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

Chapter 556 The Decisive Battle

Manchester United beat Roma 4-1, almost half a step into the door of the Champions League semi-finals this season, but Manchester United did not pay much attention to this result, because they turned around and devoted themselves to the preparation for the next game. Because at noon on Saturday, Manchester United will visit the Etihad Stadium to challenge their city rivals Manchester City.

In the eyes of the British media and even the world's media, this Manchester derby is the decisive battle for this season's Premier League championship!

Since the beginning of this season, the Premier League has been a battle between the two Manchester City giants.

As of this round, Manchester United had achieved 31 wins and 29 draws in 2 Premier League rounds, leading the Premier League standings with 89 points.

Manchester City also only played 31 league games, and the record was also very good, with 26 wins, 3 draws and 2 losses, and 81 points.

The two teams are far ahead in the Premier League standings. Even Manchester City is 16 points ahead of Liverpool, which is third in the standings.

It can be said that Manchester City is the only team that theoretically has the potential to threaten Manchester United's league title.

However, if Manchester City wants to maintain their hopes of winning the championship, they must beat Manchester United at home in this game, otherwise they will basically withdraw from the race for the league championship early.

After all, with only six games left in the league, whether Manchester City is 6 points or 8 points behind Manchester United, given Manchester United's stability this season, which can be described as steady as an old dog, there is no hope of a reversal to win the championship.

If they beat Manchester United at home, they will only be 5 points behind Manchester United. With 6 rounds left in the league, there is still a certain possibility of overtaking Manchester United.

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Manchester United also hopes to win this game, because in this way, their lead will be expanded to 11 points. In the last 6 league games, they only need to get 7 points to lock in the league title in advance.

In the Premier League standings, Manchester United's advantage is not just 8 points, but also a huge goal difference advantage.

Before this round, Manchester United's goal difference was as high as 89, while Manchester City's goal difference was 62, a full 27 goals less than Manchester United!

Under such circumstances, Mourinho very cleverly developed a defensive counterattack tactic for Manchester United's game at the Etihad Stadium.

He also made it clear that the team should only look for opportunities to counterattack when the defense was solid, and must not give Manchester City any loopholes to exploit.

After all, Manchester United can accept a draw away from home.

Although Mourinho's tactics for the team were defensive counterattacks, he did not let the team retreat to the backcourt and wait for an opportunity to counterattack right at the start of the home game.

Their performance was the same as any other team, very normal. After the opening, they seized the opportunity to attack. Valencia also made many forward runs and did not look like they were going to defend.

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Bruno took advantage of the kick-off to launch an attack, but it didn't reach Manchester City's penalty area. His straight pass was intercepted by Fernandinho in the middle, and before that, Mkhitaryan pressed him closely, making it impossible for him to pass the ball calmly. In addition, there was a David Silva not far away, who was responsible for cutting off the passing route on the other side and waiting for an opportunity to steal the ball.

After Fernandinho intercepted Bruno's ball, he immediately passed it to Bernardo Silva in front. Bruno turned around and chased him, but he couldn't catch up, as Bernardo Silva was in the ribs, far away from him.

Bernardo Silva dribbled the ball forward and then passed it to the side. Sane made a cross, but Sterling failed to catch up and the ball went out of the goal.

There was a huge sigh from Manchester City fans in the stands of the Etihad Stadium.

"The game just started and there was a dangerous situation in front of Manchester United's goal!"

"Guardiola's team has a strong desire to get three points at home..."

"This is understandable. Manchester City is currently eight points behind Manchester United in the standings. If they fail to win this game, they will basically withdraw from the league championship race in advance... Such a result is unacceptable to the Abu Dhabi consortium, which has invested heavily for two consecutive years."

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Manchester United kicked off, and goalkeeper De Gea passed the ball to central defender Van Dijk who was waiting for him at the front of the penalty area.

This is how Manchester United attacks most of the time. Mourinho's tactics are customized around Bruno, so it is not common for the goalkeeper to kick the ball directly to the front at Manchester United. That cannot guarantee that Bruno can get the ball. It is safer to pass the ball forward one level at a time.

Guardiola has obviously studied this thoroughly. When De Gea passed the ball to Van Dijk, Sterling pressed forward.

Van Dijk turned around and saw Sterling very close to him. He was shocked and quickly turned around to protect the football.

He did protect the football, but he couldn't pass the ball forward and could only pass it back to goalkeeper De Gea.

Seeing his pass back, Sterling decisively entered the penalty area and continued to press De Gea.

Seeing the opponent approaching aggressively, De Gea did not dare to be careless and kicked the ball passed back by Van Dijk away with a big foot.

In the end, Manchester United's attack still started with a long kick...

De Gea's hastily kicked the ball to the right side of the field, and Mbappe lost the header to Otamendi.

Otamendi headed the ball out and it fell to the feet of Bernardo Silva.

Bernardo Silva retreated to receive the ball, then turned and dribbled forward, but his dribble was intercepted by Bruno.

Bruno took advantage of the moment when he turned around, seized the opportunity and kicked the ball away.

The moment he poked the ball away, he dodged past Bernardo Silva and tried to grab the ball.

Fernandinho was quicker than him and kicked the ball out. Bruno was a step late and kicked nothing.

Bruno rushed past and turned back to look at the football, and found that the football was not out of bounds.

Although Fernandinho kicked the ball with a long foot, it was like a long pass and landed very accurately in front.

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Sterling competes for a header with Maguire.

In headers, the short Sterling is no match for the tall and strong Maguire, but he can interfere from below, preventing Maguire from heading the ball without worry.

Maguire kicked the ball out, but it didn't go far. The ball landed in an uninhabited area, but was immediately taken away by David Silva!

"David Silva rushed up! Manchester City's attack was suffocating! Wave after wave!"

Fortunately, Kante was guarding behind and caught David Silva's forward run.

After the two men met, David Silva planned to break through from the side, but Kante stuck to him. Then he seized the opportunity and made a precise tackle, causing the opponent to fall to the ground with the ball.

There was a deafening booing in the stands, but referee Martin Atkinson did not call a foul on Kante, but instead signaled for the game to continue, which resulted in even louder boos...

"The game entered a high-tempo state right from the start. Both sides fought back and forth and it was very lively!"

"Before the game, there were rumors that Mourinho would use defensive counterattacks to deal with Manchester City, who are good at attacking, but from the opening few minutes of the game, this is not the case. Mourinho is not conservative, his team played very actively."

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For a long time, when people talk about Mourinho, they always label him as "utilitarian", "one-to-zero", "negative football" and so on, as if the team he coached can only play defensive counterattacks and retreat to a 30-meter area waiting for an opportunity to counterattack.

But everyone forgets that the teams Mourinho coached were the ones that scored the most goals in the league at the time. When he coached Real Madrid, the Galacticos scored 121 goals in a season, setting a club record for single-season goals. It was also the team with the most goals in a single season in La Liga history, a record that has not been broken to this day.

This season, Mourinho has led his team to score five or more goals in 10 Premier League games, and scored 5 goals in 31 league games, making him the team with the most goals in the Premier League and even in Europe during the same period.

Don't think Mourinho is really conservative, he is pragmatic. He uses different tactics for different opponents to maximize benefits.

Attacking Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium and using our own weaknesses to attack their strengths is not called bravery, splendor, offensive football; it is called stupidity, idiocy, retardation, and incompetence.

Even though Manchester United slaughtered Manchester City 5:0 at the Etihad Stadium last season, that was under special circumstances where Manchester City had one player sent off early on.

If the numbers are equal, Manchester United may not be able to beat Manchester City, especially when the two sides are attacking head-on.

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Manchester City's fierce attack at the beginning made Manchester United a little uncomfortable, but they could still hold on.

The biggest trouble comes when Manchester United attacks.

Bruno is the undisputed core of Manchester United, and there is no need to say more. Manchester United players are used to giving him the ball and letting him organize the attack.

But Bruno was in big trouble. When he moved forward with the ball, he would encounter a three-man midfield consisting of Fernandinho, Mkhitaryan and David Silva. These three players were positioned reasonably and protected every inch of grass in front of the back line. No matter Bruno was in the middle or on the two sides, he would always encounter the opponent's tight defense.

This is not man-to-man defense, but it makes him more uncomfortable than man-to-man defense.

He has competed against many outstanding defensive players, but has never felt as much pressure as today.

In his opinion, the Manchester City defense line in front of him was tight and there was no chance to penetrate it. He tried to pass the ball straight, but it was intercepted.

The three midfielders of the opposing team were all located at key points, which made it easy for them to guess the direction and route of their passes.

What about forcing the ball in? Those three guys were not wooden stakes that he could bully.

What about counterattacks? Once Manchester City loses the ball in the frontcourt, Bernardo Silva and Sterling will be responsible for counter-grabbing and harassing on the spot, while Fernandinho, Mkhitaryan and David Silva do not entangle in the frontcourt, but directly retreat to the 30-meter area, which is very fast, making it impossible for Bruno to make a quick counterattack with a long pass.

The three forwards of our team were like the layers of a sandwich in the opponent's defense line, tightly surrounded and unable to do anything.