Millwall's impressive record over the past two years and their meteoric start this season has kept the enthusiasm of the fans unabated, with even the FA Youth Cup, the tiny Lion's Den stadium having over 70 per cent attendance and an inexpensive ticket of £5.

Melanie was carefully dressed today, with long dark brown hair coiled up, and a red slim dress, obviously with the color of the Red Army.

She sat beside him holding Aldrich's hand, with a smile on her face, tilted her head, and leaned into Aldrich's ear and said, "Bet?" ”

Aldridge, who was a spectator in a suit and leather shoes, raised his eyebrows, and the corners of his mouth raised slightly: "Millwall wins, I win, Liverpool wins, you win." What is the stake? ”

"As usual, but cook it yourself."

"Do you know how to cook?"

"I'm learning."

"That's still my loss."

"Gentlemanly manners!"

"Deal."

As soon as Aldrich finished speaking, Andrew, who was sitting in the row below, looked back and smiled: "Can I rub rice?" ”

He also brought his new model girlfriend here to watch the football today, and the slender girl with delicate facial features heard that she was a French supermodel, and she was obviously sitting next to Andrew absent-mindedly and was not interested in this group of children playing football.

Aldrich smiled, "Gentlemanly." ”

Andrew smiled ambiguously and nodded, "Well, it's good, I won't disturb the world of the two of you." ”

As an agent, Andrew will of course also have to pay attention to the performance of the players.

Millwall's starting line-up for today's FA Youth Cup was Glen Shire, who was not yet 18 years old before the start of last year's league game, and Frank Lampard. Ferdinand. Cap de Vera. Pirlo, Richard Wright.

From goalkeeper to midfield, there are promising stars on all fronts, but the forward line is slightly thin, and Glen Schal plays as a winger.

Players from both sides came on the pitch, with Najib and Macaulay on both sides headed by Najib and Macaulay.

Liverpool's godfather Shankly said: Merseyside have two of the best teams, the first is Liverpool, and the second is Liverpool's reserve team.

At first glance, I think this person is crazy. It is estimated that nine out of ten people think he is bragging.

In fact, the current Liverpool coach Roy Evans was the head coach of the Liverpool reserve team that year, in that era, the reserve team was no different from the youth team, the main task was to develop players, Evans coached the Liverpool reserve team at that time, and laid a series of records that were beyond the reach of latecomers, although it was a reserve team game record, but it should not be underestimated, at the same time. That generation of Liverpool reserve squad went on to make a name for themselves in the first team and was a member of Shankly's successor, Paisley, who won three European titles. In this way, Shankly's rhetoric is not without purpose.

Now the head coach of the Liverpool youth team, Macaulay, is not small, he is a player introduced under Shankly, but the strength is not good, so he put his mind on studying training and tactics, and after retiring from the army, he returned to Liverpool for a few years of hard work, and was appointed by Dalglish as the coach of the youth academy to continue to train new talents for Liverpool.

And the Liverpool 1996 generation that debuted today was also carefully tuned by Macaulay.

Aldridge once sent him an invitation, that is, when he poached Liverpool's three heroes last year, but was rejected by the other party.

Aldridge admires Macaulay, who has a very different approach to developing players than the mainstream in England, does not overemphasize confrontation, focuses on developing players' skills, and attaches great importance to the moral character of players, and once he believes that a player's character is wrong, even if he is talented, he will not sign the player.

Glancing at Liverpool's lineup, Aldridge was skeptical.

Among this group of talented players, he saw Carragher and David Thompson, and the other players did not become popular later, just as not all of the final success in the class of 92, but only a few top players, which can no longer be replicated.

Aldridge bent down next to Andrew's head and asked suspiciously: "In Liverpool's starting lineup, why didn't you see Gerrard and Owen?" ”

Andrew usually doesn't have fun all day long, he is different from Aldrich, Aldridge trains the team and studies the opponent, his job is to observe and discover good seedlings, and then build a good relationship in advance, sign if you can, sign if you can, it's not bad to be a good friend if you can't sign everyone, which helps to build a larger network.

Therefore, Aldrich's doubts are really the right person for Andrew, who sends people around the youth teams all day long.

Andrew pointed to the away team's bench and said: "Look, Thompson occupies the starting spot, Gerrard can only be a substitute, Owen's boy, you say how talented he is, I believed it before, but I think you look away, you see, the David Ramour in Liverpool's starting striker, his fame is many times greater than Owen's, Owen is playing him as a substitute." ”

Aldridge was a little dizzy, frowned and said: "Thompson, I know, Gerrard plays as a substitute because his characteristics are not obvious, in other words, Gerrard is too comprehensive, and the offense and defense are not particularly prominent, this kind of player will shine in the future." Tell me about that David Ramour. ”

Andrew spoke in detail, and it seems that he is also focusing on this talented teenager.

David Lamore is a prodigy that Macaulay spent a lot of effort to sign, and if he had been one step late, Lamore would have been taken away by Scottish giants Glasgow Rangers.

In terms of speed, Owen is a little faster than Lamore, but Ramour's ability to read the game can also be said to be significantly better than Owen's football intelligence, and because of this, Owen was pressed to death on the bench.

Aldridge stared at the Northern Ireland prodigy, and after thinking about it carefully for a long time, he didn't remember that there would be a striker named Ramour with a star in European football in the future, and he couldn't find this person at all.

He shook his head and stopped thinking about it.

There are a lot of talents who can't play, this is normal, the success rate of professional football is surprisingly low, not to mention the development of talented players also need the right soil, the external environment and internal potential are important conditions that affect the ultimate success.

Some players have given up, some have been ruined by injuries, and some have been abandoned by coaches. Some are buried in teams that are completely in conflict with their own characteristics

That's just a few steps when it's critical. It's not enough to work on your own. walked up to the future, but if you can't take this step, the genius has fallen.

After the start of the game, the two teams played a wide game, both sides are teams with technical and tactical characteristics, contrary to the mainstream of English football, so the confrontation is not particularly intense, and there are many highlights in team cooperation and individual technical play.

Millwall's midfield duo was Frank Lampard and Andrea Pirlo. Frank Lampard is defensive, Pirlo is the core of the midfield, the former has a large running range and can attack and defend, Pirlo has Lampard to assist in defense, and the attack also has a forward midfielder and Lampard running to cover, firmly controlling the ball.

However, Millwall does not have a reliable striker, except for Glen Shire, who has speed and skill, and the other two forwards and midfielders on the front line are both of average talent. It's more about playing as a team, and there is no excessive display of individual skills.

This left Millwall's offense scoreless.

Liverpool, on the other hand, are also playing well. The rapid advance on the counterattack is quite lethal, and Thompson's ability to attack and defend well is also very large, and his performance is eye-catching.

Aldridge is not only watching Thompson, but also watching Lamore's performance up front.

He wanted to see what the prodigy who could put Owen on the bench was capable of.

Soon, Ramour got Aldridge what he wanted.

His off-ball movement is very aggressive and will never let defenders mark him to death.

In a wide attack, Ramour pressed into the box and then suddenly withdrew to meet the ball that came as expected, and with great skill at his feet, he gently knocked the ball lightly, and at the same time as the ball passed between Ferdinand's legs, Ramour passed him and then met the ball with a burst of fire, which was blasted into Wright's goal.

Liverpool lead 1-0 away.

The ball left Aldridge dumbfounded.

It's not just about his skills, but also his awareness of running off the ball, combined with the rhythm of the center of gravity movement when the defender retreats and then grabs, to complete this individual performance.

"Hehe, I said it, he's a genius, Owen's kid just runs a little faster than him."

Andrew looked back and smiled.

Melanie smiled and whispered in Aldrich's ear, "I've won!" ”

Aldridge shrugged and said, "There's a lot of time to play." ”

Millwall conceded and Liverpool scored, but neither manager was celebrating or frustrated.

Macaulay and Najib, as youth team managers, know better than anyone that this kind of inconsequential game means nothing at all.

The meaning of training players is more important than championships and victories.

The youth training concept of European football is also mostly like this, so many national teams of all ages have repeatedly scored big scores when participating in international competitions.

In fact, the concept of youth training is completely different from that of the senior team, the senior team wants results, and the youth team can not do without!

Because the youth team is about developing talent, not for championships.

The manager is not too demanding on the young players, the important thing is to let them show their talent, creativity and casualness are a little higher than that of the professional players, so it is not surprising that they often play big scores.

Winning or losing in the youth echelon is not so important, which is the same as winning the first place in the primary school exam, the first place in the middle school, and the first place in the college entrance examination is not decisive, and the real test is after entering the society.

Millwall quickly equalised, Glen Schal has improved significantly in the past few months, especially after taking the ball, his skills have improved greatly, coupled with his explosive power, although the angle of the shot after cutting inside with the ball is not tricky, but the Liverpool goalkeeper let the ball leak under his arm in a little panic.

Frank Lampard put his side ahead in the second half with a long-range shot, Pirlo pushed forward with the ball before the end and tore through the Liverpool backline with a clever cross, Glen Charles slashed in across the box and shook the goalkeeper to make it 3-1.

Millwall won this season's FA Youth Cup.

At the end of the game, Aldridge stood up like the rest of the crowd to applaud the young players' performance.

He leaned forward and said to Andrew: "What is the status of Ramour's contract, do you know what? ”

"Zhilu said, he has a one-year contract with Liverpool, but Liverpool is considering signing a new contract with him, this kind of prodigy, how can they let it go?"

'Keep an eye on his contract and if I have the chance, I want to bring him to Millwall, the kind of player is a waste at Liverpool.'

"Well, I'll follow it."

In this game, in addition to scoring goals, Ramour also created a lot of opportunities for his teammates, and he was a player in the Liverpool team who performed as well as Thompson, but his teammates seemed to be unable to keep up with his thinking and were always slow to cooperate.

But this kind of player is Aldridge's favorite striker, with excellent ability to read the game, a sense of making the ball, and good explosiveness and speed, able to pass and shoot, and it is not an exaggeration to call him a prodigy.

Walking out of the Lion's Den after the game, Aldridge smiled at Melanie and said, "Are you learning to cook?" I hope I don't have diarrhea. ”

Melanie also looked at him with a smile and said in surprise, "What does it have to do with me?" You've won. ”

"yes, I won, you should treat me to dinner."

"No, no, whoever wins, please, Chef Aldrich, you're going to show your hand again tonight."

Aldrich looked stunned, then shook his head with a wry smile and slipped into his old BMW. (To be continued......)