Zhang Yang also knows that the team's win is not good-looking.

At home, they have been suppressed by Aston Villa, and the defense is what the team does most of the time, and the attack is relatively less, and the performance cannot be compared with the previous games.

This is due to the new formation.

In the case of an extra midfielder, the overall lineup is missing a striker, and the offensive ability is much worse, coupled with Zhang Yang's emphasis on defense, so that the whole team is familiar with defensive cooperation, defense has become the key, winning the game relied on Josh Simpson's free kick, and the second goal was only caught by Millwall because Aston Villa was eager to score.

Either way, there was some element of luck to winning the game.

However, Zhang Yang didn't care too much, Millwall's dismal performance last season but won more games, it was not a big deal at all, the final victory is important, and it is quite a perfect result to be able to test the new formation at the same time, and then win the game and get three points.

After the game, Zhang Yang praised everyone's performance.

He focused on Elliott.

In this game, Millwall's play was also highlighted, not to mention Josh Simpson's wonderful free kick, Millwall's defense at the back did a good job, and Aston Villa had a lot of shots, but most of them were obtained in the second half, and that kind of opportunity was not called a chance.

Elliott's introduction ensured a solid defence at the front of the penalty area, greatly limiting Aston Villa's attacking edge in the middle.

In the next few days of training, Zhang Yang also asked the team to focus on training the new formation, and at the same time he also began to think about other ways of playing - let Smitchell play the midfield, Jody Morris and Elliott play double back, the same 4231 formation, when Jody Morris became the back midfielder, the situation was completely unspeakable, for which Zhang Yang spent half a night, using the 'speech and spirit calculation' to modify the tactics, and also got a good set of play.

Jody Morris and Livermore don't have the same abilities.

The two are almost opposites.

Morris is very capable of organizing and attacking, and he is very clever in the game, and when his position is pulled, he can make Millwall's attack very fluid, and the combination with Smitchell is enough to make Millwall's midfield strength in the middle of the field and fight with the Premier League powerhouse.

This is also evidenced by the results of the 'Word Counting'.

After Jody Morrisla, let Smitchell play the midfield, and the 'current squad strength' obtained by the 'Yan Ling Calculation' reached seven stars and seven points, which is higher than the previous 442 formation score.

Zhang Yang felt that Morrisla's style of play was basically the best lineup of the 442 formation.

So far, it's okay.

In the coming month, the team will have to adapt to two sets of 4231 formations, which can be said to be one offensive and one defensive, plus the original 442 formation, the team can come up with three sets of tactics.

This makes it less likely to be targeted by opponents.

————

On September 17, in the fifth round of the English Premier League, Millwall challenged Fulham away.

It's a 'half derby'.

Millwall's biggest rival is West Ham United, but in terms of English football, the two can only barely be regarded as 'sworn enemies', because most seasons, the two teams are not in the same league and the contradictions between them are not as big as imagined.

Millwall climbed to the top of the Championship last season by 'stepping on the corpse of a sworn enemy', but West Ham United did not even qualify for the promotion play-offs, which may be a relief to some fans, but it is not a big deal for both clubs.

Now that the two sides are not in the same league, naturally there is no grudge.

Millwall and Fulham are also very close to each other, and there are also 'fan rivalries' between them, but Fulham and Millwall have not played each other a few times, and it is difficult to talk about anything about the feud.

Fulham fans believe that their sworn enemy is Chelsea, and in turn, Chelsea fans believe that their sworn enemy is Fulham.

Millwall?

If Millwall had regarded Fulham as a mortal enemy, they might have been exalting themselves.

Millwall's record is so bad that they don't even qualify as Fulham's sworn rivals, and in the eyes of most Fulham fans, Millwall can only be regarded as a 'barely rising to the Premier League'.

When Millwall visited Craven Farm, Fulham fans thought, "Fulham, as the big brother, should educate Millwall, who have risen to the top level." ”

That's the mentality of the Fulham fans.

Millwall certainly have diametrically opposed views, but no matter what the fans on both sides think, the pre-match hype is not fierce, because Millwall and Fulham play each other, it is difficult to arouse much media interest, and without public opinion to fan the flames, the game between the two sides is just an ordinary league game.

In fact, the views of both teams on the game are diametrically opposed to those of the fans on both sides.

Fulham's manager is Coleman.

Coleman, who has spent two seasons in charge in 2003, has fully understood Fulham, and he knows that Fulham are not a strong team, and last season Fulham showed a polarization in attack and defence: they played fantastic attacking football, capable of scoring goals against any opponent, but surprisingly weak defensively.

They fought for relegation last season, and this season is not much better, and they will fight for relegation.

Coleman was furious during the summer transfer period that the club did not invest a penny in the transfer market, and there were a number of outstanding players leaving: No.1 goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar moved to Manchester United, while goalscorer Andy Cole, who scored 12 league goals last season, has now opted to go to Manchester City.

In addition, the departures of Bonissell and Clarke have weakened the thickness of the midfield.

The media commented, "Fulham are likely to pay the price for their excessive blood loss in the summer." ”

They're already starting to pay the price.

In the first four rounds of the league, Fulham won only one, drew one, and lost the remaining two, picking up only four points, leaving them only fifth from bottom in the league, and the league has just begun, and they will have to fight to break free from the relegation zone.

Now facing Millwall, Coleman is not assured.

If he meets a promoted horse in the first round of the season, Coleman still has a bit of fighting spirit, but look at Millwall's results, unbeaten in four league games and winning three games, much better than Fulham, even if it is a home game, it is not easy to beat Millwall, right?

————

When the game began, Coleman found that the situation was not as bad as he had imagined.

Millwall was not as strong as it could have been.

Millwall's performances in the first few rounds were quite good, but perhaps because of good luck or maybe because of good performances on the spot, Fulham were in the ascendancy at the moment.

Most of the offensive initiative is in Fulham's hands.

When he saw this scene, Coleman felt confident that as long as the team could play the rhythm they wanted and beat a not very strong opponent, it should still be easy.

Coleman's thoughts lasted as long as thirty minutes.

Fulham were in control for thirty minutes, with Millwall seemingly unable to fight back and most of their energy spent on defence.

That's when Coleman didn't feel right.

Fulham did have the initiative in attack, but the attack was played again and again, but it did not bring the threat it should have, the opponent's defense was very tight, and in the past time, they did not even threaten to shoot.

"That's not right!"

Coleman frowned, taking a closer look at the game.

It didn't take long for him to notice the key problem: again, Millwall's defence was doing well.

In addition, Fulham did have the initiative in attack, but it was not they who won it, but Millwall' Active' handed, Millwall seems to have no intention of fighting for control of the game, even the midfield scramble is not fierce, most of their energy is invested in defense, the occasional counterattack also relies on counterattacks, or simply let the frontcourt players go up to fight, other players in order to ensure that the defense will not keep up, it is such an attack, but it brought two threats to something, in the 35th minute, Millwall took advantage of the opportunity to cooperate with the set-piece in the front, and almost broke the Fulham gate.

Coleman saw a lot of things.

He found that the team's advantage was false, and that the opponent was in control.

"How so?"

Coleman's brows furrowed even tighter, he had also seen a lot of reports about Millwall before the game, and there were constantly media critics of Millwall's tactics, which seemed to be like this at first, Millwall seemed to have no tactics at all, their style of play was very simple, and a little chaotic, and the players played very casually, and there was no sign of any well-formulated tactics at all.

Now it's like two armies competing against each other.

An army is in good order, operating according to the regulations, showing high morale; The other army was completely undisciplined, and everyone seemed to stand at random, and the whole was very chaotic.

In such a confrontation between two armies, the victorious side must be the disciplined side!

Everybody will see it that way!

However, Coleman found a problem: Millwall's seemingly chaotic overall performance was surprisingly powerful, and the players in various positions played seemingly randomly, but the connection was extremely smooth.

"How is this possible?"

Coleman couldn't figure it out at all, and it was the first time he'd faced such an opponent since he became head coach.

The game is disorganized?

Each player seems to be standing at will and playing at will, but they are very skilled in cooperating with each other?

How is this done?

"Maybe that's why Millwall are doing well? Right! They can do well, they can't just rely on luck! Here's why! Coleman thought earnestly.

It's an amazing find!

Coleman even felt that it didn't matter if the game was won or lost, and that studying Millwall's real 'tactics' was much more important than winning or losing a game, because there were things in it that he couldn't understand.