The Young Lion

When Aldridge came out of the stadium channel at Anfield, the whole England fans gave a standing ovation!

Sir Hall is here! The young coach who led England to bring the Hercules Cup back to England made his debut after the World Cup, and was welcomed by the applause of the English fans! No amount of respect can express the English fans' respect for this young coach Now we have reason to expect that under the leadership of Sir Hall, England will be full of ambition and fighting spirit on the new journey! Yes, I am talking about the 2004 European Cup!

Aldridge walked all the way to the coach's bench along the sidelines, and the fans in the nearby stands leaned over the edge of the stands, applauding and cheering for him. The young coach's pursuit in England was unimaginably crazy.

Stella Marcioni, who had just sat down on the coach's bench, felt that his breathing was not normal.

He has not played professional games for a few days, coached the U17 youth team for a year, and watched countless games in the stands. However, this is the first time for him to be on the scene of England's small football stadium, especially as a coach , The sound in the stadium lingered for a long time, like an invisible pressure, making people breathless.

He saw that Jenson next to him was calm and smiling, and he couldn't help admiring his concentration.

Aldridge walked to the coach's bench and sat down, smiled at Jenson and said, I hope I won't be scolded by the fans today.

Haha, anyway, you didn't recruit many main players at all. That's it, and McManaman's departure. The fans have been mentally prepared to buy tickets to enter the stadium. You didn't recruit Beckham and Irving into the team. On the bench, in that case, the fans may be dissatisfied.

Aldrich raised his eyebrows and said nothing.

Not long after, the referee team of this friendly match led the field, followed by the starting players of England and the Netherlands.

Waiting for players to enter the field. Only then did Aldridge realize that he didn't shake hands with the opponent's coach, because he was disturbed by the applause in the stadium.

Well, I hope he doesn't think I'm just putting on airs after winning the World Cup. I'm not a stranger after all.

What are you talking to yourself about?

Jason asked curiously.

Aldridge secretly pointed to the coach seat next door, and said, I forgot to shake hands with the opponent over there. Do you remember him?

Jansen poked his head out to have a look. Trying to think back, tentatively said: The coach of Eindhoven back then?

Depend on,

Fortunately, you are still Dutch, and you don’t even know your compatriots anymore.

I haven't paid much attention to the Netherlands these years. It's been a long time since Millwall played against Eindhoven. Why, do you remember?

Well, I remember. I had expectations for him, and I was quite disappointed at the time.

What Aldridge said was none other than the coach of the Dutch team, Advocaat, who led Millwall to play against each other many years ago.

Van Gaal took the blame and resigned after failing to qualify for the 2002 World Cup with the Netherlands, and Advocaat was the one to succeed him.

Seeing the starting players of the Dutch team, Aldridge muttered again: Friendly match, don't do this, it's a lot of pressure!

The Dutch team is the best!

The England side is too shabby, and there is only Gerrard. Campbell, Neville and others can support the scene.

In this round of European preliminaries, both England and the Netherlands have byes in their respective groups. It is interesting. The Dutch Football Association took the initiative to contact the FA for this friendly match. It seems that the Dutch team, which failed to go to the World Cup, wants to prove themselves in front of the new World Cup champion. However, the Dutch may be a little depressed at this time, because many of the main players in England have not been called up for this training camp. Sir Hall, who has always emphasized the combination of work and rest, is very considerate in allowing the main players of the national team who have fought for more than a month in the summer to rest and ensure England will be in better shape to start their Euro 2020 qualifiers in October.

What makes us more curious is that England's formation in this friendly match has changed. The 4321, which is listed as a classic tactic, was voluntarily given up by Sir Hall. He chose the 442 formation. But it is not England's traditional 442, but a small one. Rhombus midfielder 442. The following introduces the starters of both sides.

England starting 442.

Goalkeeper: James.

Defender: Gary Neville. Campbell, Terry. Bridge.

Midfield: Hargreaves, Gerrard, Carrick, Joe Cole.

Forwards: Alan Smith, James Beatty.

Netherlands starting 433.

Goalkeeper: Van der Sar.

Defenders: Reziger, Stam, De Boer, Van Bronckhorst.

Midfield: Cocu, Davies, Seedorf.

Forwards: Overmars, Kluivert, Van der Meyde.

Although it was a friendly match, most of the team's main players did not report to the national team. Aldrich's training camp this time is mainly about relaxation. In addition, starting a new round of national team technical and tactical system building is more difficult than when he first took over the national team. Smaller ones. After all, the team concept and the tacit understanding of the players, things at this level will not disappear. There is no need to overthrow and start over. What needs to be changed is only the content of the technical and tactical system.

Two years should be enough, especially in a group that does not have too much pressure to qualify for the European Cup qualifiers.

And this friendly match is the beginning of the prelude to change.

England changed to 442.

It's a change, not a comeback.

Because this is completely different from the traditional 442 in the past. First of all, they still have no wingers.

The Dutch team obviously came to Anfield with the vigor to kill the world champions, and they played extremely unrestrained from the beginning of the game.

After all, this group of players in England hadn't played together for a few days, and the tacit cooperation was terrible. In addition, the high requirements of Aldrich's new tactics put extremely high demands on the team. The offensive and defensive ends of the scene had only one characteristic: chaos.

After the opening, the Dutch team got a lot of good offensive opportunities, but none of them turned into excellent opportunities. It seemed that they were too hasty and impatient to deal with the final attack calmly. However, Aldridge discovered an interesting phenomenon, which made him A wicked smile rose from the corner of his mouth.

Why are you laughing? We are very passive.

Jensen was very puzzled by Aldridge's schadenfreude smile, look how dedicated Stella Marjoni is next to him! He frowned and looked worried, obviously worried about the unfavorable situation of the team.

Aldrich lowered his head and laughed.

Hey, what are you laughing at? It makes me happy to say it.

In fact, today's friendly match has another meaning. Aldrich never said it clearly, but Jenson could understand it.

That is, they don't want England to win, they don't want England to play well.

even. Losing is acceptable!

why?

Knock knock the haughty Englishmen!

Let them wake up from the joy of winning the World Cup.

Although the blind arrogance of the English cannot be curbed, it counts as much as it can be suppressed. It's better than being supercilious.

Just like a team that is always in adversity, it means that there is a problem with its strength.

But if the wind is going smoothly all the time, it is not beautiful, because if you suddenly fall, you will be smashed to pieces!

This set has already summed up a relatively handy experience during Aldridge's eight years in charge of Millwall.

So the Dutch team wanted to play a friendly match. Aldridge asked the FA to agree directly, and it would be fine to pay for the Dutch team.

But beat the team. Create a sense of crisis, a sense of urgency, bring a certain amount of pressure, recognize the reality, and you can't deliberately release water or lose the game on purpose, that would be too nonsense.

The opponent is strong, that's enough.

But the Dutch team is not as strong as Aldridge imagined.

He bent down with a stomach ache and hugged his stomach, turned his head and smiled at Jenson: I always thought that being the coach of England was a hard job, and I didn't know why at the beginning. I was obsessed with ghosts, no, it should be motivated by greed. Planning to be the coach of the national team. But now think about it. European powers, so many national teams, which national team coach is good? France? Germany? Italy? Spain? Netherlands? Seeing the performance of the Dutch team on the field, I suddenly I feel lucky to feel sympathy for Advocaat.

Jansen understood most of what Aldrich said.

Like France, there are national problems internally. Part of the reason why Zidane is great is that he has made great contributions to national integration.

Germany is a place where seniority thinking is deeply rooted. You fucking dare to touch some big bosses and go your own way to support newcomers to the top. Just wait to be forced into the palace!

Italy, Spain. The Netherlands has more or less similar problems, either because of interests or because of ethnicity, but any problems reflected in a country's society will actually be reflected in the football circle.

Like England, it's not bad.

At least the problems that Aldridge has to worry about rarely come from outside the competition.

But Jenson still didn't understand Aldridge's last words. He lowered his head and asked: Why do you have to sympathize with Advocaat? I think we should sympathize with England now. We are being beaten by the Netherlands!

Hahaha, to be honest, how much do you think the Netherlands can win against England?

Well, if we stick to it, they won't win, or win at most one. According to our situation today, they may lose at least one.

It's been 25 minutes since the game, and the Dutch team has had so many chances, why didn't they have a decent shot?

Well......

Have you not seen it yet? Damn, you should continue to study with me.

Say it, say it quickly!

Didn't you see Seedorf and Davies, they only pass the ball to Kluivert? So many good opportunities before, if they are willing to pass the ball to Overmars or Van der Meyde, then the last pass Or the final blow, the Dutch team can do better! England lost the ball early! Hahaha, Advocaat, can the head coach solve this problem? The Dutch team, the uncrowned king, deserve it!

Jason raised his head and looked into the arena suddenly, with a surprised expression on his face.

In fact, looking at the game intuitively, I don't think there is a big problem with the Netherlands. It can be understood that it is too hasty, eager to hit the attack directly from the midfield line to the center Kluivert.

And given that Seedorf, Davis, and Kluivert were teammates of Ajax back then, why is it strange that they cooperate and communicate more?

But if you think about it, Isidorf, Davis's level, will not understand the importance of the combination of the side and the middle?

But it is strange to pass on Kluivert so stubbornly.

As a Dutchman, Jansen understood it instantly, and he didn't find it strange.

This is the tragedy of the Netherlands, the contradiction between whites and blacks, Dutch and Surinamese, from all levels of society, to football, to the national team, whenever the Dutch team fails, the factor of internal strife is indispensable. Infighting what? What's the use of infighting?

It's a social problem.

In a country, problems that cannot be solved by the whole society can be perfectly solved in the national team?

England also has problems like racial discrimination, but it really doesn't have such a sharp confrontation in the football field. For example, Manchester United and Liverpool are sworn enemies, but Beckham and Owen can become a model of the best partner.

This is where Aldridge sympathizes with Advocaat. This kind of problem cannot be solved by the head coach sitting down and being honest and letting the players hold hands and be good friends. (to be continued) ()