The Young Lion

As a head coach, one cannot passively make lineup adjustments. For example, after discovering that a certain player's condition has begun to decline, let the player rest or adjust, and find out the reason to solve it.

The head coach has the obligation and responsibility to detect problems early and prevent them from happening. This is a manifestation of the ability to control the team.

Sometimes the stubbornness of the players themselves is not correct. For example, playing with an injury, the spirit is commendable, but the actual effect may not be good.

Two days after the battle with Manchester United, on Tuesday evening, Aldridge was sitting in the office sorting out the information. He had just held a pre-match preparation meeting with the players. The meeting was relatively easy, because the next game is tomorrow's Champions League group In the last round of the game, Millwall had already qualified ahead of schedule and planned to send all substitutes to play against the visiting Galatasaray. Don't worry about the result. The important thing is whether the goal of training players has been achieved.

Dangdang

Someone knocked on the door, and Aldridge looked up and said, Please come in.

The door opened, and a head poked in obliquely, it was Ronaldinho.

Aldrich saw him walking over with a playful smile, sat down across the desk, and then put an envelope on the table and pushed it in front of Aldrich.

Aldrich frowned and asked, Do you think the vacation is too short?

The envelope was given to Ronaldinho by him in the morning, and he also sent an envelope to other first-team players, especially the offensive players. It contained Christmas cards and holiday notices for the players.

Since Millwall has six players shortlisted for the Golden Globe Awards and Christmas is approaching, the schedule has been relatively easy recently. Aldridge simply gave them a collective holiday and asked them to attend the Golden Globe Awards ceremony. After the end, he spent Christmas directly with his family After the ten-day break, I will come back to report and start preparing for the second half of the league.

Ronaldinho smiled and shook his head. Said, Boss, all I need is three days off, three days before and after Christmas.

He is different from other players, his family is in Brazil. All year round except summer. There is only one Christmas left to go back, even if it is to report to the national team. The timetable is also very tight. After all, if you go to the national team, you have to train and play, not go on vacation.

Aldrich leaned back in the boss chair. Staring at Ronaldinho for a minute, then chuckled and said, I'll give you a vacation, don't you think it's too much?

Ronaldinho shrugged: I don't want to look special in the team.

Aldrich nodded and said: Well, I understand, then you will return to the team on the 27th.

Ronaldinho stood up laughing and waved goodbye to Aldridge, and closed the office door softly.

A few minutes later. Pirlo, Nedved, Larsson, Henry. Schneider, the five players who were also selected for the Ballon d'Or also put the envelope on Aldridge's desk.

They have the same idea as Ronaldinho, some people think the vacation is too long, and some people don't want the vacation at all.

After seeing them off, Aldridge stood up, walked to the French windows, looked at the beauty of the setting sun in the distance, closed his eyes and smiled in relief.

The next night, Wembley.

Aldridge stood in the locker room before the game. Some of the 11 players wearing the starting jerseys today were nervous, and Villa was one of them.

He sat there and sorted out his jersey, sneakers, shin guards and other equipment early, waiting for Aldridge's pre-match speech.

We have already qualified for the Champions League, and there is only one requirement for you today: just play at the level you had during training.

After speaking, Aldridge turned and walked outside.

Villa looked shocked.

This, this, this is the end?

Other players such as Glenshire, Lampard, Gattuso, etc., although they are substitutes, have been battle-tested. To deal with this kind of stress-free game, in fact, what to do is the same as Aldridge said: perform well , It is enough to show the results of the training.

At Wembley, Aldridge met Trim again. This time, he stepped forward to shake hands with each other, exchanged simple greetings and then left.

The attendance rate of the stadium has dropped a lot, because Millwall has already qualified ahead of schedule, and Aldridge said before the game that he will be on the bench. It is normal for the enthusiasm of neutral fans to fade.

The final round of the UEFA Champions League Group H group stage will all end today. Millwall has 5 matches, 4 wins and 1 draw with 13 points ahead of schedule to qualify first in the group. Galatasaray has 5 matches, 1 win, 1 draw and 3 With a negative score of 4 points, there is a 3-point gap from Hertha Berlin, which is second in the group. They are in the same situation as Milan. They must defeat their opponents to have the possibility of advancing. At least such a chance, Millwall seems It was for Galatasaray, and today they played with all substitutes.

Goalkeeper: Keller.

Defenders: Ferreira, Neil, Barzagli, Cole.

Midfield: Gattuso, Lampard, Lamour.

Forwards: Van der Meyde, Villa, Glenciel.

Aldridge sat down today, watching the game with his chin in his hands.

Don't look at him on the bench, but he has no worries about the game.

He likes this kind of game the most, not specifically who the opponent is, but the game situation.

Galatasaray came to the away game. If they want to advance, not to mention a draw, they must win!

And because there may be a situation where the three teams have the same score, they must win by a large score.

The opponent has no other choice, they have to break the boat and attack the enemy instead!

Having learned the lessons from the away game against Milan, Aldridge asked Neil to partner with Barzagli to provide experience and strengthen the defense in the back line, which is at least a reassurance.

And this young defense line has fought against Milan, and its confidence has improved, at least it will not be restrained. In addition, Galatasaray's hard power is not as good as Milan's. Facing the opponent's mad attack, the pressure will be less than that of the previous year.

The trend of this game is roughly the same as Aldridge expected.

Trim put on an aggressive 4123 attacking formation, while at the same time making players race against time and try to score goals on the sidelines.

On the basis of Millwall's good defense, the defensive counterattack was very successful.

Less than 10 minutes into the game, Glenshire and Villa each missed a single-handed chance!

The scene was very exciting, especially eye-catching, because Galatasaray attacked fiercely, and Millwall's counterattack was also sharp and deadly.

Unfortunately, at the end of the first half, the score looked turbulent.

1:0

Neither Glenshire nor Villa scored. Instead, it was Van der Meyde and Lamore who formed a cooperation, and finally Lamore calmly pushed and shot in the penalty area to rewrite the score.

In the second half, the two sides changed sides and fought again. The Turkish emperor simply didn't even need a midfielder and went directly to 433. Three strikers. One central midfielder and two attacking midfielders.

soon. His team was punished, and the defense without a defensive midfielder interception was full of loopholes. In the 49th minute, Lamore assisted Villa, who successfully countered offside, and sent the ball into the goal.

2:0

Aldridge makes a substitution.

Enter Klose. Exit Villa.

Joe Cole enters, Larmor exits.

When Villa left the field, he probably hoped to be praised by Aldridge, so he deliberately walked past Aldridge very slowly, but Aldridge's expression did not change, he just nodded to him.

what is this?

Villa sat down a little disappointed and accepted the congratulations from his teammates.

After a while. He remembered what Aldrich said to him on the bus, and he felt relieved instantly.

Yes, he scored a goal, but also wasted at least three golden opportunities. Should it be commended?

If Henry or Larson get that chance, at least two of them can be scored.

Take it easy and keep working hard.

In the 68th minute of the game, in a wave of counterattacks, Klose assisted Glenshire, who slanted his ribs at 45 degrees and succeeded in a long-range shot, extending the score to 3:0.

Aldridge used up the last substitution spot, allowing Vicente to replace the goal scorer Glenciel.

Since then, the game has returned to normal. Galatasaray fell behind by three goals. It is undoubtedly a dream to reverse. Their players also accepted the reality. In order to prevent it from turning into a massacre, they chose to be conservative and stabilize their defense to avoid losing a ball.

The restless 20 minutes came to an end in a slow pace.

Aldridge got up and walked to shake hands with Trim before turning his head and walking into the player channel.

Millwall's Champions League group stage has 6 matches, 5 wins and 1 draw. It is unbeaten and advanced to the top 16.

In the same group, Milan still failed to win Hertha Berlin in the last round. Hertha Berlin, which got a draw, advanced to the round of 16 with the second place in the group, while Milan benefited from Galatasaray's win after being double-killed by Millwall. In third place, you can move to the UEFA Cup.

The Champions League group match was settled, and the next day, the first round of the UEFA Cup group match also came to an end. The next day, Aldridge and his colleagues from the coaching staff gathered in the entertainment room of the club at night, drinking beer, chatting and watching TV.

The draw ceremony for the 4 teams of the UEFA Champions League round of 16 is in progress. Aldridge and the coaching staff are talking and laughing, without the slightest sense of tension in their mentality.

When the results of Millwall's second-round group stage draw came out, Boas excitedly raised his fists and stood up to cheer, and the other coaching staff also shouted excitedly.

Millwall's signing is simply good and couldn't be better!

Bordeaux, Feyenoord, Lazio, Millwall.

Draw for the round of 16, 4 groups, 4 teams in each group, two groups first and two groups second.

Millwall itself is the first to qualify in the group. In the new group, Lazio was also the top player in the previous round of the group match. The only team behind Lazio in terms of strength is Rosenborg and Sparta Prague. The key is the two The second in the first group, Feyenoord and Bordeaux, should be the two weakest second places in the eight groups, which excludes Hertha Berlin, which cannot be in the same group as Millwall.

From this point of view, Millwall's signing luck is very good.

While others were celebrating, they found Aldrich with a thoughtful look on his face.

Aldrich, are you unhappy?

Klinsmann asked in surprise.

Aldridge smiled and said: I would prefer to be in a group with Bayern Munich, Barcelona, ​​Fiorentina or Porto.

what?!

Everyone's expression became astonished.

The grouping situation that Aldridge said is almost the strongest death group with the lowest probability in the second round of the group stage!

Jason wondered, What's the benefit of this?

In this way, two or one strong enemy can be defeated first, and the probability of encountering a strong enemy in the knockout round will be lower.

Everyone suddenly realized, and heard Aldridge continue: It is also for the players to maintain their form. We are assigned to a relatively weak group. That is to say, before the knockout round, the test and pressure are not great. It is not a good thing to suddenly encounter a strong enemy whose strength is far from that of the previous opponent.

Hearing what he said, most of the joy of the coaching staff dissipated immediately.

When they summed up the reasons for their exit from the Champions League last season, one of the points that everyone could not ignore was that before meeting Bayern Munich, Millwall went too smoothly. Playing against Bayern Munich, an opponent with such a significant gap in strength will cause certain restrictions in the game.

If we compare the schedule of winning the Champions League last season, they will face Juventus directly in the quarter-finals, and Monaco will be sent off at the beginning of the semi-finals. The difficulty of the game has actually increased a lot. It was precisely this kind of difficult victory that came through, and in the final, Millwall was more calm, able to perform at his best and at an extraordinary level. ()