Warm-up Match to Find the Rhythm
Millwall's preseason training kicked off, with Aldrich almost present at the training ground every day, personally overseeing the players in various training drills. During breaks, he would instill tactical ideas into the players and even discuss individual positions and technical developments with each player. He didn't require a translator for these discussions; over the past eight years, aside from taking football training courses, he had learned the main languages used in Europe. Although he wasn't fluent, his communication with the players was more than sufficient.
The young players here all possessed extraordinary talent, and Aldrich's guidance simply helped them avoid unnecessary detours. For instance, Vieira, at just 18, still thought of himself as a traditional center forward, while Makelele also began to actively transform into a defensive midfielder.
Aldrich was patient and used the effectiveness of the training process to validate his transformation of the players. Perhaps it was simply his sincere dedication to spending every day with the players that touched them. In a short period, Aldrich built a good relationship with the players, which served as a strong foundation.
In every training session, Aldrich would include a short 15-minute scrimmage.
During these 15 minutes, there were no winners or losers; the match would directly lead to a penalty shootout.
This left many players feeling "dissatisfied."
After each scrimmage, players would eagerly request Aldrich: "Can we play for another half an hour? How about 15 minutes? Even just 10 minutes would be great!"
Who could truly feel satisfied with just 15 minutes of play?
Even for an ordinary person, 15 minutes wouldn't feel like enough time.
This brief scrimmage was intended to maintain the players' hunger for the game. If training left them exhausted and disinterested, the excitement for official matches would significantly diminish. Football training also requires building anticipation; during training, you suppress the players' desire to play, and then let them completely unleash that energy on the pitch!
So, when players requested to extend the scrimmage, Aldrich would always shake his head with a smile, then, together with the other coaches, he would collect the balls from around the training ground. Although there were dedicated workers for the club's training facilities, Aldrich would still take on these miscellaneous tasks whenever he had the time. This fostered a harmonious atmosphere within the club.
With just two weeks left until the start of the English League One, the club arranged three friendly matches to warm up, facing Birmingham, Oxford United, and Peterborough United.
These three teams were all relegated to League Two last season, and Aldrich sought out these weaker teams to instill confidence in the youngsters.
On a sunny Saturday afternoon, the stands at the Den were packed, probably due to the stadium's limited capacity of under twenty thousand, filled entirely with Millwall fans.
In this setting, Aldrich faced off against the first opponent in the friendly match, Birmingham.
He arrived early, walking out of the tunnel with his coaching staff and taking a seat on the home team's bench.
For this warm-up match, the tactical deployment had already been communicated the day before, and the lineup was finalized—considered Aldrich's stable choices for the season.
Goalkeeper: Cassily-Keller.
Defenders: Thuram, Stam, Southgate, Lucas-Neill.
Midfielders: Schneider, Makelele, Nedved, Pires.
Forwards: Larsson, Trezeguet.
The most surprising aspect of the starting lineup was the presence of 17-year-old Trezeguet instead of 21-year-old Solskjær.
There were six forwards on the team, the youngest being Trezeguet and the oldest Larsson, followed by Solskjær and Kevin-Phillips.
Solskjær had earned the respect of the coaches and players since the first day of training, and he was even jokingly referred to as Millwall's next Shearer.
However, Aldrich could only endure the pain of making a choice due to such joyful troubles. Solskjær's technical characteristics overlapped somewhat with Larsson's, and in the English game, Aldrich needed a forward who could establish a strong presence in the penalty area. Initially, Aldrich had placed his hopes on the "King of the Small Box," but Van Nistelrooy's performance in training had left him feeling somewhat disappointed. Many players needed time to "find their rhythm," yet it seemed that both Lucatoni and Van Nistelrooy had not yet found theirs.
However, the 17-year-old Trezeguet, with his strong and fearless physique, showcased an impressive impact during training, likely due to his early entry into professional football in Argentina.
Aldrich sat on the coaching bench chatting casually with Jansen. Jansen had seen and trained alongside stars at Ajax, and he expressed that the current Millwall squad filled him with hope, although he regretfully mentioned they were still distant from the talents of stars like Overmars, Seedorf, and Kluivert, who were currently shining in Ajax's first team.
Listening to Jansen, Aldrich reflected and found it hard to argue against his point.
Truthfully, the stars under Aldrich couldn't compete with the shining new talents from Ajax from a technical standpoint; Overmars' seamless combination of skills and speed was simply dazzling.
Aldrich shook his head with a wry smile; perhaps it was the ambiance and distinctive traits of the English league that influenced him. He had indeed deliberately shunned the acquisition of those flamboyant, skillful players, as he secretly dreaded which masterful star the English stage had ultimately destroyed.
However, concerning the intensity of physical collisions, the demands were no less than that of Italy. The fierce defenses and intense physical play in Serie A were akin to steel clashes; the only difference was that the tactical quality in England lagged behind, appearing rough. But ultimately, the basic physical confrontations in football were equally fierce everywhere.
As Aldrich and Jansen chatted, Aldrich suddenly stood up from the bench; he noticed a peculiar atmosphere in the stands.
In his memory, the Den was always loud and boisterous, echoing with chants filled with coarse language directed at opponents, never a moment of calm.
But today, he sensed an unusual tranquility.
Standing at the sidelines, he scanned the stadium and saw that the fans were quietly seated. Although some raised scarves emblazoned with Aldrich's name to support the new head coach and owner, the majority of the fans were simply enjoying the football. In previous years, fans were easily swayed by their environment, but in recent years, the English football authorities had effectively curbed football hooliganism, especially in the Premier League and League One. As a focus of this crackdown, only the most extreme fan groups, like the Bushwackers, remained active within Millwall.
It was likely due to Aldrich's appearance along the sidelines that a smattering of applause began and soon grew into a sustained cheer.
From the southeast stand, the Millwall team song began to resonate: "No one likes us, we don't care!"
After taking in the applause, Aldrich sat back down, knowing that most fans still supported him, though many had a watchful attitude, especially since Aldrich had directly dismantled the stable team lineup they had seen in recent years.
Soon, the players emerged from the tunnel. This was merely a routine friendly match; there was no television broadcast, and the club's announcer called out the players' names one by one beside the players' tunnel.
As each name echoed throughout the stadium, cheers and applause erupted from the stands.
They were indifferent to each player's age or previous clubs; as long as they wore Millwall's colors and fought for victory, that was enough. Support until the end!
Aldrich walked over to shake hands with Birmingham's coach out of courtesy, but made little small talk, thinking in his heart: it's best not to see him again!
Birmingham would be playing in League Two next season, and unless it was a cup match, Aldrich certainly did not wish to meet their coach again.
The match quickly commenced, and Aldrich sat on the bench, quietly observing the game, almost entering a meditative state for a long time without moving.
Other coaches also watched the match but showed anxious expressions.
Millwall's lineup had an average age in their early twenties, while Birmingham's players were seasoned veterans. From the start, Birmingham took the upper hand, launching wave after wave of simple long balls that put immense pressure on Millwall's defense.
After Birmingham's attack concluded, Millwall's counterattack didn't fare well, with frequent mistakes, even Schneider and Pires, known for their technical finesse, committing basic passing errors.
The scene was very passive, and Jansen leaned in to Aldrich's ear, asking, "Should we give them a reminder? They seem too tense."
Without blinking, Aldrich replied calmly, "They haven't found their rhythm yet. Look, it's only been fifteen minutes, and Schneider is already gasping for air. He rushed in all too eagerly and is nearly exhausting himself. No worries, let them find their own feel for the game. It's just a friendly match. Our defensive line has been surprisingly steady; that's a good sign—if we can avoid conceding, that's already a positive outcome."
The combination of Stam and Southgate provided solid air defense, and although Stam occasionally surged with overzealousness, Thuram, a converted fullback, and the defensively aware Southgate were there to cover him. The threats towards the backline remained mere false alarms. Coupled with Makelele and Nedved's high-level contributions in the middle, Aldrich felt no urgency to intervene.
The warm-up match was aimed at helping them regain their match feel and adapt to the game tempo, with Aldrich's primary duty being defense. As long as the defense showed no flaws in tactics, he saw no reason to walk to the sidelines and put pressure on players like Southgate, Thuram, or Nedved, who were performing steadily—it could lead them to mistakenly think the head coach was dissatisfied with them.