Thank you for the reward of "Thief Death" and "Qingqing Little Wolf"! ――

This year's Christmas War is the top battle again!

Millwall's second-place role in the Premier League table has garnered the most attention, not only because of their youthful side this season, but also because of their past influence.

Fleet Street is trying to build momentum for the top team.

No one wants to see a dominant league rivalry, and this season, Fleet Street is not ashamed to say that Arsenal are the first to win the league compared to two seasons when Millwall almost sealed the title at the halfway!

There is a premise.

Beat Millwall at the Lion King Stadium!

Arsenal have been fantastic this season.

In the first 18 games, 13 wins and 5 draws.

It is only slightly inferior to Millwall, who won the championship unbeaten in two seasons that year.

Fleet Street decided that as long as Arsenal stepped on the carcass of the mad lion, they could replicate the undefeated championship!

Millwall's table xiàn certainly cannot be said to be bad.

In 18 rounds, they handed over 11 wins, 6 draws and 1 loss.

Arsenal, 44 points, Millwall, 39 points.

There is only a five-point gap, but if Arsenal beat Millwall away, the gap will be expanded to eight points, which will invisibly boost Arsenal's mental morale and make them more and more courageous in the second half of the league!

The Premier League is officially competing for the title of the world's top league, and in the past, they did not have many teams to shine, but now the fierce competition for the title has become the biggest selling point, except for Millwall's contribution. Naturally, there is also the attention brought by traditional giants Manchester United, Arsenal, and upstart Chelsea.

As for Arsenal, despite their impressive start to the season, they have not been able to shake Millwall's market position, and the reason is simple.

They look gorgeous, but they are still counterattack-oriented.

Millwall have also played counter-attacks before, but they didn't last long, in other words, both are representative teams of delicate and gorgeous football. Millwall, however, was more atmospheric. At least, Millwall is still the representative of attacking football, Arsenal, not yet. Their positional warfare is still limited. In the case of no space. Arsenal's power has been reduced by at least half.

Wenger can't help it, Arsenal has actually focused on counterattacking in recent years. It's just that the defense is not a big bus, the offense is not a rush, especially the side counterattack storm, the team cooperation of a kick out of the ball, fast and sharp, especially pleasing to the eye when counterattacking, initially it was the age limit of the five elders of the defense, forced to play like this, and later, it was left over from the previous style, if you want to have major surgery, Arsenal has no money.

At the pre-match press conference for the Christmas game, Aldridge had a headache.

The press conference was chaotic, and the reporters in the audience were excited to ask questions, and the focus of the topic was not the battle for the top spot, not the Premier League, and the object of their questioning was Aldridge, the "national team coach".

Syllable!

Aldrich would enjoy the noisy environment inside the stadium, but could not tolerate the noise of a conference room.

He frowned and grimaced, and the scene was suddenly silent.

"Enough! I'm going to make an exception today to answer a question that you asked out of place! As England manager, I support the FA's decision! Discipline is discipline, regulations are regulations, violating discipline, breaking regulations, being punished, this is a very normal procedure! Whoever he is, if it were a Millwall player, I wouldn't intercede for him! Rio Ferdinand is banned for eight months, which is the FA's penalty for the Manchester United player because he missed a urine test, do you think it's heavy? Look through the other cases and you'll see that it's not heavy! Why do you ask for mercy? Because he helped the England national team win the World Cup? That's not a reason for us to indulge our players! As the manager of the national team, there is only one reaction I can make to the suspension of Rio Ferdinand: Ferdinand will miss the European Championships, we will solve this problem internally, how to solve it? Rio Ferdinand wasn't alone in our centre-backs! ”

As soon as the words fell, Aldrich brushed his sleeves away.

Aldrich has a sense of being a famous coach.

It's too much trouble!

He's not a babysitter and doesn't want to wipe anyone's buttocks, and maintaining the players and helping the players clean up the mess are two different things.

Rio Ferdinand missed a urine test after a Premier League game this month, and was summoned by the FA, and then his mobile phone call records were exposed by the powerful Fleet Street that day, proving that the Manchester United team doctor had repeatedly urged him to take a urine test, but he was probably "absent-minded" as portrayed by the outside world, or simply "arrogant and arrogant", and continued to go shopping, continue to busy with the life affairs he was going to move into the new mansion, and then, hum.

The FA slashed and the eight-month ban was made public, causing an uproar.

Manchester United's side blew up, and Ferguson was on the verge of collapse.

This season's defending champion Manchester United started the situation well, considering that Xiaobei left, Joaquin needs to adapt to the period, plus there is no one available on the front line except Vanney, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who is over 30 years old, is still a magical substitute, Scholes still has to make a cameo appearance from time to time, Keane on the back line is also about 33, Manchester United ranks third in the league, following Millwall, the hope of defending the title is still there, but the mainstay of the back line is suddenly banned for eight months, and the defense in the second half of the league is no longer a hidden worry, It's an obvious big loophole!

Manchester United is very resolute, if the FA does not reduce the sentence, they will appeal to the Swiss Court of Arbitration for Sport!

The FA is even tougher: Manchester United, you fucking go and sue! After three failed appeals, Ferdinand is waiting for a two-year ban!

Uh, yes, the appeal mechanism in the European football sports circle is somewhat similar to the social legal system, and if you want to appeal and overturn the case, if you lose the case, there will be additional punishment!

For example, the same is true for red card suspensions, if you appeal, you may be punished and suspended, but this can also be used, because the appeal period, no punishment, players can play, if the number of suspended games is a key battle, many clubs will use the appeal means in exchange for the player to play first. Opportunity for post-suspension.

Aldridge had no sympathy for Ferdinand.

Not at all.

Even feel annoyed.

Ferdinand had no reason to be aggrieved.

The rules are obeyed by everyone, and everyone is familiar with the rules and regulations, so why are you special?

If you do something wrong, you will be punished.

Unalterable principle!

Annoyingly, it made him have to worry more about the national team.

It is estimated that only Terry, Campbell is secretly happy about this.

The next night, Millwall and Arsenal, who had finished the first half, made their debut at the Lion King Stadium.

Arsene Wenger was not complacent about Arsenal's five-point lead, but instead had a solemn face from the moment he stepped onto the pitch.

Despite Millwall's incomplete squad today, Arsene Wenger did not dare to take it lightly.

Arsenal. It is a very mature team with a technical and tactical style of play and a team of players. The team that has adhered to it for many years and has an unparalleled tacit understanding is precisely because the overall framework of the team's lineup has been stable over the years, and the core tactical concept has not changed much. So when they came to their peak. The burst of energy is amazing.

But. Wenger still felt bottomless in his heart, although he spoke hard in front of the media, thinking that Arsenal would lead the standings until the last minute!

From the second round of the league. Arsenal are at the top of the table, starting with a wave of consecutive wins, followed by wins and draws, and have been in the leader's position.

Millwall, on the other hand, are constantly oscillating between second and fourth places, and now the distance between them and Manchester United and Chelsea is not too big, but it is still relatively stable.

To say that other teams were kicked out of the title race is already very reluctant, and Millwall is unlikely to see Arsenal reach the top.

Thierry Henry had a minor injury and Villa was the starter.

De Rossi accumulated yellow cards and was suspended, and he was directly sent back to Rome for the New Year, and it will be Pedretti who will start in his place.

Gareth Southgate is also on the injured list, having brought Silva out to hone in the last game and brought on the more experienced Neil today.

In London, where there is a New Year's atmosphere, the Millwall team is relatively deserted.

Aldridge gave some young players a holiday, this is his tradition of cultivating players, young players who do not pick the pillars, can get a reasonable rest, even if they are like Xiao Luo, when they are 20 years old, they can still get Christmas holidays, even if they sacrifice the game record, Aldridge does not care, it is better to let the players have a good year, than to face the second half of the league with a bad mood.

With the honor of the European Golden Boy Award, Ronaldo returned to his hometown, Kaka also returned to Brazil to reunite with his family, and even Lahm, a German player, was deliberately taken off by Aldridge, after all, new German players are not used to no winter break.

As for Alonso in the team, he was postponed for the holidays and let him return to Spain after this Christmas game, Alonso has no complaints about this, compared to other Premier League teams, Millwall has been extremely considerate in balancing the player's feelings and living conditions.

Millwall fans are not worried about the team falling behind Arsenal in the standings, everyone can see that Millwall still has potential to be tapped, and it is very big!

And what about Arsenal?

Is there room for improvement?

Almost nothing.

The strength of their players is basically at the current height, and in the future, it will either be flat or steadily decline, that is, an Ibrahimovic should still have room for improvement.

At the Lion King Stadium, it is the first time that I have played against Arsene Wenger for so many years!

For the first time, Aldridge was stunned by Arsene Wenger!

"Whoa, whoa! Arsenal led Millwall 2-0 at half-time! Their counter-attacks were very effective, there were no opponents they couldn't destroy, and Millwall's attack was too aggressive, giving Arsenal a huge space to counter-attack! ”

Ibrahimovic is celebrating proudly, Arsene Wenger is smiling, and the Gunners fans are cheering as if they are about to storm the Lion King Stadium!

Aldrich stood on the sidelines with a fierce expression.

Arsenal's core routine today is still counterattacking, counterattacking,-counterattacking!

However, Arsenal's world-famous side counterattack stopped playing, and turned to strong pressure in the middle!

Piret is not a pure winger per se, and he has no sense of disobedience when he plays inside.

Ljungberg slammed the edge on the other side, and the wings brought tearing and pressure at the backline.

The centre-forward Ibrahimovic also obediently obeyed the tactical arrangement under Arsene Wenger and retreated.

Ibrahimovic, Bergkamp, Pire, plus Vieira and Silva when attacking, Arsenal did not pull the side when counterattacking, and rushed directly to the middle, and the small range of passing and cutting cooperated to play smoothly and freely!

Alonso and De Rossi cultivated a good understanding in the first half, and today he and Pedreti combined with the backline defense is easy to be caught in the gap, which is the opponent's stronger and the opponent's targeted offensive deployment brings about an increase in attacking threat.

It's hard for Nesta to have a sense of pathos in the backline, no one dares to fight him one-on-one, and Ibrahimovic doesn't dare, Bergkamp is old, and the decline in confrontation ability is very obvious, and he is playing art in itself, and now he is maximizing his residual heat and taking on the task of organizing tandems, but it is the sharp knife threat of the flying wing Ljungberg, as well as the front-line cooperation between Pire and Ibrahimovic, and the layers of pressure brought by Vieira and Silva providing the back insertion attack are very deadly.

Since the beginning of the new season, Aldridge, who has unswervingly played a new technical and tactical system, has made more obvious on-the-spot adjustments for the first time, changing the formation and player roles.

Aldridge, who had a stern demeanor, was not glad that yesterday's press conference was disrupted by Fleet Street, because without Rio Ferdinand's, he would have made a bold statement at the press conference: Millwall are only two points away from the top of the table with a win over Arsenal.

In the eyes of most now, Millwall are eight points away from the top of the table. (To be continued......)