Chapter 515 Breaking Records
In the middle of the week, the fifth round of the Champions League kicked off, and Manchester United flew to Baku on the shores of the Caspian Sea to challenge Qarabag.
Since Manchester United had already advanced two rounds in advance, Mourinho made a major rotation of Manchester United's lineup in this game, and many main players, including Bruno, did not enter the team's roster.
This is also to allow these players to recuperate, because Manchester United has ushered in a devil's schedule. From the end of the previous international match day to the New Year's Day next year, in just 42 days, Manchester United will play 14 games, including 11 Premier League games, 2 Champions League group matches and 1 League Cup game.
In this devil's arena, early December is the most difficult time for Manchester United. They will face three powerful enemies, Arsenal, Atletico Madrid and Manchester City, in eight days from December 2 to December 10.
Here, although Manchester United has advanced in advance in the Champions League group stage, the importance of the game with Atletico Madrid has been reduced a lot, but as one of the top teams in Europe, Manchester United will still attach importance to this game.
Arsenal and Manchester City, one is a traditional Premier League powerhouse, and the other is Manchester United's biggest rival. Manchester United dare not take it lightly.
Therefore, before welcoming this super devil schedule, it is also very important to let the players rest as much as possible and recuperate.
What's more, Baku, where Qarabag is located, is more than 4,000 kilometers away from Manchester. Even if Manchester United now has a special plane to travel, the long journey is still a big consumption for the players.
Therefore, letting the main players stay in the UK to recuperate is undoubtedly the best choice.
However, even if they play with a substitute rotation lineup, Manchester United still showed its terrible strength to the world. Manchester United, led by Ibrahimovic who just returned from injury, also swept Qarabag 4:0 at the Tofik Bakhramov Stadium.
In fact, although this Manchester United is a substitute rotation lineup, there is no shortage of generals in the team.
Ibrahimovic is not to mention. Mata, Fellaini, Herrera, Mahrez, Valencia, Smalling, Blind, Ashley Young and Romero, such a team, even if used to play in the Premier League, is stronger than the starting strength of most teams.
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On the afternoon of November 25, a focus match of the 13th round of the Premier League was whistled at Old Trafford.
This game attracted the attention of the whole world, not only because it was a Manchester United game, but also because this game may create a new record: the longest winning streak at the start of the English Professional League!
Yes, it is not the Premier League winning streak at the start, nor the distance of the winning streak at the start of the English top league, but the winning streak at the start of the English Professional League.
The original Premier League winning streak record was Chelsea's 9 consecutive wins in the 2005-2006 season. This record has been rewritten after Manchester United defeated Tottenham in the 10th round.
The original record of consecutive wins at the start of the English top league was created by Tottenham, who created the record of consecutive wins at the start of the Premier League, which was trampled by Manchester United. The White Lily created a record of 11 consecutive wins at the start in the 1960-1961 season. This record was also broken after Manchester United slaughtered Newcastle in the last round.
Now Manchester United is going to challenge the record of consecutive wins at the start of the English professional league!
This record belongs to Reading, a team currently in the English Championship. In the 1985-1986 season, they created a record of 13 consecutive wins at the start, which is also the longest winning streak at the start in the history of the English professional league, but Reading created it in the third-level league at that time.
Now, if Manchester United can beat the newly promoted Brighton at home, they will increase the winning streak to 13 games, tying the record set by Reading.
Moreover, since Manchester United created the record in the Premier League, its gold content is far from comparable to the record created by Reading in the third-level league.
Of course, if Manchester United can beat Brighton, they will create more records than that. They will also become the record holder of the winning streak in the history of the Premier League: 14 consecutive wins!
The record holder is Arsenal. 15 years ago, the Gunners created a record of 14 consecutive wins across seasons, and this record has been maintained to this day. Following closely behind is Chelsea's 13 consecutive wins last season and Manchester United's 12 consecutive wins in 2000.
However, it is not an easy thing for Manchester United to create a new record. Although their opponent Brighton is a newly promoted team, it is not an ordinary newly promoted team. They have achieved 4 wins, 4 draws and 4 losses in the first 12 rounds, and their performance is very eye-catching.
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Old Trafford Stadium.
The whistle blew at the end of the 90-minute game, and the Theatre of Dreams erupted in huge and crazy cheers.
After the game started, Brighton, who played away, kept a low profile. Almost all of their team was within the 30-meter defense zone of their own side, using Mourinho's famous work to deal with Mourinho's team.
Breaking through dense defense is indeed a world-class problem. Although Manchester United has a super attack line composed of Bruno, Harry Kane, Rashford and Mbappe, they have been unable to break through Brighton's iron wall.
Seeing that Brighton was about to enter the halftime break with a tie, Bruno scored a beautiful world wave before the end of the first half, helping Manchester United break the deadlock on the field.
This is Bruno's 21st league goal this season!
With 21 goals in 13 rounds, Bruno is in excellent condition!
In the second half of the game, Mbappe succeeded in a push shot during the counterattack, locking the score at 2:0.
In the end, with goals from Mbappe and Bruno, Manchester United defeated Brighton 2-0 at home.
This somewhat difficult victory ensured that Manchester United achieved 13 consecutive wins in the league since the beginning of the season, and the 14-game winning streak across seasons tied Arsenal for the longest winning streak in Premier League history.
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On the evening of Tuesday, November 28, the Premier League ushered in the 14th round.
Since next year is a World Cup year, the schedule this season has naturally been compressed, and it is not uncommon for the league to have double matches a week.
Manchester United's opponent in this round is Watford. This team has a good record of 6 wins, 3 draws and 4 losses after the first 13 rounds, and is temporarily ranked eighth in the standings.
Watford is a team with very distinctive characteristics. Their offense is good, scoring 22 goals in 13 rounds, ranking sixth among 20 teams; but their defense is terrible, and they lost in 13 rounds. With 21 goals, it is the team with the fifth most goals conceded.
In fact, in the Premier League, it is very difficult for mid- and lower-tier teams to play. Even a giant like Manchester United would have a headache when facing the mid- and lower-tier teams. These mid-range and lower-tier teams are not as skilled as the strong teams, but they have the physical strength, fierce confrontation, desperate fighting, and the team's stubborn defense can give the strong teams a headache.
However, mid-to-lower teams like Watford, who like to attack, are Manchester United's preferred opponents. After two or three shots, the opponent's body will become soft, allowing you to ravage him.
The young man from Manchester United ran aggressively, fought aggressively, had great firepower, had speed, coordination, technique and toughness, and quickly took control of the game.
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In the fifteenth minute of the game, Manchester United played a beautiful offensive cooperation.
Kanter and Gundogan teamed up to steal the ball, and then Gundogan quickly hit the ball to find Bruno.
Bruno had a good vision and thought about what to do when he received the ball. He directly tore open Watford's defense with a diagonal kick.
Manchester United's counterattack was very fast, and this sharp counterattack made Watford very uncomfortable.
When Rashford and Luke Shaw passed the ball continuously and finally cut horizontally into the penalty area, Watford's defense had completely collapsed.
The last thing was simple. Luke Shaw sent in a ground ball. With his back to the goal, Harry Kane squeezed out the defender and knocked the football. Then Mbappe, who received the ball, was unguarded at this time. , In this case, it is no longer difficult for Mbappe to score.
Facing the half-empty goal, he pushed lightly and the football rolled into Watford's goal.
"Beautiful! Beautiful! Beautiful! Beautiful goal! Manchester United leads 1:0."
"This ball is very beautiful. Manchester United's counterattack is very fast. The entire goal process is almost a pass. A few passes tore through Watford's defense. Faced with this kind of attack, the home team seems Nothing can be done."
"Watford's players were as if they had been hit in the head with a stick. They were so dizzy that they had no idea how to defend. They could only passively follow and run, but the end result was to concede the ball."
Mourinho applauded from the sidelines and cheered for the team's goal.
He was satisfied with scoring so early.
As long as they seize the opportunity to score another goal, Watford's determination to resist will be greatly reduced.
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Although Mourinho was confident in the strength of his team, he did not expect the team's second goal to come so quickly.
Ten minutes later, Rashford's breakthrough in the frontcourt caused a foul and Manchester United got a chance to set the ball in the frontcourt.
Bruno's set kick went into the penalty area. Harry Kane's header caused the Watford goalkeeper to save the ball. The Watford defender made a hasty clearance. Bruno did not wait for the football to land outside the penalty area, but he took the long-range shot. When the defender changed direction, Harry Kane reached out his foot to touch the football into the net before the defender could clear the ball.
2:0.
"GOOOOOOOOOOOALLLL!!!!!!"
"2:0! Harry Kane scored his 10th goal in the league." Andy Gray shouted.
"Manchester United's goal came again. Facing Manchester United, Watford had almost no power to fight back!"
Harry Kane and his teammates celebrate excitedly.
Manchester United, which was leading by two goals, did not stop, but launched an offensive frenzy.
In the 39th minute of the game, the away team scored a goal from team captain Bruno assisted by Gundogan, rewriting the score to 3:0.
Before the end of the first half, Mbappe cut in from the right and shot into the far corner, scoring twice and helping Manchester United expand the score to 4:0.
Manchester United took a 4:0 lead in the first half, which made the commentators lament that the suspense of this game no longer existed.
"Manchester United completely destroyed Watford with their devastating attack."
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Mourinho returned to the halftime break in a happy mood. He was very satisfied with the result and process of the first half.
"Keep playing like this in the second half," Mourinho shouted. "Don't think 4:0 is enough. Remember, the goal difference is also crucial."
In a long league, not only every point is crucial, but every goal is equally important. When it comes time to compare the goal difference to determine the ranking, sometimes one goal can determine whether it is heaven or hell.
In the past few years, Manchester United has suffered several losses in goal difference.
The first one was the 2011-2012 season, when Manchester United and Manchester City had 89 points each, but Manchester United had to finish second because of 8 fewer goals than their opponent.
That was also the beginning of Manchester City's rise in the Premier League. If Manchester United could have suppressed Manchester City, perhaps there would be one less strong competitor in the league now.
Then came the 2015-2016 season, when Manchester City and Manchester City were still competing for goal difference with the same 66 points. As a result, Manchester United had to rank behind Manchester City again because of goal difference, and thus missed the Champions League qualification, suffering heavy losses.
If it weren't for the goal difference, Ronaldo might not have won the World Footballer of the Year and the European Ballon d'Or in the past two years!
At least the 2017 World Footballer of the Year and the European Ballon d'Or will most likely belong to Bruno.
Today, although Manchester United is temporarily ahead of Manchester City in the standings, the advantage is not obvious, and Manchester City may catch up with them as long as there is a draw.
Under such circumstances, Mourinho had to prepare for the possibility of competing with Manchester City for a goal difference after the end of the season.
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"After the start of the second half, continue to increase the pressure." Mourinho said, "completely destroy Watford's fighting spirit."
Mourinho was a little worried at first that Watford would regain its fighting spirit after the halftime adjustment. Although this would not have any impact on the result of the game, the opponent's fierce resistance would not be able to play well.
However, he found that he was wrong. The score of 0:4 in the first half had completely made Watford lose the will to resist. In the second half of the game, Manchester United also welcomed the team's fifth goal without suspense.
Facing Manchester United's fast and tough offensive, the home team had no way to deal with it.
In the 60th minute of the game, Bruno's long shot caused chaos in the Watford penalty area. In the chaos, Harry Kane held the Watford defender and half-turned to shoot. After the goalkeeper saved the football, it still flew into the net resolutely.
5:0!
Harry Kane helped Manchester United expand the score advantage to five goals, and also scored twice.
With a 5:0 lead, Mourinho began to deploy his troops.
After all, this weekend, Manchester United will face a strong opponent Arsenal, and then it will be a super devil schedule.
The continuous substitutions did affect Manchester United's offense. However, their defense is still very solid and did not give Watford a chance to counterattack.
In the end, Manchester United won 5:0 away from home against Watford in this game.