Chapter 502: Mentality Collapses

"It's only been four minutes since the start! Manchester United has taken the lead! It's a textbook fast break!"

"This is the way Manchester United is best at scoring! Fast passing, fast running, and a rhythm that the opponent can't even imagine. The opponent can only be led by them by the nose, and there is nothing they can do!"

"Valencia! He scored his first goal of the season! It was in such an important game!"

"It's a perfect start for Manchester United to score in four minutes! The game will be dragged into the rhythm they are most familiar with! And Roma is in trouble!"

The commentators shouted.

When he saw Cancelo break into the penalty area, Di Francesco stood up from his seat in shock, and then he saw his team lose the ball.

For this loss, he attributed the reason to the players who had just started the game and were not focused enough.

But no matter what the reason is, the ball is lost, and now they are behind, how to play the game?

The players of Roma are also at a loss.

The game had just started, and the only two people who had touched the ball were Alisson who saved the ball and Gonalons who headed the ball away. All the other Roma players had not even touched the ball and fell behind.

This was really an unexpected situation for them.

Some people ran to the linesman to protest to them that Cancelo was offside when he received the ball, so it should be offside first, and Valencia's goal did not count.

The linesman shook his head, indicating that he saw it very clearly, the ball was not offside, and Bruno and Cancelo's cooperation was very beautiful.

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The big screen at the scene was replaying the goal, and the Roma players looked up to find evidence, but there was silence.

They saw the slow-motion footage of Cancelo and Bruno passing and running. The TV broadcaster even froze the moment Bruno passed the ball. The frozen picture showed clearly that at the moment Bruno passed the ball, Cancelo was still in front of Roma's defense line, and the people behind were Fazio, Jesus and Bruno Perez.

It can be said that except for Kolarov, Roma's entire defense line fell behind, so how could it be offside?

Under the continuous impact of Manchester United, Roma's defense line could not keep up with the rhythm and was penetrated by Bruno's pass and Cancelo's forward penetration.

"Roma's players are still protesting that Cancelo is offside, but the TV replay clearly tells us that this ball is not offside, not offside at all!"

Roma's players had nothing to say and could only helplessly accept the fact that they were scored by the opponent in the first four minutes of the game and fell behind.

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Unlike the frustration of Roma's players, Manchester United's players were very excited and even a little ecstatic.

Scoring a goal at the beginning of the game was the best start of all the starts!

After taking the lead, the game can be played calmly, and they can drag the game into their familiar rhythm and track. Especially Mourinho's team is best at defensive counterattacks, which is more beneficial to them.

After celebrating the goal crazily, Manchester United's players ran back and prepared for the game.

At this time, nearly six minutes of the game time had passed, and the celebration of Manchester United players lasted more than a minute.

Before the game, Di Francesco paid great attention to Bruno, so he arranged Strootman and Gonalons to deal with Bruno. Who would have thought that even so, Bruno still instigated two threatening attacks by Manchester United and scored goals.

Bruno was the key figure in every attack.

It seems that Di Francesconi's containment strategy has no effect on Bruno.

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After the game resumed, Roma took advantage of their possession of the ball and planned to move forward.

But they soon discovered the problem. Every player on the field of Manchester United, including forwards Harry Kane, Rashford and Mbappe, seemed to have turned into a defender.

They started to press Roma's ball players from the forward line. Even if Roma's defenders were forced to pass the ball back to the goalkeeper, they were like hyenas, chasing after them.

Not only in the forwards, but also in the midfield, Manchester United's pressing on Roma players who had the ball was everywhere. Not to mention Bruno and Kante, the two midfielders, they were specialized in doing this kind of thing in defense.

Manchester United's defense started from the opponent's penalty area, which made Roma's players very uncomfortable. Any player who gets the ball will worry about the Manchester United players who come out from the side.

In order to grab the ball, they don't hesitate to commit fouls, especially the forwards and midfielders, because they are in a forward position when defending, and even if they commit a foul, they will only be whistled, and no card will be given, so Harry Kane is willing to commit fouls.

Fouls again and again frequently interrupt Roma's offensive rhythm, making them uncomfortable to play and unable to get into the state.

Especially Nainggolan, as Roma's offensive engine, has received special attention from Manchester United players. Kante and Bruno took turns to close him up.

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What about Gerson? The Brazilian genius is in a bad state today. It can be seen from the beginning of the game that when the team lost the ball, even Nainggolan returned to the penalty area to defend, but the Brazilian was nowhere to be seen.

In the offense, his rhythm was obviously slow, and the offensive speed was dragged down as soon as the ball reached his feet. Then the Manchester United players pressed up again, and the ball was lost as soon as they pressed.

Even the neutral commentator could only shake his head when talking about Gerson's performance.

Gerson in normal condition is one of the most threatening sources of Roma's attack, but now he has become the source of Manchester United's attack.

There were several times when the football was intercepted by Manchester United players from Gerson's feet, and then they launched an attack.

Nainggolan was suppressed by Kante and Bruno, and was more often on defense.

Manchester United's attack was too fierce, one wave after another, whether in the middle or on the wing, they all had one feature: fast!

Manchester United's speed made Roma's players very uncomfortable. They were always exhausted by the opponent's fast attack. It seemed that their defense line had no system at all, and was torn apart by Manchester United's fast attack. If it weren't for Jesus and Fazio's outstanding performance, the goal would have been penetrated many times.

Mbappe, Rashford, Valencia, and Cancelo were all fast. Coupled with the driving force of Bruno and Gundogan's fast passing, it is like giving wings to Manchester United, which is running at high speed. They can fly up as soon as they take off!

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"Manchester United's quick counterattack! Kante passed the ball to Bruno! Bruno dribbled the ball diagonally... There is a big gap on the right side! Diagonal pass, beautiful! Mbappe inserted at high speed and received the ball... At this time, Manchester United's left side has another gap! Pass! Penetrate! Rashford received the ball and passed it again... Jesus! He appeared in the right place! Cleared successfully!"

"Another fast break opportunity for Manchester United! Cancelo inserted at high speed on the wing, Bruno passed directly, and Cancelo used his speed to eat Bruno Perez alive!"

"Bruno dribbled the ball in the middle! Strootman pressed forward, and he and Harry Kane, who was retreating, made a two-on-one cooperation and shook off Strootman..."

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There are many scenes like this, and Manchester United's speed is getting faster and faster.

Di Francesco originally thought that it was normal for Manchester United to be in high spirits after taking the lead, and it was normal for them to attack so quickly. As long as he could stay the same and survive this period, he would have a chance to counterattack.

At that time, Roma would regain control of the rhythm of the game, as they often do.

Who would have thought that once Manchester United's offensive wave came up, there was no sign of retreat at all, one wave after another.

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The game was in the 15th minute, and the score was still 1:0. Manchester United, who played at home, was leading, and from the scene, Roma had no way to equalize the score, but their defense might continue to lose the ball.

Stroman and Gonalons, arranged by Di Francesco, joined forces to contain Bruno. In addition to Stroman's efforts as always, Gonalons was completely unable to defend Bruno. In front of his passing and dribbling, he seemed at a loss: he didn't know whether Bruno would pass, dribble, or shoot next.

When he thought Bruno would continue to break through, Bruno passed the ball. When he thought Bruno would pass the ball and blocked the passing route, Bruno made a slight adjustment and broke through. When he thought Bruno could neither pass the ball nor break through, he shot.

Bruno made him very embarrassed, and he had to distract himself to defend other Manchester United players.

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Strohman was experienced after all. Seeing that Bruno was becoming more and more unstoppable, he simply fouled and used fouls to curb Bruno's performance, just like Manchester United used fouls to disrupt Roma's offensive rhythm.

At the same time, his fouls were also a manifestation of dissatisfaction with his team's performance. You know, Strootman's personality has always been low-key and introverted. He is a typical "good boy". Now his mentality has collapsed. You can imagine how dissatisfied he is with Roma's performance.

His team's offense and defense were not strong, and they were beaten so aggrieved by Manchester United. There was no place to vent his anger, so he just vented it on Bruno.

Roma finally got a corner kick, but was directly hugged by Manchester United's goalkeeper De Gea. De Gea launched a fast break and quickly threw the ball to Bruno outside the penalty area.

Bruno turned and stepped forward after receiving the ball, but was pushed to the ground by Strootman.

A tactical foul bought his teammates time to return to defense. This was a very smart foul.

However, such a foul can only reflect Roma's current predicament from another aspect. Facing Manchester United's fast attack, they can only rely on Jesus, Fazio, and Alisson's performance in addition to fouling.