As the head coach, you can't passively adjust the lineup. For example, if you find that a certain player's status has started to decline, let the players rest or adjust, find out the reason to solve it.

The head coach has the obligation and responsibility to detect problems early and prevent them from escaping. This is a manifestation of the ability to control the team.

Sometimes the player’s own stubbornness is also not correct, such as taking a wound to play, the spirit is commendable, but the actual effect may not be good.

Two days after the battle with Manchester United, on the evening of Tuesday, Aldridge sat in the office to sort out the information. He just had a pre-match preparation meeting with the players. That meeting was easier because the next game is tomorrow’s Champions League group In the final round of the game, Millwall had already qualified in advance and planned to send a full bench to play against the visiting Galatasaray. As a result, he didn't have to worry about anything. The important thing is whether the purpose of training players is achieved.

Dangdang!

When someone knocked on the door, Aldridge looked up and said, "Please come in."

The door opened and a head leaned in. Ronaldinho.

Aldridge saw him come over with a hippie smile, sat down opposite the desk, and pushed an envelope on the table before Aldridge.

Aldridge frowned, and asked, "Short holiday?"

That envelope was given to Ronaldinho in the morning. At the same time, he also sent a copy of the first-team players, especially the offensive players, with Christmas cards in them, as well as vacation notices for the players.

Since Millwall has six players shortlisted for the Golden Globe Awards and Christmas is approaching, the recent schedule is relatively easy. Aldridge simply gave them a collective holiday and let them go to the Golden Globe Awards ceremony. After the end, they directly spent Christmas with their families Festival, after ten days of rest, come back to report and start preparing for the second half of the league.

Ronaldinho shook his head with a smile and said, "Boss, I only need three days of vacation, three days before and after Christmas."

He is different from other players. His family is in Brazil. Besides the summer, he can only go back to Christmas once a year. Even if he goes to the national team to report, the schedule is very urgent. After all, if he goes to the national team, he also needs to Training competitions are not vacations.

Aldrich leaned back in the boss chair and stared at Ronaldinho for a minute, then laughed lightly and said, "Is it too much for you?"

Ronaldinho shrugged: "I don't want to make myself look special on the team."

Aldridge nodded and said, "Well, I understand, then you will return to the team on the 27th."

Ronaldinho stood up and laughed and waved goodbye to Aldridge, closing the office door lightly.

A few minutes later, Pirlo, Nedved, Larson, Henry, Schneider, the five players who were also selected for the Golden Globes list, also placed the envelope on Aldridge's desk.

They had the same idea as Ronaldinho. Some people think the holidays are too long, and some people simply don't want them.

Aldrich stood up after sending them away, walked to the floor-to-ceiling windows and looked at the beautiful scenery of the setting sun in the distance, closing his eyes and smiling happily.

The following night, Wembley.

Aldridge stood in the locker room before the game. Today, 11 players wearing starting jerseys are nervous. Some people are nervous. Villa is one.

He sat there early to sort out the jerseys and sneaker guards and other equipment, and sat in wait for Aldridge's pre-match training.

"We have already qualified for the UEFA Champions League, and today we have only one requirement: you can play at the level you need for training."

After talking, Aldridge turned and walked out.

Villa looked shocked.

This, this, this is over?

Other players such as Glenchard, Lampard, Gattuso, etc., even though they are substitutes, have also stood the battlefield. Treating such a stress-free game, they actually have to do what Aldridge said: perform well It is enough to show the results of the training.

At Wembley, Aldridge met with Trim again. This time, he stepped forward and took the initiative to shake hands with the other party, and then left with a simple greeting.

The attendance on the court has dropped a lot, because Millwall has already qualified in advance, and before the game Aldridge said that he will be on the bench, it is normal for the enthusiasm of neutral fans to subside.

"The final round of the UEFA Champions League Group H group stage will end today. Millwall has 5 wins, 4 wins, 1 draw and 13 points ahead of the group. Galatasaray has 5 wins, 1 draw and 3 draws. With a negative score of 4 points, there is a gap of 3 points from Hertha Berlin, the second place in the group, and they have to beat their respective opponents in the same situation as AC Milan to have the possibility of promotion. At least this opportunity, Millwall sees It came to Galatasaray, and today they sent a full bench to face it."

Goalkeeper: Keller.

Defenders: Ferreira, Neal, Balzali, Cole.

Midfielders: Gattuso, Lampard, Ramall.

Strikers: Van der Mede, Villa, Glenn Carr.

Aldridge sat down today and watched the game with his chin.

Don't look at him on the bench, but he has no worries about the game.

He likes this kind of game the most, not specifically who the opponent is, but the game situation.

Galatasaray came away and wanted to advance, Mo said a draw must win!

And because there may be situations where the three teams have the same score, they must also score a big victory.

The other party has no other choice, they must break through the wreck, and attack the hostile opponents!

Having learned the lesson of playing AC Milan away from the road, Aldridge asked Neal to partner with Barzali to provide experience and strengthen protection in the back line, at least it is a peace of mind.

And this young back line has fought against AC Milan, and his confidence has improved. At least he will not be overwhelmed. At the same time, Galatasaray is not as hard as AC Milan. In the face of the other party’s mad attack, the pressure will be lower than the previous year. .

The trend of this game is about the same as Aldridge's expectation.

Trim put on a radical 4123 offensive formation, and at the same time let the players compete for goals on the sidelines.

On the basis of Millwall's good defense, the defensive counterattack hit very well.

Less than 10 minutes into the opening, Glennshire and Villa each missed a single-handed opportunity!

The scene is very exciting, especially eye-catching, because Galatasaray attacked fiercely, Millwall counterattack is also deadly.

Unfortunately, at the end of the first half, the score looks unhappy.

1:0!

Neither Grenchar nor Villa scored goals, but instead Van der Mede and Ramall played a match. Eventually, Ramall calmly pushed the shot in the penalty area to rewrite the score.

In the second half, the two sides changed sides and fought back. The Turkish "Emperor" simply didn't even need a lower back. He went straight to 433, three forwards, one midfielder and two front midfielders.

Soon, his team was punished. The defense without a midfielder interception was full of loopholes. In the 49th minute, Lamor assisted the anti-offside successful Villa and sent the ball to the door.

2: 0!

Substitution, Aldridge.

Klose went up and Villa went down.

Joe Cole went up and Ramall went down.

When Villa is off the court, he may want to be praised by Aldridge. He deliberately walks slowly and slowly in front of Aldridge, but Aldridge's expression has not changed, but he nodded to him.

what is this?

Villa sat down with some loss and accepted the congratulations from his teammates.

After a while, he remembered what Aldridge said to him on the bus, and his heart was relieved.

Yes, he scored a goal, but at least three golden opportunities were wasted. Should he be praised?

If it was Henry or Larson who got such a chance, at least they could go in.

Be calm and keep working hard.

In the 68th minute of the game, Klose assisted in a wave of counterattacks to Glencharr, who succeeded in a long shot at a 45-degree angle and extended the score to 3:0.

Aldridge used the last substitution and allowed Vicente to play for goalkeeper Glenshare.

Since then, the game has returned to normal. Galatasaray fell behind by three goals. It is undoubtedly a fool's dream to want to reverse it. Their players also accepted the reality. In order to prevent it from becoming a massacre, they chose to be conservative and solid defense to avoid dropping one. ball.

After 20 minutes of unrest, the slow pace came to the end.

Aldridge got up and walked with Trim and shook his hand before turning into the player channel.

Millwall Champions League group stage 6 games 5 wins 1 draw undefeated posture strong promotion to the top 16.

In the last round of the same group, AC Milan still failed to win the Hertha Berlin and got a draw. The Hertha Berlin entered the top 16 in the second group, while AC Milan benefited from Galatasaray’s double killing by Millwall After getting the third place, you can move to the UEFA Cup.

The dust of the UEFA Champions League group stage was settled. The next day, the first round of the UEFA Cup group stage also came to an end. Another day, Aldridge and his colleagues from the coaching staff gathered in the club's recreation room at night. They drank beer and chatted to watch TV.

The draw of the four teams in the UEFA Champions League 16 teams is in progress. Aldridge and his coaching staff have a lot of talking and laughing, and there is no slight tension in their mentality.

When Millwall's second round of group draws came out, Boas excitedly stood with his fists up and cheered, and the other coaching staff roared with excitement.

Millwall's signing is simply not good anymore!

Bordeaux, Feyenoord, Lazio, Millwall.

The top 16 draws, 4 teams, 4 teams in each team, two teams first and two teams second.

Millwall itself is the first qualifying group. In the new group, Lazio is also the first place in the previous round of the group round. The second only to Lazio in strength is Rosenberg and Sparta Prague. The key is two The second in this group, Feyenoord and Bordeaux, should be the second weakest two of the eight groups, which ruled out Hertha Berlin that could not be in the same group as Millwall.

In this way, Millwall's signing is very good.

While others were celebrating, they found Aldridge's thoughtful look.

"Audrich, are you upset?"

Klinsmann asked in surprise.

Aldridge smiled slightly and said, "I prefer to be in a group with Bayern Munich, Barcelona, ​​Florence or Porto."

"what?!"

Everyone's expression became shocked.

Aldrich said that the grouping situation is almost the strongest death group with the lowest probability of the second round of the group stage!

Jenson wondered: "What's the benefit?"

"In this way, two or one strong enemies can be eliminated first, and the probability of encountering the strong enemies in the knockout will be lower.

Everyone suddenly realized, and listened to Aldridge continue to say: "It is also for the players to maintain their status. We were divided into relatively weak groups. That is to say, before the knockout, the test and pressure were not great, and when we entered the knockout, Suddenly encountering a strong enemy with a disparity in strength from previous opponents is not a good thing."

Hearing this, the joy of the coaching staff suddenly dissipated.

When they summed up the reasons for the UEFA Champions League last season, one of the things that everyone cannot ignore is that before encountering Bayern Munich, Millwall was too smooth, defeated Dynamo Kyiv in two rounds of the quarterfinals without suspense, and then suddenly Playing Bayern Munich, this kind of opponent with obvious gap in strength, will cause certain play restrictions in the game.

If you compare the schedule of winning the Champions League last season, they will face Juventus directly in the quarter-finals. The quarter-finals and Monaco were sent off for the opening game. The difficulty of the game has actually increased a lot. It is also such a difficult victory that came over. In the final, Millwall was more calm and able to play his best and extraordinary level.