The Young Lion

On January 1, Millwall officially announced that Pagliuca had transferred from Bologna to Millwall for a fee of £9 million.

When the Italian media commented on the transfer, they believed that Bologna had made a fortune, implying a mockery of Millwall's people are stupid and rich.

Fleet Street also felt that Millwall had done a ludicrous deal.

They used almost the money that first-tier clubs bought the main goalkeeper to buy a substitute goalkeeper, and it was an old goalkeeper who had no room for appreciation and became less and less valuable.

Aldridge attaches great importance to the transfer with the second highest value in the history of the club. He personally attended the press conference with Pagliuca, praised Pagliuca on the spot, and expressed his trust in him. Wall is the most important signing in the transfer market this season.

Fleet Street is quite speechless. Whether it is Millwall signings in the summer or Kaka, who has been exposed and only needs a labor certificate to sign the introduction, this is Millwall's investment in the future. There is no doubt that Pagliuca will be able to fight. , from the current point of view, nature is the most important.

Some shameless reporters at the scene questioned the correctness of Millwall spending a lot of money to introduce Pagliuca. Aldridge mercilessly denounced the opponent's short-sightedness. He did not mention the importance of Pagliuca to the team in the second half of the season, but said Pagliuca's experience is invaluable, and it can bring all kinds of positive influences that sound illusory to Millwall. Of course, others can't understand, or they can't hear Aldridge's overtones, but Aldridge really counts on Pagliuca. Liuka's old knife can stimulate Bout again in the goalkeeper position. As Bout becomes more and more stable, the gap between him and the substitute goalkeeper Keller will widen, and he will become comfortable in the main position. Now There is a capable old guy who can put some pressure on Bout, but it's not to the point where you can't live with each other. This speed is caused by age, and it's what Aldrich likes to see.

at the same time. Aldridge also hopes that the arrival of Pagliuca can more or less affect the next goalkeeper that Aldridge has high hopes for: Joe Hart.

The change cycle of the goalkeeper position has always been very long, especially for teams with goalkeepers who became famous at a young age or occupied the main position at a young age. How many people did Kahn crush to death in the club and national team? How many excellent Spanish goalkeepers of the same generation did Casillas despair in Real Madrid and Spain? Buffon. Van der Sar...

Joe Hart is still underage. When he reaches the age that should be in charge, it happens to be the age of Bout's metabolic scene. Aldrich hopes that Hart can become better under the influence of Bout and Pagliuca, and can play in the In the future, he will take on the important task of the goalkeeper of the giants.

As for the 9 million pounds, there is indeed a suspicion of being slaughtered by Bologna.

But Aldridge doesn't see it that way. It is always some low-level media columnists or football critics who ridicule Millwall from the outside world. The real professional football critics choose to remain silent.

Because everyone's vision is different,

At the level of Millwall, whether it was really slaughtered for millions of pounds is another matter.

Pagliuca is a parallel importer. So even if his transfer value is two to three million pounds, Millwall will still be ridiculed, and the money will be spent wrongly.

But if Pagliuca can show his due level and help Millwall guard the gate in the second half of the season, what is £9 million?

Not to mention the huge profit gap between the league champion and the runner-up. In the UEFA Champions League alone, can Millwall play one more game, match day stadium income, broadcast income, tournament prize money, 9 million pounds? It's just that a team at Bologna's level will care about everything.

Aldridge also took this into consideration, so he spent a lot of money on the transfer of Pagliuca without changing his face.

Instead of buying a goalkeeper worth three or four million yuan, you can't sleep well. He'd rather spend the extra money once and for all.

Signing up is a risky gamble, there is no absolute safety and no risk, but looking at all the candidates sent to him by Boas, only Pagliuca has the highest probability of winning the gamble for Millwall, saving millions of pounds , Knowing that it is possible to buy a bomb back. This kind of thing, when Millwall has no money, he might still give it a try, but now, it's impossible!

Gossip from the outside world, let him go.

Pagliuca returned to Italy after attending the press conference. Both moving and arranging for a family can take some time.

At the same time, Millwall announced that Lampard and Ashley Cole will leave the team on loan and will go to Millwall's neighboring Valley Stadium in the second half of the season to play for Charlton.

This loan transfer has indeed caused great controversy. Even the fan organization immediately hopes to have a dialogue with the club and try to understand the inside story.

With two stable substitutes leaving, Millwall seems to have actively weakened his own strength.

Aldridge understands that this is the only way for the Millwall club at this stage.

The club has reached a fork in the road and must make a choice.

Should we maintain the dynasty with a group of stable main force members, or continue the past tradition of constantly training newcomers?

The advantage of the former is that the record guarantee is higher, and it can continue to be more brilliant. The disadvantage is that if this group of main players undergoes a major lineup change, the club will fall into a situation of being left out.

One of Millwall's signatures is to cultivate rookies, and its own hematopoietic ability is outstanding.

Players can be loaned out, but they must develop their Millwall dna in the early stage, so a player like Alonso, when it comes to the stage where he must have a stable chance to play, let him play in the Millwall environment, in football thinking It is also fine to imprint Millwall in the center and then go out on loan. There is no big problem with the running-in after the return. If you go out directly on loan at the beginning of your career, then after the return, it may appear that you are not playing with the team at all. In the case of style football, in the end, it failed to achieve the youth training goal of its own hematopoietic denial.

Aldridge believes that there is an unchanging condition behind the development of modern football: persistence.

Whether it is Ajax, which once shocked Europe, Barcelona, ​​which is in the ascendant, or the budding revival of German football, they all uphold the principle of persistence and finally set foot on the pinnacle of ZTE's prosperity.

Millwall cannot abandon their initial team building strategy for their rise and development. They must ensure that newcomers are given opportunities to hone them every season, even if there are only one or two per season. This is a signal of persistence and will give more young players Player confidence will also be the foundation of Millwall's long-term development.

Things cannot be generalized. The loan of Lampard and Cole has weakened Millwall's bench thickness. However, there are also external factors such as the background of the England national team. At the same time, internally, Aldridge wants to train Alonso in the first team. There is nothing wrong with planning ahead.

January. Millwall joined the FA Cup team. As the FA Cup champion in the past two years, Millwall still continues the tradition.

In view of the fact that Nedved's return from injury is approaching, Klose is also hitting the physical limit. He started in August and played at the same density as the main players, but he played a lot more games than he did last season. It's not a good thing to tire him too much, even though it makes him raise the ball very quickly. But Aldridge still intends to let him rest after January and turn into a substitute. In the first game of the FA Cup, he led the Trident with Villa and Glenshire. Lamour, Alonso, and Pedretti were distributed in an orderly midfield, and the veteran Neil on the defense line relieved Barzagli, Metzer de Ferreira and others, and Millwall played a game. A hearty game, 6:1 victory over Stamford.

Start this month. The Premier League has entered the rhythm of Millwall and Manchester United's hegemony. Although Arsenal are trying their best to catch up, their poor away record (the winning rate is only about 25%) makes them unable to shorten the distance even when Manchester United and Millwall make mistakes alternately. The suspense of the Premier League championship is only between red and blue.

Pagliuca has zero opponents in three consecutive Premier League games and quickly won the trust of fans and the team.

The psychological drama between Aldrich and Ferguson also kicked off, becoming the main theme of the second half of the Premier League season.

January. Manchester United suffered a series of draws, Millwall won more than draw, and the points overtook Manchester United.

Ferguson declared that Millwall will inevitably make mistakes, the undefeated golden body has been broken, and the players have been full of honors in recent years. When you are leading, you will relax, and the decline in offensive firepower is the best evidence.

Aldrich hit back: Manchester United has been runner-up in the league for four consecutive years. Millwall's lead is like a nightmare shrouded in Old Trafford. This momentum will crush Manchester United's confidence. The first psychological breakdown will be Manchester United.

Fleet Street sighs, Feng Shui turns!

At that time, Ferguson made Keegan lose his mind, leading by 12 points and finally collapsed. The background at that time was that the Red Devils won two championships and one second in three years in the league. count.

Now, Ferguson repeats his old tricks, Aldridge is neither Keegan, Millwall nor Newcastle United, what's the difference?

Champions, the number of champions.

Will Millwall collapse? How can Millwall relax when the gap between the two teams is not big, and Manchester United will follow at any time?

A paradoxical situation is that if the gap between Manchester United and Millwall is widened, Millwall may indeed have the kind of situation that Ferguson said that the championship is soft and the spirit is lax. Stamina and fighting spirit to reverse Millwall? Aldridge's counterattack hit the nail on the head. For four consecutive years, he lost three times to Millwall and one time to Arsenal. It cannot be said that Manchester United is used to runners-up. When they are second for thousands of years, they are always second, and they cannot touch the championship. Such inertia and psychological shadow will have a profound impact on Manchester United.

At the same time, the media on Fleet Street began to criticize Millwall. Aldrich repeatedly defended the team and defended the accused disciples. His white-faced red-faced tricks began to work, and Millwall became unprecedented in the team. unity.

In February, Nedved, the Millwall god of war, returned from injury. His return to the game was in a mediocre state at first. The top four in the Premier League began to enter the second stage of the Champions League group stage. Overtake Millwall again to regain the leader's throne.

Without waiting for Ferguson to speak, Aldridge fired first: Manchester United has not won the league title for four years, and the team is extremely eager, but now they have to make a choice, whether to fight for the Champions League or the league title? Manchester United is absolutely unable to cope with two-line combat. In this regard, Millwall is definitely better than Manchester United! If you are greedy, you will be beaten!

Ferguson was irritated by Aldridge's remarks and responded: When Manchester United won the championship, Millwall didn't even know what the top league was! Has Millwall already made a trade-off? League? Or the Champions League? Want to defend both? Stop dreaming!

Aldridge responded brazenly: The whole Millwall team is dreaming about this dream! than honor? Don’t mention the old almanac, and I don’t ask too much. Let’s count from the Premier League era. In the 92/93-94/95 season, Millwall let Manchester United for three seasons. Whose league titles are we counting? Well, same. Counting the Champions League trophies, Millwall has one more, well, let Manchester United also count the Champions League champions decades ago, like everyone, should we count the FA Cup and League Cup in the Premier League era? Everyone in Millwall will dream and dare to dream, because we are adventurers with dreams, and the champion gene has been integrated into our blood!

The two champion coaches faced each other tit for tat, which made the spectators very enjoyable. Anyway, now both teams are hated by people. Manchester United has always made many enemies. Millwall has also been the target of public criticism in recent years. For me, it's really exciting!