Millwall's FA Cup, the first opponent was Huddersfield.

The name of this team will make many people feel unfamiliar, so that they think that they are a club with little history of dribbling, but in fact, English football has a history of more than 100 years, and some of the now unknown clubs may have been very famous a few decades ago.

Huddersfield is such a team, their history is much more glorious than Millwall, and they have won three consecutive top league titles, but after World War II, Huddersfield quickly declined, hovering in the lower leagues for decades, not entering the mainstream for a long time, and a new generation of fans do not know their names at all.

Huddersfield Town is now a third-tier team, which is the English First Division.

Zhang Yang casually glanced at Huddersfield's information, and he didn't care at all, one is that they will not pose a threat to Millwall, even if there is an accident, losing the FA Cup is not entirely a bad thing, at least it will reduce the pressure on the team.

Against Huddersfield, Zhang Yang only plans to send a semi-main lineup and let a few substitutes go up to try it out, which can also add some game experience.

Two days before the Huddersfield game, Millwall had big problems in the team, and the winter in London was not very good, and the cold temperature and cold wind were always prone to cold waves.

"Ward has a cold and is on leave?"

On the first day, Zhang Yang didn't care about it, he just let Darren Ward have a good rest, but on the second day, the trend of colds began to spread, Smitchell also had a cold, accompanied by fever symptoms, and then Sviley and Konchesky, Zhang Yang asked the three of them to go back and have a good rest, but don't infect the others again, and in the afternoon Weston also had symptoms of a suspected cold.

Now the problem is serious.

Zhang Yang hurriedly went to ask Davis.

"It's a viral flu! London is experiencing a flu and other teams are experiencing similar problems. Davis's answer balanced Zhang Yang's mentality a lot.

Zhang Yang called Wenger and learned from the French that Arsenal also had two players with colds, sneezing very seriously, accompanied by other symptoms, Arsenal is the lightest team, other teams, such as Tottenham Hotspur and Charlton, are more serious, Charlton's cold tide can even be described as a crisis, they have ten players with colds, six or seven of them are the main players.

When you find that the opponent is worse than you, your mentality will always be calmer, but the cold that involves the whole team is still very big.

At the end of the winter season, the biggest fear for professional clubs is a cold wave. If it is only an injury, it only involves a single player, and it is good to go home to recuperate, and there is no way to do it if multiple players are injured, but colds are contagious.

Zhang Yang hurriedly organized the coaching staff, urgently discussed, and finally decided to take a two-day holiday.

Two days before the game with Huddersfield, Millwall didn't even do training, all the players in the team went home on vacation, Zhang Yang told them that it was best to stay at home, don't go out to hang out if you have nothing to do, and protect your body is the most important thing.

The media has done a lot of coverage on this matter, Millwall suffered a cold wave, not as good as Charlton, but it is definitely second, "In such a tense competitive environment, Millwall has encountered a cold wave, which has a great impact on the team, fortunately, it is a break in the league, but it will definitely affect the FA Cup." ”

Zhang Yang also knew that the problem was very big, but there was nothing he could do about this kind of thing.

In this FA Cup, most of the substitutes were dispatched, and some players who were not in the squad simply didn't even do training, and went home on vacation to recuperate.

In the end, Millwall beat Huddersfield Town 1-0, and Jamie Vardy, who has been in good form of late, scored the only goal for the team.

Faced with the FA Cup victory, Zhang Yang didn't know whether to celebrate or be distressed.

Of course, the victory is good, but this round of the FA Cup is the best chance to lose, the team has a cold wave, can not send the main players, can only play with a substitute lineup, then the loss is understandable, winning the FA Cup, means to participate in the next round, and in the next round, Millwall may face difficult opponents, then the game is likely to affect the league.

That's the FA Cup woes.

Sometimes the manager can't make a decision with his mental thoughts, and if Zhang Yang had to make his own decisions, he would definitely choose to give up the FA Cup and devote himself to the league.

The FA Cup is just a cup competition after all.

No matter how long the history is, it is only a cup competition, it does not generate much revenue for the club, it does not have much influence on the outside world, and winning the championship is only a qualification for the group stage of the UEFA Cup.

That's all.

But the FA Cup is also an English club, and it cannot be given up, because English fans value the FA Cup, as many people once said, "The English FA Cup represents the tradition of English football!" ”

If a team abandons the FA Cup, there will certainly be a lot of criticism, "It's hard for an outside coach to understand the tradition of English football!" ”

It's not just the media that says that, the fans see it that way.

The latter is something that must be valued.

The foundation of a club's development is the fans, and it is impossible to develop without the fans, and the fans must understand it no matter what, so the FA Cup cannot be 'blatantly' abandoned.

Millwall's hardships continued.

After the game, the coaching staff continued to discuss the strategy and finally decided to take another two days off to give the players more rest.

It wasn't until January 11 that Millwall regrouped, and only Koncheski returned to the team with a cold of the few players who had a cold, and he probably didn't have any problems, the rest of the players continued to rest, and the good news was that the other players were fine.

While training was going on that day, another tragedy struck: Braniff was injured again!

In the course of daily training, Braniff shot too hard, sprained his ankle directly, and lay on the ground The results of the team doctor's examination are: ankle sprain, the problem is not big, and he has to rest for a week, and he will definitely not be able to play the next game.

In Zhang Yang's helpless anger, he simply gathered everyone and gave them a 'health brainwashing', "We are experiencing a wave of injuries!" It's only halfway through winter and it's the coldest time of the year, and I'm sure each of you knows how easy it is to get injured at this time! ”

"No matter what time it is, good health is the most important thing, and I want each of you to remember it clearly!"

When Zhang Yang said it, he gritted his teeth a little.

With so many players having problems, the impact on the team is too great, fortunately it is not in the intensive period of competition, but the next round of the league is coming, and it has become a problem to arrange the starting lineup.

Then came the bad news.

Millwall FC have contacted Gravison's agent, who has revealed that Gravison will consider coming to Millwall if his salary is raised.

Raise your salary?

At Real Madrid, Gravison's weekly salary has reached £60,000, and any further salary increase would break Millwall's wage system.

This is certainly unacceptable.

Ebenezer shook his head and said, "He knows we can't accept it, so we should just find a reason to refuse." ”

"Perhaps." Zhang Yang shook his head and sighed.

Millwall's influence is still too small, and even if they play well this season, it will be too difficult to attract established stars.

Gravison didn't have a good time at Real Madrid, but after all, it was also Real Madrid, and many people came to see that it was much better to be a substitute in a big club than to stay in a small club.

There was good news that afternoon: Millwall made a £1.2 million offer for midfielder Sean Davies, which was agreed by the Spurs club management.

This is unexpected good news.

Zhang Yang didn't care too much about Sean Davies, just asked the club to try to make an offer, after all, he is a good midfielder, and entering Millwall to supplement the squad will also help the team a lot.

Sean Davies and Portsmouth have been in close proximity and Portsmouth are eager to bolster their squad for a difficult second half of fixtures in order to give the team a better chance of avoiding relegation.

Sean Davies was put up for sale by Tottenham and Portsmouth showed the most enthusiasm.

News in the media says that "Sean Davies is infinitely close to Portsmouth." "It seemed that the two sides were about to negotiate, but as soon as the offer was made, Tottenham agreed to Millwall's request.

What a bonus!

Sean Davies is also a good player, he is only twenty-six years old, born in the Fulham Academy, was praised as the future star of the club by the then Fulham manager Kevin Keegan, after which Sean Davies has been playing for Fulham, after the end of the 2002-03 season, due to Fulham's release of manager Jean Tigana, Davies submitted a transfer application to the club, ready to play for Everton, but due to injury could not pass Everton's medical examination, he stayed at Fulham for another year, until the summer of the following year, It was only then that he was transferred to Tottenham Hotspur for £3 million.

Sean Davis' career was a bit bumpy, with constant injuries depriving him of the opportunity to prove himself at White Hart Lane, and he was never able to make the main list, and finally had to choose to leave.

So bringing in Sean Davis is a gamble.

If Sean Davies is injury-free, let alone more than a million pounds, even five million pounds will be difficult to get, on the contrary, after coming to Millwall, he will continue to be injured, and he can only be a fringe player, occasionally representing the team.

This has nothing to do with publicity.

One more midfielder in the team who is not injured and has good strength is only good for the overall squad, not bad, and the big deal is to waste transfer funds and salaries, which is also what the club should worry about.

Zhang Yang has already begun to urge the transfer to be carried out quickly, so that Sean Davies can join in as soon as possible and participate in the team's tactical training.

As long as he adapts quickly to the team's tactics, Davis can also help the team play.

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Sean Davies' choice to join Millwall was a bit of a surprise, but the decision wasn't a big deal.

At Tottenham Hotspur, Sean Davies did not have a good life, he was not bad, and he had a good performance in every appearance, but the constant injuries made it difficult for him to gain the trust of the manager, and he was just reduced to a fringe player in the team.

This has been the case for several seasons, and Sean Davis is considering leaving.

He was only twenty-six years old.

At this age, he can fight for a few seasons, and maybe have a chance to break out in the second spring of his career, staying at Tottenham Hotspur is a waste of time, and he can't wait to leave, so when the winter transfer came, Davies took the initiative to apply for a transfer to leave.

Portsmouth always wanted to get him.

Sean Davies has been hesitant because Portsmouth are a relegation team.

Joining a relegation team, if you can complete relegation, of course, it is nothing, but in case...... What if Portsmouth can't complete relegation? Isn't it time to play in the Championship next season?

These are things that must be considered.

Sean Davies' intention is to continue to drag his feet to see if any other clubs contact him, and if there is a better option, he will certainly not consider Portsmouth.

Then he waited until Millwall.

"Millwall? You say Millwall's manager is interested in me? Sean Davis repeatedly confirmed the news.

Agent Joshua said, "Yes, Sean, I've confirmed with the club, Millwall already have an offer, similar to Portsmouth's, and the club would like to ask your opinion. ”

"My opinion?" Sean Davis took a deep breath, seemingly contemplating, but immediately shouted, "So what are you waiting for?" Hurry up and negotiate! I can't wait to go to Millwall! ”

O Millwall!

That's Millwall, the team competing for the league title, a hundred times better than Portsmouth!

As long as you can join Millwall, let alone whether you can win the championship with the team, you will definitely be able to participate in European competitions next season, which is something that ordinary teams don't have to think about.

Choosing between Portsmouth and Millwall, any player would choose Millwall, it's a team full of positivity.

Millwall still has a certain appeal.

This is due to the team's results, after the halfway point to finish second in the league, it is certainly much better than other small clubs, and it is certainly not comparable to the big clubs, but there are still many players who want to join Millwall.

When Sean Davies personally agreed to a move, the rest was simple, with Millwall sending representatives to talk to Tottenham Hotspur.

In the end, the two sides set the transfer fee at £1.3 million.

Sean Davis' contract negotiations are also going well, and the two sides have basically reached a deal after only one day of contact. By the next day, Sean Davis had a quick show for a physical exam.

After the medical report came out, Millwall's official website announced the signing of Sean Davis.