Chapter 187: Competition between old friends

Wenger has been isolated and criticized by the media and peers since he came to England. Some people think that his elegance is more like a maverick. Among the Premier League coaches, he is also the most unconventional. Interpretation of him is an indication of his own Different, this naturally attracted criticism from the outside world.
At the Lion’s Cave Stadium, Wenger and Aldrich, old and young, two old friends reunite on the battlefield. Before the game started, Aldridge has habitually appeared on the sidelines early, especially on the home game day, he will always first Go to the VIP stand and chat with Puskas, Arthur, and Yiwen for a while, or chat with the live reporter on the press bench.
Five minutes into the game, Aldridge stepped down from the stands and passed the visiting coach's seat. Wenger stood up and the two had a brief conversation on the sidelines.
"Life in London is harder than I thought."
Wenger sighed with emotion.
Aldridge laughed: "Yeah, there are many enemies of the coach here, the media and the public are one of them."
Wenger frowned, "It's strange why everyone seems to be hostile to me."
"There is no way. In this environment, there are deep-rooted forces. They want outsiders to be assimilated by the tradition here. If you don't cooperate, it will become a target."
"My job is to lead the team to victory, but not to drink and chat with other head coaches. Will you also invite me to gather for a while after the game?"
"Yes, but if you don't want to come, I can understand."
"forget it."
Aldridge and Wenger patted each other's arms before returning to the coach's seat.
"Traditional giant Arsenal is visiting the Lions Den Stadium tonight to challenge the league leader Millwall. If time goes back, I don’t think anyone will believe that the gap between Millwall and Arsenal in the standings is 29 points. Even if someone believes, It must be considered that Arsenal is the leader, but the reality is so cruel, Millwall is likely to win the Premier League title 6 to 8 rounds in advance this season, as long as they have been doing so well."
"Hall has absorbed the experience of failing to hit the championship last season. He has allowed young players to appear on the stage of the Cup more for training this season, and the stable main lineup has gone all out in the league. This set is starting today. Lineup In the 22 Premier League appearances, they have achieved an impressive record of 20 wins and 2 draws. The Nedved, Larsen, Trezeguet, Shevchenko quads have been crowned the Magic Four Kings by the outside world. The title, as long as the four of them play at the same time, Millwall's offensive performance in the frontcourt is almost magical, but I think the more important thing is that the Italian guy behind Nedved, Pirlo, whether he plays directly affects Mill. Wall's offensive efficiency, Barack and Lampard cannot replace his role in the offense. Of course, the contribution of the first two on the defensive end is greater than Pirlo, which is also obvious."
"Arsenal's ranking is actually not much different from last year, and it stays in the second group area. However, under the leadership of French Wenger, the team's style of play has begun to undergo a fundamental change, although it is still counterattack. The Lord, instead of the traditional British long pass, instead used the European ground to advance. This is very similar to the Millwall created by Hall. The sudden rise of Millwall has set off a storm in the Premier League and quietly changed England’s Football, because more and more teams follow their example, such as the newly promoted Leicester City this season, Martin O’Neal’s team is also defensive counterattack, but likes to take the ground to play the side, Middlesbrough also In the transformation, they introduced a lot of technical stars, but Robson's transformation seems to be in trouble. Middlesbrough's strength has been greatly enhanced, but it has dropped significantly from the previous year's achievements. Now it is struggling to maintain its relegation."
...
The players from both sides came on the stage, and many fans in the stands were holding signs. Many people were angry that Summer Pire and Vieira switched to Arsenal.
Fans are naturally selfish emotionally, which is a natural feeling.
They thought that the two had betrayed Millwall and went to their opponents in the same city, but only a little bit of dissatisfaction. If there are players going to Chelsea or West Ham United, it will be completely different. Now, fans are more Is a state of gloating.
Did you two go to Arsenal? !
Pires, more time at Arsenal this season is on the bench.
Vieira, although playing the main role, but if you stay in Millwall, there will be a championship trophy to win this season.
The personnel on Millwall are relatively neat. Shevchenko felt a little uncomfortable in the last game and recovered after two days of rest. It is not a big problem. This is the practice of Aldridge to protect players, as long as there is even a trace of player training. Uncomfortable, he will not force the players to enter the game, to avoid the catastrophe caused by the small seedlings.
Goalkeeper Bout, Schneider, Stam, Southgate, Capdevila, three midfielder Makelele, Pirlo, Nedved, striker Trident Larson, Trey Zege, Shevchenko.
Arsenal side, although Wenger joined Arsenal, but their basic formation is no different from the past two years.
Goalkeeper Seaman, five-back Dickson, Boulder, Adams, Keon, Winterbourne, three midfielder Vieira, Pratt, Mason, forward Wright partner Bogkamp.
At the beginning of the game, Arsenal retreated across the board. All fronts were compressed in the second half, but maintained a clear sense of hierarchy. Vieira and Pratt protected the restricted area. The five guards made the restricted area tight and Mason ran wide. Interception, Wright and Bergkamp tandem, the latter's role on the field is more like the nine and a half, the organization and scoring role in the offense is significant.
Because Arsenal was a defensive stance from the beginning, there were a lot of people in the midfield and backcourt, which made Pirlo's forward space narrow, so he sat in the midfield and played the commander's job lightly.
In Millwall's formation, Pirlo is not particularly outstanding, rarely seeing him directly assist and score, but without him, Millwall's overall offensive quality is significantly different.
Seeing the six way, he often just inadvertently transferred the ball, which will allow Millwall's offensive to be transferred to the weakest place of the opponent's defense.
Nedved ran back and forth in front to draw attention, attracting the attention of Vieira and Pratt, Mason forced to grab Pirlo, Pirlo did not stick the ball, and played with Makelele after two. , He took the ball on the right in the middle of the frontcourt. He suddenly passed the ball and transferred the ball to the left half. The ball penetrated the lateral interception surface from a small gap and assisted Capdevila to take the ball. After the high speed dribbling forward, at the same time, Larson sets attracted Dixon's attention, Nedvide came over to answer, Capdevila took the ball, Nedved's ankle shook, the ball was like a hand The sharp knife penetrated the gap between Arsenal's full-back and center-back.
Larsson kicked into the penalty area at the right time. Boulder rushed to defend. Larsson stopped and buckled in the penalty area and then hit the ball with one foot. The movement was consistent and the ball flew towards the inner arc. The upper right corner of the Arsenal gate.
After recovering from the injury, Seaman flew up and lifted the ball out of the beam with one hand.
"World-class save! Larsson has a wonderful shot, and Seaman makes a beautiful save!"
A huge sigh rang from the stands, followed by a wave of applause.
Millwall's offense was really pleasing.
Aldridge was on the sidelines with arms around his chest. This offense exemplified Pirlo's role. His transfer of the ball to attack was an insight into the weak link of the opponent's defense. It was also a horizontal transfer that made the opponent's formation move in a wide range. After changing other midfielders, the success rate of the ball is no problem, but if you can directly see the empty on the left and pass the ball again, it is not easy to say.
The slow Pirlo trot to kick the corner. Positioning is an indispensable part of his training. Now Millwall’s free kick in the frontcourt. If it is a pass and tactic, it will be handed to Schneider. If it is to be directly The shot is given to Pirlo, and the corner is also given to Pirlo.
Pirlo did not directly lift the ball to the door, but played a tactical corner kick. He passed the ball to Schneider from the right side of the set. The latter passed the ball after stopping the ball. This rhythm The changes will disrupt the opponent's defense.
The pass was extremely threatening. The ball went around the back with an arc. The Arsenal defender pressed forward after the corner kicked out. At this time, the ball came back and they had to go back and run, obviously slow A shot.
Capdevila, who was killed from a later point, sent a header into Arsenal's gate.
As he was about to celebrate, the sideman signaled offside first.
Capdevila shook his head and ran towards the backcourt.
Offside, there is no doubt, but it was not Capdevila offside, but Trezeguet. He did not keep pace with Arsenal's defensive line. When Schneider passed the ball, he clearly protruded. As for Capdevila, he broke the goal but did not offside, but in this era, the offside rule is like this.
Aldrich did not complain, this is a rule everyone is following, nor is it a different treatment, undisputed.
Arsenal turned from the defender, the ball passed forward from the backcourt, and the players' forward running position also had the visual sense of wearing flowers and butterflies.
Pratt distributes the ball to the inserted Vieira, Vieira passes the ball to the foot of the sidewalk Dixon, in front of Bogkampula, Capdevila has returned to the defense, Wright caught Between Makelele and the defensive line, Mason was blocked by Makelele with a pass.
Dickson took the ball forward, Nedved defended the side, Dickson did not try to break through Nedved's defense with speed, but instead passed the ball to the middle, Vieira had been returned to the defense of Larson and Trezeguet was caught, but someone in the middle of the road really answered, Adams!
Just when Adams was about to catch the ball, someone stretched his foot in front of him to break the ball, and he would take the ball forward to counterattack. Adams then used the body to knock the man down.
"Wow, Pirlo actually completed a defensive block! This does not seem to be his defense, but through the slow motion, we can see that he seems to have not retreated in the midfield. Adams, when the ball came out, he took the initiative to reach forward and broke the ball. It was an excellent steal. It seems that Hall had special instructions to Pirlo in the pre-match deployment."
However, Pirlo's physical fitness was still a bit disadvantaged, and he was knocked down by the tall Adams.
After Pirlo fell to the ground, the referee whistled to signal Adams foul. At this level of collision, Pirlo did not absolutely lead Adams, so there was no way to show the card. Pirlo climbed and would open a free kick quickly. Adams even He kicked the ball well, then turned and ran towards the backcourt.
Pirlo was very depressed, so he obediently picked up the ball and returned to serve again.
However, he has greater psychological confidence, defense is his weakness, and he must improve his defensive ability and awareness in the midfield position, so Aldridge will certainly help him, every game he starts , Aldrich will explain the opponent's offensive characteristics to him separately, and tell him what he should pay attention to when defending.
Today, Arsenal's offensive routine is in Pirlo's mind, and his defense just now was not a mistake. This is very important for his defensive awareness and adds valuable experience.