The Young Lion

Aldrich's coaching style has never been inseparable from the iron fist. Whether it is the player he currently coaches or the player who has left, when talking about him, he will say that he is strict and stern, but it is a completely different concept from merciless.

On the training ground, during the break time, the internationals sat in a circle. Aldridge walked to the middle and sat cross-legged, talking openly to the players.

"I know everyone is tired. Everyone except Hargreaves has played or played in the Premier League. I know that there is no pain during the winter break. I know that starting from March, all fronts will enter the sprint. Pressure, public opinion, camera, fans, head coach, etc., all parties will use expectations, demands, orders, etc. to make you have no moment of respite. I will not say that for the honor of the national team, let you stick your teeth , I don’t think it will have obvious effect. Let’s be realistic. You are tired and need to rest. These two days are spent here happily. Let yourself relax and recover as much as possible. Then we go to Greece, the main force of the national team. You will all play against Greece in the next game. If we win, then you will play Albania in the fifth game. You can rest and let the bench players play."

The internationals sitting in a circle looked at each other, and many people were relieved.

When I came to the national team, I was really afraid of the regular intensity training of the club. The intensity and rhythm sound the same, but I have to play two away games in a row!

And it's not the club's domestic short-distance away, but the flight away to foreign countries. This boat is tired, can you not be tired?

Aldrich's words were already clear.

When playing away from Greece, the main force wins. When playing away from Albania, the main force should go on vacation.

Although it is an honor to play for the national team, it also depends on the situation.

If it was in the second half of last year, when they were full of vigor and vitality, each nature was eager to fight, but now, they are almost exhausted into dead dogs in the club. It is better to rest for two more days.

Moreover, fighting Greece is a key battle.

Playing Albania sounds like abusive food.

Aldrich informed them of the arrangement in advance, also to arouse the fighting desire of the main players. They only had 90 minutes of performance, tied, lost, and played one more game. It was insignificant to play against Greece. It should not be lost, or, England itself has no room to lose points and will not win. Negative public opinion after the game will surround them again.

"You are tired, give you rest, this is not my sympathy or simple understanding of you, but I think that this will help us win the game better. You have not played together for 4 months, and now it is just easy to gather Local training, so, in the game, you have to use this game more."

Aldrich said to point his finger at his temple, meaning: mind.

"Focus and thinking, and the desire to win. I don’t want to emphasize that we must defeat Greece. One thing I want to emphasize is: we should defeat Greece! Your strength, victory over Greece is what you should do, even if you win, Don’t expect to be praised, because you’ve only done what you’re doing. Of course, if you can beat Greece beautifully and perfectly on the road, then I’ll take back the previous sentence, and, I will praise you.”

In this lap, the internationals sitting with their hands on the grass behind Aldridge suddenly looked up and laughed.

Aldridge was puzzled and asked, "How? I am telling a joke?"

Beckham, Lampard, Southgate and others are still laughing.

The most senior Hargreaves said truthfully: "Coach, the British media say your praise is poison."

Aldridge slammed his head and laughed.

Lift a stone and hit your feet.

Psychological warfare has been used up in recent years, and his praise has almost become a curse.

In fact, this can't be blamed. Using the media to fight psychological warfare, there are basically only two options.

The first is to hold opponents, and the second is to scorn opponents. The former is the praise from Aldridge. He will praise how a team is, let that team become the focus, bring pressure to the opponent, and may also cause pressure on the opponent. Conjecture from the outside world, is Aldridge in favor of a certain player of the opponent? To achieve the purpose of disturbing the opposing party's military.

The latter is to provoke the opponent, contempt and disregard, may cause the opponent to lose their calm in the game.

Psychological warfare is much used, and his words, as long as they involve opponents, sound half-truths.

"Hall's praise is poison, and Hall's devaluation is spirit."

This is the conclusion of Fleet Street.

Although many of the players are laughing, they all understand the purpose of Aldridge.

After contacting him for a long time, he will gradually understand his coaching style.

As long as it is not a problem with the player’s professional attitude, Aldridge will not treat the team routinely, and the specific situation will be analyzed in detail.

This is even more true for leading the national team. The training is adjusted in accordance with the situation of the players. The game schedule is flexible or flexible, but the purpose is the same. That is to help the team win, especially to enable the players to be able to play in the game The best state reached.

In this case, at least Aldrich doesn’t think that step-by-step routine training for the team can achieve better training results. Everything is for the 90-minute game. Training is no exception. It is necessary to be relaxed, relaxed and flexible, which is a major feature of his coaching.

Since training is not strengthened, in such a relaxed atmosphere, Audridge will instill more confidence in them, especially to calmly face the outside voice.

Even though England does not rank in the top three, top five, or top ten in the forest of top world power teams, the top ten is still barely able to advance, so as long as it is not a world-class opponent, then winning and winning should be taken for granted. Don't be happy, don't be complacent, you should digest the game, find the shortcomings, and do better.

In terms of tactics, the prototype has taken shape, and it is still in an ascending period of maturity, but no major adjustments will occur.

Now Aldridge is about to start to polish the inner spirit of this team.

England can’t talk about lying tigers, hiding dragons, but the players who can enter the national team are all players with strength protection. After the storms and waves, they can understand the intention of Aldridge, and they can’t rise to admire that realm, but they are also sincere. Acceptance, especially that can resonate deeply in the hearts of many players, what Audridge emphasized is also what their team needs most.

Winners are not arrogant and discouraged, the heart of the strong!

The training content is loose and there are many breaks, but you can't let the players chat and fart?

Aldridge and the coaching staff watched the opponent's video with the players in the conference room. This was all sorted out by the coaching staff. It was not for the players to watch a game after 90 minutes. That would obviously be very boring.

The coaching staff will sort out the representative of the opponent's offensive routine several times as typical, point out that the opponent threatens the player, the offensive focus, and the offensive method, so that the players can understand the opponent in the shortest time and be psychologically prepared.

After two days of training at Leo Training Base, the England national team embarked on a journey to Greece in a uniform and leather suit.

In 2004, the home of Greece will move to Piraeus. This time England is visiting Greece, and the city to go to is Athens.

The visit of England to Greece this time, from the day before the game to the beginning of the game, can be seen from the local street atmosphere of Greece: the Greeks are not afraid of England!

Even Finland can draw England at home, and Greece has a chance in theory!

Although the performance of Greece in the first three rounds was worse, as Aldridge said, the most important thing is that in the fourth round, fifth round, and sixth round, their fate is still in their own hands. In the hands of the team, it is no need to think about directly advancing to the top of the group, the qualification for the play-offs can still be contested.

At the beginning of the Chinese lantern, the sky was dim, the stadium was full of lights, and the bleached stands had greeted the enthusiastic cheers of the Greeks.

Such a game is a matter of life and death. Both teams cannot afford to lose. If England loses, the hope of qualifying for the group's first place will be almost shattered. The reality is that the final four rounds will be played for the qualification of the playoffs. If Greece loses The hope of qualifying for the play-offs is slim, but in fact it is completely missed for the next World Cup. After all, Germany, England and Finland are all ahead of Greece.

But against such a background, the fans in the stands did not treat England with the eyes of their enemies, even if the United Kingdom removed countless heritage buildings from Greece that they were proud of...

When Aldridge walked into the stadium, he could even hear the cheers of the Greek beauties in the nearby stands, calling his name, but did not cheer for him.

When he walked to the coach's seat and stood still, Aldridge's face sank like water. He couldn't relax easily in such a life-and-death battle, and he didn't even know why!

Even if he led Millwall to the Champions League final, Aldridge could properly decompress himself and calmly faced.

However, England challenged Greece away, but Aldridge could not relax at all.

Deep down, I found countless reasons to explain.

Are you tired?

Is it because the team hasn't played together in 4 months?

Or, even the team is tired?

For these reasons, Aldridge cannot convince himself.

In the end, he thinks, it may be that England routinely drops the chain like a shackle carried on the people who care about this team.

In the past, Aldridge did not have this shackle. He was a spectator of England's victory or defeat.

Now, as coach of the national team, he has changed from a bystander to an authority, involuntarily, subconsciously worried that England fell off the chain without warning.

The players from both sides lined up to enter the field. The English starting players all had serious expressions. After three days of rest, the competitive state itself would not have an impact. Because they had a game mission in the club before, but because of a reasonable rest, the physical state did not reach The peak state, but at least not tired from the beginning, now, it can only be said to be in a more optimistic state.

"The fourth round of the World Cup European Qualifiers Group I is about to begin. Greece sits at home against Athens, the hottest team in this group. After 3 games, Greece only scored 1 point and England scored 4 points. Greece unexpectedly lost to Albania. Their situation became very bad in less than half of the group stage. It was England who was sympathetic to them. England also scored only 1 point in the first two rounds of the group stage, but after losing to Germany, England immediately changed coaching and led in the Premier League. Audrey Hall, who has achieved a brilliant record in recent years, took office and immediately achieved an impressive record of three victories. There are two friendly matches commendable, with an away victory over Spain, a home victory over Brazil, and one more It was the last round of the group stage that defeated Albania at home. England now has 4 points. Greece and England. If they want to qualify for the World Cup, this game is their life and death battle. If they draw, it is the most important for the two teams. Unwilling to see results!"

The players on both sides were scattered in their respective half-time formations, and the life-and-death battle was on the verge.