Thanks for the reward of "Death of the Thief"! ――

In April, England was in full swing, the Premier League, the FA Cup, and the Premier League hegemon Millwall is the only Premier League team to participate in the Champions League to forge ahead in the European arena, the fans are addicted, one after another wonderful battles have appeared, it can be called a good show, in particular, the suspense of the Premier League has always existed, and Chelsea's close pursuit of Millwall has always been the focus of continuous public opinion on Fleet Street.

In the penultimate round of the league, just two days after the FA Cup semi-finals, Millwall is about to face Manchester United at home, and in an interview at the pre-match press conference, a reporter asked Aldridge such a question.

'Do you think the FA's fixtures are fair when Millwall play the FA Cup in midweek and your league fixtures are the first to be played at the weekend, while Chelsea are the last to start with a week's rest?

The atmosphere at the press conference became delicate, and many reporters laughed and did not say anything.

The Guardian reporter asked this question, seemingly to speak for Millwall and stand in Millwall's position, but in fact, it was a hidden murderous motive and wanted to direct the topic to the place where Premier League fans are most concerned at the moment.

Jose Mourinho has been in the limelight, even though Chelsea have been second in the league, but when Chelsea are unable to win games, Mourinho will have many, many reasons to divert attention.

Let people not talk about 'why didn't Chelsea win?' ”

Instead, it is a discussion of Mourinho's rhetoric.

Among them is Mourinho, who believes that it is very unfair for the FA to arrange fixtures for Chelsea, such as what opponents have an extra day off and Chelsea have one less day off.

That's.

But it's just that. This trick has been tried and tested. Because Mourinho secretly changed the concept. Putting Chelsea in the role of the underdog, the strong man is naturally the FA, and the outside world likes to see such a "uncovered" story of the strong man and chasing the underdog protagonist.

Aldridge cleared his throat and coughed twice, and said lightly: "If there is no schedule of two games a week, the Premier League games are very regular, Saturday, Sunday. There is a game on Monday night, mostly on Saturday and Sunday. If, if the FA were to give every team what you call a fair break, then the fixture schedule should be like this, Millwall will always play on Saturday or Sunday, or Monday, and our games will always be fixed on a certain day of the week, is that possible? No way! Because the schedule is bound to crash, like Millwall fixed on Saturday. But our opponent was fixed on Sunday, then. How do we play? There is bound to be a team that has one more day off, or one less day off, or even two days. It's a boring topic, and I think the people who criticize the unfair schedule are just covering up something, in other words, if you always have one less day off than your opponent, then your league should end a month and a half early, but no, we all play all the league schedules in May, and the fact is, sometimes you have one or two days off less than your opponent, sometimes you have one or two more days off than your opponent, and if everybody is complaining about that, heh, why are you still playing? Everyone took the calendar and the schedule to debate. ”

The reporters in the audience were happy.

Aldridge has nothing to say, and he doesn't care about the game, and he naturally understands that the reporter is asking such a question is actually aimed at Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho.

If he avoids it, it will appear to be a sign of weakness, and what else does he have to fear from the other party?

Despite having a good relationship with the FA, Aldridge has never complained about the FA's schedule, nor has he been given any convenience, just like this season, when the FA arranged the schedule at the beginning of the season, it must have thought of making it difficult for Millwall to defend his title.

Because if Millwall wins the championship easily, then it will naturally be detrimental to the global promotion of the Premier League brand, so there will be a wave of devilish fixtures in the closing stage, increasing the excitement, and similarly, Chelsea also have, although there is one less strong conversation than Millwall, but Aldridge still has no complaints.

The Guardian reporter continued: "But now there are managers in the Premier League who have slammed the schedule, what do you think of this phenomenon? ”

It's not just Mourinho who will lash out at the fixture, Wenger will too.

Aldridge replied with a calm expression: "I don't really care about other people's opinions, but personally, the manager needs to protect the team, but over-protection of the team is sometimes detrimental, sometimes in the face of failure, you have to make the players aware of the root problem, not how others are hindering you, increasing the difficulties of external forces, the truth is that if you can be stronger, you should overcome these difficulties, in my past 10 years of coaching, I always want the players to rise to the challenge and recognize the reality." To withstand the pressure and then to overcome a qiē is my philosophy and it is also the football philosophy that Millwall should adhere to and carry forward. We've got a lot of good players who grew up in that environment and made their name on the football pitch. ”

Journalists got new news material and stopped pressuring Aldridge to give more.

Tomorrow is a league game, and the conversation should return to the topic.

On whether the FA Cup defeat to Manchester United will have an impact on tomorrow's league game, Aldridge said seriously: "I am quite happy with Millwall's performance in the FA Cup this season, the players have done their best, and I have also seen the steady growth of some young players, including the emergence of new players like Moutinho, Messi, Veloso, Ramos, their performances in the first few rounds of the League Cup and FA Cup deserve praise, they are growing steadily, they represent the future of Millwall. As for the defeat to Manchester United, there will definitely be an impact, Millwall will not ignore the defeat, what others take from us, we will naturally get it back, very good, the opportunity is in front of us, we will welcome Manchester United tomorrow at the Lion King Stadium. ”

The next day, the afternoon was shining in East London, and the Lion King Stadium was packed.

Lions fans breathed a sigh of grief in the stands.

Manchester United, on the other hand, seem to have come here with a more relaxed mentality.

They have secured their ticket to the FA Cup final, and if they don't lose all of their last four league games, winning one or two games will secure Champions League qualification, and the final goal of the season is the FA Cup.

If you're here today, you might be able to snipe Millwall, not to help Chelsea, it's just--unhappy to see Millwall!

Aldridge and Ferguson met again on the sidelines after a short period of time, and the two did not make any communication, simply shaking hands and returning to the dugout to wait for the game to begin.

Manchester United started the same day as they did in the FA Cup, with Millwall making all but the goalkeeper.

Before the start of the game, the live camera locked on Southgate, who was sitting on the bench looking lonely.

For Southgate, his career has been sentenced to death by Fleet Street.

His poor performance in the FA Cup semi-finals has made him the target of criticism from some of the most prominent critics on the outside.

Some of the more rigorous newspapers are more objective and full of warmth, sympathetic to Southgate, and rationally analyze his future.

Obviously, Southgate is no longer worthy of Millwall's starter, and at the same time, for the sake of building for the future, Millwall's substitute may not need a 35-year-old veteran next season, although he can bring some experience, but he is a bit unstable on the field, how can he intuitively contribute to the team?

Considering that he was England's captain of the World Cup and was seriously injured when he went to the European Championships with England, the newspapers were unable to write negatively about Southgate's poor performance, and more to mention his contribution and the positive significance of saving at Millwall.

The Lions fans who watched the game live on Guò TV couldn't help but look gloomy when they saw Southgate's lonely expression, and many Lions fans who watched the game collectively in the bar were silent.

It is sad and deplorable.

But the pain in the hearts of outsiders is never as painful as the pain in Southgate's own heart.

Looking at his teammates who had already appeared on the field, Southgate's eyes were quite complicated.

yearning for that green field and galloping on that passionate stage, but now, I have lost the qualification to go into battle.

And the most painful thing for him was that Aldridge comforted him privately after the FA Cup semi-final, dismissed him, and told him: the team needs him!

He needs to promote the young players, he needs to pass on his experience in the dressing room and set an example for the young players.

But Southgate knew in his heart that it was time for him to say goodbye.

Unable to contribute to the team, Glenschal chose to leave, and when the team needed him, Glenschal returned.

Now, it's Southgate's turn to make his own choice.

He thought about persevering, working hard, and burning his life for the lion!

But the reality made him have to bow his head, he is not a particularly strong central defender, he needs to be flexible and agile, but after a serious injury, his body quality declined, so that he lost the capital to really stand on the wild lions.

Looking at Aldridge's back standing on the sidelines, Southgate suddenly looked normal, the melancholy in his eyes disappeared, and his tense face relaxed.

The head coach who is younger than him has gone through eleven years of ups and downs with him, and these eleven years should be worth too many players, even stars, eleven years, that is a glorious time, an indelible legend in memory.

Personally, he has no regrets.

The only thing I want to say sorry to the club is that he couldn't end up perfectly, and he disappointed many, many people when the team needed him the most!

His career has been flawless, and it's worth it!

It's time to make the only contribution he can.

That is to take off the Lions' jersey and turn away.

Can I wear the jersey of another team?

Southgate had never thought of anything like that.

So he made the decision.

Retire! (To be continued......)