From the man behind the football king to the football king.

Chapter 479: New Season Preliminary Battle

Bruno did not mean any disrespect to Mourinho, but he really felt that the team's tactics were indeed a bit too conservative, which seriously restricted the team's offensive power and creativity in the frontcourt.

Mourinho himself is a defensive head coach. What he is best at is focusing on defense. Training offense has never been his forte. Don't look at the fact that Manchester United scored 174 goals in all competitions last season, setting a single-season scoring record in team history. They often won their opponents by big margins in games, but that was more due to Bruno's personal ability.

You know, Bruno helped Manchester United score 58 goals and assist 32 times in various competitions last season. He made 90 goals by himself, which is more than half of Manchester United's total goals.

Especially in the Premier League, Manchester United scored 96 goals in total. Bruno scored 38 goals and 21 assists alone, accounting for 61.4% of the total goals!

For Bruno, this is a very good performance, but for the entire Manchester United team, it is unreasonable.

Moreover, Bruno cannot always maintain such a state and be able to dominate the Premier League.

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In fact, starting from the second half of last season, Premier League teams have begun to find ways to deal with Bruno, which can be seen from the significant drop in his data in the second half of the season.

In the first half of the season, Bruno set a record of scoring in 18 consecutive Premier League games. Only in the first round of the league did he not score in the first half. His half-time data was 27 goals and 12 assists. There was no game in which he did not score. There were no goals or assists.

However, since entering 2017, Premier League teams have become familiar with Bruno's playing style and have made considerable progress in restricting Bruno. This made Bruno's report card in the second half of the season only 19 goals and 11 assists in 9 games, and the number of goals he participated in was almost cut in half.

While at Leicester City, Kante's offensive abilities were further developed under Ranieri.

Gundogan is not a defensive midfielder, and copying last season's tactics will indeed cause problems, but if he is allowed to play a role similar to an all-around midfielder from the B2B penalty area to the penalty area, the offense will be solved.

What's more important is that Kanter's average number of passes per game is only 0.7. In other words, it takes three games for him to be passed twice by the opponent. This data is really hard to find in European football. several.

Kanter's impact on Manchester United's defense has been immediate. Since entering the 2010s, Manchester United has never conceded less than 30 goals in a season. But with the arrival of Kanter last season, this number suddenly dropped to 27 goals.

"In our three midfielders, I am alone in the front. I have to organize the midfield, pass the ball and assist the frontcourt, and even often drop back to get the ball. I am under too much pressure, especially as the opponent gets closer and closer. Come pay more attention to us.”

"Whether Gundogan is placed in front or behind, he can play a strong defensive role, but he also has an advantage in that he has delicate footwork and outstanding skills, and can launch directly forward from his own hinterland. Offensively, his ability to carry the ball forward was not appreciated by us.”

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Fans have always had the impression of Kanter as a purely defensive midfielder, but in fact, this far underestimates him.

Bruno means to activate the offensive firepower in the midfield.

"Another point is that his physical fitness is very good. Combined with his footwork, I have noticed several times that he handles the ball at the front of the penalty area very calmly and has great advantages."

Mourinho and Faria now understood what Bruno meant.

In the second half, Bruno had a scoring drought of five consecutive games, and a scoring drought of three consecutive games. There were as many as 9 games in which he had no goals or assists!

Because Bruno's personal performance declined significantly, Manchester United's results also declined sharply in the second half of the season. At the end of the first half, Manchester United set a Premier League half-time points record with 18 wins and 1 loss; but in the second half, they only achieved 12 wins, 5 draws and 2 losses, a full 13 points less than their points in the first half. !

If Manchester United hadn't gained so much advantage in the first half, they wouldn't even have been the Premier League champions last season!

The professional league is like this. If you don't change, your opponents will change, and you won't be able to do it. So you must keep changing and making progress.

After moving to Manchester United last season, among the team's internal data, Kante not only has eye-catching defensive statistics, but also has a passing success rate of over 90%. This in itself is enough to prove that he is a trustworthy midfielder. hand.

Combined with Kanter's characteristics and advantages, Bruno believes that as Kanter continues to grow and improve, Manchester United should further release the vitality of the midfield instead of continuing to adopt the previous double midfielder style.

When he first debuted, Kanter did rely on defense to gain a foothold in football. But since the Udinese period, Guidolin has been deliberately training Kanter's offensive ability.

Faria's eyes lit up, and she nodded loudly: "I think it's feasible."

Ibrahimovic is a high center forward and is very intimidating in the penalty area. Let him be at the forefront and suppress the opponent's central defender. Rashford gets more freedom to launch attacks on both wings and ribs, and Lingard supports him.

"I think N'Golo is a trustworthy deep-lying defender in the midfield. He not only has a large defensive range, but also has strong confrontation ability. Whether it is an interception or a steal, his success rate is very high. What's even more rare is that he His passing ability is also improving rapidly.”

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Bruno is responsible for organizing and delivering the ball, as well as attacking from behind. Gundogan is responsible for more tasks of advancing from the backcourt and suddenly attacking from behind, plus Cancelo and Luke on the wings. Shaw, Manchester United's offensive problems can indeed be solved very well.

Of course, if the striker recruitment task can be completed and Kane and Mbappe join Manchester United, Manchester United's offensive capabilities will be even more terrifying than last season.

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<divclass="contentadv">"But what about the defense?" Mourinho asked with a frown.

After all, he is a defensive head coach, which is also his consistent characteristic.

"Our traditional advantage is to counterattack on the spot. As long as the players maintain a high degree of overall coordination and tactical discipline, there will not be a big defensive problem." The team's new captain Carrick said.

As long as we open up a new way of thinking, many problems can be solved.

Manchester United's current frontcourt players, whether it is Ibrahimovic, Bruno and Lingard, all have strong tactical execution ability. They are already very hardworking and diligent in the game. If the team's tactics are pressed forward, Manchester United's midfielders will The frontcourt's counter-pressing ability will be even better than before.

At the end of the symposium, the coaching staff did not clearly indicate what they would do, but Mourinho stated that he would try.

During the team training the next day, the coaching staff began to use the idea proposed by Bruno before in the group confrontation, allowing Gundogan to take on more offensive tasks on the substitute side.

This change really activated Guo Degang's role in the midfield, and the German midfielder began to play more threatening. Several times he dribbled the ball from the backcourt to the frontcourt, which was eye-catching.

And he does have an advantage in getting the ball at the front of the penalty area, and he handles it very calmly, which further confirms Bruno's previous point of view.

The players themselves are also communicating and coordinating each other's on-field interaction and cooperation, especially Gundogan and Bruno.

Everyone knows that there is no problem with the strength of Manchester United's players. They won the championship last season and will only be stronger this season because everyone is one year older and more mature.

The question now is whether the team's offense can be played.

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After the International Champions Cup, there were only ten days left before the Community Shield. Although Manchester United made some tactical attempts, they did not make sufficient preparations. Therefore, Mourinho did not boldly adopt the new strategy suggested by Bruno. style of play.

As a prelude to the Premier League, this year's Community Shield is scheduled to be held at the new Wembley Stadium.

Since last season's Premier League champion and FA Cup champion were Manchester United, this Community Shield match will be between league champion Manchester United and league runner-up Chelsea.

Due to the regretful failure in the competition for the Premier League title last season, Abramovich, unwilling to accept it, continued to increase investment and has already introduced Lukaku, Bakayoko, Rudiger, Zampacosta and Caballero in the transfer market. Waiting for strong reinforcements, trying to make a comeback in the new season and challenge Manchester United again.

However, due to the large number of new players, coordination among players may be a problem.

In this game, Conte continued to use his 343 formation. The defense was partnered by Azpilicueta, David Louison and Gary Cahill, and the midfielder arranged Matic and Cesc Fabregas to partner on the wings. Moses and Marcos Alonso, and the frontcourt is the combination of Willian, Batshuayi and Pedro.

None of the new players started.

On Manchester United's side, Mourinho also chose to play it safe in his formation.

Due to the lack of people at the front, Mourinho still arranged a trident combination of Lingard, Rashford and Bruno. In the midfield, Mata advanced, Herrera and Kante partnered as a defensive midfielder, and the midfielder was a defensive midfielder. The defense is composed of Valencia, Smalling, Maguire and Luke Shaw, and the goalkeeper is De Gea.

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At the beginning of the game, both sides played very fiercely, especially in the first 20 minutes. Lingard and Alonso received consecutive yellow cards. It can be seen that both sides fought fiercely with each other and no one was willing to give in.

Manchester United still has the same old problem. Bruno's condition has not been adjusted yet, he seems not excited enough, and he is closely monitored by his opponents. The offensive end seems a bit sluggish.

With only Mata in the midfield, it is difficult to sustain the situation.

The double midfielder combination of Herrera and Kanter ensured the team's defense, but the offense in front still couldn't open up the situation.

This situation lasted for the entire first half, and the two sides ended up tied 0:0, with no one able to score the opponent's goal.