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

Aldridge's return, although it was a little unpleasant with Fleet Street, but in the overall environment of European football, the media is still relatively welcome.

Before leaving for Glasgow, Aldridge smiled at UEFA's pre-match press conference and replied lightly when asked by reporters about his thoughts on Millwall's exit from the group as the reigning Champions League champions this season.

'It's not necessarily a bad thing because now we have hope to make the club a Grand Slam.'

At this time, the media circle of European football realized that among the honors of Millwall Club, swept England, two of the three major European cups have been won, the European Cup Winners' Cup, the European Champions Cup, and if you count the European Super Cup and Toyota Cup, only the honor that has not been won is only one UEFA Cup!

Due to the development of European football, the European Cup Winners' Cup has been discontinued, which means that teams that have not won this honor before will not be able to win this honor in the future.

Of course, it can't be said how glorious the European Cup Winners' Cup is, it can only be said that in the history of the club, winning the three major cups is a bragging capital after all, and it is better than nothing.

No strong team will deliberately switch to the League Cup for the sake of a Grand Slam, but since it has developed to this point, Aldridge's relaxed and optimistic attitude is still admired by the outside world.

At least he didn't show a sign of contempt or condescension, as if Millwall were supposed to be in the Champions League, and accept it. Then face it with optimism and positivity. It's kind of an alternative kind of suffering. It's better than hanging your face and disdainful of it.

It's just that the "realization of the Grand Slam" in the mouth of the young marshal more or less makes the European media feel fooled.

Because most of Millwall's main players were excluded from the squad for Glasgow, and it was obvious that they rushed to Scotland with a group of baby soldiers.

The song "You'll never walk alone" echoed through the Celtic Park stadium, where Scottish giants Celtic were at home and waiting for Millwall.

Aldrich now finds that everywhere he goes, he sees acquaintances, or at least not strangers.

Celtic coach Martin O'Neal offered to greet him on the sidelines. The two shook hands with each other cordially and exchanged arms.

O'Neill has told Aldridge before that he left Leicester City to coach Celtic, and maybe he will meet Aldridge again in the future, definitely on the stage of the Champions League.

It's just that Celtic's competitiveness in the Champions League is really not flattering, he didn't expect that it was not Celtic who met Millwall in the Champions League, but Millwall fell from the Champions League, making the two old friends compete together again.

"What do you want for the League Cup? Glasgow Rangers have the momentum to turn around this year, so let's fight for the title with honesty. ”

Before coming. Aldridge just took a cursory look at the Celtics.

O'Neill led Celtic to keep Rangers at bay in the league for two years, with Millwall winning the title unbeaten last season, and Celtic also narrowly missing the league title, with O'Neal's side losing one game in the league and picking up 103 points to the despair of Rangers.

Celtic have been distracted in European competition this season, Rangers have gone one step further than last year, the two teams are now evenly matched, and it is difficult to say who will win the title in the end.

Listening to Aldrich's ill-intentioned words, O'Neill also ridiculed him: "Millwall simply don't want the League Cup, the Grand Slam or something, maybe the last three rounds of the Premier League can be reversed, stay to fight for the title in the league, in that case, Aldridge, your legend, will add a new glorious page." ”

Aldrich spread his hands innocently and said, "Don't you see that I am indeed staying strong?" Otherwise, what kind of Millwall do you think it will be that will kill Glasgow? ”

"Me"

Martin O'Neill was dumbfounded, his expression depressed.

Looking at the list of players who have come to Millwall this time, it is clear that Millwall really did not show their full strength.

Seeing O'Neill's mouth squirting, Aldrich chuckled and turned away.

"Stay for a drink after the game."

O'Neill shouted, and Aldrich didn't turn around and raised his hand to make an OK gesture.

Walking to the front of the visiting team's dugout, Aldridge, who was in a suit, and Martin O'Neal, who was next door in a tracksuit, were each in their working mood.

Players from both teams played.

Millwall's lineup for today was booed by the Celtic home fans!

Damn, it's all semi-finals!

The Wild Lion actually sent the second team!

I don't know if I look down on the League Cup or the Scottish giants!

'Millwall had a ton of young players on the road today so let's take a look at the starting line-up.

Goalkeeper: Pagliuca.

Defenders: Johnson, Neil, Thiago Silva, Baines.

Midfielders: De Rossi, Lampard, Kaka.

Forwards: Cristiano Ronaldo, Villa, Ramour.

There are only a handful of names that we have known in European competition in the past, and players like Johnson, Silva and De Rossi are all very unknown to the outside world, but Sir Hall has always been known for his bold use of young players, who may develop under pressure and become a player to be reckoned with in European football. ”

Celtic also have Millwall in their squad, striker Luka Toney.

The Italian tall man who was brought to Leicester City by O'Neill followed O'Neill to Scotland together, and in the past three years, he has been a hero in the hearts of Celtic fans, and in less than three seasons, he has scored more than 100 goals!

This season has also performed well in the Europa League, although the top scorer in the Europa League basically has no weight, but his goal-scoring form has still attracted the attention of many strong teams in Europe.

The Scottish team has a technical and tactical tradition of short passing group coordination, and England is ashamed of this aspect, England's style is more inclined to open and close, while Scotland is known for its delicate ground passing, and Celtic are also more comfortable in this regard. Especially with Tony up front. They don't play high very often. Specializing in ground passing, Toney has a strong ability to control the ball in the front line, especially in the penalty area, receiving the ball steadily and then getting rid of the defender to shoot, which is more fluid and comfortable than in England in the past.

Aldridge watched a little helplessly from the sidelines, and Millwall's rhythm of the game did not change, from people who did not control the rhythm.

From the moment Andrea Pirlo was firmly in the squad, he had a solid role for Frank Lampard in playmaking. came to play for Andrea Pirlo, but the effect was not good, so from then on, the idea of letting Frank Lampard play as a playmaker was also broken.

But today, knowing in his heart that it will not work well, he still lets Frank Lampard play in central midfield, and he doesn't need to be delayed, as long as he takes on the task of organising.

Frank Lampard's playmaking ability in midfield is certainly there, but it's just too formulaic. Basically, it's all predictable, and he likes to cut forward. Only the area in front of the penalty area is the area where he is the most dangerous.

Coming to a team of Millwall's level not only requires the midfield playmaker to have creative talent, that is, the cliché "wonderful pass", but also needs the midfield playmaker to have the ability to control the rhythm, when to be fast and when to be slow, which is very important for the overall domination of the game.

If it is mainly to play counterattacks, the requirements for organizational talent will not be particularly high, because in the counterattack conditions, there must be a weakening of the opponent's defense, and another is a broader attacking space, so in the England national team, Frank Lampard is very good, and the actual positional battle to create zào, either Xiaobei's long pass, or Scholes's brilliant straight stopper, Lampard has always undertaken the formulaic over-response, not the main offensive playmaker.

Unable to change the tempo, Millwall's attack was too easy to predict.

Aldridge walked back to the dugout and sat down, turned to Jenson and said: "We need a midfielder next season, and Alonso's substitute is the only one, not enough, it doesn't matter if you are younger." ”

The Millwall Club's internal database is updated on a quarterly basis with information from scouts around the world that can be used to select talent.

Most of the time, they can replenish their blood internally, but when it comes to role players, there are times when they are stretched.

Jensen was thoughtful when he heard this, and probably realized something important.

Stramaccioni pricked up his ears to listen and asked in surprise: "We have Frank Lampard and Alonso, isn't that enough?" ”

Aldridge shook his head and said: "Frank Lampard is not a playmaking midfielder, at least, not the playmaking midfielder I need. ”

Jenson sighed lightly and said to Stramaccioni: "Millwall used to run smoothly in the whole system, what the outside world calls a double core, the midfield is dominated by Pirlo, and the front is Ronaldinho. Nedved has organisational skills, but no one is going to praise his organisational skills, because in the midfield position, what is needed is his attacking ability, his tandem ability, the work of organising, not what he does. Lampard's problem is that he goes to take Pirlo's position, he doesn't create enough power, and he likes to cut forward, which squeezes the space of the players in front of him, and also conflicts with Ronaldinho's role, if he is put in the forward position, he can't compare to Nedved for the time being, but Alonso can take Pirlo's position, although he can't compare to Pirlo in terms of talent, but his defensive ability will bring other advantages. ”

Stramaccioni suddenly came to his senses and asked Aldrich: "In your eyes, Alonso is better than Lampard?" ”

Aldrich glanced at him and said with a smile: "Looking at your appearance, I thought you understood, but it turns out that you still don't understand." It's not a question of who's strong and who's weak, I want a player who does a good job of organising in the midfield, or rather, what I want now is an organisational midfielder, not an energetic B2B all-round midfielder, all-round is not necessarily the best, England claims to be all-round players, but send all the all-round players on the field, do you think it will be strong? If you still don't understand, I ask you, who do you think is stronger Villa vs. Baines or Johnson? ”

Stramaccioni subconsciously replied: "Of course it's Villa, no, no, no, no, you can't ask that, they are not the same type of players, Villa is a striker, Baines and Johnson are defenders, how can it be compared?" ”

Aldrich asked rhetorically, "What's the difference between your question?" B2B all-round midfielder and playmaker midfielder, comparable? ”

Although the all-round midfield is the general trend of football development, it does not mean that the all-round is really invincible in the world.

In the team's technical and tactical system, there must be a clear plan for various roles, otherwise, the system will be chaotic, just like England is not compatible with the two Germanys, which is also a similar situation.

The development of all-round is reflected in the technical characteristics and responsibilities of the players, just like Millwall's midfielder, in the past, it was Gattuso Pirlo Nedved, attacking, all three actually undertake tasks, but the responsibilities are clearly distributed, Gattuso focuses on defense, and when attacking, Pirlo's main task is to organize the attack, and when defending, even if the technical ability is weak, but he must also take responsibility, not to mention Nedved, when attacking, he attacks and never stops running and intercepting when defending.

The new generation of wild lions still needs to strengthen the versatility of the midfield.

However, on the basis of omnipotence, there must be a clear division of role allocation.

De Rossi Alonso Nedved.

The main distribution of responsibilities is consistent with the second-generation Lion architecture.

However, the comprehensiveness in attack and defense, that is, versatility, the third generation will be stronger than the second generation, that is, there will be no particularly bad people in the attack, and there will be no weakness like Pirlo in defense, which is the development trend of omnipotence.

And Lampard in these three roles, the first defensive midfielder, he can't be a defender, the second he can't compete with Alonso, in line with him, it should be the third, that is, Nedved's position, at least in Millwall's system, if he wants to be in the position, he can only overpower Nedved, so Stramaccioni's problem is not right, Lampard or Alonso, who is stronger? I'm afraid 10,000 people will have a 55 answer, or 64 or 73, but does that matter? In Aldridge's eyes, it doesn't matter, because Lampard's opponent is not Alonso, but Nedved, and Kaka at the same time. (To be continued......)