Thanks to "zdh216" for the tip! ——

Benitez borrowed wine to kill his sorrows, and he didn't get drunk when he drank beer, as if he was complaining and as if he was from the bottom of his heart, and he said in a deep voice: "I really envy you." ”

Aldrich cocked Erlang's legs and said, "What is there to envy?" I'm coaching the team on thin ice, and I'm worried every day. ”

"Tell me about your team building process, I watched the game footage at home for a month after I was fired, trying to figure out what the reasons for my failure were, but I couldn't find an answer to convince myself."

In the coaching industry, those who have the potential to become excellent coaches must have the tenacity to not admit defeat in their hearts.

Aldridge got up and went to get a few bottles of beer and put them on the coffee table, and said abruptly: "The only advantage I have over you is that when I take over the team, I have the power to tear down the team and rebuild, at that time, Millwall was the top six team in League One, and there were many powerful players in the team, but I could only let them go, because they wouldn't listen to me, and the way of thinking about playing football is not something that can be changed in the short term, so I cleaned the team and then went to buy the players I wanted, no, it should be said that I could buy the best players." ”

Benitez raised his hand to interrupt him, confused, "What do you mean?" I've watched Millwall's games live and your players are great, what, aren't they what you want? ”

Aldridge shook his head and said: "No, it can only be said that I choose the best under limited conditions, you look at the players of my team, where did they come from before?" Larsson was poached from the Netherlands, and Trezeguet was brought back from Argentina. Schneider is from the Bundesliga and Nedved is from Eastern Europe. Stam comes from the Dutch underdogs. And in the main lineup, Thuram. Southgate, Makelele, Pire, plus Larsson, these guys spent almost £10 million! Two years ago, Fleet Street was laughing at me for being a stupid nouveau riche, but I wanted to poach the main players of Ajax and the good players of the Italian team. To dig up the stars who have become popular in Ligue 1, not to mention whether the club sells them or not, how many players will be willing to come to Millwall? That's it, if it weren't for the automatic termination clause I signed with many players in my contract for failure to upgrade, they might not have come! When they first came here, they were panning for gold! I paid them several times or even dozens of times their original salary. ”

Benitez couldn't turn his head a little bit, and asked sneeringly, "But obviously you've made it, how much is Larson worth now?" And how much is Nedved worth? ”

Aldrich shook his head and smiled bitterly: "You can't count it like that, I'll give you a simple example." How much was George Weah's transfer to Paris Saint-Germain in '92? $5 million. How much did I spend on Thuram in '94? £3,000,000! Weah is the striker and Thuram is the defender. If it were you, you would think my brain was in water! I spent over a million pounds on Pire, do you think the owners of the opposing club will feel at a loss? Makelele also spent more than two million pounds. He was a full-back in the team at the time. ”

Benitez was stunned, this era. Attacking players are significantly more valuable than defensive players, even in Italy, which is known for its defense. At most, defensive players are closing the gap with offensive players.

Zinedine Zidane, who will move to Juventus in the summer of '96, how much is the transfer worth? 3 million euros, of course, there are no euros at this time, it is converted at the exchange rate, but this value is also related to the contract period of the player.

Although Ligue 1 has a higher status in European football than in later generations, it is not the heartland of European football.

Aldridge's difficulty in buying players is obvious, with high salaries and high prices poaching a few mainstays, and then bringing in undiscovered talent from second- and even third-rate European leagues.

Benitez figured it out and said, "That way, it's going to be easy for you to build a team." ”

Aldrich scoffed, beckoned to him, and got up to head upstairs, with Benitez dropping his bottle and following him.

On the second floor, there is a room dedicated to Aldridge's team, and the shelves of the room are filled with videotapes of the team's games and training.

Pointing to a row of tapes on the shelf, he said: "Once you've watched all the footage of Millwall's games last season in order, and then this season's footage in order, you'll see what the process of building my team has been like." ”

Benitez was so interested in the tapes that he sat on the couch and began to play them, and, instead of treating himself as an outsider, he picked up a notebook and a pen from his desk, watched the video and began to write and draw in the notebook.

The video was more than 90 minutes, and when he was fast forward and deliberately slowed down, Aldrich was by his side.

Late in the evening, after watching Millwall's first 10 games last season, Benitez turned back to Aldridge and said: "Your team's tactics were too monotonous at the beginning, right? ”

Aldrich shrugged, "What do you think? Is it possible to buy a player and then make it perfect for the player? When these players first arrive at the team, it's a mess of sand, you have to water, mix, and shape the castle you want with your own hands step by step, and the sand won't turn into a sandcastle on its own. ”

It was only then that Benitez understood what Aldrich meant by walking on thin ice.

The team needs a shaping process at the beginning, and there is also a sequence problem, starting from the offense or starting from the defense, there is no absolute difference between the two good and bad, but both need patience and skills, Aldridge just chose to start with the defense first, and some coaches can start to adjust the team's offense, and then gradually make up for the defense in the process of breaking through, and finally achieve a balance between offense and defense, the two are the same way.

Aldridge's team is young, and the heavy blow of defeat is too much to bear, so he can only start defensively.

"I went to sleep."

Aldridge said hello and turned away, Benitez just nodded and continued to watch the footage, which was a state of madness for coaches who had studied tactics as soon as they started studying the game footage. I often don't feel the passage of time, and I only stop when my mind is exhausted and my brain is blank. Benitez is now in a state of high spirits, and he wants to study the secrets of Millwall's success. Therefore, even if it is late at night, he does not plan to rest.

Aldrich only thinks that he is here for a vacation, and he still has a job, so if he doesn't greet him, he will go to bed anyway.

The next day, when Aldridge went out, Benitez was asleep on the sofa in the studio, and Aldridge ignored him and went back to the team to conduct training.

Because the club also issued a ticket to the fan who caused the accident. This has made the relationship between Millwall and the fans very strained in recent days.

The fan base was divided between extreme fan-led protests and Brady's Lionroar-led fan crowd holding banners outside the training ground.

On one side it reads, "Aldrich, you have failed us!" ”

On the other side it reads, "Always support the Lion!" ”

It seems that the two are not compatible, and there is no confrontation in it, but Aldridge is the owner of the club after all, and the declaration of the lion's roar is to cheer for Aldrich.

The atmosphere outside the training pitch was a bit of a distraction for the players, as the noise outside the pitch was annoying.

However, in the days that followed, the extremist fans who were causing trouble in east London were taken away by the police for investigation. Ahead of the weekend's league season, the voices of the naysayers are getting weaker and weaker, as the pickers among them have gone to the police station.

The Lion's Den Stadium was packed, and Millwall's stadium was small. As the team's fame skyrocketed, the grandstand was full, and neutral fans couldn't afford to come and see the game.

The penultimate round of the league. Millwall host Aston Villa.

This is the third time the two teams have met this season.

One league and one League Cup final before. Millwall's record is one draw and one win.

Aldridge sat in the box to watch the game with his father, and Benitez was also present to watch the game.

When Aldridge heard the commentator on the box TV report Aston Villa's line-up and formation. I was speechless for a while.

He was gloomy in his heart, and originally planned to send a substitute to play this game, but yesterday the locker room collectively asked for the whole main force to play, and the players naturally wanted to impact the league championship, Aldridge faced the players who were united, he could not disobey their collective will, and could only choose to compromise.

Aston Villa are currently fifth in the Premier League, although from the traditional standings, they can only hope to enter the European competition next season if they break into the top four, but the FA Cup semi-final list is out, in addition to Manchester United and Millwall, the other semi-final is Liverpool and Nottingham Forest, unless Nottingham Forest can finally win the cup, otherwise, it will be the top four teams who will get a ticket to the European Cup Winners' Cup, then the league fifth will get a ticket to the League Cup.

There is little hope of getting into the top four, because the first group is Newcastle United, Manchester United, Millwall, Liverpool are left behind by the top three, but Liverpool can pull the team behind them six points apart, so the competition for fifth place in the league is extremely fierce.

In addition to Aston Villa, who are in fifth place, there are also Arsenal, Everton, Blackburn, Tottenham Hotspur and Nottingham Forest, the smallest gap between them is a deuce, the largest is four points, and there are five league games to go, and everyone has hope of finishing fifth.

Because of this brutal situation where every point counts, Brian Little put on a 541 formation after putting up a 532 defensive formation in the League Cup final, and today he visited the Lions' Den Stadium more thoroughly.

The attitude is obvious: Lao Tzu just wants a point!

The game turned into a half-time drill, with Millwall facing Aston Villa's impregnable wall, especially with a midfielder reinforcement.

Benitez saw that Millwall's attack could not be scored, and turned to Aldridge and said: "The opponent's formation should be 5131, if you put it more carefully, it is 14131."

Aldridge nodded, Aston Villa were really determined to have a draw.

In addition to Simeka's dragging central defenders, midfielder Taylor also played a similar role as a dragging central defender behind the three midfielders, except that he was just a back and forth midfielder, and on the basis of the original defense of the three midfielders, Aston Villa's defensive system has really become a solid fortress of double insurance inside and outside.

Millwall's attack was only fluid on the perimeter, but when they came to the danger zone, they were submerged in a dense defence and the village struggled to get in.

"How do you break it?"

"It's just luck. Millwall's tactical system this season is a bit difficult to defend intensively, strong on the wings, a little weak in the middle, and next season I will make the wings as strong as the middle. ”

Aldridge is a little helpless, this is a problem with the tactical system, just like Arsenal playing 532 If you face a dense defense, most of them will be a dull 0:0.

Millwall's current 442 is strong on the wing, but only relies on Nedved in the middle, which is difficult for some strongmen, and he does not have much space to play when he is constantly marked by the opponent.

In the end, the match was settled at a score of 0:0.

Throughout the game, Aston Villa had zero shots on goal and Millwall had just five of their seventeen shots on target.

Aston Villa and Millwall each take a point.

I thought Millwall was out of the way to win the title, but the news from the other side was unbelievable.

Newcastle United drew with Leeds United and Manchester United lost away to Southampton.

Millwall still maintain a three-point gap to Newcastle United, but are level with Manchester United, relying on more goal difference than their opponents to climb to second place in the table. (To be continued......)