Thanks to "doudoubi2", "selfless and cloudy" and "thief dead" for the tips! ——

On the day of the Manchester United game, the changeable weather in Manchester was very face-saving, and the sun was shining and the autumn breeze was cool, which was the best time for the players to play.

On the Millwall bus to Old Trafford, Aldridge sat in the first row with Jenson next to him, flipping through a football magazine in his hand and staring at a colouring picture with interest.

Jenson glanced at the magazine in his hand, snatched it unceremoniously, stared at the young man in the Barcelona shirt in the color picture and praised: "Manchester United have missed a talent." ”

The coloring image is actually just a screenshot of the live footage of the game, which features a Brazilian named Ronaldo, who is wearing a Barcelona jersey and celebrating with his arms outstretched.

Although Barcelona arrived in the summer with a transfer price of 20 million US dollars, the biggest sensation in the Spanish transfer market in the summer of '96 was not him at all, but a player who moved to Camp Nou on a free transfer from Real Madrid, Luis Enrique.

But Ronaldo, under Bobby Robson, quickly became a star and darling from the moment he made his first appearance for Barcelona, the Spanish Super Cup against Atletico Madrid, and his influence grew so quickly that the whole of Europe looked at it.

Even the media in England began to woo the football super-icon with the nickname of the alien, with mixed feelings of envy and hatred.

Aldridge had mixed feelings, Millwall's two-month winning streak and wonderful performances on the field. but lost to a superstar who relied on individual performances.

Even if it's in London. Millwall's limelight was also completely stolen by Ronaldo.

The reason was just 20 days ago. In the seventh round of La Liga this season, Ronaldo, who has always been eye-catching, scored a goal that changed him from a "man" to a "demigod".

In the away game against Compostela, Barcelona scored the third goal, Ronaldo spent 14 seconds from touching the ball to breaking the goal, and experienced five non-goalkeepers to wrap and scramble, and brought his foot skills, situation judgment, physical fitness and other comprehensive abilities to the extreme. And then scored the goal that shocked Bobby Robson with his head in his arms.

What's more interesting is that after the birth of this goal, the first person in the Barcelona coach's box to rush out of the box to celebrate excitedly was named Mourinho, perhaps it was his participation in the coaching team this season and the rise of Ronaldo that made him later say that the best player he had seen in the world was called Ronaldo, but not Ronaldo.

Robson lamented after the game that Ronaldo did not belong to this planet, and the aliens began to become famous in the world!

Later, Nike's marketing promotion replayed the process of this goal, and then typed the subtitles: Imagine asking God to make you the best player in the world and God heard.

Jenson was still making fun of Manchester United missing Ronaldo, but Aldridge turned his head to look out the window. A little emotional.

It's a good time because we've had the privilege of witnessing the rise of many superstars. But this is also a bad time for him, because you know the trajectory of some giant stars, and there are only a handful of stars that can become stars, and too many of them are just meteors that pass by.

Ronaldo, who went to La Liga to play in line with his characteristics and go to the world, missed the opportunity to be taught harshly by Ferguson.

If the trajectory of history can be skewed somewhat, Aldridge will fantasize that Ronaldo can get some golden advice before he becomes popular, rather than facing the two biggest enemies of his career: injuries and depravity.

He was great, but he could have been a god in football, but he didn't, and apart from the World Cup and classic goals, he was lackluster in the club's book of honour.

Aldridge laughed at himself, feeling that his ideas were too harsh, just as more than ten years later, people demanded that Messi and Ronaldo carry the national team to dominate the world.

But he just regrets his position as a manager, there are many geniuses, not that they can't do it, but they give up, or they lose to temptation.

Back in reality, Aldridge and Jensen chatted casually about the Brazilian talent, but the two talked more about his technical characteristics and the league environment in which he played.

In addition to La Liga's emphasis on ball control, their defense is not particularly good, basically whoever has the upper hand in midfield control, who has the initiative in the game, the state is good, the god kills the god, the midfield can not be controlled, it may be a rout, even if it is the giant Real Madrid Barcelona, it is also this problem, from the perspective of the head coach to analyze Ronaldo's many individual performance goals, many teams in La Liga are too bad to defend, they only stare at the ball at the feet of the ball carrier, and they also like to grab, This gives a lot of room for offensive players who control the ball to break through, looking at a lot of people, but often being all passed by an acceleration, without any sense of hierarchy.

The two chatted as the bus stopped.

Millwall's entire squad arrived at Old Trafford.

On a sunny weekend, Old Trafford was overshadowed by gloom.

After changing into his shirt and boots in the dressing room, Aldridge asked the players to warm up on the pitch while he sat quietly in the dressing room.

Compared to Millwall, Manchester United has been on the top and riding the dust, Manchester United has been on a high start this season, and today, Manchester United has almost fallen to the bottom of the Premier League!

Since the start of the new season in August, Manchester United have won the Community Shield, and the league away win over Wimbledon shocked the United Kingdom, but then, Manchester United suffered three consecutive draws, as of the ninth round of the English derby victory over Liverpool in the last five Premier League games, they have won four and drawn one, and are in good form, but in the next two rounds of the Premier League, Manchester United directly backtracked from spring to cold winter!

Newcastle United thrashed Manchester United with five goals at home.

Southampton beat Manchester United 6-3 at home.

Three days ago, Manchester United suffered a surprise 1-0 defeat at home to Fenerbahce in the Champions League.

The Red Devils' 40-year unbeaten home run in Europe is in tatters at Alex Ferguson's hands!

All of a sudden, the overwhelming voices from the outside world were: Manchester United dynasty has fallen!

It's hard to say how great this forty-year unbeaten home record in Europe is, because it was before '93. Manchester United have missed the top-flight title for nearly three decades. I didn't go to the Champions League. Occasionally play a dozen League Cups and Cup Winners' Cups, the opponents are not the king teams of the major European leagues, the home unbeaten is very large, and most years during the period have not even been in Europe.

But United's poor form is no need to argue.

Now, United are also paying the price for their youth, with Alex Ferguson making his young players play the full 90 minutes of the Champions League, and the fatigue of going back and forth and the pressure of media criticism in the face of poor results seem to be on the verge of crushing them.

What worries United even more. Eric Cantona was mentally devastated, and the European Championship in the summer, without France, reached the semi-finals, which made the Old Trafford king realize that the door of the national team could no longer be opened to him, and this mental blow was even more serious than the physical injury, because the player's motivation to play would be missing, and in the first half of the year, in order to be selected for the national team, his spiritual leadership role and personal performance were extreme, and the rest of the young players in the Manchester United team were united under his leadership. Grow up quickly while withstanding pressure.

But since the start of the new season, Cantona's performance has been unsatisfactory. Before Manchester United's two consecutive defeats, his red card led directly to his absence from the last two defeats, and the young players of Manchester United were almost on the verge of collapse.

In the shadow of three consecutive defeats, Manchester United will face the challenge of Millwall today, at this time, the league has only played eleven rounds, but Millwall has 28 points, Manchester United 19 points, and the distance between the two teams has been stretched to 9 points!

After the players warmed up and returned to the dressing room, Aldridge stood up with his hands in his pockets.

Looking around at each player with a calm face, he said lightly: "Do you need me to say something?" ”

All the players shouted in unison: "No! ”

This is Old Trafford, the Theatre of Dreams.

Last season here almost took away the three points, and today, there will be no more regrets!

Aldrich, whose eyes were sharp and his face was cold, whispered: "In the past three months, we have conquered Highbury, leveled Anfield, and today, we will rule the Theater of Dreams!" Wild Lion, go! ”

He turned and opened the door to the dressing room and was the first to walk out, and the players confidently followed him out.

The United players waiting to play in the tunnel were very different from what they had done before, missing some of the Red Devils' dominance, and the mental blow they had suffered from three defeats in the last 10 days was too heavy to show from the inside out.

Aldridge walked along the sidelines towards the visitors' dugout, his head held high and his face expressionless, leaning out of the Reds fan in the nearest stands to attack him verbally, even with a middle finger.

Aldridge doesn't mind, on the contrary, if the home fans applaud you, it will only prove that you are a softie, and you are here to give the Red Devils three points!

Ferguson also took his seat early, chewing gum with a grim expression.

Two months ago, he provoked psychological warfare in the media, so that other teams in the Premier League and Millwall were stumbling, but recently, he died down first, because Manchester United has internal and external troubles, he has no energy to provoke a war of words at this time, and even Liverpool is ahead of Manchester United in the standings.

Aldridge has been a low-key gesture to the media for the past two months, and no matter what Ferguson says, he has responded in an official tone: If Manchester United can keep playing at a high level, then it is normal for them to win the league title, they are stronger, more experienced than us, we just want to play the next game, the title? Manchester United are the favourites.

Looking at the tired Manchester United squad without Cantona, Aldridge came to the sidelines and stood still, watching the players come out with his hands in his pockets.

How important is a spiritual leader?

That's an invisible force that will raise the team's strength to a higher level!

Manchester United's recent collapse has been closely linked to Eric Cantona's form and suspension.

On Millwall's side, Aldridge is committed to building a team, and the central axis drawn from the beginning has become the mainstay of the team.

Larsson, Nedved, Southgate, it's not a power struggle, and although no one can shake the position of the trio in the dressing room, the fighting spirit and never-say-die spirit can infect the whole team!

The game is about to start, and the players on both sides look solemn.

"The focus of the twelfth round of the English Premier League is about to start at Old Trafford, the defending champion Manchester United meets the current league leader Millwall, Millwall has been in hot form recently, with 14 consecutive wins in all competitions and nine consecutive wins in the Premier League, Hall's team is now not only a defeat is hard to find, but even a draw is not even a draw for the opponent, in the pre-match media investigation believes that even if Manchester United has the advantage of home, Millwall is the favorite to win, oh, Manchester United, conceded 11 goals in two rounds, It was the worst losing streak in 66 years, and three days after they ended a 40-year home unbeaten run in Europe, is the Red Devils coming to an end? ”

"Martin, if Manchester United can't snipe Millwall today and suppress the opponent's winning streak, then Manchester United can basically declare the title defense defeated."

"For what? Is it hard to chase a 12-point gap? The league has only been played for 12 rounds! Newcastle United also led by 12 points last year. ”

"Because Millwall defended better! They can score goals, but they are also very strong defensively, Hall's side are still improving, and now all the Premier League teams are looking overwhelmed against Millwall because you can't contain their midfield, Nedved and Pirlo are a stroke of genius, should it be a man or zone defence? Is it a frontcourt press or a backcourt siege? Millwall always have a way to deal with it, they can open gaps in the middle, they are very mature in attacking from the wings, and the attacking scoring points are very evenly distributed, Larsson, Trezeguet, Shevchenko, Nedved, all four of them have scored a total of 20 goals in the last nine league games! Among them, Larsson has a maximum of seven, Pirlo, Schneider and Stam have also scored. Millwall's attack is unstoppable at the moment and if they are able to get out of Old Trafford today, I don't think anything will stop them from winning their first top-flight title in the club's history, as long as the team doesn't have problems with themselves. ”

'But to make the Premier League more exciting and suspenseful, we want Manchester United to show the momentum of the defending champions, at least at Old Trafford, and they can't take any more blows. Now let's introduce you to the starting line-up of both sides, Manchester United, goalkeeper: Schmeichel, defenders: Neville, May, Pallister, Erwin, midfielders: Bart, Keane, Scholes, Beckham, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, forward: Cole. Manchester United played a 451 formation today, it seems that Ferguson is trying to contain Millwall's strong midfield control, Cantona missed this game because of direct red card suspension, he will return in the next round, Ryan Giggs has been out for a long time due to injury, and Red Devils fans have begun to miss his breakthrough on the side like no one. ”

"Millwall, starting goalkeeper: Bout, defenders: Schneider, Stamm, Southgate, Capdevilla, midfielders: Makelele, Pirlo, Nedved, forwards: Larsson, Trezeguet, Shevchenko. Hall's goal this season is obvious, his main squad is full of league play, the League Cup and the European Cup Winners' Cup have been sent off the bench, which has given his players a good rotation, full of energy, consistent and excellent performance in every game, well, the game is on, the visiting Millwall kick-off first, what strategy will they adopt to face Manchester United? We'll see! (To be continued......)