The Young Lion

Thank you Thieves for your reward!

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Aldridge's return, although there was some unpleasantness with Fleet Street, the media still welcomes it in the overall environment of European football.

Before the trip to Glasgow, at UEFA's pre-match press conference, Aldridge was smiling. When asked by reporters about Millwall's thoughts on being eliminated from the group as the defending champion of the Champions League this season, Aldridge spoke with ease. Answered one sentence.

It's not necessarily a bad thing because now we have the hope of achieving a Grand Slam of club honors.

At this time, the European football media circles realized that among the honors of the Millwall club, they have swept the interior of England, and they have already won two of the three major European cups, the European Cup Winners' Cup and the European Champions Cup. The European Super Cup, the Toyota Cup, the only honor that they didn't get, there is only one UEFA Cup left!

Due to the development of European football, the European Cup Winners' Cup has been suspended, which means that teams that have never won this honor before will not be able to win this honor in the future.

Of course, it cannot be said how glorious the European Cup Winners Cup is. It can only be said that in the history of the club, winning the three major cups is ultimately a bragging capital, which is better than nothing.

No strong team will deliberately switch to the UEFA Cup for the Grand Slam, but now that it has developed to this point, Aldridge's relaxed and optimistic attitude still makes the outside world admire.

At least he neither expressed contempt nor condescension, as if Millwall should belong to the Champions League stage, the reality is so, accept the reality. Then face it positively. It's a different kind of hard work. After all, it's better than hanging your face and dismissing it.

It's just that the grand slam that the young marshal said made the European media feel more or less fooled.

Because most of the main players were excluded from Millwall's big list for Glasgow, they obviously rushed to Scotland with a group of baby soldiers.

The singing of You'll Never Walk Alone echoed in Celtic Park, where the Scottish giants Celtic sit at home, waiting for Millwall to visit.

Aldrich now finds that wherever he goes, he can see acquaintances, at least not strangers.

Celtics coach Martin O'Neal greeted him on the sidelines. The two shook hands cordially and exchanged warm words.

O'Neill told Aldridge before that he left Leicester City,

Coaching the Celtics, maybe we will meet Aldridge again in the future, and it must be on the stage of the Champions League.

It’s just that the competitiveness of the Celtics in the Champions League is really not flattering. He didn’t expect that it was not the Celtics who entered the Champions League and met Millwall, but Millwall’s fall from the Champions League, which made the two old friends meet again. contest.

What kind of UEFA Cup do you want? Glasgow Rangers have the momentum to turn around this year, let's honestly try to defend their title in the league.

before coming. Aldridge just glanced at the recent situation of the Celtics hastily.

O'Neill led the Celtics to suppress the Glasgow Rangers in the league for two years. Millwall won the championship unbeaten last season, and the Celtics were one step away from winning the league. Lost in one game, and scored 103 points, which made Glasgow Rangers desperate.

The Celtics are distracted from the European competition this season, and the Glasgow Rangers have gone further than last year. The two teams are now evenly matched. It is hard to say who will win the championship in the end.

Hearing Aldridge's malicious words, O'Neill also retorted: Millwall shouldn't want the UEFA Cup at all. What about the Grand Slam? Maybe the last three rounds of the Premier League can be reversed. Stay focused on defending the title in the league. Ah, in that case, Aldrich, your legend will add a new page of glory.

Aldridge spread his hands innocently and said, Don't you see that I really stayed my strength? Otherwise, what kind of Millwall do you think will kill Glasgow?

I......

Martin O'Neill was speechless for a moment, with a depressed expression on his face.

Look at the list of players that Millwall came to be a guest this time. Obviously, Millwall really didn't show his full strength.

Seeing O'Neill bicker and deflate, Aldridge turned and left with a chuckle.

Stay for a drink after the game.

O'Neill shouted, and Aldrich raised his hand without turning around and made an ok gesture.

Standing in front of the coaching bench of the visiting team, Aldridge in a suit and Martin O'Neill next door in sportswear went into work.

Players from both teams played.

Millwall's lineup today was booed by Celtic's home fans!

Damn, it's already in the semi-finals!

Wild Lion actually sent a second team!

I don't know if I look down on the UEFA Cup or the Scottish giants!

Millwall are here today with a lot of young players, so let's take a look at the starting XI.

Goalkeeper: Pagliuca.

Defenders: Johnson, Neal, Thiago Silva, Baines.

Midfield: De Rossi, Lampard, Kaka.

Forwards: c Ronaldo, Villa, Lamor.

There are only a few names that we are familiar with in European wars in the past, and players like Johnson, Silva and De Rossi are very unfamiliar to the outside world, but Sir Hall has always been famous for boldly appointing young players. Maybe they will grow rapidly under pressure and become stars that cannot be ignored in European football in the future.

The Celtics also have Millwall's old man, striker Luca Toni.

The tall Italian who was brought to Leicester City by O'Neill back then came to Scotland with O'Neill. In the past three years, he has become a hero in the hearts of Celtic fans. In less than three seasons, Goal breaks 100!

He also performed well in the Europa League this season. Although the top scorer in the Europa League basically has no weight, his state of scoring goals has attracted the attention of many strong teams in Europe.

The Scottish team has a tradition of teamwork with short passes. In this regard, England should be ashamed. England's style tends to be open and close, while Scotland is known for its delicate ground passes. The Celtics are also good at this aspect. Played more easily. Especially with Tony on the front line. They don't play the high ball very often. Specializing in passing and cutting on the ground, Tony has a strong ability to control the ball on the front line, especially in the penalty area, receiving the ball stably and then getting rid of the defender to shoot, which is more smooth and free than in England in the past.

Aldridge looked a little helpless from the sidelines. Millwall's game rhythm has not changed, and it comes from people who do not control the rhythm.

Since Pirlo became the main force in the team, he has experimented with letting Lampard play an organizational midfielder. Came to serve as a substitute for Pirlo, but the effect has not been good, so since then, the idea of ​​letting Lampard play as a midfielder has also been cut off.

But today, knowing that the results are not good, Lampard is still allowed to play in the midfield. There is no need for him to delay, as long as he takes on the task of organizing.

Lampard's midfield organization ability must be there, but it is too formulaic. Basically everything can be foreseen, and he likes to go forward. Only the area in front of the penalty area is the area where he has the highest threat value.

To come to a team at Millwall's level requires not only the creative flair of a playmaker, the clichéd 'passing', but also the ability to control the tempo, when it's fast, when Slow, which is very important for the overall domination of the game.

If the counterattack is the main focus, the requirements for organizational talent will not be particularly high, because one of the counterattack conditions must be that the opponent's defense is weakened, and the other is that the offensive space is wider. Therefore, in the England national team, Lampard The performance is very good, but what is created in the actual positional battle is either Beckham's magical long pass, or Scholes's wonderful through pass. What Lampard has always assumed is formulaic oversupply, not The main playmaker.

When unable to change the rhythm, Millwall's offense seemed too predictable.

Aldridge walked back to the coach's bench and sat down. He turned to Jansen and said, Next season, we need a playmaker substitute. Alonso's substitute is the only one. It's not enough. It doesn't matter if he's younger.

In the information database within the Millwall club, the information scouts observed around the world is updated every quarter, which can be used for Millwall to select talents.

Most of the time, they can replenish blood internally, but for role players, there are also times when they are stretched.

Jenson was thoughtful when he heard the words, probably aware of some major changes.

Stramaccioni pricked up his ears and asked in surprise: We have Lampard and Alonso, isn't that enough?

Aldridge shook his head and said: Lampard is not a playmaker, at least, not the playmaker I need.

Jansen sighed softly, and said to Stella Marcioni: Millwall used to have a smooth system, the so-called dual-core, Pirlo in the midfield and Ronaldinho in the frontcourt. Nedved has organizational ability, but no one will praise his organizational ability, because what is needed in the midfielder position is his assault ability, tandem ability, and organizational work, not what he is doing. Lampard's problem That is, he went to take Pirlo's position. He is not creative enough, and he likes to go forward, which squeezes the space for the players in front and conflicts with Ronaldinho's role. If he is placed in the front midfielder In terms of position, he is still not comparable to Nedved, but Alonso can take over Pirlo's position. Although he is not as talented as Pirlo, his defensive ability will bring other advantages.

Stella Marcioni suddenly realized, and asked Aldridge: In your eyes, Alonso is better than Lampard?

Aldridge glanced at him and said with a smile: Looking at you, I think you understand, but you still don't understand. It's not a question of who is strong and who is weak. What I want is a good organization in the midfield In other words, what I want now is an organizational midfielder, not an energetic b2b all-around midfielder. All-around is not necessarily the best. England has many players who claim to be all-around, but if they are all all-around players, Do you think it will be strong? If you still don’t understand, let me ask you, who do you think is stronger than Villa, Baynes, or Johnson?”

Stella Maggioni replied subconsciously: Of course it is Villa, no, no, no, no, you can't ask that, they are not the same type of players, Villa is a striker, Baines and Johnson are Defender, how can you compare it?

Aldridge asked again: What's the difference with your question just now? Are b2b all-around midfielders and playmaker midfielders comparable?

Although the all-round midfielder is the general trend of football development, it does not mean that the all-around is really invincible.

In the team's technical and tactical system, it is still necessary to have a clear plan for various roles, otherwise, the system will be chaotic, just like England's incompatibility with dual virtues, and a similar situation.

All-round development is reflected in the technical characteristics and responsibilities of the players. Just like Millwall's midfielder, Gattuso-Pirlo-Nedved used to be the offensive. The three actually undertake tasks, but the distribution of responsibilities is clear , Gattuso focuses on defense, and must support when attacking. Pirlo's main task is to organize the offense. When defending, even if his technical ability is weak, he must also take responsibility. Never stop running and intercepting.

The new generation of Wild Lions still needs to strengthen the versatility of the midfield.

However, on the basis of omnipotence, role allocation still needs to be clearly divided.

De Rossi-Alonso-Nedved.

The distribution of main responsibilities is consistent with the structure of the second-generation Wild Lion.

However, the comprehensiveness in offense and defense, that is, the omnipotence, the third generation will be stronger than the second generation, that is to say, there will be no particularly bad people in offense, and there will be no one like Pirlo in defense. See through the existence of weakness, this is the development trend of Almighty.

Among these three roles, Lampard can't be the first defensive midfielder, and he can't compete with Alonso for the second one. The third one that suits him should be Nedvi. Germany's position, at least in the Millwall system, if he wants to be in the top position, he can only overwhelm Nedved. Therefore, Stella Macioni's problem is wrong, Lampard and Alonso , who is stronger? Ten thousand people may have an answer of 55, or 64 or 73, but does that matter? In the eyes of Aldridge, it doesn't matter, because Lampard's opponent is not Alonso, but Nedved, and Kaka in the same period. (to be continued..) ()