The Young Lion

England lost.

At the St. James Park Stadium, there was no goal to rewrite the score in the plain second half. At the end of the game, there was a boo in the stands.

0: 1.

England lost at home to Finland's defeat in the preliminaries.

Fans can understand that they are dissatisfied. They think that it is not worth buying tickets to watch the game. First of all, popular idol stars like Beckham and Irving don’t show up, the fans are not satisfied, and second, the game loses.

This is the second defeat of Aldridge coaching the national team, also in a friendly match, the last defeat was Oslo half a year ago.

After the game, Aldridge came to the locker room and said to the group of players who lost the game in the last game and said: "This game is lost, it is irreversible, but I hope you understand that what we are doing now Everything is preparing for the World Cup. Don’t be discouraged. We are not a perfect team. We have a lot of areas for improvement. This requires us to work together. Every player, every coach, we work together, Struggling to make the England team stronger before the World Cup. In this defeat, we found many problems. This is a good phenomenon. It is better to find problems now than to go to the World Cup. If it is then, we will There is no room for remedy, I hope you understand this."

Aldridge’s words were very contagious and persuasive. The players were all in the spirit. The head coach came out and told them: We are on the right path, but we haven’t reached the end yet. On the way, there will naturally be setbacks, and today it is.

After the game, Aldridge was on the cusp of the storm. After all, he lost to a second-class European team at home. England seemed to be beaten back overnight, becoming a paper tiger that made fans worry about it and could not sleep.

"Hall paid a terrible price for his underestimation!"

"Disgraceful defeat! The England team should get up!"

...

The storm lasted for a few days. When Aldridge returned to the club, he changed back to the mad lion who was admired by thousands of people.

Fleet Street is also funny enough. A few days ago, he still ridiculed and ridiculed him. He devalued Audridge to nothing. He was so arrogant, empty-eyed, lacking experience in the international arena, and so on.

Not even three days later, Fleet Street began to pat Aldridge's ass.

"The young master led the mad lion into the four consecutive Premier League countdown!"

"Middlesbrough can't stop the strong mad lion, the young handsome is aiming for the first crown of the new year, the League Cup!

...

The 27th round of the Millwall Premier League is scheduled for the early stage. At the same time, the FA also announced that Millwall will play the 28th round two days later.

This is Millwall's application to the FA, before FIFA match day.

They adjusted the schedule, not to push the game back, but to advance the game, because next weekend, they will play in the League Cup final, the opponent is Blackburn.

In the 28th round, the opponent was Aston Villa. The Football Association consulted Aston Villa and obtained the agreement of Aston Villa. Probably, they think that Millwall has two games in 3 days. Fort consumes them first, and then their chances of defeating the mad lion at home will increase greatly.

Millwall had no choice, the schedule was too **** intensive!

Three days of the two-match league on the weekend, playing the Champions League next week, and the League Cup final on the weekend, actually four games in eight days!

If the crazy lions do not adjust the schedule, then the 28th round of the league behind the match, it is estimated that it will be the same situation, after all, there is the FA Cup.

In the final analysis, it was the Champions League system and the crashes of England's local competition system.

The UEFA Champions League 16 still has to play 6 games to decide the top 8, which happens to be the start of the FA Cup in England.

But it wasn’t just England that suffered. The strong teams in other leagues began to feel overwhelmed. After a season, there were too many games.

Voices have been raised within the G14, with Millwall as the representative, hoping to unite internally to pressure UEFA and reform the system again, but it is very difficult to make the G14 internal opinions completely unified. This is very difficult after all. If you can participate in the Champions League and play a few more games, you will be able to make a lot of money. This is a dispute of interests, not a rational discussion.

Perhaps due to the influence of FIFA match day, Millwall failed to win Middlesbrough when he sent the main game at home.

Two days later, Millwall was visiting Vera Park, taking the main shift, and coming off the bench. Aston Villa, who was going to cut Millwall down at home, was defeated by Millwall's bench lineup with a score of 3-1.

Two more days later, Millwall ushered in Galatasaray's challenge at home, slowed down the main force, and won the Turkish giants with 2-0 soldiers in the Lion King Stadium.

Next, the Millwall team went to the Cardiff Millennium Stadium to welcome the first game of the New Year, the League Cup final.

In the past three games, the outside world has seen a small pattern. Millwall played these three games with the rotation of the main force and the bench. The main game played two games, one win and one tie. The bench played one game and won. By the time it was the League Cup final, it was time for the bench to play. After all, Millwall still has the Champions League task next week. Obviously, Millwall is now more ambitious about the Champions League.

At the press conference before the game, the reporter also asked about this.

"In your nearly eight years of coaching career, except in the second year, you won the double cup king with the main lineup. After that, Millwall will train newcomers in the cup. If you can reach the final, Millwall will only All of the main players will be sent to the stage. Tomorrow is the final of the League Cup. Will Millwall send the main players to the game? But they just played a Champions League two days ago and will fight Boavista four days later. Their physical strength is no problem. ?"

Aldridge replied honestly: "I will give a lot of young people a chance to start tomorrow. I think this season is a bumper season for us. It does not mean that we have got a charity shield, Super Cup, Toyota Cup. Honor, but rather, I am very happy to see the progress and maturity of these young players like Villa, Alonso, Kaka, De Rossi, Metzelder, etc. Now, I think there are some of them You can stand on the stage of the finals, not feel the atmosphere, but have enough strength to play talent on that stage, use your own ability to help the team win honors, and make greater contributions to the team. Millwall this season There are a lot of matches, and then we have tough battles. It is necessary to allocate players' physical fitness reasonably. Especially, considering that there are still World Cups waiting for them, as the coach, I have the responsibility and obligation to let them have enough energy to deal with the upcoming World Cup."

Aldrich’s interview was a signal to tell Blackburn that Millwall would not send the strongest lineup in the final.

Regarding this information, Blackburn coach shook his head and responded: "Hall is a coach who is very good at psychological warfare. I think he is releasing smoke bombs. He wants to disrupt our deployment of the game. I don’t believe he will do that. You know, tomorrow’s final, if you win, you can take away the championship trophy, and lose. No one will sympathize with him. He throws the pressure on the young players. This is debatable, so he is definitely still Will send the strongest lineup in the finals according to the usual practice."

I have to say that Aldridge's remarks made the outside world suspicious, Millwall, known as the "trophy harvester", came to the final without using the strongest lineup, that is, with the greatest probability to win the trophy, is it possible?

Even Fleet Street didn’t believe Aldridge’s remarks, and they had the same attitude as Blackburn: this **** smoke bomb! Whoever is deceived!

The following day, Millwall and Blackburn division Cardiff Millennium Stadium, two hours before the game, the live broadcast unit's workplace and the reporters who reported on the scene received the starting list of both parties.

Basically, there will be no major changes to this list, unless a player is unwell during the warm-up and is temporarily adjusted out of the list.

After seeing Millwall's starting list, almost all Fleet Street reporters have written off...

Fuck!

Aldrich's falsity is driving reporters crazy.

Millwall dispatched half of the main team, and the half team came off the bench to play.

smoke bomb?

Sorry, everything Aldridge said is true.

They underestimated Aldridge's integrity. True, sometimes he would make a fuss and put a smoke bomb, but once he made a promise to the player, he would definitely fulfill it. This is related to the coach's character.

As he said before the game, he will give young people a chance to play in the finals and praise them for their progress this season, then? smoke bomb? Don't give them a chance? Players will also watch the news, won't they be disappointed? They have become Aldrich's pawns to confuse the enemy, will there be negative emotions?

Therefore, Aldridge is telling the truth. When it comes to the specific arrangement of players, he will take it very seriously.

The Millennium Stadium is occupied by fans from both sides and local Welsh fans. Millwall fans attach great importance to this final. No matter how small the mosquito is, it is also meat. Millwall has not been involved in the League Cup for more than two years. As the king of England, one For a dynasty team, fans naturally hope that the trophy they can get will not miss the best.

Players from both sides lined up.

"The 01-02 season of the English League Cup final is about to start. This season's performance is still strong. It can be said that it is the strongest Millwall in these years. Finally, it has returned to the League Cup final. Their opponent Blackburn wants to get from Mill. It is not difficult for Wall to **** the trophy in hand. There are many speculations about Millwall's starting list before the game. Now that the players have entered the field, there will be no mistakes. Here is a brief introduction to Millwall's starting lineup.

Goalkeeper: Palyuka.

Guards: Schneider, Materazzi, Southgate, Zambrotta.

Midfielders: Gattuso, Alonso, Kaka.

Forwards: Villa, Klose, Ramor.

..."

That's right, this is the main force of the half-team. The half-team substitute, although it is a mashup, is also well organized.

Aldridge uses the main defense, with the offense of the bench, at least, so he has a bottom.