Chapter 539 Internal Strife?

Son Heung-min saw that he did not pass the ball immediately, but controlled the ball under his feet, looked around to observe, and ran up, intending to counter-rob on the spot.

Under his pressure, Van Dijk hurriedly passed the ball under his feet to the sideline to the left back Luke Shaw.

His pass was very powerful, and Luke Shaw used his chest to stop the ball in the air on the sideline in order to prevent the ball from going out of bounds.

But when he adjusted the ball, Trippier 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 Trippier had expected this to happen, and pressed down his center in advance, closing his legs, and just stopped the ball kicked out by Luke Shaw.

Luke Shaw passed it and found that the ball did not follow. When he turned around to chase, Trippier had already waded 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. Trippier rushed forward with the ball. In front of him were only two central defenders and a goalkeeper of Manchester United... Tottenham's counterattack!"

………………

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

He rushed to Trippier from the back, intending to steal the ball. Because it was too late to start, if Trippier was not stopped here, it would be too late when Trippier entered the penalty area, so he chose a very dangerous defensive action, which could cause him to receive a red card: a flying tackle went to Trippier's heel.

Trippier, who was dribbling the ball at high speed, could feel Bruno's intention. When Bruno's flying tackle came, he gently knocked the ball out, then jumped high and flew over Bruno!

"Oh! Bruno didn't tackle! He was passed!"

………………

Manchester United's two central defenders Van Dijk and Maguire rushed to Trippier's direction. There was only one Valencia guarding the huge space in the middle.

Trippier didn't shoot the ball himself. He saw Morata in the middle and passed the ball horizontally.

The ball passed in front of Maguire and Van Dijk, and Cabo completely missed Luca Morata behind him.

The 1.9-meter-tall Spanish center forward calmly stopped the ball passed by Trippier, and then kicked the ball.

De Gea turned around to save, but it was too late. The ball rolled into the goal along the goalpost!

"Oh!" The Spanish commentator shouted, "Morata! Morata! Alvaro Morata!! The ball went in!!! This is a crucial ball. Tottenham broke the deadlock on the field! A classic counterattack on the spot!"

After scoring the goal, Morata made his signature celebration: one hand was placed by his ear and kept turning.

He wanted to hear the cheers of the Tottenham fans in the stands.

He got what he wanted, and tens of thousands of Tottenham fans cheered loudly.

"Long live! Tottenham!"

………………

"Damn it!"

Goalkeeper De Gea was very angry about the loss of the ball. He yelled at Luke Shaw: "You should be more decisive when handling the ball!"

Luke Shaw, who chased back to the penalty area but still failed to stop the loss of the ball, was also very aggrieved: "What does this have to do with me? If Virgil hadn't passed the ball so hard..."

When Van Dijk heard Luke Shaw put the responsibility on him, he was furious: "Who told you to stay so far away from me? If I passed the ball lightly and the opponent intercepted it, wouldn't the result be the same? Look where you ran to? You had already pressed to the center line before I passed the ball!"

The two were teammates, but they became enemies because of the loss of the ball. No one was willing to admit that the loss of the ball was his own responsibility.

Bruno and Kante hurried over to persuade them to stop fighting.

"Stop arguing, stop arguing. Okay, brothers, stop arguing!" Kante pushed Van Dijk and Luke Shaw away. Bruno said to them: "It's just a goal lost, we still have half a game, what's there to quarrel about? Instead of quarreling here, why don't we think about how to score a goal!"

………………

The TV commentators also noticed everything that happened in front of Manchester United's goal. The Tottenham commentator applauded: "It seems that Manchester United has an internal conflict, which is good news for Tottenham's players. Internal strife will greatly affect their combat effectiveness! Our players should seize the opportunity and strive to score another goal before the end of the first half - there are still five minutes, why is it impossible?"

The Manchester United commentator began to pull his hair: "How can there be an internal conflict in such an important game? Now is not a good time to quarrel. If you want to quarrel, wait until the game is over and return to the locker room, you can quarrel as much as you want... Now the score is behind, they are still quarreling with their own people... The situation is really terrible! Will Manchester United's winning streak really end today?"

Finally, with the help of Bruno, Kante, and other teammates, Van Dijk and Luke Shaw, who were quarreling, were separated, but neither of them looked at each other and were still fighting.

Bruno, the captain, had no time to continue to enlighten them. The Tottenham players had already finished celebrating and were watching the internal strife of Manchester United as if they were watching a play.

There were still five minutes left in the first half, and Manchester United had to ensure that Tottenham would not take advantage of their internal strife to score another goal during this time.

But this is not a long-term solution. They can only hope that the conflict between Van Dijk and Luke Shaw can be resolved during the halftime break. At the same time, the head coach can also make tactical adjustments to let them know how to score goals and win. Next game.

………………

With the efforts of Bruno, Kanter and others, the team held on for the last five minutes.

Although Van Dijk and Luke Shaw still have conflicts and do not pass the ball to each other, they are still professional players and they know what they should do.

Therefore, Tottenham's wishful thinking was wrong, and they did not find a chance in Manchester United's internal strife.

Manchester United, which has the best defense in the Premier League and even in world football today, is rock solid when they are determined to defend.

When the whistle sounded at the end of the first half, the score was still 1:0.

International practice is that the home team goes first.

Leading the powerful Manchester United at halftime, Tottenham fans in the stands encouraged their players with applause, and did not forget to boo Harry Kane and Manchester United.

In the first half of the game, Harry Kane repeatedly used his knowledge of Tottenham midfield commander Eriksen to help the team steal the ball and then launch a counterattack. Although he did not help Manchester United score, Tottenham fans were still dissatisfied. Let him go.

But amidst the boos, Harry Kane did not lower his head. Instead, he raised his head proudly.

Bruno didn't have the heart to care about the struggle between Harry Kane and Tottenham fans. He ran down the court quickly. He had almost no performance in the first half. Although he was always thinking about finding holes in Tottenham's defense, Tottenham The Thorns didn't give him such an opportunity, and their rigor prevented him from finding many openings that he could take advantage of.

The most disturbing thing is the conflict between Luke Shaw and Van Dijk. Such things as internal strife are really bad for character.

At that time, Bruno had already noticed that the face of head coach Mourinho was ugly. He would definitely get angry in the locker room during this halftime break.

However, he did not give up the game. There were still 45 minutes left before the end of the game, and both he and Manchester United still had time to work hard.

………………

During the halftime break, Mourinho surprisingly did not get angry or even criticize the two parties involved. He just gave Van Dijk and Luke Shaw a glove each.

This move made everyone confused and felt very strange: What is this for?

The two parties involved did not understand why the head coach did this.

Mourinho said to the two parties involved who did not know what was going on: "I will create an opportunity for you. During the fifteen minutes of intermission, you will throw gloves and have a duel to decide the winner. This is the end of this matter." Until then. When you get to the court, forget about me and focus on the game. "

Now, everyone knew what the head coach was doing.

Van Dijk and Luke Shaw both lowered their heads under Mourinho's stimulation. They also realized how disgraceful their performance on the court was.

Mourinho pointed to the gloves in their hands: "What? You don't want to duel now?"

"I..." Luke Xiao said, "...we don't need a duel, boss. We...uh, we have no problem..."

Mourinho asked: "Are you sure? Are you really sure there is nothing to resolve between you?"

"I'm sure." Luke Xiao nodded.

Mourinho went to see Van Dijk again, and the Dutchman nodded quickly and said: "I am also sure that quarrels on the court are normal, sir. Luke and I both hope the team wins, and the matter is over..."

Mourinho took back the gloves of the two people and said: "I hope you really think so, because in the second half, you will have no chance to duel. We have to duel with Tottenham. In the first half, we lost "But compared with conceding the ball, what concerns me more is our performance in the first half."

He looked at Bruno and spoke again: "In the first half, our midfield was not running smoothly. We got stuck in the quagmire of Tottenham in the midfield. A tug-of-war with our opponents in the midfield? This is not what I want to see. "We must change this situation in the second half and not be in a stalemate with the opponent in the midfield. This is Tottenham's strategy. If we are in a tug of war with them in the midfield, it will play into their hands."

As a bystander, Mourinho always sees the situation clearly. He explained the situation clearly 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 get the ball. We don't necessarily have to organize the offense through you."