Aldridge took Bert and Earl home, presumably to their new home, and the two little ones had a night of arguing, Aldridge himself looked haggard, and Evan worked harder than him, almost sleepless all night, which made Aldrich feel a little guilty in his heart.

During the day, if he had to go to work, he would drive his two sons to Arthur and pick him up at home.

It's much better now than if he had time to travel back and forth to Liverpool every week.

And during this time he was really busy, in addition to the work of the club, he had to go home at night to study the national team materials, past game videos and so on, and also take care of his two sons, he was happy to do this is one thing, but it is another thing to be tired.

The day before the team's trip to Moscow, Aldridge was a rare late.

Putting on a suit and running out of the house in a hurry, racing against time, this allowed the British paparazzi to capture a very selling photo.

Fleet Street, as well as the rest of the European media, now disgusted Aldrich.

When he worked at the club, he tried his best to downplay his status as the coach of the national team, but whenever the press conference came, the reporters' questions went around and around the England national team, and Aldridge had to set rules and face it coldly, but he avoided answering any questions related to the England national team.

Millwall welcomed the first round of the group stage of the new European Champions League to Moscow.

It's much easier to visit Moscow at this time than to play there in November or December.

However, when the 90 minutes were over, the Muscovites cheered and celebrated.

They have achieved an epic victory that is enough to write about!

Spartak Moscow 2:1 Millwall.

The first day of the Champions League of the new season. The defending champion has an upset!

It's normal for Millwall to win. A tie was a minor accident. Can you lose? Who would dare to think that before the game?

One of the highlights of Millwall's European record is that Millwall have only lost to Bayern Munich in European competitions in the past four years.

Spartak Moscow came close to writing Millwall's European history.

With three consecutive league draws and a defeat in the first European group stage, Millwall's winter seems to have come sooner than expected.

It was this game that allowed Aldridge to identify the problem he found in that Tottenham game: what the team was missing!

There was a dead silence in the dressing room after the game, with Millwall players silently taking off their shirts, showering and changing into clean clothes. Then sit in the chair and wait for the rest of your teammates, ready to leave here.

The soundproofing of the dressing room was very poor, and the sound of revelry came from the home team's dressing room, which was extremely harsh, if not deliberately by Sparta Moscow, but the Millwall players sounded as if it was a mockery.

Aldridge took full responsibility at the post-match press conference and tried to exonerate his disciples.

There are many international players in the team, and the impact of the FIFA virus has not yet dissipated.

Disadvantages of being a guest.

The team's prospects of qualifying are no longer in doubt.

And he personally took responsibility for the defeat, admitting that the tactics were misused. It was he who underestimated the opponent, and he did not expect Spartak Moscow to be so strong at home

After the press conference. Aldrich came to the dressing room, closed the door gently, and looked at the scene where no one wanted to speak, he walked to the empty seat and sat down, silent for a while.

He seemed to be accompanying the players to taste the taste of this moment.

The players suddenly turned their eyes on him, but no one spoke.

Aldridge didn't go out of his rage, and if it would have solved the problem, he wouldn't hesitate to vent his anger.

But he knew that that was not the way to solve the problem.

There was a problem with the team, a problem that the coaching staff was concerned about before the season, but it was difficult to avoid with words.

What is needed now is communication.

"Lost the game and was in a bad mood, right?"

Aldridge opened with a sigh.

One player nodded.

'Well, I'll do a review first, as you can see, I'm also the England manager and I can't deny that I'm not spending my energy there, but I don't think I'm investing in Millwall any less. I'm going to say something that makes you uncomfortable, but I'm not blaming anyone, it's more important than ever for us to stick together, and if you think that my resignation as England manager will improve the situation in the team, then just tell me and I'll hand my resignation to the FA as soon as I get back to London. ”

As soon as Aldridge's voice fell, Schneider immediately spoke: "Boss, today's game is lost, but this has nothing to do with you as the coach of the England national team, what is the boss's usual work, whether he is lax, whether he despises the club, we all see it in our eyes, to be honest, I am happy for the leader, and I feel proud, Chief, don't worry, now is not the end of the world, we will adjust our state and try to win all the games." ”

Schneider's seniority in the locker room gave him a big say, and his words were echoed by his teammates.

For those of them who play football, they have been on the battlefield for a long time, they have been in a lot of battles, there is nothing to worry about losing, there will be games in the future, and the situation is not on the edge of the cliff.

Aldrich smiled a little bleakly, and said: "Yes, it is not the end of the world, but I don't think that there is a problem with your competitive state, as I said before, I will say something that makes you uncomfortable, which may make you resist me, and even complain about me, but I must say that your will to fight has a strong downward trend recently!" ”

The expressions of the players on the team became serious, and the atmosphere became solemn.

The manager can criticize the form of the players, which is something that the players cannot quibble with.

But the manager accused the players of lacking the will to fight, and in layman's terms, they are not fighting like men on the field!

Who can stand this?!

Aldridge sighed: "For you, it's been six, five years at Millwall. Four years. Two years of honors. Get soft, live in a mansion, drive a famous car, wear high-end clothes, are stars everywhere you go, are the focus, it seems, you have become noble. Became out of rank with civilian players. We've won, we've won, we've won, Juventus, AC Milan, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United, Bayern Munich and other top European teams are our losers, who else can stop us? Oh, yes. Who else can stop us? But why did we lose to Spartak Moscow? Why did you lose to a team in a second-tier European league? ”

Many players suddenly lowered their heads. Feeling ashamed, even ashamed.

"Is it because Ronaldinho, Nedved, Materazzi are out?"

"Or is it because of the environment in Eastern Europe that we don't adapt to?"

"Or is it the artificial turf of this stadium that makes us awkward to play?"

"Or, you guys, naively think that your opponent deserves to lose to us?"

"Or maybe you're afraid of getting hurt and you don't think it's worth it to be hurt with an unknown group of players. Or, you take it for granted, it's just the first group game, there are five games left anyway, we're definitely going to qualify, we lose one, it doesn't matter. ”

Aldridge looked around the dressing room, and no player dared to look at him.

Some words do hit their minds, or subconscious minds.

Although Millwall has been a guest in Eastern Europe over the past few years, there is no guarantee that the team will be able to fully adapt to the climate when they come to play in Eastern Europe.

It can only be said that the experience has made them mentally prepared.

There is also a clear difference between artificial turf and natural turf, and players fall on artificial turf, not to mention hard injuries, just abrasions can hurt a lot.

And the Champions League group stage is now so relaxed, and Millwall is in a relatively weak group, which gives the players a big way back.

What's a loss?

The trend of the game was that Millwall scored the first goal in the 32nd minute, equalized in the 60th minute and was killed in the 91st minute!

In the 30 minutes after the equaliser, Aldridge identified the team's problems on the sidelines.

The will to fight is down!

Why do the top teams always beat their opponents at the last moment? Why do the quasi-strong teams always concede goals in the last stage of the strong dialogue?

Sometimes it's not the difference in the basic strength of the team, but the difference in willpower.

When the players reach a watershed stage of physical fitness after 70 minutes, whoever has a stronger desire to win and who bursts out with stronger willpower will determine the outcome of the game!

Millwall's situation is the polar opposite of that of the vast majority of teams that are mentally weak.

It's because this team is so strong!

Strong to the point where they have begun to ignore the team below a certain level.

Play first-class opponents, play key games, and don't see problems.

But when they meet teams like Sparta Moscow and Tottenham, they can't be interested, like a kind of arrogance that "self-esteem" disdains to compete with their opponents.

probably thought that he would win the opponent by kicking casually, and the victory would come naturally, but in case of injury, the price seemed too great, and the player began to deliberately avoid it.

It's true that last season Millwall played a lot of games in 60 minutes, winning in 70 minutes.

But that's when they quickly settled the battle with 100% combat effectiveness.

It doesn't mean that they can now take it for granted to win in 90 minutes with 60% combat power.

After the score was equalized in this game, Aldridge adjusted his tactics and attacked actively, but the players on the field did not show a stronger sense of initiative.

Aldridge said softly: "Perhaps, I have a disagreement with you, and I do not question your ambition to continue to achieve glory, but I think that if it continues in this way, Millwall's recent glory will end there." But maybe you don't agree, but you think that in the current state, we can still maintain our status as the king of European football. Over the years, Xie Lu thanks you for accompanying me, accompanying the ups and downs of this club that had nothing before, you are the heroes of the team, this cannot be erased, I am grateful, and I can't bear to criticize you too much, on today's disagreement, I take a step back, just follow your ideas, when you succeed, we are together, when you fail, I will also accompany you, when this season is over, we will see how it ends, if I am wrong, I apologize to you, if I am right, we forget about this season, start over, now, Let's go home. ”

Aldridge stood up and walked slowly to the door, and Southgate shouted from behind, "Boss! ”

It was as if Aldrich was going to abandon them.

Aldridge turned around and smiled, shook his head to stop Southgate, who had a stunned expression, from saying anything, and said softly: "As I said, success, failure, we will all be together, big deal, start all over again." (To be continued......)