At this time, the focus of British media coverage has all shifted to the Champions League.

There is nothing to say about the Premier League, the League Cup was won by Millwall, there are only three rounds left in the league, Millwall has a seven-point advantage, there is nothing to talk about at all, it is not surprising that the next round will be able to win the championship in advance, another important cup competition, the FA Cup, there is only one final left, but the time is only before the Champions League final, and the Champions League semi-finals have become the only focus and the most eye-catching.

The British media are happy to cover the Champions League, as England have three teams in the semi-finals of the Champions League -

Manchester United, Chelsea, Millwall.

Of the three teams, Manchester United and Chelsea are in a civil war, while Millwall are in a big game with AC Milan.

For example, in the case of the 'civil war', the 'outer war' is definitely more attention-grabbing, because when the 'external war', the British media is united, unlike the 'civil war', and the two sides support the media to fight together and support their respective teams, and the internal chaos is a mess.

Media coverage of the game between Millwall and AC Milan is certainly inseparable from the analysis of the lineups of both sides, with the names of Millwall players being mentioned, recent performance and celebrity comments, and also appearing in the big page reports.

Morris couldn't escape.

The most core players in the Millwall team are Braniff, Darren Bent, Morris, Zambrotta and other players, and even Pire has to step aside, because Pire is only a 'temporary worker', he is a little older, and he can hold on to the whole game on the field, which is already remarkable, and there are not many times when he performs amazingly, and he can start to think about retirement.

The media has basically a positive assessment of other players.

When it comes to Morris, there are a lot of controversial points, because Morris has been mediocre in recent months, has not contributed much to the team as a whole, and has no bright spots on the field, so when some media speculate about the starting lineup, Morris has been excluded, and he can be replaced by Simpson, Braniff, or even Sean Davis.

In the last game, Morris performed okay, but without assists and goals, it is equivalent to no performance in front of the media, they do not analyze the role of the overall attack, there are some defensive performances, which are not counted at all.

This is also the reality of professional football.

Fans like to watch goals, watch goals, no matter how good the defensive players are, it is difficult to attract much attention, many fans only care about what are the outstanding forwards, in a game, the most attractive is also the goal, no matter how good the defensive performance is, most of them are only evaluated by professionals, and the public's focus is not here.

This is true not only for the average defence, but also for the stars at the back.

Like, Robert Carlos.

Robert Carlos is Real Madrid's most consistent full-back, but he is remembered not for how consistent his defending on the flanks was, but for his amazingly powerful long-range shot.

Defensive stars such as Ramos, Terry, Ferdinand, Nesta and other defenders are also like this, their fame is very loud, when it comes to Ramos, they all know that they are the best young defenders in Spain, and when they talk about Ferdinand, they all know that they are England's star central defenders, but if you ask these defensive stars, what are they good at in the game, the vast majority of fans can only say two words, "Defense?" ”

Defensively, of course.

But defense, like offense, is a very complex system, in which there are many divisions, such as C-Ronaldo, his explosiveness is very good, can be remembered by many people, Rooney is physically strong, hard to shake the opponent's backline, and can always score very domineering goals.

In the Millwall team, there are even more stars with characteristics.

Livermore, powerful long-range shot.

Simpson, set-pieces.

Darren Bent, the shot is quite good, the technique is very good at the feet and the speed is also very fast.

Wait a minute.

Strikers, even those who are less famous, are easily remembered by fans, while defense is always overlooked.

Morris has a defensive performance, which is not cared about by the media at all, they think that as long as there are no assists and no goals, the performance is not very good, like some players, even if they are transparent all over the court, as long as they score a supplementary shot, it is enough to greatly improve the impression score.

As the head coach, Zhang Yang's view is completely different.

Offense is important, defense is even more important.

Because there is no pressure from the league, Millwall prepared for the game early, and the coaching staff conducted a detailed study of AC Milan based on the known information, and also watched nearly ten AC Milan game videos together, and had an in-depth understanding of AC Milan.

AC Milan's strength lies in the midfield.

If you want to go head-to-head with AC Milan, you have to have the ability to control the midfield in the game, and you have to have the ability to control the midfield against AC Milan's tactical play.

The control ability of the midfield, not only the smooth coordination, nor the strength of the defense, must be combined with the two, relying on the 'dual core' style of play, or the 442 defensive formation, it is difficult to confront AC Milan head-on.

In the end, Zhang Yang decided to use a new formation.

Other teams have to adapt to a new formation, by no means in a short period of time, such as Ferguson hopes that Manchester United can adapt to the 433, Manchester United has been training, but it has not had some effect until this season, in fact, as early as 2005, Manchester United carried out the use of 433, and the long-term effect is not good, so they can only return to the original 442 formation.

Millwall is different.

Although the rest of the coaching staff thinks it is unrealistic to adapt to the new formation, Zhang Yang does not see it that way.

Millwall's tactical basis is not a formation, but the player's individual tactical plan, as long as the general position does not change, the player can play how he should play when he arrives on the playing field, and it is only the surface of the position to change the core things are unchanged.

Let's take a life example.

If a person wants to move, from a city in northern China to a city in southern China, it is not as difficult to adapt to the environment as imagined, and even if he has just moved there, there will not be much of a problem, because the language is generally smooth, as long as you speak Mandarin, there will definitely not be too many communication barriers.

Of course, adaptation is a yes.

Food, habits, new surroundings, some dialects, etc., all need to be readjusted.

That's what happened to Millwall.

The personal tactical plan is the basis of the 'language', and changing a formation is just a change of place, adapting to the overall surface of things, you can make the formation work, of course, to achieve complete adaptation, there is also a process of 'learning dialects' and 'getting used to eating', and it will take a long time, but in the end, the new formation can be played, and the performance will not be too bad.

For other teams, changing formations is almost the same as moving abroad.

If you change a country, you have to learn the language first, otherwise there is no way to communicate at all, for example, some elite players have more languages, there must be no problem, most of the players are not elite, they have to adapt to the new formation, it will take a long time.

That's the difference between the two.

Therefore, Zhang Yang did not hesitate, and decisively decided to use a new formation to deal with AC Milan.

The new formation is 4231.

Two midfielders can greatly increase the defensive intensity and also increase the control of the midfield, a single forward is easy to be limited, but in order to strengthen the midfield, there must be sacrifices.

The changes in the new formation are mainly in the midfield, wings, forwards, and backers, basically there is not much change, so the midfielders need to adapt quickly, and the most important thing to adapt is Morris, because he will return to the position of the midfield, partner with Livermore, and will also become the core of the team, controlling the rhythm of attack and defense.

Last season, Millwall played in a two-back formation, but the lineup and players at that time were different, and the concept of play also changed greatly, and Morris was equal to adapting to the new position, and the pressure was still relatively high.

————

When the game really approached, the media hype got even hotter.

The two battles in the Champions League semi-finals, the 'civil war' between Manchester United and Chelsea has nothing to say, Millwall and AC Milan are involved in the competition between English and Italian football, but there are too many points of hype, and the media on both sides have also raised the game to the level of collision of national football levels.

To say that Millwall, a team that has suddenly risen, represents England is still a bit exaggerated, but the media on both sides ignore this, because Millwall performed very well, and almost defended the Premier League title in advance, and the team that ranks first in the league naturally represents the football level of the entire country to a certain extent.

"The Times" commented, "Millwall was the league champion last season, and there is no doubt about defending the title this season, and the Premier League title for two consecutive seasons can naturally represent the whole of England!" ”

Quite a few media outlets fit this story.

Those media who genuinely support clubs such as Manchester United, Chelsea, and Arsenal must also bow their heads in recognition of Millwall's achievements, and with such a guarantee of results, they will definitely be able to represent English football.

But they didn't say it to death.

What if Millwall loses?

There is room for many media claims, such as Manchester Sport, which said, "Millwall are one of the three teams in England to reach the final, they can represent a part of English football, if AC Milan succeeds in passing Millwall, they will have to meet a bigger challenge!" ”

That means the winner of Manchester United and Chelsea will only be above Millwall, but anyone who knows Manchester Sport is talking about Manchester United, and they certainly won't support Chelsea.

This statement is almost like, "Let's send a little brother to fight you first, and only when you win will you be eligible to challenge the boss." ”

All right!

Many media immediately echoed it, because this statement gave English football a long face.

Millwall was not happy.

What do you mean?

Millwall has become the younger brother of Manchester United and Chelsea? No way! Definitely not!

"Tele Sports" pointed out, "If AC Milan can eliminate Millwall, then it will be difficult for the winner of Manchester United and Chelsea to stop them!" ”

"The reason is simple, Manchester United and Chelsea have not beaten Millwall in the last two seasons, so if you think they can beat AC Milan who 'beat' Millwall?"

"This is a completely unrealistic fantasy of Manchester United and Chelsea supporters!"