At Christmas, Millwall's squad and coaching staff took the bus north to Seven Sisters.

On days like today, Millwall traveled lightly, and on weekdays, the team administrators gave him an early holiday to let him go home for the holidays.

Highbury Stadium was packed, and the Christmas spirit lingered in the stadium stands, with many fans dressed up as Santa Claus to watch the game.

The atmosphere of this London derby was suddenly very different from what it used to be.

Two or three years before the fall of Arsenal and the rise of Millwall, even if there was no hatred between Arsenal and Millwall, there was some hostility between Gunners fans and Lions fans, and now, the hatred between the two teams is very weak because of the relationship between the derby in the same city.

Competition and hatred are two different things, just like Millwall and West Ham United, Chelsea is hatred, not changed by the other party or their own league rankings, the strength of the team, competition, more like the relationship between Manchester United and Millwall, the fans of the two teams almost do not have friction, but no one in the stands wants to bow each other's head, the fans in the stands are more than passionate about the war, and the fire is insufficient.

Aldridge didn't talk much to Arsene Wenger today, as he sat in the dugout early and waited for the game to start.

Arsene Wenger was more depressed, Arsenal maintained the initiative to defend the title in the league, but ranked third in the group in the Champions League and was eliminated, at the end of the Champions League group draw, everyone thought that Arsenal had no problem qualifying in that group, but in the end they could not even get second in the group.

"Merry Christmas, audience friends. Today in Highbury. We'll see defending champions Arsenal and Millwall in a local derby with just one point separating the two teams from one point ahead of them. With Millwall behind, Manchester United have one more point than Arsenal, Chelsea have one point less than Millwall, and the top four teams are only one point away from first to fourth, and there is a theory in the media that it is now the London team besieging the Manchester team. In fact, it seems that the focus of English football is now undoubtedly shifting from Manchester to London, Millwall. Arsenal, Chelsea, this is the backbone of London's strength. ”

"Martin, why don't you talk about today's game?"

"I just don't want to set expectations too high for the audience. The two teams are in second and third place though. But today Millwall is short of major generals. Arsenal's attacking firepower has also dropped slightly this season, so I think this game is certainly not as exciting as the Christmas game that Millwall played in the previous two years. ”

'Both teams are defence-oriented, and towards the halfway point of the league season, Arsenal have conceded in the single digits of eight, while Millwall have conceded 13 goals, and the defence of both teams is in the top two in the Premier League. In terms of offensive firepower, the two teams are not much different. But compared to last season, there has been a significant decline, Arsenal's French youngster Anelka began to partner with Bergkamp, Millwall's golden trident last season completely disappeared in the first half of this season, and Ronaldinho and Nedved, who performed best in the first half of the season, are not in the squad, I think, the excitement of this game will definitely be greatly reduced. ”

"Hehe, Arsene Wenger was evenly matched with Hall last season, won three points against Millwall last season, was one of the key battles for Arsenal to win the title after the last game, plus the away win against Manchester United, I think Wenger will have to win at home against Millwall if he wants to defend his title in the league. I can't predict what Hall thinks, and when he falls behind in points, it stands to reason that he should be attacking aggressively, but he doesn't have many options when it's clear that the team is missing key players. ”

Arsenal's defense this season is simply against the rhythm of the sky, the average age of the five old defenders is more than 32 years old, but they glow with unrivaled energy, and their defensive level is straight to the very few goals conceded by Graham that year, but considering that it was the ultimate defensive counter-attack tactics of the back 5, and now it is the regular defensive counterattack of the back 4, the Arsenal defense under Arsene Wenger has reached a new level.

Millwall's line-up today gives the feeling that they can't beat Arsenal.

Goalkeeper: Bout.

Defenders: Schneider, Materazzi, Ferdinand, Zambrotta.

Midfielders: Van der Meyde, Gattuso, Lampard, Makelle, Glen Char.

Forward: Ruud van Nistelrooy.

Aldridge deployed two defensive midfielders, four men in attack, two wing-backs Garland Lampard and Ruud van Nistelrooy, and the formation was a diamond-shaped quartet in attack.

Arsene Wenger, who had been on the sidelines fifteen minutes before the start of the game, was also seated in the dugout, frowning as he looked at Millwall's starting line-up.

According to last season's experience, Millwall should play 433 or 442 even if they play away, but I never expected to play 451, and the midfield is obviously focused on defense.

Now it's in trouble.

Arsenal's offensive firepower in the new season has declined, although Anelka is also known as a genius, but the number of goals has not reached the level of a world-class striker, but according to his age, he can score an average of one goal in two games, which is really amazing, think about Alan Smith only scoring one goal in four or five games is called a genius killer, and it is not an exaggeration to expect Anelka to be the future world-level killer.

Aldridge also took a self-examination as he summed up the reasons for last season's defeat in the league.

Millwall lost both of their key games, one away at Manchester United and one away at Arsenal.

Although they won at home, they gave three points to the opponent from the away loss, which is particularly conspicuous under the premise that they are one point away from winning the championship at the end of the season.

Where did Millwall lose?

Aldrich thinks it's his problem.

In the first half of the league, Millwall fell behind on points, but when they arrived at the road, they took the initiative, raising the risk of conceding goals and eventually losing the game.

If Millwall can stabilize their mentality, or Aldridge himself, forget about the points gap and face it with a normal heart, maybe Millwall will have a better result in those two games.

Today he made it very clear to the players: our goal is not to lose.

It sounds a bit unambitious, but that's the reality. Millwall are not yet big enough to come to Highbury and still have a solid game against Arsenal, who are the top defenders in the league.

Nowadays, the Premier League is no longer relying on enthusiasm and courage to break out of the world, with the influx of foreign players, the strength of each team has steadily improved. The overall standard of the Premier League is rising significantly.

It would be naïve to crush the opponent only by relying on bloody fighting, and more than half of the strikers of the Premier League team have completely knelt in front of the Arsenal back five.

Aldridge believes that the league championship is not only based on hard power, but also requires a very high level of the head coach, and he cannot be the same as before, instilling the idea of passion and killing in the team on the pole, at the right time. You have to learn to brake, be patient, and maintain morale on the basis of not losing. Let the team's form avoid large fluctuations, and the league will be more stable after all.

When the game started, the two teams were almost identical, with six men defending. Four-man attack. Even in Defence, Millwall was more committed by Frank Lampard.

Ten minutes passed, and the narrator, Martin Taylor, was depressed.

"Ten minutes into the game, both teams engaged in a brutal strangulation in midfield, and neither had a better chance to push the attack into dangerous areas, and there was not a single shot on goal."

'Wait, I think both managers want to win the game and be cautious in the first half. As the game goes by, you'll definitely have a chance to play it later. ”

Arsene Wenger looked at the situation on the pitch with dismay.

Arsenal's players have almost reached the strongest level in his hands. The transition between attack and defense is very fluid, and the team's offensive and defensive system is difficult to be demanded, but there is a certain background, that is, they play defensive counterattacks, and the opponent attacks.

Positional battles are not what they are good at, and as a result, in the Champions League, when other teams are more patient and conservative, Arsenal are inferior to their opponents in terms of mentality and experience, and the reason why Dynamo Kyiv won the group was because of experience.

Arsene Wenger needs to change the midfield if he wants to change that, with the combined defensive combination of Vieira + Petit fine but lacking in talent in attack, especially in positional play, just as Aldridge did with the use of Frank Lampard and Andrea Pirlo.

Despite Bergkamp's presence in the Arsenal squad, there is really no traditional number 10 in the starting line-up.

Arsene Wenger believes that this is what Arsenal lack, when the opponent also plays defensive counter-attacks, Arsenal do not have many opportunities to fight in position, and the lack of team creativity is the fatal reason that restricts the team's more rich style of play.

In the 17th minute of the first half, the first shot of the game finally appeared, which came from a long-range shot that Pirenet cut into the face of the defenders.

Bout comfortably picked up the ball before Millwall counter-attacked, and Glen Charles slid a long-range shot past Petit in front of goal.

The two teams did not create good chances in the positional battle, and almost all of them relied on the individual ability of the attacking players to try to rewrite the scoreline, but the effect was not good, after all, both teams are very focused on defense.

The atmosphere in the Highbury stands is warm, the game is dull and it doesn't matter, the fans are entertaining themselves, Christmas, are they crying and sad?

Aldrich sat motionless, his chin in his hand on his chin and watched the game.

A strong team beats a weak team, and an offense can be devastating.

On the other hand, the strong dialogue is a little dull at times, and the defensive level faced is different.

Especially for today's Arsenal, the outside world admires Arsenal's style of play, and to put it bluntly, it is particularly passionate when counterattacking.

As long as the opponent attacked, the attack was frustrated, and when the defense turned to attack, Arsenal's attack had a large gap, and the midfielders took advantage of their speed to pass and cut the run, tearing through the opponent's defense in the 40-50 yards of advance space, and then scoring goals.

The rhythm of the first half was fouls, interceptions, long-range shots, and star players broke through with the ball

Neither side had a single absolute chance to score, and then the first half ended.

Before walking into the locker room, Wenger deliberately observed Aldridge's expression and found that the other party's expression was indifferent.

It's like Aldrich seeing Lippi smoking a cigar in Turin.

Arsene Wenger would have preferred to see Aldridge disappointed or worried, even if he was happy, so that he could guess what Aldridge was thinking.

can see an Aldridge with a calm expression as usual, Wenger can not guess the other party, but also think that Aldridge is invulnerable. (To be continued......)