The Young Lion

Millwall beat Tottenham 4-0 in the first game of the new season. This result is not surprising.

After the game, Aldridge said in an interview that there is nothing to be surprised about winning the game. Although he is happy, the team's mentality will not fluctuate because of the victory over Tottenham.

The subtext conveyed to the outside world is: Tottenham is not strong enough, and Millwall can't afford to be complacent about defeating Tottenham.

Manchester United, who are joint favorites to win the new season with Millwall, were drawn by Everton at Goodison Park, and it seems that they have not yet recovered from their poor performance in the Charity Shield.

Next year is the year of big competitions, the opening of the Premier League is already early, and the schedule is compressed and dense. Aldridge can't wait to face his opponent in three days.

Because their opponent in the next battle is Liverpool, a traditional powerhouse that is in decline.

After the victory over Tottenham, he gave the team a day off and returned to training the next day. Aldridge was enthusiastic about his work, and he was smiling when he attended the press conference before going out.

The reporters present could probably guess what Aldridge was thinking.

Aldridge, you seem to want to play against Liverpool, why?

Aldridge sat on the stage with his mouth upturned, and said casually: Because Liverpool is a young team, and the head coach Houllier is also my friend. I will look forward to playing with my friends on the sidelines. This is the joy of this job. One of them, and I also want to see the performance of Owen, Gerrard and Carragher.

Why? Is Millwall interested in them?.

The unknown reporter asked seriously, and Richard, who was sitting next to him, suppressed a smile. He had followed and reported Millwall for many years. Aldrich had already seen through at a glance that he was wrong.

Aldridge put away his smile and said seriously: Yes. Millwall is very interested in them. But it was four years ago, when I personally invited them to join Millwall, but they rejected them. At that time, Liverpool's media It was reported that Liverpool later gave Gerrard their professional contract. From that day on, although Millwall did not intend to introduce them in the transfer market, I still kept an eye on them. I wanted to see their career development.

The reporter who asked the question nodded frequently and recorded every sentence of Aldridge in his notebook. For him, he might think this is big news. The door of the transfer market is not closed. The Millwall coach publicly declared that he is concerned about the development of the three young Liverpool players Performance, who can guarantee that there will be no heavyweight transfers in the next 20 days?

Even if there is a heavyweight transfer, it can only happen to Irving,

As for Gerrard and Carragher, they are not even stars.

Some reporters present lowered their heads and laughed secretly. They felt that the reporter who asked the question had been tricked. Richard simply laughed out loud and asked: Aldrich, if tomorrow's game is Liverpool's guest at Millwall, would you still be so excited today?.

Aldridge smiled silently, nodded after a while and said, Of course, Liverpool, England's traditional giants Liverpool, of course I will be excited!

Who would believe it? Before Liverpool came to visit you in the past two years, were you excited? It's obviously because you can drop by Liverpool to see your children, why don't you say it frankly?

No no no, Richard, you are questioning my professionalism and work attitude? It is impossible for me to do business for my own benefit. Let me tell you, I love Anfield, from the first time I stepped into Anfield as a coach At that time, I fell in love with it, the stadium full of glory and history, no coach would refuse to play there, although it will make people feel dangerous, but this is exactly what the coach enjoys!

Not only Richard, many reporters present laughed and booed him!

Aldridge spread his hands helplessly, and finally gritted his teeth with a suppressed smile and said, Believe it or not, it's up to you, tomorrow's game will make you realize whether I put my heart and soul into the game!

When Aldridge got up to leave, Richard shouted: Your excuse is too hypocritical, you want to spend more time with your son, does this have something to do with whether you value the game?.

Aldridge quickened his pace and left the field quickly.

The next day, the team went to Liverpool. The whole team got off the plane and got on the bus to Anfield.

On the road, some players were listening to music, some were reading, some were chatting, or some were simply watching the city street view from the car window.

Aldridge didn't have any special feelings for the city of Liverpool before, but now he has a slightly subtle mentality when he comes to this city. This is the place where his son was born.

Thinking of today's newspapers exaggerating how he led the team to Liverpool as a guest, but actually holding his heart to see his son, Aldridge was stunned for a second. This idea always feels a bit weird.

Shaking his head, he worried that the players would be distracted by it.

Before arriving at Anfield, Aldridge stood up and clapped his hands, making all the players look at him. Those listening to music took off their earphones, those reading books closed their books, and those chatting closed their mouths. They looked at Aldridge curiously. Odd, I don't know what the boss is going to say.

Liverpool, I don't want to emphasize how strong they are. In fact, in these years, or since we entered the top league stage, the Liverpool we have faced has been worse every year. The quality of the players is also affected by changing clothes due to life style problems. Maybe you no longer treat Liverpool as a strong enemy in your heart, and even think that they may not be much different from Tottenham, but what I want to say is that in the past few years, Liverpool's away record is the fatal factor that restricts them from challenging for the championship, but their home record is very stable. In some seasons, they will only lose two games at home, and in some seasons, they will lose up to four games at home. It means losing three games. There are 19 Premier League teams visiting Anfield, and only 3 or 4 teams can take away the victory from there. We are not here for sightseeing. If you are interested, you can stay here after the game. City for a while, but for the game, we definitely want to leave with three points, so even if you think Liverpool is not strong enough, I allow you to despise Liverpool players, but I hope you pay attention to Anfield, and can lead at Anfield. Winning. I don’t think it can be used as a capital of pride. But at least it can make our sense of accomplishment and satisfaction more fulfilling!”

The players nodded to each other after hearing Aldridge's words.

They are visiting Liverpool. The state of mind is very calm.

It was so calm that they themselves felt weird.

Liverpool, once famous in Europe, created Liverpool to rule the European dynasty!

Why do they have a turbulent reaction in their hearts when they beat Liverpool?

Perhaps, as Aldridge said, they have played against Liverpool every year in the past few years, suppressed their opponents in the league, and were eliminated only once in the cup match, and they were eliminated by substituting young players.

Really fought. Having defeated the opponent several times, the sense of importance was naturally weakened in my heart.

But the game still has to be played. A peaceful mind is a good thing, but if the fighting spirit drops, it is a bad thing.

Aldrich now mobilizes their fighting morale to divert their attention.

If you only focus on Liverpool's team and put on Tottenham jerseys for your opponents, you really don't feel much difference.

Therefore, Aldridge needs the players to be as strong as possible because of Liverpool's history, and use Liverpool's past glory to stimulate the players.

Anfield is still Anfield with a terrifying home atmosphere in the Premier League. The loud singing of the Red Army fans will never stop, this is a stadium that Ferguson defines as dangerous. Aldridge didn’t have too much sense of crisis when he came here. Maybe Liverpool and Millwall are not sworn enemies. He just enjoys here. There are not many teams that can raise the strength of the team to a higher level because of the fans. See, Liverpool happens to be one of them, and Aldridge enjoys playing against such opponents.

Before the game started, Aldridge stood on the sidelines and whispered to Gerard Houllier. It was not Aldridge who came to greet the master, but the master came to communicate with him on his own initiative.

The content of the conversation between the two focused on Is Millwall going to dig Owen!

After getting Aldridge's verbal promise that he was no longer interested in Owen, Houllier was finally relieved.

As for Gerrard and Carragher, to be honest, they didn't make a name for themselves at all.

But since it was a player that Aldridge personally invited a few years ago, the Liverpool club naturally paid special attention to it.

But they also don't know what kind of excellent players Carragher and Gerrard will become in the future, and in which direction to train them? I don't know what to do.

Aldridge has always believed that the biggest reason why Gerrard can only become a Liverpool legend is that at the beginning of his career, he never had a clear position on the field.

Aldridge likes role-type players. He has a clear specialty and can be used in a reasonable and orderly manner, allowing the team's 11-man puzzle to achieve effective complementarity. For example, Makelele is defensive, Pirlo is organization, and Nedved is offensive. The midfield system will not be confused.

For a player like Gerrard, his positioning is very vague.

Can you defend him? Row.

Can you organize him? Row.

Is it okay to attack him? Row.

He can do all three, but he is not top-notch in all three!

Let him play defense, he will be ravaged by top offensive players, let him play organization, and it is difficult to penetrate the top line of defense in terms of offensive scheduling, let him play offense, and his ability to grasp opportunities seems to be unsatisfactory, especially the ability to break through with the ball. Xiang Ling's attacking midfielder or No. 9 and a half role is definitely stronger than him.

The future development trend of European football is that even for the top teams, the team allows at most one player to only attack and not participate in defense. Other players exclude the goalkeeper, and 9 players must shoulder the defensive task.

In other words, for a player like Gerrard, defensive ability is the foundation, so next, he needs to strengthen his special technical characteristics in offense.

In the future, the evaluation of Gerrard will be heard most is comprehensiveness, but this kind of comprehensiveness just means that he has a strong overall strength, but it seems that he cannot compete with those top players with special skills.

Especially in the mediocre England national team, looking at Gerrard's national team career, it is almost difficult to find a game in which he played particularly well, and those players with special characteristics, even in weaker national teams Can shine.

It is a pity that at the beginning of Gerrard's career at Liverpool, during the most critical period when his technical ability was improved and his position on the field was fixed, he did not meet the key points and correctly cultivate his famous teacher, who could further train him into shape, and sometimes played late. Waist, sometimes playing midfielder, sometimes playing midfielder, he sometimes assists, sometimes goals, the whole game can run and survive, but what is his role? It changes every year.

Carragher is even more tragic. The new season is still a substitute, but Houllier defines Carragher as a substitute for a full-back. Therefore, for a long time in the future, Carragher will be a flaw in the explosion at Anfield. . (to be continued...) ()