As soon as the FIFA international break passed, Aldridge was thankful that the players had returned unharmed.

With just three days to go until the weekend's league game, Aldridge and his fellow coaching staff were waiting early on the training ground for the players.

Benitez, Jenson, and Barbu stood beside Aldrich, and the four of them discussed something in a circle with serious expressions.

After changing their shirts, the players who came out of the dressing room gathered to talk about the Champions League grouping.

They are full of yearning for the Champions Cup, and you can hear it in their words.

When the players assembled, Aldridge reprimanded them with a straight face.

"You guys seem to have forgotten that we have a big league game in three days! I understand how you feel, I'm excited to have the highest level of competition in the club's continental competition, but you can't forget who you are, you're the reigning champions of the Premier League and we're 10th in the league now! Shocking 10th place! Liverpool have managed to leave their wounds on us, Wimbledon and Leicester are happy to get the results they want from us, so do you want to give our rivals a weekend gift when we visit Stamford Bridge this weekend? Forget about the Champions Cup and go all out to prepare for the weekend of the league! ”

When the players heard Aldridge's stern warning, they all put away their relaxed expressions and faced the next training seriously.

The coaches did not participate in the warm-up exercises, and Aldridge and the coaching staff were still discussing the tactical training priorities for the coming period.

With the first group stage of the Champions League in a week and the main players returning from the national team, Aldridge should be in rotation for the weekend league game.

However, the situation in the Premier League table forced him to field his strongest squad for the derby against Chelsea.

Previously, the league had been winless for three rounds. This decline must be halted immediately. Especially since the start of the Chelsea league campaign, the momentum has been ferocious. It is also necessary to suppress the upward trend of the sworn enemy.

The only positive factor is that Millwall play at home in the first round of the Champions League, with the game being played in London, to minimise the disadvantages of back-to-back battles.

After the players had warmed up, Aldridge called six players in front of him and Rafa Benitez called eight players to his side.

Barak, Schneider, Nedved, Larsson. Trezeguet, Shevchenko six members of the team stood in front of Aldrich in a fan shape.

Aldridge took the tactical book and said to them: "Listen carefully to what I am going to say, if you don't understand what I want from you, then our team can't continue to improve." ”

The six nodded solemnly.

Millwall are in trouble, and that's something that is known throughout the Premier League.

No matter how many people watched the excitement or secretly laughed at them, there were still many who were waiting to see how Millwall would break the predicament of the new season.

How to break down dense defenses?

Liverpool, Wimbledon, Leicester City, have managed to taste the sweetness of Millwall, but this is not the mainstream of the Premier League.

Liverpool counter-attacked with a very thorough defence in addition to playing Millwall. It's still offensive to play other teams, and so are other teams.

So. Fleet Street is not worried that this "crooked atmosphere" of defensive counterattacks will become the main theme of the Premier League.

It is precisely because of Millwall's outrageous strength that last season's firepower was full of firepower in the Premier League, which made other teams in the Premier League shudder, so only in the face of Millwall, most teams put on a negative posture of not wanting to win in order to avoid losing.

This is a critical period for Millwall, once they can't reverse the current decline, and if they are helpless in the face of dense defense, it is likely that other teams will continue to implement this tactical idea, then Millwall will become the laughing stock of the Premier League: play well and fart, or can't win!

Aldridge knew in his heart that only once, twice, three times in a row that those teams who put on extreme anti-counter-attacking tactics would finally lose and return home.

When the opponent feels that the passive defense can't even get a draw, the tactical thinking will return to the original point: it's better to play your own style and fight, you can't get points just by being beaten, what is the kicking picture!

Aldridge showed his tactical board to six players, with the offensive players' running routes, passing routes, dotted and solid lines to mark it very clearly.

"It's a team tactic that we've developed over the last three years and it was a great success last season, in terms of passing and movement, we're pushing through layers of interlocking, and the simplest description is: the backfielder gives the ball to the midfielder, the midfielder passes to the frontcourt player, and when the players in other positions come up, they use the width of the pitch and the lateral movement of the ball to tear up the opponent's gaps, and then the scorer takes the opportunity to threaten the opponent's goal."

The six players listened attentively, and even though they didn't have a deep understanding of tactics when they first came to the team, they knew how to play with their eyes closed, even though they couldn't describe the essence of the tactics they were executing day after day.

"In the past, our attacking players in the midfield were running laterally to tear up the gaps, such as David, who ran laterally in front of the defenders to attract the attention of the defence, which gave Andre and Henrik the opportunity to suddenly cut inside to threaten the goal, but now, our opponents tend to deploy heavy forces within the first 40 yards of the penalty area, and they use the number of defenders to make up for the defensive gaps that may be exposed, which requires our attacking players to change their movement and be more tacit, and more demanding of reading the game. Maybe it used to be one or two players running to create chances, but now it's asking three, four, five players to run together to create chances for their teammates. ”

Aldridge turned the next page of the tactical board and showed them the new tactical training that began today.

Positioning is complex, and simply relying on a fixed and rigid line to run is not going to do much, Aldridge is often creating all sorts of environments for players to try and then point out on the tactical board today. The running route diagram is also very simple. But the real difficulty is to form a tacit understanding in actual combat.

"We're going to have to tear up the depth up front. The opposition used two and three layers of defense to strengthen the lateral interception, but I don't think their midfielders can form a perfect combination with the defenders, they will have momentary changes in the marking, and the holes in the marking will leak out between role changes. ”

Aldridge explained the key points of the tactics to the players and asked them to communicate with each other.

There are no changes in the general direction of tactics, but the changes in details require a deeper understanding of the players and a higher demand for their cooperation.

When the training starts. Aldridge asked them to play half court offense and defense.

The attacker was his mention-or-face six.

Benitez had eight other players form a two-tiered defence.

In addition to the goalkeeper, defenders Mills, Elgra, Southgate, Zambrotta, plus four midfielders: Gattuso, Makelele, Glen Char, Duff.

When training began, Aldridge stood on the sidelines to observe the performance of the attacking team.

At first, they still played the old tactical routine of horizontal tearing. In Aldridge's constant shouting reminders, the attacking team gradually found their form. The performance is getting better little by little, they have been playing together for more than two years, and the tacit understanding between two or three people has long been formed, but now they are required to have four or five people, five or six people to form a team tacit understanding in an attack, which is interlocking, and no one can do without it.

And that's not Aldridge's ideal tactic, Millwall is missing an element.

A super player who can tear through the opponent's defense with a point and a face!

Larsson is the perfect finisher, Shevchenko can pass and shoot, Trezeguet is top level in terms of involvement and impact, but none of the three on the front line have the ability to change the tide of the battle on their own.

Aldridge's plan is that it will be two seasons before the team has the last element of the world's best team, and that element contributor is the Brazilian who is working goals and assists in the development team: Ronaldinho.

This is still the fastest time, because the team has to wait for Ronaldo to grow, wait for him to gain a foothold in the Premier League, wait for him to be like a fish in water, and wait for him to transform into a green shade magician.

In the past, even if the opponent was afraid of Millwall, at most it was only eight defenders in the backfield, and then two people looked for fighters in front, but this season, the opponents encountered in three consecutive rounds were nine people defending in the second half, and one person harassing in front, and playing counterattacks was almost a gamble on luck.

In such a situation, Millwall's lack of personal breakthrough ability is clearly exposed.

Aldridge is not complaining and will try to do his best in the current conditions and get the most out of Millwall's team football.

Three days later, the London derby hit.

Aldridge was suspended and didn't even go to the pre-match press conference, and Benitez stepped in for him, but the scene was deserted, and Fleet Street didn't want to waste time on the Spanish fat man.

The east London derby has certainly disappeared in the league this season, and it is unknown when West Ham United will climb back into the Premier League, but the war between Millwall and Chelsea is not only on fire, but also because Chelsea have built up strength step by step in recent years, making the Blues a force to be reckoned with in London and the Premier League.

Millwall have already proven themselves with the title and the Blues are just a trophy away from announcing their rise.

It was not only a derby between London's arch-rivals, but also a focal point between two Premier League upstarts.

Chelsea have played a number of good tough battles over the past two seasons, pitting the likes of Manchester United and Liverpool in the gutter and earning them praise as giants, and they may not be favourites to win the league title this season, but they will have no problem being spoilers.

Aldridge appeared in the box at Stamford Bridge, with Evan beside him, and the handsome man and woman appeared in the live camera with indifferent faces, and the two looked like solemn gods overlooking the stadium.

In the stands at Stamford Bridge, the Blues Chelsea fans unfurled an arrogant banner.

"Millwall, who is the leader now? Where is the lion? ”

Since Millwall entered the Premier League, they have never been ranked behind the London team after five rounds of the new season, but after five rounds this season, Millwall are 10th in the league, and surprisingly Chelsea are at the top of the table!

Millwall's fans stood in the visitors' stands with their arms crossed, scoffing at the Chelsea fans' arrogant taunts.

Brady directly directed the Roar members to take action immediately, and the Roar fan group is now Millwall's most influential fan group, especially because their behavior in the stands not only inspires the players, but also keeps them from falling behind in cheering and cheering with opposing fans.

Soon, the Roar members in the stands spontaneously shifted their positions, and with a wave of Brady's hand, five rows of members turned around, with bold letters on their backs forming a declaration in response to Chelsea.

champion

Chelsea: 4

Millwall: 5

Someone has been waiting for twenty-six years

Someone had a party just four months ago

This demonstration slogan, consisting of a word or number or punctuation mark behind each fan, quickly caught the attention of the live camera.

At the same time, Brady pulled up a big ticket of his comrades and sang in unison: "Hey, Chelsea, look here, look here, answer our questions: who waited 26 years, who watched the Lions lift the FA Cup at Wembley, and whose Premier League record was lost to the Lions?" Chelsea, Chelsea, answer me, answer me, or you just cry, cry, cry, cry."

Some of Chelsea's most die-hard fans watched the Lions fight back, some gritting their teeth, others remembering the crushing defeat at Wembley a few months ago, when they were the closest they had come to a trophy in recent years, but the hopes of reliving old dreams were shattered by the Lions.

The hateful Millwall, who are obviously winless in three consecutive rounds, are obviously at the top of the league table with four wins and one defeat for our Chelsea.

Why are you mad?

Why? (To be continued......)