Chapter 20

For this league match, before the game, the Millwall coaching staff had a discussion, setting a relatively low target for the entire match: not to lose.

Aldridge's expectation for the team was to maintain a draw in the first half and then observe whether Shianlian would become impatient in the second half, thus providing Millwall with an opportunity to counterattack and score.

Unexpectedly, by the end of the first half, Millwall had already taken a two-goal lead, which delighted Aldridge. However, what he was most satisfied with was the team's defensive performance.

Before entering the dressing room, Aldridge greeted each player coming off the field, patted their shoulders, and was the last to walk through the players' tunnel.

Peter, with a dark face, was the first to head towards the away team's dressing room when the half-time whistle blew. His players walked off the field looking dejected.

The fans in the stands chatted and laughed, the anxiety caused by the club's instability at the beginning of the season had dissipated. From the pre-season friendlies to the first 45 minutes of the official match, Aldridge's team had gradually won the fans' favor.

In the home team's dressing room, the players were beaming with joy, not feeling tired at all. They had been focused on defense throughout the first half, performing with ease. On the contrary, the Shianlian players, who had been aggressively attacking, were exhausted and had already conceded two goals, a significant blow.

Just before entering the dressing room, Aldridge suddenly heard a voice coming from the away team's dressing room. The Lion's Den stadium was small and poorly soundproofed, so the furious scolding from the away team's dressing room could be heard. Although Aldridge couldn't make out the words, he knew someone was having a fit of rage in there.

Aldridge smiled and then put on a look of ecstasy as he pushed open the door to the home team's dressing room, maintaining his smile as he looked at the players.

The players, who were resting in the dressing room, saw Aldridge standing at the door, not closing it, looking as if he was overjoyed and frozen in place. They all stared at him intently.

Aldridge pointed to his ear and whispered, "Listen carefully."

The players fell silent and perked up their ears, faintly hearing the roars coming from the away team's dressing room.

Each player, as if infected by Aldridge, also broke into a smile.

Aldridge, like a thief, quietly closed the dressing room door, which made the coaching staff unable to hold back their laughter.

Jensen, however, frowned, wanting to remind Aldridge not to get carried away.

But Aldridge's next words put Jensen's worries to rest.

Aldridge spread his arms and laughed, "Your performance in the first half was simply perfect! Look at what the opponents did? They didn't even manage a single shot on target! I saw their players coming off the field, their faces like the end of the world, damn it! You are the devils in their hearts! So, in the second half, we need to make them cry and go home! Is there anyone who feels sorry for them and wants to ease up in the second half?"

The players were taken aback, looking at each other and then shaking their heads involuntarily.

Ease up?

A joke!

Aldridge laughed and said, "Exactly! We need to send them to hell! In the second half, we need to continue to crush them! However, tactically, we need to make some adjustments to accelerate their demise!"

The players perked up, fully focused as Aldridge approached the tactical board. He picked up a pen and drew the positions of the opposing team's backline, then used numbers to represent the positions of the Millwall players.

Aldridge said in a deep voice, "The defense in the first half was excellent, and we need to keep it up in the second half. My requirements are simple: since we didn't concede a goal in the first half, there's no reason for them to steal a goal in the second half. But, Bernd and Robert, listen carefully."

Pirre and Schneider stood up straight, staring intently at Aldridge.

Aldridge drew large areas on both wings, which were the front flanks and areas near the center, but not including the areas extending from the opponents' penalty area to the sidelines.

"In the second half, the opponents will counterattack fiercely and will commit more players to the attack. Robert, you and Bernd can move closer to the center in the attack. Pavel will be responsible for distributing the ball, deciding whether to attack from the left or the right. When you receive the ball, your passing routes will be like this."

Aldridge drew large arcs on the tactical board from both sides, indicating the trajectory of the ball.

"In the first half, Henrik scored the opening goal by receiving a through pass from Robert in an offside trap. In the second half, the opponents will certainly learn from this and be cautious about our through passes. If we continue to play as we did in the first half, it will be difficult. So, Robert and Bernd, in the second half, your passes will be diagonal, passing the ball from between the opponents' center-backs and full-backs to the far side. Our forwards have a clear advantage in speed. David, Henrik, I want to see your coordination in positioning in the second half. When such opportunities arise, you should make a crisscross run, which will pull away the defenders rather than running straight to compete with them. Try to be smart players, not just relying on talent. Can you do that?"

The two forwards, who had scored in the first half, nodded solemnly. Aldridge clapped his hands in satisfaction and gave a few more instructions on defense, such as Nedved paying more attention to the left flank. From the first 45 minutes of the match, Peter, even if he were a fool, would have noticed that Millwall's left flank defense was weaker than the right, with the young Lucas-Nil guarding the left, not the big black Turam on the right.

The second half began with the teams switching sides.

After the players took the field, Aldridge continued to stand by the sidelines with his hands in his pockets, while Peter on the other side had a sullen face and remained silent.

At this moment, Aldridge no longer wanted to engage in any conflict with Peter, let alone provoke him verbally. Instead, he let his mind wander, putting himself in Peter's shoes, wondering what he would do if their positions were reversed.

If an opponent's coach provoked him before the match?

Or his team?

How would he deal with it?

Aldridge learned at least one lesson from Peter: no matter what, he must not lose his cool and must not let personal emotions affect the team's tactics.

Just as Aldridge was lost in thought, a sudden cheer from the stands brought him back to reality.

Bang

The crossbar of one of the goals made a loud noise, and Aldridge could even hear the reverberation.

The ball hit the crossbar of Millwall's goal and bounced away!

Millwall almost conceded a goal at the start of the second half!

Aldridge silently blamed himself for his earlier daydreaming. He knew he had become a bit complacent, given the 2-0 lead in the first half, which made him feel the match was almost won. He knew this kind of complacency before the match was over should be avoided, but the feeling of pride had uncontrollably crept into his heart.

Fortunately, the near miss served as a wake-up call.

Aldridge turned and beckoned to Jensen, who had just breathed a sigh of relief. Walking over to Aldridge, he thought Aldridge was going to make a substitution, but unexpectedly heard Aldridge ask in a low voice, "What happened just now?"

"What do you mean?"

"That ball just now."

"Aren't you standing right here? Didn't you see?"

"I was thinking about substitutions and didn't pay attention."

Jensen, somewhat helplessly, recounted the situation to Aldridge.

After finishing, he returned to his seat on the bench.

Aldridge couldn't help but glance at Peter-Dawson, who was covering his face in regret over the ball hitting the crossbar.

The old man has some tricks up his sleeve!

Peter decisively adjusted Millwall's attack. Although they still relied on long balls and crosses into the penalty area to create threats, he clearly increased the number of attacking players, with the wing midfielders and central midfielders taking turns to enter the penalty area to head the ball in.

Just then, the left wing midfielder sent a high ball into the penalty area. The forwards were tightly marked by Stam and Southgate, and the central midfielder who entered the penalty area was closely guarded by Makelele. Only the right wing midfielder, who entered the penalty area, managed to break free from Lucas-Nil's defense and headed the ball almost unchallenged, but unfortunately, it hit the crossbar.

After understanding the situation, Aldridge observed the field for a while but made no changes and did not shout to the players, as Nedved had already retreated deep to help Lucas defend.

After ten minutes of attack, Shianlian, apart from the header that hit the crossbar, found Millwall's self-adjusted defense to be impenetrable once again.

At this moment, Makelele intercepted a ground pass intended to change the attack and quickly passed the ball to Schneider, who had retreated to the right flank to receive it.

When Schneider received the ball and turned, he found a large open area in the midfield. Shianlian had many players committed to the attack, and the remaining midfielder had also retreated to add to the defensive numbers.

Schneider passed a ground ball diagonally towards the left side of the center circle, where Nedved, who had joined the attack, was in position to receive it easily. A Shianlian player followed, but Nedved, without hesitation, passed the ball short to Pirre ahead.

Millwall was on a counterattack, three against five!

Larsson was on the left, Trezeguet on the right, both with Shianlian defenders closely following them, but they were still some distance from the penalty area.

The two forwards understood each other and began to move. They did not run straight into the penalty area; instead, Larsson moved to the right front, and Trezeguet to the left front, like two sharp blades slicing into the enemy's flank!

The Shianlian center-backs were shocked, especially as Trezeguet's movement was in the area where Pirre could make a through pass, which was unmarked, with the full-back already moving up to interfere with Pirre's dribbling.

The two center-backs hesitated and then switched their defensive targets, but they were clearly too slow.

Pirre, before the full-back could close in, kicked a right-curving ground ball with his left foot.

The ball passed through the gap between the Shianlian full-back and center-back, rolling rapidly towards the far post of the penalty area.

The Shianlian defenders did not expect Trezeguet's run to the near post to be a feint. At the far post, Larsson was chasing the ball, and the center-back behind him tried to slide in from behind but realized he had stepped into the penalty area, so he could only watch as Larsson moved further away.

As the ball slid past the top of the small penalty area, a deep blue figure slid in from the ground and kicked the ball into the near post of the goal!

The Shianlian goalkeeper, with a low center of gravity, made a diving attempt but could only spread his hands in frustration as the ball flew into the corner, just grazing the goalpost before entering the goal.

Millwall 3-0 Shianlian!