After leading the national team to defeat the visiting Japanese team 3-1 at Old Trafford in November, Aldridge entered a simple life rhythm.

Ewen was on the verge, Aldridge, a good man at home, was very competent and was always waiting by his side.

The Premier League is about to enter the Christmas Express schedule. Millwall's performance in the league is okay. He has stabilized the top three, but it feels like there is a lack of stability in the past. After all, he is distracted in the European War. The Champions League group stage defeated Lang in the fifth round. Afterwards, Millwall's ranking overtakes Barcelona, ​​because Barcelona and AC Milan ended in a draw. In this way, AC Milan still ranked first with 9 points, Barcelona and Millwall have 8 points together, and Millwall has a record of battle. Dominate the ranking.

This is the case in the group stage, leaving behind in the front, and life and death in the back field.

Calculating Millwall is just that the first game was not played well, and he lost 2 points on Lance, resulting in the last three games all turned into a life-and-death battle.

The first two games defeated Barcelona and Lance, the last game was to be a guest of San Siro, and another life-and-death battle. AC Milan can be unbeaten and qualify. Although Barcelona ranks third, but as long as they beat Lance in the final round, they can also Advance to the top 16.

At the beginning of December, Aldridge accompanied Ewen into the hospital, and the expected date of delivery was within two days.

Another important moment in Aldridge’s life was born on December 9th. When he embraced his newly born daughter, he felt that this moment was more exciting and joy than any World Cup championship.

Probably the prenatal care was very good. Ewen didn’t look particularly haggard and weak after giving birth. The photos of her kissing the baby’s face with Aldrich were full of happiness.

"Little Bonnie is born!"

It’s rare in London these two days that the weather is good. In the winter, the sun shines warmly on people. Aldridge gently pushes the cradle back and forth in the bedroom, looking at the big slap face, he can’t help but smile all the time in his mouth, according to Wen sat across from the cradle, with a face of love, as if she really had a three-dimensional maternal glory.

"Bonnie, what will it look like when you grow up?"

"Oh, her mother is a beauty, and she must be a beauty in the future."

Yiwen raised his head to look directly at Aldridge and asked, "Then you said, will she be beautiful in the future, or will I be beautiful?"

Aldridge said without hesitation: "Of course you are still pretty."

Yiwen smiled disapprovingly, got up and went out, intending to go downstairs to get some food back. As she left the bedroom, Aldridge lowered her head and said softly to the sleeping baby in the cradle: "The future will definitely be your most beautiful."

"Aldrich, I heard it."

Aldridge looked up and saw in amazement that Yi Wen came in from the bedroom door with a smile.

...

Compared to the sun shining in London in winter, the city of Milan, Italy, is covered with clouds and rain.

At the beginning of the month, Millwall, who just took the Toyota Cup in Japan, challenged AC Milan away. The game reached 88 minutes. Pirlo took a long shot from the outside of the penalty area and Shevchenko returned the ball. The earth hit the wet turf on rainy days. There was an acceleration, directly into the corner of Millwall's door.

Pirlo's blow before the end of the game seemed to pierce the poisonous dagger into the heart of the mad lion!

The atmosphere in the San Siro stands was overwhelming, and all Milan fans cheered wildly for Pirlo.

But Pirlo dragged his head and walked slowly towards the backcourt. There were teammates around him to celebrate. He gently pushed his teammates away and continued to walk towards the backcourt.

"Pirlo saved AC Milan! 1:1, 1:1, Klinsmann paid for his conservatism! After a goal lead, Klinsmann only wanted to defend 1:0 until the end of the game, but AC Milan did not let him succeed! The score of 1:1 makes AC Milan advance to the top 16, and Millwall will bid farewell to the Champions League this season! In another game Barcelona has already led Rons 3:0, if this game is At the end of the draw, Barcelona will advance to the top 16 in the group's first place. The death group will reach the last round. At the last moment, the suspense still exists, but Barcelona has landed in advance!"

In the cold weather, Klinsmann, who was soaked in water, could only order the team to pray for the birth of a miracle at the last moment.

Unfortunately, the miracle did not come.

When Millwall first scored a goal in the 53rd minute to break the deadlock on the field, Klinsmann chose to retreat between advance and retreat, this retreat, Millwall no longer has the energy to counterattack.

If you can hold on for another 5 minutes, Klinsmann will get the result he wants, and Millwall will also make it to the top 16 in the Champions League.

However, it turned into a mad lion struggling weakly in San Siro.

Ancelotti wiped off the rain on his face and gave a roar when the referee blew the whistle at the end of the match!

AC Milan beat defending champion Millwall from the death group into the finalists!

The crazy lions will collapse on the court, and even the players on the bench will look dull.

For the first time since 1997, Millwall missed the Champions League round of 16 for the first time, the worst record in the Champions League is the Champions League semi-finals!

This time, as the defending champion, the group stage was eliminated and forced to move to the Europa League.

Thousands of mad lion fans coming from afar are also stupefied in the stands.

In the death group, Millwall's record against direct competitors is not bad.

One win and one loss with Barcelona, ​​the total score of the match is better than the opponent.

They evened with AC Milan in two games, and the number of goals scored away was not as good as their opponents.

The real factor that really knocked them out is the first 2 points lost in France by Lance!

But such a reason can not convince fans of crazy lions, for them, no one will calculate such gains and losses.

Mad lion, lost the momentum of the king!

The most unacceptable thing for fans at the scene was Klinsmann's conservatism, who only wanted to hold the utility of the draw after the lead.

As a result, some crazy lion fans booed, and some people echoed, the crazy lion fan group began to disagree on whether to support Klinsmann's position.

The new season is about to pass halfway through. Before that, no matter how dangerously Fleet Street is to listen to Klinsmann’s unstable position, the fans of the Lions have always ignored the voice of the media and expressed firm support for Klinsmann.

But after the results of the UEFA Champions League group stage failed to qualify, the group of fans against Klinsmann began to appear and gradually grew!

...

For the first time, Aldridge comforted his children at home.

Burt and Earl were sullenly sitting on the sofa. Millwall failed to reach the top 16 of the Champions League, making the two little guys feel down.

They asked Aldrich many questions.

"Why didn't the crazy lion advance?"

If Millwall is not in the death group, even in any other group, even if the defending champion does not perform well, he will definitely be able to reach the top 16. It is nothing more than the difference between the first and second. AC Milan teamed up to eliminate.

"Does Klinsmann leave?"

If the dismissal of Klinsmann can make the team advance to the Champions League, Aldridge will dismiss Klinsmann, but the fact is that the fate of the crazy lion in the European War cannot be changed.

"Dad, if you were still the head coach, would this be the case with Mad Lion?"

Aldridge was silent.

Confident, of course he has.

But if he is still on the team, how can he split up and spend a wonderful and happy time with the children? How to take good care of your own woman? How to enjoy the joy of daughter's birth from start to finish?

On this day, Aldridge’s e-mail was full of emails from fans of Aladdin Lions. Aldrich did not go to the content and closed the email account directly.

The next day, as the Millwall team returned to London, another piece of news was on the scene.

"Milwall players strike!"

"Côte d'Ivoire striker: I don't see the future here!"

The alarmism on Fleet Street is inertial. In fact, Millwall did have players who had protested.

But just a player.

Drogba.

The Côte d’Ivoire striker, who is 24 years old and 25 years old in four months. After returning to Millwall in the new season, he sat on the cold bench for nearly half of the season. The only appearance was the one that Millwall lost to Liverpool. In the league, the performance was rated as one of the worst in the game.

At the beginning of the season, Henry and Klose took control of the main force. When Henry was injured, Drogba once thought that he had hope for the position. However, after Anfield, he was abandoned. From a technical point of view, he stood alone. However, Millwall is mainly active offensive and needs the ability to respond to the striker. Drogba's team is slightly worse, which is related to his lack of understanding with his teammates. This requires time and competition to cultivate. Unfortunately, in the giants, the time is Everyone is scarce. After Henry came back, Mo said that Drogba and even Larson had no chance to play. Drogba was despondent and wanted to leave. It wasn’t that he was fooling around. .

Klinsmann responded to the crisis that broke out in the team by first delegating Drogba to the reserve team, and then Drogba took the initiative to submit a transfer application.

At the same time, the Christmas Express schedule arrived.

The God of War Nedved announced his comeback after six months of serious injury!

Therefore, Klinsmann faced a new problem, Nedved's position in the team.

Klinsmann chose to remove Pedroetti from the midfield and used Nedved and Alonso to play the double centre-back. Ideally, both can attack and defend, and provide a stronger midfield support for the attack.

But in the early days of practice, Millwall's Christmas schedule was unbearable. After the Champions League out of the Champions League, the morale of the military fell to the bottom. All the games left this month, without a win, the League Cup also stopped in the top 8.

When the transfer window opened in January, another player from Millwall also submitted a transfer application.

Essien at the back of the post.

This African player who had been loaned out despite his ownership in the past did not have much sense of belonging to Millwall, and under Klinsmann, when he had a lower back, he could still play with DeRo West, Pedretti competed, and after Nedved returned, he and Drogba made the same voice: here, we can't see the future.

Stepping into the first day of 2003, Klinsmann went to visit Aldridge. He was ashamed, but Aldridge welcomed each other warmly.

The two discussed in the study room for a long time. Klinsmann needed to stabilize the locker room in the second half of the season, so he needed to deal with Drogba and Essien.

Aldrich agreed with his proposal and directly asked the club to sell the two of them.

In Aldrich's view, this situation cannot be avoided today.

If Millwall faced a shortage of resources five years ago and was robbed of its main force and faced a crisis of turbulence, then Millwall now faces a crisis of internal chaos due to excess resources.

Why is there such a situation?

On the one hand, Aldrich's precautionary work for geniuses resulted.

On the other hand, "poor" is afraid.

In the past, I was worried, and I was afraid that the team would be robbed of its reputation, so the foundation of the team might be shaken, and be more prepared. There is nothing wrong with it.

Now Millwall owns Henry, Klose, Drogba, and 22-year-old Villa.

Can't expect these forwards to share the average playing time, even if it is a giant, at most two of them compete with each other!

At this point in time, in 2003, Millwall had a 25-year-old Henry, so he could ignore any other forwards of his generation.

So, Drogba can let him go.

The same is true in the lower back position. There are De Rossi and Pedretti, the latter may not have the potential to be comparable to the world-class, but De Rossi and Essin can still compete, although everyone has different advantages and disadvantages, De Rossi It is a person of Milwall youth training orthodox origin. Furthermore, African players have a "hard wound": the African Cup.

The African Cup is held during the European season. Once African players are called, the impact on European clubs is very obvious, especially the main force of the giants.

Considering various factors, Aldridge agreed to let the two go, and at the same time issued a signal to the outside world: Millwall's management firmly supported Klinsmann.