Chapter 1089: After nine years

"The final round of the English Premier League in the 2004-2005 season is about to start. The defending champion Millwall won their seventh Premier League title two rounds in advance. Today’s game would have been a routine, but due to yesterday, playing for the team for 11 years Captain Southgate announced the retirement of his boots after the end of the season, making this game very special. Since Millwall still has to play in the Champions League final ten days later, for safety reasons, Millwall is a guest at Hawthorn Stadium. A large number of substitute players were sent, and Southgate started as the captain. This scene is really a long time gone."
"Martin, we should talk about the situation of relegation. In the standings, Norwich, Crystal Palace, West Brom, and the three teams are all likely to be relegated. There is only one place that can eventually escape the birth. West Brom has bad luck. They met Millwall, but the good news is that the Millwall League has won the championship and will not die with them. At the same time, they have the advantage of playing at home, and Millwall is preparing to prepare for the Champions League final. All are substitute players."
"Andy, are you kidding me? Look at Millwall's bench lineup, the Danish national team's main force Glenn Carr, the Czech midfielder Nedvide, the Swedish main striker Larson, and Villa, Pedretti, Ramall, Balzali, Neil, Baines, this bench lineup is more luxurious than the absolute main lineup of the Premier League midfielder team! Will West Brom really be happy?"
"Why not? Would they rather face Millwall, who started with Henry, Ronaldinho, Schneider, De Rossi, Alonso, Nesta, etc.?"
"Okay, I understand what you mean. In order to stage a victory escape, West Brom can only have fun and comfort himself with this idea, so that the morale of the team is optimistic and positive, as far as possible to win the game and create miracle!"
To assess the combat effectiveness of a team, it must first be paper strength.
The value of the whole team is a hard standard. No matter how poor the record is, the team with a luxurious lineup will always be a hot team in the eyes of the outside world. As for whether they can play a valuable record, it is the floating of soft power and tactical errors. If the staffing is unreasonable, the overall strength may be lowered.
Nowadays, there is often media sensation in the public opinion, often taking Real Madrid's bench to earn eyeballs.
For example, Raul, Figo, Zidane, and Beckham sitting on the bench together, they will play the title: Real Madrid's bench is extremely enviable!
This kind of news is nonsense!
Because the concept of "substitute" and "sitting on the bench" has been changed!
It seems like, if Millwall rotates the whole team, take today's game as an example, who is sitting on the bench?
Ronaldinho, Henry, Nesta, Kaka, Nesta.
These five people alone!
What will the total value be?
However, you can't say they are Millwall's replacement!
They are still the main force, just sitting on the bench at this moment.
However, the reason why Millwall is recognized by the outside world as the top European team is really related to their bench.
This is the thickness of the lineup, not only "thick", but also "hard"!
It’s not just a lot!
Players like Nedved, Larson, Glennhill, Villa, Lamor, Pedretti, Balzali, Baines, etc. are often in key battles. When the main players are on the stage, they sit On the bench, this represents Millwall's luxurious bench!
When needed, someone can stand up and put on the battle to give the head coach a bottom.
Like Real Madrid, a lineup is hard enough to dare to rotate and crash. In fact, the thickness of their lineup is lacking. Some people can’t do it, so the head coach can be used with peace of mind, not to mention Real Madrid’s own team building strategy. A top-heavy illness has emerged, and the "Zidane + Pavin" policy is reaping bitter failure!
The players on both sides have already stood in the field and are waiting for the kick-off. Today, because it is the final battle, 10 games are started at the same time, so the referee has to synchronize with other games, so there is a delay of one or two minutes, and then, after the referee whistle , The game officially started.
Villa gently kicked the ball to Larson. Larson stopped the ball and turned around. A mid-long pass passed the ball back to his own backcourt.
The ball jumped into the sky and flew towards Southgate. Southgate just stopped the ball with his chest, and there was a warm cheer from the stands!
Milwall usually doesn't pass the ball when he kicks the ball. It kicks the ball back to the defender line at the beginning, which is a bit of morale. It seems that I am afraid that my opponent will not dare to attack.
But today, Larson deliberately did this, but also paid tribute to Southgate, a comrade for many years!
Southgate is very focused and dedicated to his final game.
Yes, it certainly belongs to his last game.
Even if there is a chance to debut in the Champions League final, it must be garbage time, it is a mixed appearance.
Millwall players are also aware of this, so they are extremely serious in this final battle.
They certainly don't want to send Southgate farewell with a defeat.
What's more, there are Nedved and Larson on the court, and the team's mental quality will not have any problems.
However, Millwall also knew that West Brom would be desperate to relegate, so they did not put out the momentum to eat up the opponent.
From the beginning, Millwall showed a very steady posture.
To win steadily and to be patient with opponents, in terms of game mentality, Millwall must be more than one win over their opponents, they do not have to panic, but what about West Brom? As time goes by, mentality will definitely change, players with unwillingness will relax, or even give up, absent-mindedness, and players with unbalanced mentality may be anxious and frizzy.
When Southgate completes a pass on the field, intercepts, fights to win the header, and blocks his opponent's long shot, the stands will cheer for him.
Today, he seems to be a strong and strong defensive player!
West Brom's own offensive ability is pitiful. Although the total number of goals in the Premier League season is above, West Brom ranks second to last, two more than Blackburn, but they are the team with the lowest number of home goals in the Premier League!
In the first 18 home games, they only scored 15 goals!
In front of such an opponent whose weakness is nearly weak, Southgate even has a lot of physical explosiveness, but with rich experience and prediction, he can still calmly and easily resolve his opponent's clear attack.
Aldridge looked at Southgate, who was serious on the sidelines, with a lot of emotion in his heart.
In fact, with the experience of Southgate, he can indeed play a substitute in Millwall, at least another season is no problem, like playing West Brom, Norwich, Blackburn and other low-level English Premier League teams , Southgate can well complete the task of team rotation to maintain the record.
However, Southgate still resolutely chose to retire, not because he could not stand the loneliness of being a substitute, but because he was giving away the opportunity to other players on the team, like Balzali and Neal.
Substitutes also need to play to maintain their status. One more substitute will reduce the chance of positioning players. Southgate knows this, so he chose to retire and announced the news at this time. Neal has a bottom in his heart and tells them in a reverse direction that their opportunities will not decrease in the future, but will only be more than before.
People always talk about Millwall's future is to rely on Ronaldo, Kaka, Villa and other young players.
However, people ignore a fact.
The importance of a stable substitute is no less than the key role played by the absolute main force!
When De Rossi is injured or needs rest, without Pedretti, the key position of the lower back will make the head coach headaches!
When Nesta can't get on, how can Barzali and Neal play the role?
Stable substitutes are firefighters, not only must have the consciousness of firefighting, but also be always ready to stand by!
Southgate knew that he could not be a stable substitute for a long time, unlike Larson, Nedved, and Schneider who had another season or two, so he had to give up his chance.
This consciousness was also noticed by Aldridge. Therefore, he hopes to give Southgate a better retirement game, and he will write Southgate’s name to Millwall’s highest honor in history, and all this , Will be realized in the future.
West Brom is not a team with strong psychological qualities after all. With only 5 wins in the first 37 rounds, the more they lose, the more they desire to win. And in today's most in need of victory, the mentality is very fast.
Just after 30 minutes in the first half, they madly invested in the offense. Millwall’s patience was rewarded, and he did not confront the opponent directly, avoiding injuries, and waiting for the opponent to expose enough space. Afterwards, they played an effective fast break and directly hit the attack into the opponent's penalty area. Glencharr's breakthrough on the side was like a sharp knife pierced the opponent's heart, and in the middle of the road, Villa was taken over. The goalkeeper who abandoned the goal fell to the ground and the referee decisively awarded a penalty!
At Hawthorn Stadium, the home team fans were as desperate as if they had been sentenced to death!
Crazy Lion fans shouted Southgate's name in the stands, presumably hoping Southgate would take the penalty.
Millwall players turned their heads in unison to the backcourt. No one spoke. Their eyes and actions were very clear. They also hoped that Southgate would take the penalty!
Southgate, who had a very serious expression since the game started, suddenly looked down and smiled.
Because he vaguely remembered that the last penalty he took was flying!
And that was 9 years ago!
In 1996, the European Cup became the penalty for England's sinner!
Since then, he has no penalty in the club and national team.
Not even a penalty shootout.
After an interval of nine years, stand in front of the penalty again!