At halftime, the two sides showed different mentalities.

In the latter part of the first half, Millwall scored two quick goals, which caught Middlesbrough off guard, the score was still tied before, and when no one scored, Middlesbrough was not too anxious, they should strengthen their defense and strengthen their defense, and they also wanted to score a goal when they launched an attack, and they also wanted to score first to gain the advantage in the score in order to take the initiative in the tactical situation.

Now their mood is different.

When the first half ended, the Middlesbrough players were all down, some of the players were talking to each other and the last penalty, they felt that the referee was too harsh and should not have awarded a penalty directly, but more players knew that it didn't make sense to say that at all.

After returning to the locker room, most of the players did not speak, quietly waiting for the time to pass, and even McLaren explained the tactics, but did not pay much attention to listen.

Middlesbrough's morale was extremely low.

Fortunately, McLaren's control of the dressing room is good, and the outside world is criticizing McLaren's declining performance, but in fact, Middlesbrough still respects him very much, Middlesbrough ranked sixth in the league last season, and it is also the credit of McClaren's leadership, Middlesbrough players are deeply touched, and they will not question McLaren's coaching work because of outside news.

In fact, just like Millwall, at the beginning of the season, the outside media continued to criticize, and many reports said, "Millwall has locked the relegation place in advance, and Zhang Yang will become the first manager to step down from the Premier League." ”

Millwall were not affected at all as most of the players in the squad knew about Zhang Yang.

It's the same with Middlesbrough, McClaren still has authority, and even if he is about to leave the team, there are many players who support him.

McLaren is going to coach the England national team.

In the eyes of many, it is also an honour to be able to coach the England national team, and any English manager has reason to take the initiative to pursue this honour.

McClaren talked about tactical play, talking about things like 'focus on the game, the team still has a chance', which also gave Middlesbrough some fighting spirit. In a decisive game, it's really stressful to be down two goals and with 45 minutes left, you can't say you don't have a chance at all.

Millwall was much more relaxed.

In Millwall's dressing room, the players were chatting lightly, and most of the players were not even on the game, some turned to tomorrow's Chelsea and Liverpool matchup, some to the FA Cup final, and some to ' Looking forward to receiving the league championship medal', in addition, some players talked about trivial matters in life, such as Josh Simpson and Livermore's sister's love, which is the biggest gossip in the team, Livermore kept stopping it, but the two still had a few dates, Livermore was also helpless about it, he could only use his eyes and fists to warn Simpson again and again.

This team gossip also brings up the topic of 'where to go on vacation', as Josh Simpson has plans to take Irina, nay, Livermore's family, on a beach vacation in Portugal.

This is forced to be helpless.

Livermore would never agree with his sister to go out with Simpson alone, and could only reluctantly accept the way of 'traveling with the whole family', and insisted on paying the bills himself, while Simpson became a 'attached' oil bottle.

Others also talked about vacation plans.

Everyone's conversation also made the atmosphere in the locker room relaxed, but after Zhang Yang returned to the room, he reminded everyone to get serious, "The game is not over yet, I don't want to see us become the protagonists of the news tomorrow's 'reversal'!" ”

'I believe in each and every one of you, and I want the team to reach the FA Cup final!'

Zhang Yang pulled the players back from the imagination of holiday life to the intense game, and then talked about the style of play in the second half.

Tactics have largely not changed.

Millwall had two goal advantages and would have been able to secure the win as long as they could have held the back of the net.

Zhang Yang talked about some details of the game, such as the opponent's left side of the offensive threat is relatively large, we must pay more attention to the defense of the left side, in addition, in terms of confrontation, he also emphasized the need to restraint and reduce conflicts, "We are the dominant side, we don't have to fight hard with the opponent." ”

This is not a sign of weakness, but not to fall into the trap of the other party.

Even if the opposing player provokes, it should be the referee to punish, the players on the field are congested with brains, the consequences are more serious than imagined, as long as the game can continue normally, Millwall has a very good chance of winning, there is no need to do that.

————

The second half began.

Middlesbrough were two goals behind and had reached the point where they had to attack.

McClaren's key point is also here, at halftime, what he said was all about attack, that is, let the team fight together, if you can score, you can still play, and if you can't score, it means failure.

When Middlesbrough did that, they found it difficult to keep Millwall at bay, let alone the goal.

Middlesbrough wants to take the initiative to attack, and to have an advantage in attack is equivalent to more possession, more passing, and the space for football transmission should also be biased towards the opponent's half, but under the pressure of Millwall, it is not easy for them to play an equal scene, and it is difficult to take the initiative at all.

Millwall played a tight defensive front and back, and the constant running and defending put a lot of pressure on Middlesbrough, who had to attack hard under pressure.

This made it difficult for Middlesbrough.

Middlesbrough said that the strength is good, but it is only in the middle of the Premier League, and the player ability is basically the same as Millwall, and the high is not high, and the low is not too low.

When two teams of equal strength play, it is difficult for one side to suppress the other, especially Middlesbrough's fighting spirit and performance are not as good as Millwall's, and the players on the field are even more difficult.

Fifteen minutes into the second half, Middlesbrough's formation was a bit disjointed, and the players in the front wanted to score quickly, so they ran very far forward, but the back could not keep up, because they had to take care of the defense, and this is the contradiction.

Middlesbrough's 'chaos' made Millwall play very smoothly, and several waves of attacks threatened the Middlesbrough goal.

This situation has worried the Middlesbrough media and the goal, and some media have to admit that "the current situation is very unfavorable for Middlesbrough, they must stabilize their mentality, and it is impossible to catch up if they continue like this......"

In fact, so far in the game, Millwall has achieved an all-round advantage, and it can be seen that Middlesbrough is not only a problem of mentality, but also the overall strength is at a disadvantage, and the morale of the game is also much worse.

Zhang Yang has a feeling of 'master loneliness', and he has never intervened in the game until now, but Middlesbrough has been defeated.

It's a pretty good feeling.

If the game can be won normally, Zhang Yang does not want to use the 'plug-in' to win, it will make the sense of achievement much lower, especially Middlesbrough, a team that is not very strong, the sense of achievement of winning will be even lower.

Now it's different.

Millwall won by relying on the tactical arrangement of the coaching staff and the players' performance on the field, which also made Zhang Yang feel very gratified, and the improvement of the team in one season is visible to the naked eye.

That's the best result!

Millwall showed a 'strong team style' and Middlesbrough's 'relegation position' was revealed, and they simply could not pose much of a threat to Millwall, who frequently threatened Middlesbrough fans.

In the 77th minute, Millwall opened the scoring again by Josh Simpson, who curled a set-piece past Middlesbrough.

When the football broke through Schwarzer's fingers and flew into the goal, everyone knew that there was no suspense in the game.

It was a goal that made Middlesbrough desperate, and it was the one that directly decided the outcome.

3 to 0.

The difference between the two teams is three goals, Middlesbrough is basically eliminated, and in the next ten minutes, they want to score three goals to tie, which is almost impossible to do, and even Middlesbrough fans feel that it is good to score a face-saving goal by the end of the game.

Middlesbrough had a glimmer of hope to attack, but now they all know they don't have a chance, so when Millwall celebrates, no player complains about the time to the referee, and they want the more time passes, the better, because they don't want to continue playing.

Middlesbrough have come to terms with defeat.

Head coach McClaren sat in the position, you can see that his face is full of bitterness, he has long been prepared to accept failure, and the moment of failure is still a little sad.

When the camera pointed over, McLaren shook his head helplessly, and there was a wry smile on the corner of his mouth, but the British BBC TV commentator's analysis of this was, "Maybe McLaren doesn't care about winning or losing at all." Whether or not Middlesbrough will be available in Europe next season has nothing to do with him, and he has already found a way out - as England national team manager. ”

'At this moment, we may have to worry about the future of the England team......

The straightforward statement of the BBC TV commentator in the United Kingdom also made many fans very dissatisfied with McLaren.

This is a matter of 'work ethic'.

As the manager of Middlesbrough, as long as he has not left, he should do his best to lead the team, instead of thinking about what will happen next season.

Of course, this does not affect the game.

The next situation between the two teams can be imagined, the game is still going on, but neither side seems to care too much, Millwall players started their solo show, Darren Bent, Braniff and Jody Morris, all showed off their footwork with the ball, but except for Morris, who succeeded, the other two were directly tackled.

It also gives Middlesbrough a chance.

Middlesbrough also didn't have much fighting spirit, and they couldn't take their chances, but the number of attacks in the latter period also made Middlesbrough fans feel better.

Before the game was over, Zhang Yang had already stood up in advance, with a relaxed smile on his face.

Zhang Yang is indeed very relaxed.

Most of the league has passed, and the FA Cup has also reached its final stage, winning this one, only the final in the middle of next month will be played, and the season is at the end, and the pressure of league competition is not great, which makes him feel comfortable.

There are very few times when there is no pressure from season to now.

For the vast majority of the time, Zhang Yang is working under great pressure, even during the holidays, he is still worried about the field, formulating team training plans, discussing tactics with the coaching staff, etc., and the continuous high-intensity work brings fatigue inside and outside the body.

Now he can finally take it easy.

Before you know it, the game is over, the referee blows the whistle, and the whole audience cheers wildly.

The whole Millwall team was cheering.

Zhang Yang did not participate in the celebration, but went to the middle to shake McLaren's hand.

It's a courtesy handshake.

However, Zhang Yang and McLaren have a good relationship, and they can interact with each other in a friendly manner, McLaren is very enthusiastic, he sighed and said, "Your team is very strong, I can't believe that you are facing Millwall, remember the last meeting, although you won in the end, we did not face so much pressure." ”

"Thank you."

Zhang Yang responded politely, but McLaren continued, "I saw in the game, your striker, I mean Darren Bent, is at a pretty good level, Morris's skills are also very good, and of course, there is also that set-piece, that player is ......"

"Josh."

"yes, his name seems to be Simpson, and he's very good at his skills. I think they're all qualified for the England squad. It's a pity that I don't count it now, but I believe that Bent will definitely make it to the national team. ”

"I wish he could get in, too, but you know." Zhang Yang shrugged, "I don't have a good impression of the Swedes. ”

"I know, haha." McClaren smiled and continued, "But I still want to congratulate you for producing your first England international, and I'm sure he's going to be a great goalscorer and when people talk about him, they're going to talk about you. ”

"But I want to be famous." Zhang Yang laughed.

McLaren laughed too.

The picture of the harmonious conversation between the two was captured by the camera, and the British BBC commentator interpreted, "McLaren and Zhang Yang have a good relationship, the two talk and laugh, McLaren definitely doesn't care about losing, Zhang Yang is very satisfied with the victory." ”

'The two managers are completely in two states, but we can probably see one of the English managers who can have a friendly relationship with the club manager.

It's kind of ironic.

After Eriksen came to power, he had a bad relationship with almost all the managers of English clubs, Ferguson, Mourinho, Arsene Wenger, and even the former Chelsea manager Ranieri have expressed dissatisfaction with Eriksen, and the relationship between the head coach of the England national team and the coach of the Premier League team seems to have become a tradition.

Seeing that McLaren and Zhang Yang had a good conversation, it is not surprising that the narrator is so sarcastic.