Millwall's 4-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur in the opening game of the new season was not unexpected.

After the game, Aldridge only understated in the interview that there was nothing to make a fuss about winning this game, and although he was happy, the team's mentality would not fluctuate because of the victory over Tottenham.

The subtext to the outside world is that Tottenham are not strong and Millwall cannot afford to be complacent about their victory over Tottenham.

Manchester United, who are the joint favourites with Millwall for the new season, were held to a draw by Everton at Goodison Park and it seems that they have not yet recovered from the poor form of the Charity Shield.

Next year is a tournament year, the Premier League starts early, and the schedule is more compact, and Aldridge can't wait to face the opponent in three days' time.

Because their next opponent is the traditional powerhouse Liverpool.

After giving the team a day off after the win over Tottenham and returning to train the following day, Aldridge was enthusiastic about his work and smiled when he attended a press conference before the trip.

The reporters present could probably guess Aldrich's thoughts.

"Aldridge, you seem to want to play against Liverpool, for what?"

Aldridge sat on the stage with the corners of his mouth upturned and said casually: "Because Liverpool are a young team and the manager Houllier is also my friend, I will look forward to playing with my friends on the sidelines, which is one of the joys of this job, and I also want to see the performance of Owen, Gerrard, Carragher." ”

"For what? Is Millwall interested in them? ”

The unknown reporter asked seriously, and Richard, who was sitting next to him, held back a smile, and he had followed Millwall for many years. I had long seen through Aldrich's mistaken words.

Aldrich put away his smile and said seriously: "Yes." Millwall was intrigued by them. But four years ago, when I personally invited them to join Millwall, they refused, and the Liverpool media reported it at the time, and then Liverpool gave Gerrard a professional contract, and from that day on, although Millwall did not plan to bring them in the transfer market, I still kept an eye on them. Want to see how their careers are progressing. ”

The reporter who asked the question nodded frequently and recorded every sentence of Aldridge in his notebook, for him, perhaps it felt that this was big news, the door to the transfer market has not closed, the Millwall manager has publicly declared that he is concerned about the performance of Liverpool's three young players, who dares to guarantee that there will be no heavyweight transfers in the next 20 days?

Even if there is a heavyweight transfer, it can only happen to Owen, and as for Gerrard and Carragher, they are not even stars.

Some of the reporters at the scene bowed their heads and laughed secretly, they felt that the reporter who asked the question had been tricked. Richard simply laughed out loud and asked, "Aldrich, if." Tomorrow's game is Liverpool's visit to Millwall, will you be so excited today? ”

Aldridge smiled silently, and nodded for a long time before he said: "Of course, Liverpool, England's traditional giant, Liverpool, of course I will be excited!" ”

"Who believes it? Were you excited before Liverpool visited us for the past two years? Obviously, because you can stop by Liverpool to see the children, why not be honest about it? ”

"No, no, Richard, are you questioning my professionalism and work attitude? I tell you, I love Anfield, from the first time I stepped into Anfield as a manager, I fell in love with it, a stadium full of glory and history, no manager would refuse to play there, although it makes people feel dangerous, but that's what the manager enjoys! ”

Not only Richard, but many reporters present laughed and booed him!

Aldridge spread his hands helplessly, and gritted his teeth with a smile in the end: "Believe it or not, tomorrow's game will make you realize whether I am fully involved in the game!" ”

As Aldridge got up to leave, Richard shouted: "Your excuse is too hypocritical, you want to spend more time with your son, does it have anything to do with whether you value the game?" ”

Aldridge quickened his pace and hurried out of the field.

The next day, the team left for Liverpool, and the whole team got off the plane and boarded the bus and drove to Anfield.

On the road, some of the players were listening to music, some were reading books, some were chatting, or some were simply looking at the city street scene outside the car window.

Aldridge didn't have much affection for Liverpool before, but now he comes to the city with a slightly more subtle mentality, where his son was born.

Thinking of today's newspaper hype that he led the team to Liverpool to visit his son, Aldridge was stunned for a second, this idea always felt a little strange.

Shaking his head, he feared that the players would be distracted by it.

Before arriving at Anfield, Aldridge stood up and clapped his hands, so that the players who were going out looked at him, took off their headphones to listen to music, closed their books when they were reading, and closed their mouths when chatting, they looked at Aldridge curiously, not knowing what the head of the road was going to say.

"Liverpool, I don't want to emphasize how strong they are, in fact, over the years, or since we stepped onto the top league stage, the Liverpool we have faced has been worse than year by year, and the quality players have also been purged or put into the cold by the team because of the impact of life style problems in the dressing room, maybe you don't treat Liverpool as a strong opponent in your heart, and even think that they may not be much different from Tottenham, but I want to say that in the past few years, Liverpool's away record has been a fatal factor that restricts them from challenging for the titleThe home record is very stable, some seasons will only lose two games at home, and some seasons will lose at most four games at home, in other words, on average, each season, the home team will lose three games. There are 19 teams in the Premier League visiting Anfield, only three or four teams can take the win from there, we are not here for tourism, if you are interested, you can stay in the city for a while after the game, but for the game, we definitely want to leave with the three points, so even if you think Liverpool are not good, I allow you to look down on the Liverpool players, but I hope you value the stadium at Anfield and take away the victory at Anfield. I don't think it can be used as a capital for pride. But at least it can make our sense of accomplishment and satisfaction more fulfilling! ”

The players nodded to each other after listening to Aldrich's words.

They came to Liverpool. The mind is very calm.

It's so calm that even they feel weird.

Liverpool, once shocked Europe and created the Liverpool that ruled Europe!

Why are they playing Liverpool, but they are now reacting in their hearts?

Perhaps, as Aldridge said, they have played Liverpool every year in the past few years, suppressed opponents in the league, and met only once in the cup, and they were eliminated by substitutes for young players.

Really fought each other. has defeated the other party several times, and the sense of importance in my heart is naturally weakened.

But the game still has to be played, and it is a good thing to have a peaceful mentality, but if the fighting spirit declines, it is a bad thing.

Aldridge's current morale is to divert their attention.

If you just keep your eyes on Liverpool's squad and change the opponent into a Tottenham shirt, you really won't feel much difference.

Therefore, Aldridge needs the players to have as much desire as possible for Liverpool's history and to stimulate the players with Liverpool's past glory.

Anfield is still the Anfield with a terrifying home atmosphere in the Premier League. The Reds fans sang non-stop as the stadium was defined by Alex Ferguson as "dangerous". Aldridge didn't have too much sense of crisis when he came here, maybe Liverpool and Millwall are not mortal enemies, he just enjoys here, and it is rare to see a team that can make the team strong because of the fans, Liverpool happens to be one of them, and Oldridge enjoys playing against such an opponent.

Before the start of the game, Aldridge stood on the sidelines and whispered to Gilard Houllier, not Aldridge who came to greet his master, but the owner who took the initiative to come and communicate with him.

The conversation between the two focused on "Is Millwall going to dig Owen or not?" ”

After receiving Aldridge's verbal promise that he was no longer interested in Irving, Houllier was relieved.

As for Gerrard and Carragher, to be honest, they didn't make a name for themselves at all.

But since it is a player that Aldridge personally invited a few years ago, Liverpool FC naturally attaches great importance to it.

But they don't know what type of excellent players Carragher and Gerrard will become in the future, and in which direction they will train? I don't know the bottom of my heart.

Aldridge has always believed that the biggest reason why Gerrard can only become a "Liverpool legend" is that he never had a clear position on the field at the beginning of his career.

Aldridge likes role-based players and has a clear specialty, which can be used in a reasonable and clear division of labor, so that the team's 11-man puzzle can effectively complement each other, such as Makelele is the defense, Pirlo is the organization, Nedved is the attack, and the midfield system will not be confused.

And a player like Steven Gerrard, the positioning is very vague.

Is it okay to defend him? Yes.

Is it okay to organize him? Yes.

Is it okay to attack him? Yes.

He can do all three, but he's not top of all three!

Let him play defense, he will be ravaged by top offensive players, let him play organization, and it is difficult to break through the top defense in terms of offensive scheduling, let him play offense, and the ability to seize opportunities seems to be unsatisfactory, especially the breakthrough with the ball This makes the forward midfielder or nine and a half characters who are also offensive players definitely stronger than him.

The future of European football is that even for the top teams, a maximum of one player can be allowed to attack and not be involved in defence, and the other players will have to take on the defensive task except the goalkeeper.

In other words, for a player like Gerrard, defensive ability is the foundation, so next, he needs to strengthen his special skills in attack.

The most heard evaluation of Gerrard in the future is comprehensiveness, but such comprehensiveness precisely means that he has strong comprehensive strength, but it seems that he can't compete with those top players with special characteristics.

Especially in the mediocre England national team, it is almost impossible to find a single game in which Gerrard played particularly well throughout his international career, and those players with specific characteristics can shine even in weaker national teams.

It's a pity that at the beginning of Gerrard's career at Liverpool, in the most critical period of improving his technical ability and fixing the role on the field, he did not encounter a famous teacher who focused on and correctly cultivated him, and he was able to further train him, sometimes playing in the back, sometimes in the midfield, sometimes in the front, sometimes assisting, sometimes scoring, and running all over the field without dying, but what role is he? It changes every year.

Carragher is even more tragic, the new season is still a substitute, but Houllier defined Carragher as a substitute for fullback, so for a short period of time in the future, Carragher was a flaw in Anfield. (To be continued......)