"The final round of the 2004-2005 English Premier League season is about to start, and the defending champions Millwall won their seventh Premier League title two rounds ahead of schedule, today's game would have been routine, but because yesterday, Southgate, the captain of the team for 11 years, announced that he would retire from his boots at the end of the season, which made this game very special, because Millwall still has the Champions League final to play in ten days, so to be on the safe side, Millwall was a guest at the Hawthorn Stadium and still sent a large number of substitutes. Gareth Southgate started as captain, a scene that has not been seen in a long time. ”

"Martin, we should talk about the shape of relegation, in the standings, Norwich, Crystal Palace, West Bromwich Albion, all three teams have the possibility of relegation, and in the end there is only one place that can escape. West Brom were unlucky when they ran into Millwall, but the good news is that Millwall have won the league and won't fight them, and they have the advantage of being at home, and Millwall are on the bench to prepare for the Champions League final. ”

"Andy, are you kidding? Take a look at Millwall's substitute lineup, the Danish national team's main Glen Shire, the Czech midfield's core Nedved, Sweden's main striker Larsson, as well as Villa, Pedreti, Ramor, Barzagli, Neil, Baines, this substitute lineup is more luxurious than the absolute main lineup of the Premier League mid-table teams! Will West Brom really be happy? ”

"Why not? Would they rather face Millwall, who started with Thierry Henry, Ronaldinho, Schneider, De Rossi, Alonso, Nesta, etc.? ”

"Well, I see what you mean, West Brom is on a triumphant escape. You can only enjoy the bitterness. Comfort yourself with such thoughts. Let the morale of the whole team be optimistic and positive, try to win the game as much as possible, and create miracles! ”

To evaluate the combat effectiveness of a team, the first thing must be the strength on paper.

The value of the whole team is a hard standard, and the team with a luxury lineup, no matter how bad the record is, they will always be the favorite team in the eyes of the outside world. That is the fluctuation of soft power, tactical mistakes, and unreasonable personnel matching, which may lower the overall strength.

Nowadays, there is often media sensationalism in public opinion, and Real Madrid's bench is often used to earn eyeballs.

For example, Raul, Figo, Zidane, and Xiaobei sit on the bench together, and they will play the title: Real Madrid's substitutes are extremely enviable!

This kind of news is nonsense!

Because the concepts of "substitution" and "sitting on the bench" have been stolen!

It's like. If Millwall rotate the whole team, take today's game. Who is on the bench?

Ronaldo, Henry, Nesta, Kaka, Nesta.

Just these five people!

What will be the sum of the worth?

However, you can't say they're a substitute for Millwall!

They're still the mainstay, it's just that they're on the bench at this moment.

However, the reason why Millwall is recognized as a top team in Europe by the outside world is really related to their bench.

This is the thickness of the lineup, not only "thick", but also "hard"!

It's not indiscriminate!

Players like Nedved, Larsson, Glen Shire, Villa, Ramour, Pedreti, Barzagli, Baines and other players often sit on the bench when the main players are on the pitch in key battles, which represents Millwall's bench luxury!

When needed, someone can step up and put on the pitch to make the manager feel at ease.

Like Real Madrid, a set of lineups is hard to hold on to death and dare not rotate the big collapse, in fact, the thickness of their squad is lacking, just someone can't do it, you have to be able to let the head coach use it at ease, not to mention that Real Madrid's own team building strategy has been top-heavy, and the "Zidane + Pavon" policy is reaping bitter failures!

The players on both sides have already stood in the field and are waiting for kick-off, today because it is the final game, 10 games start at the same time, so the referee has to synchronize with other games, so there is a delay of a minute or two, and then, after the referee's whistle, the game officially begins.

Villa gently kicked the ball to Larsson, who stopped the ball, turned around and played a mid to long distance pass back to his own back.

The leaping ball flew towards Southgate, who had just stopped it with his chest and the stands erupted in cheers!

Usually Millwall doesn't pass the ball like this, and kicking the ball back to the back line at the beginning, which is a bit demoralizing, as if the opponent is afraid of not attacking.

But today, Larson deliberately did this, which is also a tribute to Southgate's long-time comrade-in-arms!

Southgate was focused on playing his final game.

Yes, this is definitely his last game.

Even if there is a chance to appear in the Champions League final, it must be garbage time, and it is just a mix of appearances.

The whole Millwall squad knows this, so they took it very seriously.

They certainly don't want a defeat to bid Southgate farewell.

Not to mention that with Nedved and Larsson on the pitch, there will be no problems with the team's mental temperament.

However, Millwall also knew that West Brom were going to fight for relegation, so they didn't put on a show of wanting to eat their opponents.

From the opening kick-off, Millwall's stance was steady.

Win steadily, be patient with your opponents, and in terms of mentality, Millwall will definitely outperform their opponents by more than one point, so they don't need to panic, but what about West Bromwich Albion? With the passage of time, the mentality will definitely change, and the players who are not strong-willed will relax, or even give up, and be absent-minded, while the players who are out of balance may be anxious and frizzy.

Gareth Southgate cheered for him from the stands whenever he made a pass on the pitch, intercepted, won with a header and blocked a long-range shot with his body.

Today, he still looks like a solid and strong defensive player!

West Bromwich Albion's attacking ability is pitiful, although West Brom ranks second to last in the total number of goals scored in the Premier League season, 2 more than Blackburn, but they are the team with the lowest number of goals at home in the Premier League!

In the first 18 home games, they only scored 15 goals!

In front of such an opponent whose attack is weak to the point of almost malaise, even if Southgate's physical explosiveness has dropped a lot, with his rich experience and prediction, he can still calmly and easily defuse the opponent's clear attack.

Aldridge looked at Southgate, who was on the sidelines, and his heart was full of emotion.

In fact, with Southgate's experience, he can indeed play as a substitute at Millwall, at least for another season, like West Brom, Norwich, Blackburn and other teams in the middle and lower reaches of the Premier League with low offensive ability, Southgate can do a good job of the task of rotating the team to maintain the record.

However, Southgate still resolutely chose to retire, not because he couldn't bear the loneliness of being a substitute, but because he was giving up the opportunity to other players in the team, like Barzagli and Neil.

Substitutes also have to play to maintain their form, and one more substitute will compress the opportunity to also position players, Southgate knows this, so he chose to retire, and announced the news at this time, which can be regarded as letting Barzagli and Neil have a bottom in their hearts, and tell them in a different direction that their opportunities will not decrease in the future, but only more than before.

People talk a lot about Millwall's future coming up with young players like Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Villa and so on.

However, one fact is overlooked.

The importance of the steady dìng substitute is no less than the key role played by the absolute main force!

When De Rossi is injured or needs to rest, without Pedreti, the key position of the midfielder will give the manager a headache!

When Nesta can't play, how can the role played by Barzagli and Neil be ignored?

The substitute is a firefighter, not only to have the awareness of firefighting, but also to be ready at all times!

Southgate knew he couldn't be a solid substitute for long, unlike Larsson, Nedved and Schneider in a season or two, so he had to give up his chances.

Aldridge is aware of this, so he wants to give Southgate a better retirement game, and to write Southgate's name into Millwall's all-time honours, and this qiē will be realized in the future.

West Brom are not a strong team after all, with only five wins in the first 37 rounds, the more they lose, the more they want to win, and the mentality is very quickly unbalanced when they need it the most today.

Just after 30 minutes of the first half, they frantically pressed into the attack, Millwall's patience was rewarded, and did not confront the opponent head-on, to avoid injury, and after the opponent took the initiative to expose enough space, they played an effective wave of fast attack, directly hit the attack into the opponent's penalty area, Glen Char's breakthrough on the side was like a sharp knife piercing the opponent's heart, Villa, who outflanked the receiver in the middle, was put to the ground by the goalkeeper who abandoned the goal, and the referee decisively awarded a penalty!

At the Hawthorn Stadium, the home team fans suddenly felt as desperate as if they had been sentenced to death!

Lions fans chanted Southgate's name from the stands, presumably hoping Southgate would take the penalty.

The Millwall players turned their heads to look at the backfield in unison, no one spoke, their eyes and movements were very clear, and they also wanted Southgate to take the penalty!

Southgate, who had been very stern since the start of the game, suddenly lowered his head and smiled.

Because he vaguely remembers that the last penalty he took was flying!

And that, 9 years ago!

Euro 96, the penalty kick that became the sinner of the England team!

Since then, he has not taken a penalty for club or country.

Not even a penalty shoot-out.

After a lapse of nine years, standing in front of the penalty again! (To be continued......)