Chapter 74

As the first half ended, the players walked towards the tunnel, their expressions all normal, with Millwall only slightly disgruntled.

Aldridge walked towards the tunnel from the sidelines, where fans leaned out to make various gestures at him.

Boos, jeers, sarcastic applause, insults, ridicule, and even pointing and shouting loudly: "London boy, are you happy too soon? We Manchester United won't be easily knocked down. So what if we're two goals behind? When the game ends, you'll be crying and crawling back to London!"

Aldridge moved forward with a calm expression, completely unfazed by the pressure from the Manchester United fans. Arguing with the fans was the most foolish thing to do.

Back in the dressing room, Aldridge first checked on the players' conditions, which were all good. Their fighting spirit had not waned. Clearly, they were eager to compete against a team of Manchester United's caliber.

However, Trezeguet's heavy breathing was noticeably faster than the others. Although he had recovered his physical condition through preseason training, he still found it difficult to keep up with such a fast-paced game. The indulgence of the summer holiday still had lingering effects.

Aldridge took out a pen and drew a simple tactical diagram on the board, then circled Neil's position and turned to him, saying, "Forget about the first half. Continue to push forward in the second half. Don't have any mental burden."

Neil nodded vigorously. At the end of the first half, he had indeed been afraid that his forward movement would lead to another mistake and a goal for the team, so he had stayed back.

Aldridge had something he didn't say. In fact, the goal after Neil's mistake was partly his responsibility as the head coach.

"Claude, if the situation of the first goal happens again, you don't need to intercept the counter-attack immediately. Retreat first, even back to the penalty area, to ensure we don't have a numerical disadvantage in the most dangerous area in front of the goal, and to compress the space for the opponent's attack in front of the penalty area."

Aldridge gave these instructions to Makelele. The players, upon hearing this, looked up at Aldridge in unison. Seeing him smile faintly, they felt that his charisma seemed to have increased.

In fact, in Aldridge's previous tactical setup, once the flanks were hit by a counter-attack, Makelele's task was to intercept immediately, but the effect was not good. After all, the width of the pitch was there, and Manchester United used a two-wing attack. With Makelele's two legs, he couldn't keep up with the ball. It was this tactical error that led to Makelele intercepting Beckham, leaving the center open and creating an opportunity for Butt to attack.

Aldridge's halftime adjustment overturned his previous tactical arrangement. He had no reason to feel ashamed. Mistakes happen to everyone. What's scary is not admitting and correcting them.

After a counter-attack, Makelele was instructed to retreat to the penalty area first. This way, even if Manchester United's counter-attack reached the penalty area, with a numerical advantage, Millwall's defensive line would not be too stretched, maximizing the compression of the longitudinal attack space.

After making some specific tactical adjustments at halftime, Aldridge once again stirred the players' fighting spirit, praising their performance in the first half and hoping they could continue in the second half.

The halftime break ended quickly, and the players walked out of the dressing room again.

Aldridge returned to the sideline in front of the coaching bench, hands in his pockets, chin slightly raised. This posture gave the players a sense of confidence.

His influence had subtly affected the team over the past year.

If the head coach was a coward, coming to Old Trafford to turtle and defend, without the courage to challenge, even if Aldridge had the best players like Matthäus, Baggio, and Maldini, it might still end in a crushing defeat.

Ferguson sat back on the coaching bench, chewing gum, seemingly calm as before the game.

The referee, Dugan, blew the whistle to start the second half, and Manchester United kicked off.

Although the game was still a draw, Manchester United only had 45 minutes left. They clearly did not want to drop points in the first round of the league, especially in a home game against a newly promoted team.

Therefore, Manchester United's attack was very aggressive, and Millwall had to retreat to defend at the start of the second half.

Aldridge watched the game from the sidelines and suddenly felt that Manchester United's formation was a bit strange. The number of red-shirted players on the field seemed different from the first half.

This was due to visual perception. When he focused on the midfield, the players at the ends of the pitch were just blurry shadows in his peripheral vision. Most of the time, he watched the local battles between the two teams, and the number of red and blue players was roughly equal, just constantly moving.

But he suddenly felt that the number of Manchester United players involved in the attack was more than in the first half!

Who?

The extra player must be a wildcard!

He focused and noticed that a Manchester United player was moving from the back to the front without drawing much attention.

The left-back, Irwin.

When Aldridge noticed this, he saw Schneider and Thuram double-teaming Giggs, who had just received the ball. Aldridge thought it was bad and didn't have time to shout a warning. Giggs passed the ball lightly to the right, and Irwin, starting from five meters to the right of Giggs, sprinted forward to receive the ball.

"Intercept him!"

Aldridge shouted.

When the players were highly focused, they couldn't possibly hear Aldridge's shout, and even if they did, it would be hard to react quickly.

Schneider and Thuram, upon seeing Giggs and Irwin's cooperation, almost instinctively responded.

Thuram had a positional advantage for the interception. He abandoned Giggs, and Schneider started running back to cover the space Thuram left, which prevented Giggs from having a positional advantage after passing and starting to move forward.

Thuram decisively accelerated and went for a tackle from the side. He extended his leg to block the ball, and then forcefully intercepted it before Irwin, but Irwin was knocked to the ground.

Dugan blew the whistle to stop the game, indicating a foul by Thuram.

Thuram, annoyed and helpless, bent down to pick up the ball, squeezed it in his hands, and finally threw it to the ground.

Dugan showed Thuram a yellow card.

Aldridge, on the sidelines, laughed in anger, nodding and clapping.

Damn!

Thuram's action, even if a bit rough, could it be worse than Roy Keane directly charging into Nedved?

The location of the foul was neither good nor bad, about 30 yards from the Millwall goal, to the right of the penalty area.

The free-kick was taken by Beckham.

Aldridge's scalp tingled.

If the team faced a free-kick master, the head coach was helpless.

Should he put more players in the wall? Or tell the goalkeeper which side to dive?

Aldridge didn't know how good Beckham's free-kick technique was today. Last season at Millwall, his free-kicks were only considered good.

Defending a direct free-kick didn't involve too many complex tactics. The wall blocked the angle near the post, and the goalkeeper covered the far post. The principle was simple: the wall set up a barrier on the shortest straight path between the ball and the goal, players jumping to expand the defensive area, and the goalkeeper covering the far end. If the ball was aimed at the far post, the flight time would be longer, giving the goalkeeper more reaction time.

Millwall set up the wall, and the other players marked the Manchester United attackers lurking inside and outside the penalty area.

Beckham stood calmly behind the ball, looking at the wall in front of him, all familiar faces.

The five months at Millwall, except for the outcome, he was satisfied with everything.

But what made him angriest was Aldridge's roar at him in the dressing room.

Beckham, chosen by Manchester United as a child, naturally grew up in pride, and Aldridge left an indelible shadow in his heart.

He needed to prove himself, especially to that young coach.

To boldly and arrogantly tell him: You were wrong!

Dugan's whistle sounded, and Old Trafford fell silent.

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Beckham ran up, planted his left foot, and raised his left arm to maintain balance as his body leaned to the left. His right foot struck the ball perfectly, generating tremendous friction.

The ball, with a strong spin, began to soar.

The wall jumped, and Southgate leaped to his maximum height but couldn't touch the ball.

The ball seemed to fly high, but after clearing the wall, it began to spin and drop, the exaggerated arc resembling a tilted rainbow.

The wall landed, and the Millwall players looked at the goal in unison. Goalkeeper Keller, with his mouth agape, turned his head to see the ball lying quietly in the net. The red sea of Old Trafford's stands surged, and the cheers shook the sky!

The Beckham curve, rising in the world!

"3-2! Manchester United have just turned the score around at the start of the second half, successfully reclaiming control of the game from the two-goal deficit! This free-kick was beautiful, the trajectory was a feast for the eyes."

"It's simply art! David Beckham, this young player has just become a regular for Manchester United and has shown his value. Alan Hansen, you underestimated these kids. This free-kick by Beckham will be remembered for a long time!"

Beckham smiled, spreading his arms wide, laughing proudly and arrogantly towards the stands!