In the third round of the English Premier League, Millwall hosted Coventry.

For this match, Aldridge is determined to win.

The atmosphere was still hot, which made Sky TV's golden commentary partner also very infectious.

"Hello everyone, Martin Taylor and Andy Gray will explain this round of Premier League games again this weekend afternoon, Millwall, who did not perform well from the pre-season warm-up game to the last round of the league, met Coventry City today, and at yesterday's press conference, Millwall coach Hall only said one sentence, he meant that the previous Community Shield loss to Manchester United, the league draw to Southampton, and the home loss to Middlesbrough were just warm-up games, Andy, what do you think?"

"The outside world thinks he's just hard-mouthed, but I don't see it that way, objectively speaking, he's adjusting the form of the players, in the first few games, Millwall didn't send the strongest lineup, it's a fact, for example, in the last two league games, the midfielders were Frank Lampard and Ballack and Gattuso, their performance can't be said to be bad, especially when the average age of the three is only 19 years old, they still played a tenacious game, there are many highlights, but lack maturity and luck, so, I'm looking forward to today's game, After the departures of Pire and Thuram, Millwall, without two key players, can play today. ”

The players who came on today were in high spirits, and they were already gearing up for a big game.

In the pre-match dressing room, Aldridge did a good job of boosting morale.

"Millwall's clarion call for the Premier League title was officially sounded today, before the title was in hand. No one can afford to let up. We're going to tell the whole of England what we mean by the Lion! ”

This filled the whole team with one belief: win!

The race is on. Coventry City and Millwall are level on points, but they picked up a draw at home to the London Hammers in the last round and they will be looking to stubbornly get points against Millwall.

But their wishes were soon frustrated.

Millwall's main squad retains the same frame as last season.

Neither Pire nor Thuram are irreplaceable characters, and their departure will not leave Millwall in a state of boldness.

Even, Shevchenko joined the forward line and Schneider, who has stronger assist ability, officially became the main right wing-back, and Millwall's offensive firepower has not decreased but increased, especially when the role of Pirlo has not yet attracted widespread attention, Nedved is still considered to be the core of the offensive organization in the frontcourt. Marking him is the focus of all opponents, which gives Pirlo a lot of space.

It has to be said that last season's last FA Cup eight-goal bloody game against Liverpool was too important for Pirlo, that is, a baptism, a key game of self-transformation, which gave him a huge confidence boost, and made him start to show his talent in the role of playmaking midfield.

Nedved drew fire up front, Andrea Pirlo was in stride at the back, and Millwall's attack was fluid and flickered from left to right challenging the nerves of the Coventry defence.

Attacks poured like a tidal wave in front of Coventry. Even after the attack is over, Coventry counter-attacks will always lose possession quickly. Millwall's consistency and tactical execution in defence are very high, and the forward line drops back to participate in the defense is not just a pretense, they effectively cut the opponent's offensive formation to form a siege, and once the defense is successful, they will immediately move forward from defense to attack.

Millwall's attacking hierarchy is also very clear, with the right distance from each line, not only the attacking threat at the front end, but also a firm control of the second point of attack, which makes their attack often consistent.

Schneider and Shevchenko went down after a one-two with a wall, and he sent the ball in front of Trezeguet's head with a pinpoint cross, which bounced off the underside of the crossbar and bounced off the ground.

The sighs of the audience were not over, and Shevchenko, who inserted into the penalty area after playing with Schneider, just hit it, and in the face of the rebounding ball, he also jumped high to hit the goal, and the goalkeeper who was lying on the ground and did not get up was powerless.

"The Ukrainians have scored! It was his second goal of the season, having scored a face-saving goal for Millwall against Middlesbrough last time out, and it was clear that he is in great form for the new season. He can score goals with overhead kicks, Millwall's young players are really enviable, Ferguson is looking around for a super striker in the summer, Hall is not worried about sending Pire away in the summer, because he has Shevchenko to replace, and it is very obvious that Shevchenko has more scoring ability in the box, and this young man who does not look particularly strong is unforgettable. ”

Shevchenko hugged Trezeguet after scoring a goal, although he has been in Millwall for a year, he always feels that he is still a little young, and it has nothing to do with strength, but to show his own release, even if he scores, he does not dare to celebrate, as if he is afraid that he will be blamed for his poor performance in the future.

Aldridge smiled and applauded on the sidelines, for putting Shevchenko in the right winger position, Aldridge's use of him is more inclined to him to score goals than to create chances, because the right wing-back has Schneider, who has good assist ability, while Larsson, who is left winger, is more comprehensive, can pass, shoot and penetrate, plus Capdevilla's straight up and down assist, Larsson can better share the defensive pressure faced by Nedved, and it is also a disguised release of Nedved.

Coventry's offense can't play because they can't control the ball, it's not that Millwall always plays possession and walking monkeys on the field, but Millwall's counter-tackling defense is very good, for this kind of weak team whose passing is not accurate enough, whether they play ground passes or play high-altitude rushes, it is difficult to overcome Millwall's defensive barriers.

Thirteen minutes later, Nedved and Larsson completed the classic one-two on the left side of the penalty area, Larsson picked up the penalty area, Nedved stepped forward to meet the ball and shot, the ball was powerful, the opposing goalkeeper did not react, but the ball hit his chest, the goalkeeper fell to the ground, and the bounced ball was easily pushed into the empty goal by Trezeguet.

The opposing goalkeeper was kicked in the chest, which was similar to playing with a chest boulder, and he received treatment on the sidelines for nearly three minutes before relieving himself. Then back on the field the game continues.

Forty minutes. Pirlo cuts forward to meet Nedved's pass. Surprisingly in front of the penalty area, then a deftly through ball tore through the opposition's defence, Shevchenko successfully received the ball from an offside position, and Larsson swept the ball into the back of the net.

It took only forty minutes for the front trident to open the scoring.

In first-half stoppage time, Andrea Pirlo headed home a corner kick from centre-back Stam to make it 4-0 on the job.

The fans were thrilled to watch the first half and Millwall was back. The fierce lion that oppressed like a mountain is back!

In the second half, Coventry City retreated to avoid a bigger bloodbath, but Millwall's attack continued to rise and fall, with Aldridge replacing two players in the 60th minute, with Ballack replacing Andrea Pirlo and Ruud van Nistelrooy replacing Trezeguet.

The rest of the game was a siege of the opposition goal by Millwall, and in the 70th minute, Ballack scored the fifth goal of the game with a shocking kick from Nedved in front of the penalty area.

Millwall was full of firepower in this game, and the opponent was powerless to fight back.

Aldrich had already sat down. He will only applaud after every goal is generated, to be honest. Playing Coventry, winning six or seven is not a lot of strength, it can only be said that the two teams are not at the same level.

And Millwall's tactics are also ahead of their time, based on their more running, which is their advantage, how long can this advantage be ahead? Aldridge doesn't know what to do, but at least for a year or two because it's a matter of philosophy, and it's not just a matter of what the manager wants to do, but it also needs the players.

Because Aldridge's team is young, many of his ideas will be matched by the players, which is their common pursuit, not a one-sided who achieves whom.

The new workouts introduced last season will be even more effective this season.

Coupled with the steady improvement of the players' individual skills, Aldridge is confident that this group of players can achieve unprecedented success.

In the 83rd minute of the game, Nedved also received the ball from Ruud van Nistelrooy in the penalty area and sent the ball into the net, and Millwall led by six goals!

Aldridge stood up and waved his arms in celebration because it was a wonderful goal, it was the attacking combination up front that tore apart the opponent's defence through constant passing, the number of passes was not many, eight, but almost every kick was crucial, using the width of the field and the space of the players to play an important role.

After sitting down, Aldridge saw Benitez drawing Millwall's goal route in his notebook, and he smiled: "This kind of goal can't be replicated, and we don't practice it in training. ”

Benitez raised an eyebrow and sighed a little boredly.

Aldrich began to wander the world, thinking about one of the more mundane things: money.

Millwall earned almost £8 million in television last season, which is linked to their title wins in both cup competitions, with the Premier League accounting for around 70 per cent.

This season will be a little more than last season, it sounds like only five or six million pounds, in fact, according to the current Premier League broadcast contract, the average club is only about three million pounds, of course, this is an equal distribution, but the Premier League share is not according to the principle of equal distribution, only part of the equal distribution, Millwall because of the number of live broadcasts, the league ranking is high, so it gets second only to Manchester United and Liverpool broadcast income, although Arsenal is not low, but their live broadcast is too few, They still haven't shaken off the shadow of dull football, the kind of game where the fans in the stands are drowsy, let alone the spectators in front of the television.

If it is next season, the Premier League's broadcast contract will be greatly increased, and at that time, only by the standards of last season, Millwall's Premier League broadcast income alone can easily exceed 10 million pounds, so next summer, Aldridge plans to renew the contract and raise the salary of the players in the team, hoping that the players will not want to leave at that time, and he may not be able to get the Premier League top salary, but he will not be stingy with the salary that meets their value.

After the new millennium, the broadcast income will be increased even more, and the broadcast income of giant-level teams will not be a problem with more than 30 or 40 million pounds per season, plus the Champions League, domestic cups, and event bonuses, just this part of the income, a giant like Manchester United, is hundreds of millions of pounds of money in the pocket, and this is less than half of the operating income.

Aldridge can't run with debt like Manchester United, although that is the responsibility of the Glazer family, but like more than a decade later, Chelsea has a debt of more than 700 million pounds, Arsenal has a debt of 400 million pounds, and Liverpool has a debt of more than 200 million pounds.

There is no doubt that Millwall must follow the path of commercialization and globalization.

In terms of team building concept, Aldridge does not intend to do only three years of short-term planning like other teams, and invest a lot of money to buy stars who can fight, he wants to build Millwall's hematopoietic function, which is undoubtedly very difficult, but he does not have the financial resources of Abu or Abu Dhabi royalty, and he does not plan to go public in the United States like Manchester United. (To be continued......)