Sporting Sivir is just a La Liga team and beating them is no big deal at all.

The media were more interested in Millwall's preparations, but they didn't see anything in the game, Millwall played chaotic and the only thing that was certain was that their wide ability was strengthened, and both Pire and Quaresma performed quite well.

But that's to be expected.

Pire, who is the absolute main force of Arsenal, decided to leave Arsenal and sign for Millwall only because of a contract dispute.

Quaresma is Porto's main full-back and was named the 'best player in the Portuguese Super League' last season, so such a strong technical winger can naturally improve Millwall's wide ability.

Media coverage of Millwall has also focused on the wings, who believe that Millwall's wings have improved the team's attacking threat ability.

Besides, there is none.

Many reports have criticized Millwall's lack of preparation, seeing that the season is about to start, Millwall's game is still a mess, and the Daily Mirror speculates, "Maybe this has something to do with the summer recruitment, Zambrotta, Pire, Quaresma, one by one big stars and talents joined, this is the first day in Millwall's history." Zhang Yang is still too young to quickly integrate new players and the team. ”

When Zhang Yang saw the report, he just laughed it off.

Millwall's tactical training continued, and halfway through the process, he found Zambrotta, who he hoped would be able to adapt to a number of positions, most notably in the midfield.

In the dual-core system of the new tactics, the two cores are tied together, which also makes the formation become 4141, or 451, but no matter how you say the lineup, there must be only one back.

David Livermore is still qualified, and his shortcomings are a lack of tactical awareness.

Zambrotta is not physically stronger than Livermore, nor is he more one-on-one defensive and extremely physical, but Zambrotta's big picture realizes that he has a lot of experience defensively, and if Livermore is unavailable, Zambrotta is the best replacement.

The back line doesn't have to worry about it.

The team currently has eight defenders in the squad, and there are qualified replacements for left, right and centre, but not everyone can play at the back.

Zambrotta was a little surprised by Zhang Yang's request, when he came to Millwall, he thought he would be the main central defender, even if he changed positions, he would be a full-back, but he didn't expect Zhang Yang to let him adapt to the back.

'I played at the back, but very rarely. Zambrotta hesitated.

"Don't be embarrassed, Gianluka." Zhang Yang smiled, "I'm not trying to put you directly in the lower back position. You've been on the team for so long, you should know David, right? It's that unusually strong ......."

"Alien beasts!"

“……？”

"Everybody else calls him that, he's really strong."

"Alright, alien beasts. But we can't just have one midfielder, David can't play all the games but he doesn't have a suitable replacement and I hope when he can't play, you can be in the right midfield. ”

Zambrotta breathed a sigh of relief.

He is not afraid that he will not have a position if he refuses, and the team will definitely lose it if he does not need him to play, but he is not sure if he can play steadily if he can adjust his position rashly, but he is trying to adapt.

'The midfielder is a big position. Zhang Yang explained, "Our tactic is to play a double core, which is an advantage, but at the same time, there will be a lot of pressure on the midfielders, there will be only one midfielder, the defensive task will be very heavy, and at the same time you have to take care of the attack, you should be able to understand, no one in the team can play this position, I can only think of you, Gianluka." ”

"Thank you."

Zambrotta thanked Zhang Yang for his affirmation, and then nodded his head and agreed to learn how to play at the back.

After the tactical training was carried out, he already knew that every position had to recite a lot of tactical things, and it would take a while to get used to it, but he couldn't just be a midfielder.

————

On August 6, the start of the Premier League is very close.

Fans who follow Millwall have begun to pay attention to Millwall's second warm-up game, and from the game, you can roughly see Millwall's final preparations.

The match was played at the Neil Stadium and Millwall invited against Udinese – who have always been Serie A powerhouses.

The purpose of the match against the Italian team is obvious, which is to familiarize the players with the European scene, because to play in the Champions League, the players have to adapt to playing against different styles of teams, and Udinese is a good opponent, as a Serie A powerhouse, their style of play is very characteristic of Italian football.

This warm-up match attracted much attention, and more than 20,000 fans came to watch.

The stadium seats were almost full, as if the league had already begun, and the stadium ticket revenue alone exceeded half a million pounds.

In fact, it was just a warm-up game.

The contest between Millwall and Udinese was still very attractive, with hundreds of reporters coming to cover it, including British and Italian journalists. Millwall promised Udinese half of the proceeds from ticket sales, which also allowed Udinese to increase their revenues, so the game was played at Neil Stadium.

Although it was only a warm-up match, both sides attached great importance to it.

Udinese have not played in Europe for a long time and their players are interested in playing against English teams, especially last season's Premier League champions.

Millwall, for their part, will need to draw on the experience of playing against Italian teams.

Most of the media who came to interview were here to observe Millwall, even the Italian media, because Millwall were going to play in the Champions League, and if they could perform well, they would definitely be strong opponents for the Italian team.

If it were Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and other teams, there would be no need to know anything at all, but Millwall is a new team, and the Italian media hope to 'help' the Italian team to have a basic understanding of the opponent in advance.

Udinese was dubbed the 'sentinel' by the Italian media, and Udinese certainly didn't like the title, they were just invited to play a warm-up match and prepare for the new season.

In front of many media reporters, Zhang Yang did not hide it, and directly showed the dual-core tactics, allowing the team to play according to the tactics to see how far they could play.

Millwall is also not at all afraid of new tactics being exposed.

The two-core style of play is definitely a world problem, at least until now, no team can solve it, it is like a football version of the 'Goldbach conjecture', Millwall can lend the answer, other teams can't solve it.

Zhang Yang suddenly felt tall!

This can be regarded as solving the world problem in football, if there is a football Nobel Prize, it should be awarded to yourself!

cough cough cough ......

The race is on.

In the early stages, the media couldn't see what tactical changes Millwall had made, as the starting formation was 451, which was no different from the 4231 that was often used last season.

Millwall's lineup is also different from the last warm-up game, the warm-up game must give more players a chance, the excellent Quaresma and Pire did not start, and when the game was in progress, Zhang Yang also continued to make substitution adjustments, striving to give each player time to adapt, and the official game, especially the competition with the same team, can help the players better integrate into the tactics.

It didn't take long for sharp-eyed reporters to see the difference.

Last season, Millwall's 4231 formation was dominated by two midfielders, and so far in this game, there are always two people in front and one in the back.

Not quite right?

If once or twice it's nothing, once you're defending, the formation is obvious, and there's only one midfielder each time, it doesn't feel right.

A back back?

What does that mean?

The reporters couldn't figure it out, at first they thought it was a problem with the players' positioning, after all, there were Sean Davies and Braniff on the field, both of whom played in the middle of the midfield.

Sean Davies, who has been in average form, joined Millwall after Christmas and made just five appearances for the team by the end of the season.

Braniff has been playing wide and up front, and for the first time in the middle of the midfield.

As the game progressed, many people could be sure that Millwall had only one midfielder, and the other two were central midfielders.

So the formation is 4141?

This formation is a bit too strange!

The reporters were surprised by Millwall's 'double forward, single midfielder' formation, and they soon discovered that it was not only the formation that was strange, but also Millwall's performance, no, it should be described as 'magical'.

From the very beginning of the game until now, Udinese has been suppressed.

That's definitely not strength suppression.

Udinese is also a Serie A powerhouse, the level of strength is quite strong, Millwall's squad strength has improved, but it is still impossible to completely suppress Udinese.

Maybe even the top teams like AC Milan, Manchester United, Barcelona and so on can't do it.

Millwall's suppression of Udinese mainly relied on very smooth coordination, and every time they attacked, they played smoothly, and the most prominent thing was the connection between the two wings and the middle, which has shifted a wide range of left and right lanes.

Large-scale transfers?

Millwall's wave of attack caught a lot of attention, with Josh Simpson on the right handing the ball to Davies, who crossed to Braniff diagonally, who then pushed it across to Konchesky on the left.

The continuous transfer of the football is very smooth, but many people are surprised to find that the football has moved from the right side to the left side.

Such a large-scale transfer also caused a moment of panic in the Udinese defense, and Konchesky took the opportunity to kick in front of the penalty area, and Sean Davies, who was following him, volleyed the goal!

"Off!"

Stadium announcer Mike Johnson sighed regretfully, and the reporters who turned to watch the game were amazed by Millwall's performance.

Millwall couldn't have played such a fluid combination last season!

A wide range of cooperation from the right side to the left side is not easy to do, the general team uses more long passes, while Millwall uses continuous short passes, this kind of coordination is rare in the Champions League, and only the top giants can play such a wonderful picture.

But Millwall did it!

How did they do it? No, it should be asked, how do they arrange for the players to play so well?

Not only did it play well, but it also seemed that it was very easy to play with it.

The pass from right to left, if you don't pay close attention, you would think it was in the Millwall half, but they did it in the opponent's half.

The media became interested.