026 The head is gone

Trezeguet turned around and ran over to Larsson with a big smile on his face, with the Millwall players gathering around to celebrate.

Aldridge felt a little dry after being excited, so he walked back and took two sips of a bottle of water, although he was not a player on the field, he directed the game on the sidelines, watched the progress of the game, and stimulated his nerves and mobilized his adrenal hormones all the time.

If he could have heard the League One televised commentary at the moment, he would have been able to hear the commentator marvel at Millwall's goal.

"11 seconds! Incredible goal! A delightful goal! Stam's header cleared, Pire only dribbled less than twenty meters after receiving the ball, transferred the ball from the left side of the court to Schneider's feet on the right, the German lad decisively passed diagonally, Larsson made the ball to the middle, Trezeguet scored! In the process of scoring the goal, only five Millwall players touched the ball, and they didn't drag the ball in the slightest, their pace far behind the Derby County players, and the precise passing allowed the game to go backwards all the way until the ball was sent into the opponent's goal! We underestimated Aldridge and Millwall, and it was no accident that they were able to create such an exciting goal! Millwall, they are like a tornado, blowing a storm of youth"

In the face of this goal, the manager of Derby County was blank and seemed to be shocked.

But at the moment he has been riding a tiger, the team has a draw and a loss in the first two rounds, if this game loses again, then Derby County's ranking may not be so dangerous near the relegation zone, but the bottom of the league!

He clapped his hands on the sidelines to cheer the players on and hope they would pick themselves up and try to score.

"Hey, boys, there's still a long way to go! Don't hang your head and cheer me up, we scored almost 10 goals against them last season! We're going to score more goals than them! ”

The Derby County boss's words cheered up the Derby players and they cheered each other on and continued to organise a threatening campaign after the kick-off in the centre circle.

It was probably the other coach's shouting that was too loud, and Aldridge also heard it.

Last season's history was correct, with two league meetings and a clash in the first round of the promotion play-offs to see Derby County score nine goals for Millwall, to be exact.

Aldrich put down the bottle of mineral water, then walked to the sideline and shouted.

'Their manager said they could score 10 goals for us! Did you hear that? ”

He shouted at Millwall's half and was heard by all but Lucas Neal at the far end.

Suddenly, Millwall's players were more focused, defending cleanly and not giving the opposition the slightest chance.

The fans in the stands for this game were very conflicted.

The team was clearly leading by one goal, but almost all the players were hoarded in this half of Millwall, and the ball was moving back and forth in this half.

Their two strikers, Larsson and Trezeguet, were both lounging around the centre circle and looked too far away from the opposition box.

This is contrary to the development of England in the last decade or so.

In this era, there is a theory in English football that tall strikers crowd the box and directly threaten the opponent's goal, which is known as the area with the best efficiency, so the style of playing high is popular, and away from the penalty area is far away from scoring.

Trezeguet and Larsson cruising around the centre circle, looking unmotivated and even slouchy.

But they have been keeping an eye on where the Derby County back line is.

In the minds of the two, they clearly remember the tactics explained by Aldridge at the pre-match preparation meeting yesterday.

"Derby County are used to a ferocious style of play like high-pressure scrambling, and if they suppress the opponent and score at the beginning of the game, then the subsequent continuous pressing will put pressure on the opponent until the opponent collapses, and their back line is used to clinging to the forward, making the first tackle or fouling the opponent to stop the opponent. Henrik, David, you listen, don't entangle with the opponent, you pull back near the midfield, pay attention to the position of the opponent's back line, they may not follow you all the time, but they will definitely habitually press forward close to your position at a certain time, at this time, there is a very big gap behind them, when this opportunity appears, the two wings of the ball will directly hit the ball behind the opponent's backline, fight speed, the entire League One, and even the Premier League, There weren't a couple of defenders who could turn around and catch up with our strikers, and that's our party time. ”

Aldridge will always praise the strengths of the players without flirting when setting up the tactics, which will give the players the motivation to execute his tactics after receiving the recognition.

But Derby's high-pressure scramble worked for a long time, with their focus on Millwall's attacking players at the back, and while not every ball could be broken in time, it never allowed them to organise an effective attack.

Millwall's rhythm of the contraction of the half continued into the 40th minute of the first half, and Derby County, who had been unable to attack for a long time, were irrepressibly discouraged and showed signs of slackening in defence.

Southgate cut off the ball from a striker trying to get past him on the edge of the box, and then Southgate didn't blindly clear the ball.

Of the two centre-backs, Southgate is clearly better at his feet than Stam and is not only responsible for defending but also playing the ball after breaking the ball in Aldridge's tactics.

Nedved, who was open in midfield, beckoned for the ball and Southgate slotted it through the crowd.

After receiving the ball, Nedved pulled the ball sideways past the Derby County player, and then he aimed at the front of the field and hoisted the ball directly into the opposition half.

For more than 30 minutes, Nedved had been looking for a combination with the wings after getting the ball, allowing the lethal pass to be completed by Pire or Schneider, but the effect was not good, because the Derby County players were not leaky on the wing, and even if they couldn't break the ball, they would use tactical fouls to make Millwall's attack die.

So Nedved didn't distribute the ball to the side this time, but directly completed the task of passing the ball by himself!

Aldridge, who was on the sidelines, saw Nedved's choice and exclaimed: What a smart player!

He would want his players to be meticulous in his tactical arrangements, but the occasional sparkle of brilliance is allowed, and the ability to see the situation on the pitch and make the best choices is a player that Aldridge can only appreciate.

The ball flew in the air over the midfield and over the heads of the entire Derby County backline.

The landing point will be about forty yards from the goal.

The Derby County defenders immediately turned back and prepared to block Millwall's strikers with their body charges.

But the two centre-backs were in trouble.

After Larsson and Trezeguet took the ball from Nedved, the two tacitly completed the cross-run of the switch, and did not give the opposing defender a chance to foul in close quarters, but instead created confusion for the opponent.

The moment the two of them started, they burst out with an amazing starting speed, and at the same time, they thought to themselves: the boss is god!

Derby County's back line pressed at a terrible cost, with Larsson and Trezeguet opening up more than a metre in a matter of seconds, and the gap is growing.

Larsson was quicker, and Trezeguet knew he couldn't get the ball in the spot, so he pulled away as a pull.

Except for a burst in the fifth minute of the first half, the Lion's Den Stadium gradually fell silent, but at this second, seeing the two Millwall players successfully anti-offside, the single ball was close in sight, the two players approached the Derby County penalty area like beasts out of the cage, and the fans in the stands held their breath, as if a huge storm was brewing.

Larsson caught up with the falling ball, the opposing goalkeeper chose to attack, and the two were less than three meters apart, Larsson did not choose to shoot, and once again selflessly knocked the ball across to Trezeguet.

Trezeguet, who was a slow runner, was definitely not offside, he received the ball and slid forward into the penalty area, which had already crossed the Derby goalkeeper at level level.

The goalkeeper turned his head towards Trezeguet, but he couldn't block the angle.

Trezeguet continued to dribble towards the baseline, flicked past the goalkeeper and gave him a 30-degree shot in the empty net, but this time he reciprocated by kicking the ball back in front of goal, where Larsson, who had slowed down, did not expect Trezeguet to pass the ball back, and he easily slotted the ball into the empty net.

The fans sitting in the stands collectively stood up and shouted, clapping and waving their arms, and their faces were red with excitement.

Probably the way the goal was scored was too easy, and Larsson slowly walked towards Trezeguet, smiling and hugging each other.

The Derby County player rushed into the back of the net in one go, kicking the ball away in frustration, and the same frustration was spreading through their squad.

Aldridge clenched his fists on the sidelines and swung them up and down twice in front of him, with no other gestures of celebration.

Before the end of the first half, Millwall had a two-goal lead!

Derby County conceded another goal before half-time and the blow to their morale was very loud and almost devastating.

With Aldridge making three substitutions in quick succession and slowing down the tempo in the second half, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer scored twice in the 30 minutes of coming off the bench to help Millwall finish with four goals to slaughter Derby County, with the shouts of the fans echoing from the stands for a long time.

"Ole, Ole, Ole Oh Ole"

Millwall's revenge succeeds!

At the end of the three rounds, Millwall occupied the top spot in the standings, winning all three games, scoring 10 goals and conceding 0 goals.

Millwall, who was not favored on the pre-season tour, has finally attracted the attention of all opponents in League One!