After getting off to a good start in the league, Aldridge never mentioned Peter Dawson after the game, and in his heart, even a proud and complacent guy was not interested in using an unknown person like Peter Dawson as a stepping stone.

At the end of the first round, Millwall unexpectedly occupied the top position in the league table, followed by Sheffield United, Oldham United, Middlesbrough and other strong teams with the ability to overtake.

Aldridge gave the players a day off, but he returned home and worked late into the night, and the next day he went to the club's training hotel to renegotiate with the entire coaching staff about the development of young players.

In the conference room, they first laid out the schedules of the three echelons.

Pointing to the projection on the big screen, Jenson said: "We have seven more games in League One before the FIFA day in mid-September, against Sunderland, Derby County, Bolton, Reading, West Bromwich Albion, Burnley, Tranmere, two of which are sandwiched between midweek and require players to play two games a week, and the first round of the Carabao Cup in the middle of next week, and if it goes well, then we will face the second round of the Carabao Cup in the middle of the last week of August." ”

Aldridge looked at the first-team schedule projected on the big screen and fell into deep thought.

The weekend visit to Sunderland will not be too difficult, because today's black cat Sunderland does not have the strength to surpass, last season in the League One was only in the middle of the ranking, and Xiu Anlian is the same level of team, this summer, Sunderland did not have strong reinforcements, the team's strength is not high or low, just look at the on-the-spot performance.

But the next series of games will be a test for Millwall.

Last season, they thrashed Millwall Derby County 5-1 in the promotion play-offs.

The summer brought in a number of experienced veterans trying to overtake Bolton.

Reading and West Bromwich Albion, who were promoted to the first division last season, may not seem strong, but they are familiar with winning teams in the past season, and their combined strength and occasional outbursts of crazy momentum cannot be underestimated.

In the run-up to the FIFA break, Aldridge has to make sure his squad is mentally stable, and it's hard to win without being discouraged, and it's not just the manager's words.

He thought for a moment and said: "The Carabao Cup is given to the substitutes, and the first-team starting line-up will only deal with the league this season unless we can reach the final of the cup competition, but I think that's very unlikely. The season is very long, try to keep the main squad one game a week, they are still young, and the amount of games should be moderate. For the next seven games, our goal is the same: not to lose and to concede as few goals as possible. Even if it's seven draws, I'm willing to accept it. ”

Hearing Aldridge's "unambitious" goal, the other members of the coaching staff looked at each other, and Jenson frowned: "As long as you are undefeated in seven games?" That's a bit low, isn't it? We won 4-0 in the last game, and in my opinion, we can win at least two of our seven opponents, and opponents like Tranmere and Burnley, if it is just a draw, it doesn't mean much, not to mention, seven draws are only seven league points, and if we can win three, we will have at least nine points. ”

Jensen's opinion is agreed by everyone, but Aldridge shook his head and said: "The second place point promoted to the Super League last season is Nottingham Forest, 83 points, the first place Crystal Palace is 90 points, there are 46 games in the league, we have room to lose points in the early stage, I don't want to put too much pressure on the team, at the same time, we must realize that yesterday's win at home to Xiu Anlian is essentially a tactical mistake by the opponent, not the overall difference in the team's strength, Jenson, what you said is very practical, we won 3 games and lost 4 games, It's also more points than seven points from seven draws, but I don't think so. ”

Members of the coaching staff stared at Aldridge with frowns, wanting to hear what he thought.

"The average age of our starting 11 yesterday was around 21 years old, if you exclude the 25-year-old goalkeeper Keller, the average age of the other 10 people may only be 20 years old, they can't afford to fail, we can't afford to fail, failure comes with doubts, distrust, disappointment, loss of motivation, the focus of the players' minds will be scattered, in this critical stage of building confidence and mutual trust, losing is the biggest taboo! In a draw, a young team like ours will not be discouraged, and it can even be regarded as a victory, losing one goal, the players will regret or be unwilling, losing two goals, self-comfort can be said to be normal, losing three goals, it is a blow, losing four goals, it will leave a major shadow in the hearts of the players, and infect each other, spread throughout the team, and eventually collapse. ”

Aldridge's calm words shocked the entire coaching staff.

In fact, these coaches are also very young, and the most intuitive manifestation of responsibility for the team is the league standings, and getting more points is almost the first goal.

Aldridge knocked on the table and said softly: "Okay, from now on, we have to forget about yesterday's victory, and don't look at where we are in the standings, our focus is on building the current team into a more effective team, not only the growth of individual players, but also the shaping of the team's temperament and spirit, this is what we should focus on, when we do these things well, I think victory will come naturally." ”

call

The coaches on the coaching staff looked at each other and smiled, they suddenly felt that Aldridge did not look like an 18-year-old head coach, and even they had the idea of quick success, but Aldridge was surprisingly calm at this time.

No one knows that Aldrich actually has more than forty years of experience in his bones.

Babu suddenly said worriedly: "In yesterday's game, Patrick made a mistake, although he has calmed down, but I am worried that it will put him under pressure, I suggest that he start by getting familiar with English football, let him play in youth team games or reserve team games, in short, do not let him go directly to the league stage." ”

Aldridge nodded approvingly and said: "This is the point of my meeting today, we have a lot of young players in the team who have no experience in the professional league before, and some of them have only played at the level of the youth team, so I want to study the schedule of the reserve team and the youth team with you, so that these young players can get training step by step." ”

In the past, Millwall did not participate in the reserve league, and there was only one youth league in the echelon to play, but it was only to develop young players, and in recent years there has been little success, after Aldridge took over the team, the players who could not sell the first team or were still young and felt that they had hope were sent to the reserve team, and the number was enough to make up a team, and they signed up for the reserve league this season.

Jenson came up with two schedules, one for the reserve team and the other for the youth team.

Aldridge said: "By bringing in the coaches of the development and youth teams and bringing in the players of the squad, we are not only about getting the players to play in the reserves and youth teams, but also about designing tactics that are consistent with the first team and having other players work for the development of these players. ”

To put it bluntly, it is to let other players who have no hope in Aldridge's eyes accompany the prince to study.

This kind of thing is tacit in English clubs, even Manchester United are doing it, and the brilliant star of hope is surrounded by some unknown young players to partner for him, and there have even been lawsuits, but in the end, it has not been resolved.

Now Millwall is tearing down and rebuilding, and the youth team and the reserve team are more like decorations, so it is understandable that Aldridge is directly involved in the planning of these two teams.

For two days in a row, Aldridge and the entire coaching staff studied the technical characteristics of the players in the squad, devised tactics to give the young players more work, and instilled them in the youth and development coaches.

By Wednesday, Aldridge had started studying the weekend's opponents, the Black Cats, and the entire coaching staff had barely a day off, supervising the players in training and getting together to prepare for the weekend's games when the players were resting.

Although he wakes up early and sleeps late every day, Aldrich does not feel tired at all, but feels that life is very fulfilling, he goes out early and returns late, and when he goes home, he has no extra time to deal with anything other than sleeping.

At Friday's pre-match build-up session, Aldridge noticed that the first-team players were more serious than they had been at this time last week, with their expressions meticulous, with everyone's eyes on Aldridge and ears pricked up to listen to his tactics.

Seeing this scene, Aldridge knew in his heart that he and the players had established a foundation of mutual trust after winning Xiu Anlian by four goals in the last game.

That's good, listen to me, make sure it's right!

Jenson began to write and draw on the tactical board, and Aldridge said calmly to the players: "Our next league opponent is Sunderland, this team was in the middle of the league last season, their characteristics are not obvious, they are the team with the fewest goals among the top 12 teams, and the number of goals conceded is also in the middle of the table, judging from their draw against Bristol City in the last round, they still focus more on defense this season, but after all, it is their home stadium, so, We have to be careful of the accident of capsizing away from home. ”

Aldridge patiently analyzed the opponent's offensive routines for the team, what the team needs to pay attention to in defense, and then combined with the formation pattern on the tactical board and said: "The opponent's back line is shrinking near the penalty area most of the time, and will not give us too much space, so in the attack, our two forwards need to keep running to pull out the passing space, Robert and Bernd, your passing line is to cooperate with the corresponding side of the forward, and hit the ball to that side when the striker runs diagonally into the ribs, After receiving the ball, the forwards can cross the penalty area horizontally, or they can knock back outside the box, where Bernd and Robert come to pick up, Pavel can properly step forward to connect the attack in the front, and ensure that the ball is constantly in motion, not too much to the side or at the feet of a player. Remember? ”

The players who listened carefully said in unison: "Remember, Boss!" ”

Aldridge clapped his hands and said: "Very good, the meeting is over, play a good game tomorrow, but you must remember not to treat the opponent as Xiu Anlian, and treat every game as if it were your most important game." ”