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

West Ham United, who wanted to be the dragon slayer and end Manchester United's unbeaten streak in the Premier League, played very aggressively on the field. Every player was running tirelessly and pressing Manchester United players.

Bruno soon discovered that as long as he had the ball, he would be surrounded by West Ham United players, and no matter which direction he passed the ball, it would likely be intercepted.

Simply put, he fell into the trap West Ham had set for him.

Mark Noble was stalking him, but he was not the main person to steal the ball. Someone else could steal the ball, maybe Declan Rice, maybe Anderson, or Obiang. It could even be Yarmolenko and Arnautovic who retreated.

For most people, this is very difficult, but for Bruno, the greater the difficulty, the more opportunities he has.

Although Bruno was surrounded, he was still trying hard to find the opponent's empty space. Although this was a bit difficult, sometimes his feet would be intercepted because of his slow pass, and sometimes he would make a pass error because of his hasty kick. But he still insisted on this approach, he believed that as long as he passed the ball successfully once, it would be enough to threaten West Ham United's goal.

After seeing the difficulties Bruno was facing, Manchester United players also rushed to support him. For example, the other two midfielders consciously moved closer to Bruno, reducing the distance between them, which also reduced the difficulty of Bruno's pass.

They shortened the distance between themselves and Bruno, which did reduce the pressure on Bruno, but this also led to a disconnect between the midfield and the frontcourt.

In order to maintain a close enough connection, forwards Harry Kane, Rashford and Mbappe must retreat to provide support.

Once they retreat, the distance between them and the West Ham United goal will be far. As a striker, the farther they are from the opponent's goal, the smaller the threat.

Manchester United's offense has not improved much during this period, which is also related to the current entanglement between the two sides in the midfield.

West Ham United had 5 players in the midfield, which was a clear numerical advantage, so they were able to gain the upper hand in such a tug-of-war, and sometimes they could launch a counterattack by intercepting the ball in the midfield. However, because the players moved closer to the middle, the personnel were too concentrated, and the support for striker Arnautovic was actually very limited, so there were not many opportunities to really threaten De Gea.

………………

Twenty-five minutes into the game, the two sides were still deadlocked in the midfield. Manchester United could not score, and West Ham United could not break the deadlock.

Manchester United coach Mourinho is happy with the current situation, because a draw without either team scoring is acceptable to Manchester United. He just watched from the coaching booth without making any adjustments, or he thought that the current situation did not require him to make major tactical adjustments, and only required the players to make small adjustments on their own.

But West Ham United head coach Pellegrini couldn't sit still, after all, he had the idea of ​​defeating Manchester United at home.

The tactics he had set up to target Bruno now seemed to tie his hands. Although it limited Bruno's performance, it also made his own attack less threatening. This kind of "killing one thousand enemies and losing eight hundred of your own" thing was too unprofitable.

As the first half was almost over, if the game continued like this, West Ham United could only hope that luck was on their side.

Pellegrini stood up from his seat, walked to the sidelines and sent a signal to the field, indicating that the two full-backs of West Ham United should increase the number of assists.

Since the midfield has to engage in a tug-of-war with Manchester United, use the assists from the full-backs to open up the situation.

Zabaleta is a defender with excellent assist ability. Masuaku on the other side is not as good, but he is also a Democratic Congolese international. He has the ability to shoot from long range and is also good at crossing.

………………

As soon as West Ham United's two full-backs came on, the situation changed immediately.

While the two sides were engaged in a tug-of-war in the midfield, the attacks from the two wings overwhelmed Manchester United's defense. De Gea's goal began to be in danger many times, and he became the Manchester United player who appeared most frequently in TV close-up shots.

In the 40th minute, Bruno got the ball in the midfield. As usual, Noble was always by his side, Anderson was not far away, and Declan Rice was also rushing towards him. Noble was still using his feet to infect him with the ball. If he was not careful, he might lose the ball.

In desperation, he could only pass the ball back.

The ball was passed back to the center back Van Dijk. After Van Dijk got the ball, he looked at Bruno's situation and found that if he passed it back, it would probably be a return pass.

We can't always rely on Bruno and we must find ways to relieve the pressure on him.

Van Dijk looked at the wing and passed the ball to the full-back!

Seeing that he did not pass the ball immediately, Arnautovic controlled the ball under his feet, looked around to observe, then ran up and planned to counter-rob the ball on the spot.

Under his pressure, Van Dijk hurriedly passed the ball to the wing and gave it to left-back Luke Shaw.

Van Dijk's pass was very powerful. In order to prevent the ball from going out of bounds, Luke Shaw used his chest to stop the ball in the air on the sideline.

But by the time he adjusted the ball, Zabaleta was already beside him.

Luke Shaw panicked, and the only thought in his mind was to break through. He planned to poke the ball out between the opponent's legs, but the experienced Zabaleta had expected this and pressed down in advance, closing his legs, just in time to stop the ball kicked by Luke Shaw.

Luke Shaw realized the ball was not following him after he passed it. When he turned around to chase it, Zabaleta had already dribbled the ball out and ran towards Manchester United's goal.

………………

"Ahhh! This is a great opportunity! After waiting for forty minutes, there is such a big gap in Manchester United's defense. Zabaleta rushed forward with the ball, and in front of him there were only two central defenders and a goalkeeper of Manchester United... West Ham United's counterattack!"

After passing the ball, Bruno kept moving, seeking cooperation with his teammates, so he is now the Manchester United player closest to Zabaleta.

He rushed towards Zabaleta from behind, intending to steal the ball. Because he started too late, if he didn't stop Zabaleta here, it would be too late when Zabaleta entered the penalty area, so he chose a very dangerous defensive move, which could result in him receiving a red card: a flying tackle went towards Zabaleta's heel.

Zabaleta, who was dribbling the ball at high speed, could sense Bruno's intention. When Bruno flew over, he gently knocked the ball away, then jumped high and flew over Bruno!

"Oh! Bruno didn't make the tackle! He got passed!"

Manchester United's two central defenders Maguire and Van Dijk rushed towards Zabaleta, and only Kante was guarding the huge space in the middle.

Zabaleta didn't have his own goal, so he saw Arnautovic waiting for him in the middle and passed the ball sideways.

The ball passed in front of Maguire and Van Dijk, and Kante completely missed Arnautovic behind him.

The 1.92-meter-tall Austrian center forward calmly stopped the ball from Zabaleta and then shot. De Gea turned around to save the ball, but it was too late.

The football rolled into the goal along the goal post!

………………

"Oh!" The West Ham United commentator shouted, "Arnautovic! Arnautovic! Marko Arnautovic!! The ball goes in!!! This is a crucial goal, West Ham United took the lead in the score. This is a classic counterattack on the spot!"

After scoring the goal, Arnautovic celebrated wildly. He rushed to the sidelines, put his hands behind his ears, pretending to listen. The meaning was obvious: he wanted to hear more enthusiastic applause and cheers.

More than 50,000 West Ham United fans at the London Olympic Stadium helped Arnautovic realize his wish. They cheered so loudly that it seemed as if they were going to shake the huge London Stadium to the ground.

"Long live West Ham United!"

This was the only goal scored by both teams in the first half. Although West Ham United took the lead and continued to intensify their attack, as if they wanted to swallow Manchester United in one bite, Manchester United also strengthened their defense under the leadership of Bruno. In the remaining minutes of the first half, they did not give West Ham United any chance to change the score.

West Ham United entered the halftime break with a 1:0 score at home.

………………

During the halftime break, in the away team's locker room, Mourinho said to his Manchester United players: "We lost the ball in the first half, but compared to losing the ball, what I care more about is our performance in the first half."

He looked at Bruno and said, "In the first half, our midfield was not functioning well and we were stuck in a quagmire by West Ham United in the midfield. The opponent had five players in the midfield and we only had three. We were fighting a seesaw battle with the opponent in the midfield? This is not what I want to see. We must change this situation in the second half and we cannot be stuck in a stalemate with the opponent in the midfield. This is West Ham United's strategy. If we fight with them in the midfield, it will play into their hands."

As a bystander, Mourinho always sees the situation clearly, and he explains the situation to the players in the simplest language.

"So we have to speed up the tempo in the second half. Bruno, you have to reduce the time you have the ball at your feet. When necessary, you have to reduce the number of times you take the ball. We don't necessarily have to organize the attack through you."

Bruno did not object, because this was not the first time he had encountered such a situation. In fact, he had actively tried to change the situation in the first half, but the effect was not very good. Most of the Manchester United players did not seem very excited, which led to some problems in passing the ball between the players.

………………

"We need to pass the ball quickly, move quickly, and make the two wingers more active. West Ham United know to let the full-backs come up to assist, so why can't we? Open up the situation from the wing and force West Ham United's midfield to strengthen the defense on the wing. This will reduce a lot of pressure on Bruno in the middle."

Mourinho wrote and drew on the tactical blackboard, telling every player about the team's changes in the second half, letting them know what they should do in the second half.

When he finished his speech, there were only three minutes left before the start of the second half.

"It seems that I have said too much, but I hope you all remember every word I said." Mourinho said to the players, "We are behind in the score. If we still want to impact Arsenal's unbeaten record, we need to do our best in the second half for 45 minutes."

"I know that after being unbeaten last season and winning several titles in a row, many people have lost the motivation to pursue the championship. But why can't we challenge Arsenal's unbeaten record? We are now unbeaten in 46 Premier League games, and there are only three games left to break Arsenal's record."

………………

Mourinho's words made many Manchester United players' eyes light up, and they thought to themselves, yes, why can't we challenge Arsenal's unbeaten record?

After all, now they only need to not lose in the next three league games to tie Arsenal's longest unbeaten record in the Premier League of 49 games; if they can go unbeaten in four Premier League games, they can break Arsenal's unbeaten record.

After remaining unbeaten in all official competitions last season and winning six championships in a row, Manchester United players once thought that their highest goal had been achieved and all that was left was to go through the motions.

The team did not introduce a large number of players this summer, and several veterans such as Ibrahimovic, Carrick and Valencia left. It is understandable that the team's morale is not high.

But now they have found their goal again: to challenge Arsenal's 49-game unbeaten record in the Premier League!

Bruno also clenched his fists.

When the Manchester United players came out, they were still excited about their newfound goal.

………………

While the West Ham United players were on the field, Bruno gathered his teammates. There were some things he didn't have time to say in the locker room, so now he wanted to tell his teammates.

"I have to say that breaking the 49-match unbeaten record is a great goal!" Bruno shouted to his teammates around him. "I am excited when I think that when people look at the Premier League unbeaten record in the future, they will think of us. Do you feel the same as me?"

"Yes!"

"You're right, breaking the 49-match unbeaten streak is a good idea, Bruno!"

"I think we can do it. We are now unbeaten in 46 games. If we beat West Ham United, it will be 47 games unbeaten. Is 47 games far away?"

……

His teammates responded to him enthusiastically.

"Very good, brothers! In fact, West Ham United is just our defeated opponent. They have not beaten us in the past two seasons. We will not lose again on the eve of breaking Arsenal's 49-game unbeaten record? This doesn't make sense! As long as we work hard, as long as we are united, brothers... we can definitely break Arsenal's 49-game unbeaten record!" Bruno shouted loudly.

"Break the record!"

"Defeat them!"

"I'm not afraid of West Ham United!"

“Find a way to score their goal!”

……

Manchester United players talked at once.