Thanks for the reward of "Death of the Thief"! ——

Europe's sunny city, Valencia, evergreen all year round, who doesn't love this place?

Even on a cold autumn night, in the stadium where tens of thousands of people gathered, Aldridge could still feel the refreshing breeze, making the whole person energetic, directing a stress-free game on the sidelines, the tension was lacking, but he could enjoy the fun of this job.

While seasoned stars play on the pitch, Aldridge only observes from the sidelines, not shouting at them how to play, a job he often does on the sidelines when leading young and inexperienced players.

His tepidness has left the Spanish fans of the Mestalla unpredictable, and it seems that the young coach is unfathomable and has an incalculable ability to strategize.

England, in the previous five games, three European Cup 1 win and 2 losses out of the group, 1 draw and 1 loss in the World Cup European qualifiers, especially the last game at home also lost, in this context, today, Aldridge's England is away from home, two goals ahead of Spain, and has the upper hand on the field!

Whether it is European fans or the skeptical media, Aldridge himself did not respond to anyone's idea in the first 60 minutes of a friendly match, but he has done his best to silence the doubters.

In the 60th minute, Aldridge stood on the sidelines, the assistant referee held up the substitution card, and England made substitutions, three at a time.

Alan Smith, Joe Cole, Gerrard, the trio played. Replace Husky. McManaman. Scholes.

When the substituted player walked out of the field, Aldridge extended his right hand on the sidelines, and the three substitutes walked past him in turn and slapped his palm.

After this substitution, England became almost an engineering regiment.

Scholes, McManaman, are all players who can control the ball, Smith and Gerrard are on the pitch, and Aldridge is trying to do it. Look at Smith's role in the front line, giving Gerrard more freedom up front, and Joe Cole, is experienced, he comes to play Scholes's role, in the frontcourt, there must be at least one player who can get rid of the ball.

The 60 minutes were a watershed moment as Spain eased the pressure and began to take the initiative on the pitch, putting pressure on the England backline. England's attack, on the other side, was not as fluid as before.

The routine can be played. Unfortunately, Joe Cole and Steven Gerrard are not as good at the ball up front as Scholes and McManaman, so the attack often dies in the front of the box.

Spain reverted to that style of pressing, attacking football, with a noticeable increase in the number of shots on goal and a renewed vigor of delicate and fluid coordination, but they didn't get a great chance to score, and Seaman's steady saves on the edge of the penalty area kept the goal intact.

In any case, during this period, Seaman is still the most powerful goalkeeper in England, and the 37-year-old goalkeeper has not undergone a stronger test today, just like Millwall's Bout, the success rate of god-level saves cannot be seen, but the ball that should be saved is not missed.

Smith and Gerrard have invested more in defence, and the characteristics of the two desperate Sanlang are hardly considered to be good in Aldridge's eyes.

Fight on the court, that's as it should be, but it's advisable to fight with skill.

However, when there is a lot of pressure on the defense, it is better for the attacking players to be actively involved in the defense than not to defend.

The England fans were nervous as England began to be pressed by Spain, but Aldridge was happy inside.

There is nothing to make a fuss about when the frontal attack is beaten and the defense is successful, and it is the focus of a team's defense that is tested twice and three times in a row, and the constant pressing attacks come like waves.

Today's Spanish striker partner Raul and Tristan seem to lack tacit understanding, in the continuous attack continued to tear apart the England defense, Spain got two good chances, but Tristan and Raul did not form a tacit understanding of passing, once Tristan did not knock the ball back to Raul who wanted to complete the 2-over-1 forced to shoot, once Tristan headed the ball to Raul, but the opponent did not realize, the start was slow and missed the excellent scoring opportunity in front of the goal.

Aldridge looked at the team's defence from the sidelines, and it can be said that England's central and defensive system is a combination of Millwall + Manchester United.

Neville, Beckham, Bart.

Southgate, Ashley Cole, Lampard.

Plus a former Millwall player Rio Ferdinand.

In the formation, Man is in charge of the right + middle, and Millwall is in charge of the left.

This ensures that the players have a better understanding in the local defense and it is easier to communicate and cooperate with the defense.

In the process of being torn apart by a series of wide-ranging movements, Southgate directed the movement of the backline, and he was the lubricant of the combination of Mann and Millwall, the leader of the defence.

For the time being, the effect is not bad, and the successful combination of being infiltrated by Spain basically belongs to the defensive flaws of the English team, such as Bart's defensive ability, Lampard and Ashley Cole's side is obviously still weak, and Beckham occasionally makes defensive mistakes in his new position.

Among these factors, except for Bart's personal ability that cannot be improved in the future, there is a lot of room for improvement, as long as the areas that can be improved are improved, the defensive quality of the whole team will also improve a lot.

As the clock ticked by, Spain were unable to score for a long time, and they were playing at home with a more and more pressing formation.

Enrique's wide cross was blocked by Becky's body, Neville stepped forward to grab the ball from the air, and Enrique knocked down Neville from behind for a betrayal foul.

Before Neville could get up, Becky had already pressed the ball in place and drove the ball forward with a long pass.

The front court of Pingchuan is a very strange scene.

England striker Smith wasn't up front, but Joe Cole had his back to the ball in front of the two centre-backs.

He knocked the ball back to Smith at the back, then moved laterally to open the space to catch the ball again, and at the same time completed the turn, followed by a straight kick over the top.

Gerrard, who ran forward when David Beckham launched a long ball, was successfully offside. Another one-shot ball!

A man-ball combination of dribbling. Gerrard's speed is definitely not good. But Joe Cole was behind the top plug, Gerrard started early, and the speed was already at the highest when he was in the anti-offside position, and the opposing defender turned to chase after him, which was obviously slow.

Aldridge wanted to see if Gerrard's ability to handle this kind of one-on-one ball was calm enough and if he had the footwork to finish the goal.

However, Spain could not get Aldridge to do so.

Casillas strikes. Gerrard felt like a big kick forward from the edge of the box, but he was brought to the ground by Casillas.

The referee decisively blew for a foul on Casillas and pointed to the penalty spot.

The Mestalla booed, and the Spanish fans thought that Gerrard had lost control of the ball and that it must have been a fake!

Aldrich crossed his waist and looked distracted.

It was a penalty and, needless to say, even though Gerrard went wide, Casillas didn't touch it. If Gerrard hadn't been brought down, catching up with the ball would have been an empty kick.

An extra goal in a friendly doesn't mean much. Steven Gerrard won a penalty and it looked good, but from a different angle, if he had been calmer and more capable of handling this kind of ball, the ball would have flown into the door by now.

Aldridge arranges training camps for the national team, and penalty kicks are a must-practice event.

This is also to make up for the tactical shortcomings, if you meet a top team that focuses on defense, it is normal to drag into a penalty shootout in an international competition, and Aldridge feels that it is more cost-effective to practice penalties than to practice other things that are routinely trained at the club.

Becky stood in front of the penalty spot, with four minutes left in regulation time, and the penalty was at best a rub of salt in Spain's wounds.

Becky's penalty was awarded in one fell swoop.

“3:0！ Who would have thought it would be such a score before the game? Fleet Street's pre-match pessimism was clearly the wrong one, with England leading Spain 3-0 away! ”

Camacho's expression was lost, occasionally glancing at Aldrich, this is the first time the two have met, I'm afraid there won't be much chance to meet again in the future, Camacho paid the price for his underestimate or wishful thinking to train and adjust tactics, friendly matches are insignificant, but it is bound to cause a storm of public opinion, and his honeymoon period with the Spanish media seems to be coming to an end.

When the full-time whistle blew, Aldridge took the initiative to shake Camacho's hand, then turned and walked towards the players' tunnel, only to be blocked by a group of reporters.

"Mr Hall, this is your first competitive game in charge of the England national team, and are you happy with the performance of England who beat Spain 3-0 away without being favoured? How does this score affect England's upcoming World Cup qualifiers? ”

Aldridge looked absent-minded and said casually: "As I replied in an interview with the media before the trip, this is just a friendly match, it doesn't matter if you win or lose, I regret that the Spanish national team doesn't seem to pay attention to this match against England, we sent the strongest players, but they didn't, my players and I attach great importance to the quality of this friendly match, so in the game my players put in more and work harder, which is the reason why we won, but when it comes to the World Cup qualifiers, That's another story, today's victory will restore our confidence, and the rest, it's too early to tell. ”

'We saw England adopt a new style of play today, is that a change that you brought to the England national team?

'Of course, every manager has his own style and if I don't bring new elements to the England national team, especially the technical and tactical changes, then I won't be the national team manager and I'm happy for that, the players have embraced my tactical philosophy and executed it firmly on the pitch, we have a good foundation to work together and it looks like a great start but it's just the beginning, there's still a long way to go.

Aldrich simply answered a few questions, stopped the interview, and walked away.

The whole England team looked more excited after the game, they felt that it was a hearty victory, teammates high-fived each other and hugged each other in celebration, and Xiaobei, who was further back but still in the limelight, also took off his shirt and exchanged with the opponent, showing off his muscles.

A friendly match against Spain restored some confidence to the England national team from their previous defeat to the European Championship and the World Cup qualifiers, and every player's eyes looked shining, full of anticipation for the future, and the figure they were looking for after the game: Aldridge, was the source of confidence that brought them confidence.

It doesn't matter if it's a black cat or a white cat, it's a good cat if it can catch mice.

The England team's new tactical approach was certainly suppressed at certain points in the game, but they were also thrilled by the power of the counter-attack.

Next, it's time for the World Cup Qualifiers! (To be continued......)