This year's Christmas war does not take place on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, but on the 27th.

In the final league fixture of the first half of the league, Millwall will travel to take on promoted horses who are also struggling with relegation from the spiral of relegation John Dons.

Due to the obvious gap between strength and weakness, at the pre-match press conference, Fleet Street paid more attention to the Ballon d'Or selection that has just passed, and it is not surprising that the World Footballer of the Year will also be won by Nedved.

Aldridge was asked how he felt about Nedved's award, and he replied with a smile: "In the past few years, there have always been people who have been finding faults, saying that Nedved can't compare to a certain player, and that seems to be a little worse, and I keep saying that such comparisons don't make any sense, because no player is absolutely perfect, no player is a decathlon, but Nedved has become a phenomenal player, and at the same time, it will also become a template for the next fifteen years of forward players, and the club will use Nedved as a standard to demand players in the same position. Fitness, defensive awareness, running in a wide range of areas, tandem attacks, the right time to cut in and threaten to score, I'm very happy that his work has paid off and I'm honoured to have a player with his exemplary professionalism and I hope that every Millwall player, especially the young players, can follow Nedved's example so that Millwall will go from strength to strength. ”

Now that Aldrich has said this, the media is naturally unable to refute it.

But for a long time, people liked to criticize Nedved for his lack of talent.

This is an ignorant bias, indeed, on the pitch. There are too many midfielders who play and look aura. The style of play is pleasing to the eye.

But that's the end of it. Playing well does not mean that playing is practical, it does not mean that it has a positive effect on the whole team, and this is not a fancy performance, and winning applause with a few actions will not rewrite the score.

Because of this, Aldridge often responds in one way: you find me a player who can replace Nedved!

Then this kind of verbal battle ended without a problem.

The fact that there is talk about who is better than Nedved and who can actually replace Nedved at Millwall has driven the media crazy, and the situation is so delicate. Obviously, it seems to be a slightly ordinary star, but it is impossible to find a suitable person who can be absolutely replaced.

When Nedved began to score goals, all the media closed their mouths, and after a period of silence, they turned around and began to sing praises for Nedved.

On matchday 27, several of the Ballon d'Or players returned on time, having only missed two days of training at Christmas, but they returned to the squad and were still not in the squad.

On the road, the lively substitutes are full of energy. Beat Milton Keynes Dons 3-1 away from home.

Millwall ended the first half of the league season with a 19-game winning streak.

This is no longer news, and Manchester United have won their last two rounds. The gap between the two teams is still 15 points, and the hope of reversal is extremely slim.

Two days later, the Premier League was on the fast track and Millwall returned to London for an away trip to play Graham's Tottenham Hotspur London derby.

Graham used the old routine to defend and successfully sniped Millwall at White Hart Lane, which ended in a 0-0 draw.

Millwall's winning streak is set at 19 consecutive wins in a single season and 23 consecutive wins across seasons.

Aldridge smiled after the game: "Well, it's probably a good thing that we stopped setting records, because it takes the pressure off the players and helps us to perform in the future." ”

Setting a record and creating a new history, this must be an exciting process, but in the process, the pressure will gradually accumulate, the new record has been rewritten, at this time to remove the pressure, the timing should be good, if you play a few more league games, it will be almost the time for the European competition to start in February, and the psychological situation at that time is not as easy as it is now.

Nedved's Ballon d'Or was a positive boost to his team-mates' spirits.

Thierry Henry, Larsson, Ronaldo and others were called in as soon as they arrived in January.

For them, to get more individual honors, there is no doubt that they will have to rely on the stats on the field.

Strikers don't have beautiful goals to sum up, so why compete for personal honors?

Their desire to fight is strong, but Aldridge's adjustment to the whole team still needs to be made.

Therefore, in the league, he began to use the strategy of using the main force in the attacking group and the substitution in the center and backfield.

In the newly opened FA Cup, the strategy of using substitutes in the attacking group and the main force in defense is adopted.

January 4th

Nedved held the Ballon d'Or in his hand to show the fans at the Lion's Den Stadium, the whole team took a group photo, and the fans also cheered for the iron giant with applause, and the Lions fans believed that Nedved deserved the award, just like the club's declaration of rejecting other clubs to buy Nedved every summer: Even if we pay 100 million pounds, we will not sell it!

The visiting Liverpool players looked at Millwall's starters for a group photo, especially the Ballon d'Or in the hands of Nedved, who was standing in the middle, and said that they were not envious, it was definitely a lie, but so what? I can only envy it.

Aldridge chatted with Hollierdo, and the other party congratulated Aldrich on training another Mr. Golden Ball, and the reputation of "King Maker" was powerful all over the world at this time.

Aldrich had no choice but to be modest.

By the time the match began, the two had their positions instantly turned hostile.

Millwall had six absolute mainstays on the roster today.

The front trident is Gary Nedved, Southgate at the back and goalkeeper Bout.

Andrea Pirlo was rested on the bench with Frank Lampard starting in midfield.

It seems that Millwall's starting strength has declined, but this situation has left Houllier with a problem.

Millwall are clearly strong in attack and weak in defence, and of course, this is a comparison based on their starting all-out main force.

What about Liverpool?

Is it offensive or defensive?

If you keep it, isn't that a gorgeous attack group that lets the other side run wild?

If you attack, what should I do if I am beaten and counterattacked?

Offense and defense are one and the same. Whatever the choice. None of the risks can be avoided.

This game really broke out Houllier's fast-ending heart attack. He did have a heart condition

Liverpool started the game on the counter-attack.

But the counterattack did not dare to invest too many troops, so it relied on two or three players to counterattack, and the effect was very small.

As a result, Liverpool increased their investment in counter-attacks.

In the fast pace, Liverpool's counterattack did not work, turned around, and was counterattacked by a counterattack, and Carragher, who served as a full-back, was abused by Xiao Luo and was dizzy, and he was not a full-back. Coupled with the lack of experience in the top arena, he was about to collapse when he was played by Xiao Luo.

Hardly once Carragher was right on defensive predictions.

He sealed the inner cut, Xiao Luo went to the bottom, he sealed the bottom line, and Xiao Luo easily broke through from him.

If it weren't for the 3H defensive combination that had a better tacit understanding than at the beginning of the season, Liverpool would have been beaten into a sieve in the first half.

At the end of the first half, the score was 2:1.

Ronaldo and Thierry Henry scored one goal each.

In the second half, Millwall played a defensive counterattack, and Liverpool was unwilling to get a point away from home, so they had to attack. In this attack, the 3H defensive combination could not stop Millwall's sharp and fast counterattack.

Larsson scored twice in the second half. Helped the team beat Liverpool 4-1.

The league game against Manchester United, and the league game against Liverpool, became two case games for Fleet Street after the game.

Football commentators unanimously believe that if Liverpool faces Millwall like this, timid, and chooses to be conservative from the tactical beginning, then the result will inevitably be a bitter defeat, the reason is very simple, in the Premier League, no team's defense can resist Millwall's super attacking group!

Manchester United may have lost, but they have seen hope of victory! If luck had been better, such as Frank Lampard's long-range shot from the back of the pack or Van der Gooy making a save to keep the ball, Millwall might not have been able to win even if he had been out of bounds.

Public opinion believes that in order to score points from Millwall, it is necessary to attack boldly and vigorously and targetedly.

As for whether they can put on an iron bucket formation like Tottenham and run for a draw from start to finish, the risks and benefits are not proportional.

It's an arithmetic problem.

Hold for a draw and get 1 or 0 points.

Attack boldly, 3, 1, 0 points are possible.

And what about Tottenham's draw?

Instead, the fans' support for Graham has plummeted, and White Hart Lane fans calling for him to get out of the way can be seen everywhere. Because such a draw is more important than a defeat for the fans!

Over the course of the next month, Millwall won two and drew two of their four league games, scoring a lot of goals and conceding more goals, not only because of their own starting prowess and not sending their all-out main players, but also because their opponents did start attacking aggressively.

In the same period, Manchester United only won 3 wins, 2 draws and 1 defeat in six league games in the second half of the league, and in February, Manchester United lost to Robson's Newcastle United with an embarrassing 3:0 scoreline, which caused the gap between Manchester United and Millwall to be widened again.

From a gap of 15 points to 16 points.

With 13 rounds left in the Premier League, major European bookmakers have made adjustments, betting on the Premier League winners, Millwall's option to win the championship has been closed, Manchester United's odds to win the championship have soared to 60 times, followed by Arsenal to win the odds of 150 times.

With three months to go until the end of the Premier League season, 13 rounds of league games seem to have room for miracles, but now only a fool would bet on Manchester United or Arsenal to win the title.

Don't look at Millwall's shift in focus and slightly despise the league, but Aldridge is empathetic, the league can not be on Ronaldo, can not be on Nedved, can not be on Pirlo, but Henry, Larsson is inevitable, these two are in the league to score goals!

Even the number of goals scored by Phillips in the league is behind Larsson and Henry, and Phillips has opened up a gap of 7 goals with the fourth-ranked scorer list, there is no doubt that the Premier League Golden Boot, and even compared with the scorer list data of other European leagues, the European Golden Boot winner this season is very likely to be born between these three.

Henry has two more goals than Larsson, and his rating this season has been to rise all the way up and start to surpass Larsson, because the vast majority of Henry's goals have been scored in open play, with a few sporadic set-pieces coming to the back of the net, and Larsson, who has five penalties.

In mid-February, the Champions League was rekindled, much earlier than usual, after all, there were more games.

Millwall have gone all out to qualify for the Champions League after winning two games in a row in the FA Cup.

But just as the Champions League was imminent, Aldridge fell into the whirlpool of public opinion off the field.

Aldridge had just attended the pre-Champions League press conference and drove away from the club in the evening, when a luxury sedan pulled up in front of the door, blocking Aldridge's path.

When Aldrich pressed the horn, the window of the car opposite him fell, and the face of an old man he hadn't seen for a long time came into view.

"Aldrich, get in my car, let's talk, important business." (To be continued......)