they still have an absolute advantage over the strong opponents in the group to qualify.

However, their situation in the league is going from bad to worse. Last season, they only won the third place in the Bundesliga. If they did not reach the top of the Champions League, they could only move to the UEFA Cup.

The performance in the league in the new season is even worse. Bayern Munich is still strong, Kaiserslautern has sprung up suddenly, where is Dortmund? The middle and lower reaches of the standings.

The two Super Cup games will be a prelude to Millwall's return to European competition in the second half of the league. Next, they will usher in a very frequent schedule. In addition to the League Cup final, there will also be the FA Cup and League, and the Champions League knockout rounds.

To maintain the hope of defending the title in the league, the Champions League knockout matches must be played as decisive battles, and the FA Cup must be handed over to young players, but if they go further, it will definitely affect the rotation of other games.

In view of this, Aldridge made it very clear to the players before going to Germany: One battle will determine the country!

We are about to completely end the suspense of the European Super Cup championship in the away game!

Although Dortmund suffered from Waterloo in the league, they performed exceptionally well in the Champions League in the first half of the season. They did not pay much attention to Millwall, who performed better than them in another group.

First of all, they are the champions of the Champions League. Millwall is blown up by the outside world. In terms of actual honors, there is a world of difference between the two.

Secondly, they are playing at home, so they should show the momentum of local snakes.

Aldridge has done a lot of work on Dortmund's preparations. He has studied their performance in the Bundesliga this season, and the opponent's weaknesses are not hidden. After all, they performed poorly in the Bundesliga and were bullied by many teams that are not as strong as them.

In the performance of Dortmund in the same period in the past three seasons, there is a very obvious trend: the attack power has declined and the defense has weakened.

This directly led them from the championship to the third place, and then to the middle and lower reaches of the current standings.

Grasping the opponent's defensive problems, Millwall played very targeted at the Westfalen Stadium. It is still an old routine to put down a low profile, defend first and then attack, and grab the opponent's seven inches to die in the attack. hit!

Since Larson won the Golden Globe and the second personal honor of World Footballer. His scoring efficiency has dropped significantly!

So much so that the media began to criticize him for his lack of ambition.

To this. Aldridge has been defending Larson. He even did not hesitate to quarrel with media reporters. In the coach's weekly fixed column on the official website and in articles published on some media platforms, he fully defended his disciples. Contempt for those who denigrate Larson.

There is no problem with Larson's state, mentality, ability and so on.

There's only one problem: he's too famous!

As a result, all opponents' defensive focus is concentrated on him, so whenever he moves on the field and has signs of threatening the goal, he will be strangled by his opponents with all their strength.

His scoring rate has dropped, which stems from this.

The reason why Aldridge defended him and still admired him was that Larson played smarter. He knows that he is the target of public criticism and the number one threat in the eyes of opponents, so he starts to serve his teammates more in the game, using himself to attract the opponent's defense and cover other teammates' offense.

Millwall's firepower is still strong. It's just that the protagonists who shot guns became Trezeguet, Shevchenko, and Nedved.

In the first round of the UEFA Super Cup at the Westfalenstadion, Larsson scored a hat-trick of assists, helping the team gain a huge 4:1 advantage in the away game.

Nedved scored twice, Trezeguet and Shevchenko each scored a goal.

With the away victory as the basis, they can save a lot of physical strength in the second round. Aldridge even boldly decided to let the young players play the second game in order to enhance their sense of honor and belonging.

After returning to London, Millwall did not stop and immediately went to Wembley to usher in the first championship game of the season.

League Cup final.

The opponent is an old acquaintance, an old neighbor, Chelsea, who never dies!

Chelsea's performance this season is polarized. They reached the final of the League Cup and ranked in the upper reaches of the standings. This is their best performance in the same period of the Premier League. For the teams in the five major leagues, there are only two or three real tough battles. Like Millwall last year, people will only remember that Millwall defeated Barcelona in the final, and even forget the semi-final against Paris Saint-Germain. .

Gullit's romantic and beautiful football has put Chelsea on the road to success, but the disadvantages are also obvious. It can be seen in the league that Chelsea is the team with the least draws in the Premier League.

If they play well, they are invincible and not afraid of strength. For example, in the semi-finals of the League Cup, they beat Arsenal with five goals in Highbury and advanced. However, when faced with adversity, they seem helpless. Come back.

The Blues Chelsea lack a unique spirit and soul, and they are no different from the mercenary Blackburn back then.

After years of vigorous signings in a row, Chelsea has a luxurious lineup and has been well-rounded, becoming an emerging force in England.

But Gullit has no luck, he has been fired by the club, and now Vialli is in charge of the team as a player and coach.

Vialli's first coaching debut was the League Cup final against Millwall.

He tried his best to bring Chelsea the championship, and he made bold words before the game to encourage the whole team.

With the new coach taking office, Chelsea's army is serving, while Millwall's side seems to be much more low-key.

Do you still need to mobilize to play Chelsea?

Aldridge just made some changes in the starting roster.

Let some of the main players hold the lineup and lead half of the substitute players to hit the championship trophy.

This is different from the semi-finals. Aldrich really didn’t feel any pity when he fell in the semi-finals. Well, in the Carabao Cup, all the big clubs don’t work hard. Millwall has a tight schedule, so he doesn’t care if he doesn’t make it to the final. .

But now that he has come to the finals, one game will determine the outcome. If he wins, he will get a trophy. If he loses, he will be ridiculed as a background. He must pay enough attention. The stimulation of winning and the blow of losing are too strong. Not paying attention.

What's more, the opponent is Chelsea! ()