The Christmas game came to an end with Millwall drawing 1-1 away at Arsenal.

In the post-match press conference, Aldridge expressed his opinion on the penalty awarded by Arsenal at the last moment, he did not target the referee, maybe 5 out of 10 referees will definitely award a penalty, and the remaining 3 will give Arsenal a penalty because it is in Highbury, and the last 2 will hesitate.

He only vaguely hoped that the referee's standard would be improved and that the decision would be more convincing, but of course, this was his side of the story, which seemed to be wishful thinking.

After all, if a penalty is not awarded, Arsenal will protest again.

The penalty was in the spotlight after the game, but there were no conspiracy theories, and in English football, the atmosphere of discussion was more of an academic exchange.

Some of the veteran and prestigious referees were inclined to support Aldridge's remarks.

At least a look back at the slow motion of the game showed that Bergkamp made a mistake in stopping the ball and Ferdinand couldn't stop the car after the ball went off the line before kicking it to the opposition's feet.

The whole process was within 3 seconds, and hindsight can certainly talk about it, and in the fierce competition at that time, the referee's judgment was dominated by a split second.

Aldridge praised the team's performance and made them happy to go home for Christmas.

He himself was alone, spending Christmas Eve at his parents' house, and on Christmas night, he returned to his apartment, where the lights were on in the homes of some immigrant players, and when he returned to the community, he happened to meet Villa walking out with a girl about 16 years old, and the two looked like a perfect match. It was the first girlfriend he had, and Aldrich greeted the two and went home.

Back home, Aldrich leaned back on the sofa, and after a while, the doorbell rang, and he didn't have to guess who it was, and when he opened the door, Evan was holding a large dinner plate with a lid on it, and said with a smile: "I roasted the turkey." I can't finish eating. ”

Aldrich didn't say anything. Turned around and went to the kitchen to get the cutlery, and opened another bottle of good wine.

"Will you worry about the club?"

"For what? Because the team is behind in points? ”

"I don't know how to say, I'm very unhappy to see you. The team has been good lately, and the Champions League draw has also drawn good opponents. ”

Aldrich thought for a moment as he took his glass. Millwall's opponent in the quarter-finals is Dynamo Kiev. Let's say it's a good sign. He doesn't think that this old opponent is more stable and strong this year, and he is worried that the team will be underestimated because of the double defeat in the group stage last year.

"Saul organized an amateur cycling team. Ask if you are interested in joining, and usually use your free time as a workout. ”

"Very well, count me in, it's better to have some games once in a while."

Aldridge now attends any positive social event so that he doesn't have to worry about it.

Evan cut off a large piece of chicken and put it on Aldrich's plate, and said with a smile: "Okay, the event will officially start in two weeks, do you need me to help you pick out the costume?" ”

"I went to the store another day to buy a bicycle, and I bought it by the way."

Three days later, Aldridge led the team to host Coventry City, the team thrashed the visiting Coventry City 4-0, Thierry Henry scored a hat-trick, and Larsson, who returned from injury, also scored a goal to announce his return.

After this game, Millwall have finished all of their games in '98 and the next game will be the FA Cup in a week's time.

Aldridge and the coaching staff held a half-time wrap-up meeting to analyse all the games in Millwall in the first half, from the technical and tactical aspects to the performance of the players.

There is one phenomenon that he is not satisfied with, and that is the forward line.

Ruud van Nistelrooy scored 10 league goals in the first half, a statistic that is remarkable for any other team, even at the big clubs.

But Aldridge watched the game from the sidelines, analysing the game, and he always felt that letting Ruud van Nistelrooy play as a center forward would sacrifice Millwall's sharpest two-sided striker before.

To put it simply, Ruud van Nistelrooy is passable, but when he plays as a central striker, the winger or his partner is not very efficient in scoring, whether in 433 or 442.

As the discussion erupted, Aldrich walked over to the tactics board and wrote down five names.

Ronaldinho, Henry, Larsson, Nedved, Pirlo.

The first three are tridents, with Nedved and Pirlo in the back row.

He knocked on the table, and the conference room fell silent, and said, "Can these five people form the strongest offensive combination in the whole of Europe, or even the whole world?" ”

If he asks the media a question like this, he will probably be ridiculed.

Individually, the ability of the players is superimposed, and it may not be the strongest in Europe, but the combination of the top three in Europe should be fine.

But in the eyes of coaches, the issue is complex and must be approached very carefully.

There are not many teams that have hoarded strong troops, and Inter Milan is a typical example, but is their attacking combination strong?

At the end of the day, it's team chemistry that's key.

If 1+1 is less than 2, give him 5 gods, and I'm afraid the effect of kicking out is 5 pieces of.

"If you want to play 433, I think Ruud's tacit understanding with the team should be stronger than Thierry."

Craig was the first to give his opinion.

Jensen shook his head and said: "If Van Nistelrooy plays as a center forward, then he will basically die in the middle, Aldridge, do you plan to weaken the full-back assists when you put out such a five-man group?" ”

Aldridge nodded and said: "That's right, I hope the defensive link will be improved a little more, once the full-back's assist is too high and is counterattacked, the risk of conceding the ball is too great." ”

Klinsmann thoughtfully said: "If we can defend solidly and be able to achieve 5 defense and 5 success, then our offensive team must be 5 to 5 success." ”

Aldridge said in a deep voice: "That's right, this offensive combination, I hope to be able to achieve 5 to 5, 5 to 6, or even 5 to 7 can have a good success rate." ”

"Ronaldinho, Thierry, Larsson, Nedved, these four can pass and shoot in attack, and the most important thing is how to run."

Jensen's words were the focus of Aldridge's selection of the quartet and the post-drag Pirlo.

It's just about ability. Ruud van Nistelrooy is certainly not as comprehensive as them, and it is precisely because Vanney's characteristics are a little single, he can't pull the edges, he can't complete the switch with the wingers, and the attacking style of play can't be rich.

Therefore, the best partners for Ruud van Nistelrooy are Klose, Van der Meyde, Glenschal or Duff.

Klose, Van der Meyde, Duff. Glen Shire. From the wings, from the middle, he was given fire support and he was in charge of scoring goals.

"Larson, Pirlo. Nedved is not much of a problem. It's up to Ronaldinho and Thierry Henry to quickly fit into this new attacking combination. ”

"Yes. Let's try it now, assign them tasks in training, and instill in them the idea of role reversal. ”

Aldrich has the final word. Begin to build a new generation of "diamond attack lines".

On a new day in '99, only Gareth Southgate was still recovering from Millwall's injury list, while Andrea Pirlo also returned to training.

Ronaldo, who had returned from Brazil, appeared on the training ground and ran to Aldridge to report on his return to the team as soon as possible.

Everyone else was already training, Aldridge looked at his watch and said, "It's 23 minutes late, let's go run five laps first." ”

Xiao Luo smiled embarrassedly, his vacation should have ended yesterday, and he officially trained today, Aldrich didn't say anything wrong, which means that he was late.

When he had finished his lap and had warmed up, he came to Aldrich's side again and said with a smile: "Boss, I have brought you a lot of gifts."

"We'll talk about that later, do you have fun going back to Brazil?"

"Happy."

"Enough fun?"

"Uh, uh, that's enough."

"Do you want to take a leave of absence later?"

"Nope."

"Then concentrate on playing."

"Yes!"

Aldridge nodded in satisfaction, and then called Ronaldo, Henry, Nedved, Larsson, and Pirlo to the front and began to explain the new tactical concept to them.

Pirlo's role has also changed slightly, and he also needs to have a role change, this role is swapped with Xiao Luo.

When the ball is in central midfield, Pirlo is responsible for the playmaking task, the ball is at Ronaldo's feet, and when he does not have a chance to break through the space or cut forward, he will be in charge of organising, at this time, Pirlo needs to step forward to pick up, become a scorer or continue to keep the player organised.

Henry and Larsson are both fake center forwards, who can be called free men in the front line, pulling the side to receive or break in the middle, which requires them to observe the game situation at any time, teammates to run, not to overlap the positions, but also to make the right judgment at the first time, whether to break through or pass.

Nedved is already familiar with his role, passing when he needs to pass, cutting forward when he needs to get forward, changing flexibly in the game, and the stats from the past year have shown just how good he has been.

In addition to attack, there is also defense, and it can be said that what Aldrich is instilling in them is not an unfamiliar tactic, that is, all-in attack!

It's just that this is not the whole team of players to carry out this tactic, just 5 of them, no matter how many, it is estimated that the team is likely to collapse.

And once these 5 people don't play well with this tactic, the team's offensive power will be greatly reduced.

It's an extreme choice, either gorgeous or nothing.

Full offense and full defense require a large number of world-level players, and at least 2 and a half of these 5 people have reached the ability requirements, and the rest is tactical awareness.

Aldridge began to practice this tactic with the five men in training matches.

During the drill, they were ordered not to break through!

Just rely on passing and cutting to beat the defensive group.

In training, Aldridge was particularly Henry, giving him the most shouts.

Pirlo, Larsson, Nedved needless to say, all year round under Aldridge, flexible running is the basic skill, especially the ability to see the stitches without the ball is the world's world, Larsson's nickname of "Fox in the penalty area" is not obtained for nothing.

Ronaldo has just returned from vacation and has been training very actively, except that he is sometimes scolded by Aldridge for sticking the ball, and there is no problem with his movement.

The biggest headache is Henry, he was born as a winger, let him move to play center, he really thinks of himself as a center, standing in the center area is a little rigid.

Henry was a little aggrieved at first, they had 5 people in the offensive group, and they were playing against a 6-man defensive group, and it should be a matter of course to find it difficult to find space in the run, but he looked at the performance of the other four and found that he was really not good enough, so he could only strengthen his running to improve his performance.

On the other side of the training ground, Vanney was a little distracted, and he watched Aldridge focus on training the five, and he was very disappointed.

He realized that the leader was rebuilding a powerful attacking line, but he was excluded after four and a half years in the team than Henry, who had been in the team for half a year.

The competition within the team itself is fierce, and the strong are the first law, no matter who subverts this law, or cronyism, or uses people to be confused, then the end will be very bleak.

Aldridge doesn't need to explain too much to the players, it's okay or not, depending on the actual performance, if Henry can't do it, Ruud van Nistelrooy, if the effect is not good, he will give Klose a chance.

At the dawn of the new year, Marshal Aldrich began to build the Diamond Attack Group on which he had high hopes! (To be continued......)