The Young Lion

There was not much time left in the game. Boca Juniors suffered another heavy blow. Bianchi was still unwilling to surrender on the sidelines and swung his troops to press forward. Millwall retreated across the board due to pressure. There were two good counterattack opportunities in the last five minutes But he didn't grasp it, especially when Villa hit the crossbar and bounced off the baseline once after the goalkeeper's attack, it made him unbelievable to hold his head in his hands.

When the game ended, Millwall's coaching staff and players on the bench got up one after another, not as excited as winning the championship in other competitions. Aldridge went to shake hands with Bianchi after the game.

The two did not communicate and separated after shaking hands.

The fans at the scene cheered for Millwall. It happened once in 1998. After two years, Millwall came here again to win the Toyota Cup.

In fact, the shape of the trophy of the Toyota Cup is very strange. It does not look like a cup at all. It is more like a designed display art.

After winning the championship and the trophy, the players began to take group photos. Henry took the best player in the game and could drive away a Toyota.

Cristiano Ronaldo has also become the focus of reporters on the sidelines. At a young age, he became the youngest player in the Millwall club. , and he scored a goal today, anyway, it was also the final, and the opponent was not someone unknown, but the champion of the Intercontinental Championship of the South American club.

Cristiano Ronaldo seemed to enjoy the spotlight, walking with the Toyota Cup trophy in style, he came to the sidelines, his family, accompanied by Millwall staff, had come to the sidelines, after the stadium staff gave permission. Ronaldo entered the stadium with his family for a group photo.

After taking a group photo, his siblings left him behind. Instead, I went to the stars of the Millwall team to ask for a group photo and signed jerseys.

Boss, take a picture with me.

Aldridge is communicating with Boas about the game that has just ended. In his spare time, Boas is the person who likes to discuss the game with him the most.

Aldrich turned his head and saw that Ronaldo was still occupying the trophy, he smiled and said, Come here and stand in the middle.

Ronaldo went to stand between him and Boas, and waited until the photo was over. Ronaldo handed the trophy to Villa, and Aldridge just pulled Villa over to take another photo.

If I remember correctly, it will be your 19th birthday in a few days, right?

Villa heard Aldridge's question,

He nodded and said, Well, yes.

Aldridge smiled lightly: I'm going back, please come to my house for dinner. I will cook myself.

Villa smiled knowingly when he heard this. Since he became an adult, he really rarely went to the boss's house for dinner. He probably got older and had his own space and expanded living circle. The distance between him and Aldridge has also become farther, but the mutual trust remains unchanged.

After winning the Toyota Cup, Aldridge had nothing to say after the game for this kind of event that had neither foreshadowing nor continuity, but to praise the team. Happily set foot on the way home.

Millwall took home the Toyota Cup again, and the reaction from Fleet Street was muted. Just write the battle report as usual.

It's really nothing surprising.

Europe is the strongest Vs South America is the strongest.

There are the strongest in South America every year, but the strongest in 64 unbeaten league games in Europe may not be able to produce one in ten years.

During the fierce battle in the Toyota Cup, Ying's weekend just happened to catch up with the cup match, so the league was suspended, and Millwall returned to London to rest for a few days. Before the 17th round of the weekend, they got a good news.

Manchester United visited London and were held to a 3-3 draw by Charlton at the Valley Stadium.

Millwall sat at the Lion King Stadium and sent the main force to face the visiting Aston Villa. A hearty 5:2 victory expanded the unbeaten games to 65 games, and also narrowed the points gap with Manchester United to 1. As for conceding two goals to underdogs in the game, Aldridge seemed indifferent after the game. His main midfielder and main defender were suspended.

During this period, FIFA announced the winner of the World Player of the Year award. Zidane was elected, Henry ranked second and Figo third.

And this year's Golden Globe Awards will also be announced. Millwall's momentum in the second half of the year is not obvious, because they themselves are the biggest focus.

Fleet Street predicts that Millwall is likely to achieve the club's defense of the Ballon d'Or this year. Of course, the possibility of Nedved himself defending the title is very low. He has been recovering from injuries since the beginning of the new season. When he needed eyeballs most, he disappeared in the public view.

But Millwall still has plenty of contenders for the Ballon d'Or.

The biggest favorite is Henry, who won the Triple Crown, won the Champions League and League Golden Boots, and won the European Cup with the French team in the summer. If he is elected Mr. Ballon d'Or, who would doubt it?

Larson, Ronaldinho and Pirlo are also popular candidates.

In the eyes of mainstream European football, there are always people who know the goods, especially professional football critics. Pirlo has been nominated for the Golden Globe Award for two consecutive years and helped Millwall create the Treble as an absolute main player. His importance and contribution to the team are seen by many professionals. Many people study Millwall, and the focus of analyzing players is Pirlo.

Ten years after the original history, UEFA published an official evaluation, listing 20 people who changed world football, including 19 players or coaches and a referee.

This list is tinged with European vision, only two South American players were selected, like Pele missed.

Aldridge has always deliberately avoided this question when he was asked about the contribution of his personal coaching tactics to modern football. The big reason is that he is actually just summing up and integrating the experience left by his predecessors, and combining his understanding of football with the insights of later generations. advantage only.

For example, Hidegouti in this list, as a teammate of the golden team of Puskas’ generation, his tactical role is far away from Puskas. Looking back, we have to mention Mabkovi, the coach of the club where Hidegouti is located. Everyone says that England is the originator of 442. In fact, the first design theory and practice. It was Mabkovi. In the era of advocating the accumulation of offensive forwards, his defense was ridiculed, but today, it is the core of Aldrich's tactical design and the key to winning: hiding the offensive point.

Most of the players on this list belong to the level of ability of role players in the same position. Simply put, they are the pinnacle of players in the same position, such as Maldini who can make defenders become elegant. Cruyff, Di Stefano, Matthews, a winger who is as artistic as a winger, and so on.

But there are also some superstars who combine influence and contributions outside football. For example, Zidane, who is of Algerian descent, has brought positive influences on national integration in France. He is one of angels and devils, and once made football ugly because of him. Maradona, who forced UEFA and FIFA to modify the defensive rules and increase the penalty for defenders' fouls, is because Maradona can't defend normally, so football is ugly. The opponents he faces, Had to use frequent fouls. Out-of-scale fouls, except for fouls, are completely impossible to limit his swing.

In this list, only a handful of players contributed to the epoch-making changes in the combination of position and role on the field, the originator of free agents, Beckenbauer. The most influential full-back assists Facchetti.

More than ten years later, fans talked about the German goalkeeper Neuer's incarnation as the goal waist. But if you look at the history of world football, there is someone crazier than Neuer in the position of goalkeeper, and has become the target of many goalkeepers to imitate: La Denkovic, as a goalkeeper, he once dribbled the ball from the backcourt to break through the opponent in the game The three defenders were brought down angrily by the opponent. The place of the foul was 10 meters past the center line. It happened in Germany. Is he a lunatic? Maybe, in short, he was selected by UEFA to change the list of 20 players in world football, redefining the standard of goalkeeper.

There is another person who redefines the standard of positional roles. This person is from Italy, named Pirlo, and is also on this list.

Pirlo's selection has little to do with his own technical ability. If he is a midfielder, there are many players who are better than him. However, he is a midfielder who plays as a midfielder. Functional ability, the role in tactics has undergone earth-shaking changes.

On the football field, everyone should perform their duties.

If the striker doesn't score, what's the use?

If a defender does not defend, is he still called a defender?

In the past concept, the striker scored a goal, and the front midfielder behind the striker transported the shells. This way, the threat is more intuitive, the distance is close, the connection is close, and the success rate should be higher in theory, just like the theory of England's long pass. The basics are the same, hit the ball directly to the area closest to the goal, which is the most threatening.

But the reality is that the offense is concentrated at the forefront, and the center of gravity of the opponent's defense is also concentrated there, which compresses the area instead.

The role of Pirlo has nothing to do with whether the front midfielder has been transformed into a midfielder, but that he is a front midfielder, but he organizes in the midfielder area, and a new situation has emerged: take a step back, and the sea and the sky will be brighter.

Some people will say that Keane, Vieira, both offensive and defensive, Albertini, Redondo, the four talents of the last era, seem to be able to do such a job.

But essentially there is a difference.

Even with 500 games in their careers, how many games did these defensive midfielders play on the field as an offensive organizer?

Just because Redondo has so many shocking passes, it cannot be assumed that he can do organizational work in the midfielder. Keane and Vieira are easier to distinguish. Defense is their top priority. , but what makes them stand out from other similar midfielders is that they can complete defensive tasks well, and then allocate energy to help the team attack, whether it is Manchester United or Arsenal, attacking from the wing, driving the offensive forward , It is still dominated by wide players.

But in Millwall, in Pirlo's more than four seasons of appearances, what he did full-time was purely organizational work, and defense was a secondary task!

This subverts the role that players should play in the midfielder position in the past. At the same time, when instigating the offense, he uses the pass to drive the overall forward offense.

In the modern football development later in the original history, almost all major giants have such characters to organize regional retreats and ensure the success rate of the team's passes, and Pirlo is the one who pioneered it.

In the first two seasons, the appearance of Pirlo confused European football, so he began to observe him, study Millwall's games, and find out the specific role of Pirlo on the field. Changes in the sense of rhythm, changes in the threat value measured by the offense driven by short passes and long passes, etc.

When Pirlo helped Millwall win countless championships as an absolute main force, no one doubted him anymore. People realized that he created a new position role template under Aldridge.

Because of this, some ball critics have already called for the Golden Globe to be given to Pirlo. Although his goals and assists are far inferior to Millwall's striker trident, his contribution may be the best in the Millwall team. tallest.

reason?

Millwall has no shortage of strikers, but can someone replace Pirlo?