Chapter 561: Manchester City Explodes
In the 41st minute of the game, after a series of passes that failed to penetrate, Bruno suddenly shot from outside the penalty area!
The ball hit Fernandinho's thigh and changed its direction, bouncing to the side completely opposite to where Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson saved it.
On that side, there happened to be a Manchester United player - Rashford!
This scene shocked all the Manchester City fans in the stadium and screamed.
However, Rashford was not prepared for the ball to deviate to his side. When the ball flew in front of him, he raised his foot to shoot, but the result was that the ball hit his calf bone, and then flew high over the crossbar.
"Oh -" A huge sigh sounded in the stands, which was the relief of Manchester City fans who survived the disaster.
"Rashford! He lost a great opportunity!"
"What a pity! Manchester United had a chance to turn the situation around and overtake the score in the first half!"
"Rashford didn't expect that the ball shot by Bruno would fly to his side, and he made a shooting action in a hurry... What a pity..."
Rashford looked at the football flying over the crossbar, his legs softened and he knelt on the ground. He felt very sorry.
He didn't seize such an opportunity. Who knows if he will become the sinner of the team at the end of the game?
Bruno also held his head with both hands, but he didn't have time to regret for too long. He quickly ran back and prepared to launch another offensive.
The result was that until the end of the first half, although Manchester United besieged Manchester City, they did not score any more goals. The two sides walked to the locker room with a score of 1:1.
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Guardiola had a blank expression on his face. It was hard to tell whether he was satisfied or dissatisfied with the result. In fact, he was very satisfied in his heart. After the goal was lost, 1:1 was the best possible result. He couldn't ask for more.
Mourinho also thought that this result was not bad. He could make further adjustments during the halftime break and thus overtake in the second half.
Manchester United's players were also happy. If this game could end in a draw, it would be an acceptable result.
Only Bruno frowned and looked worried when he left the field. He was worried that everyone would not be able to find this rhythm under the pressure of Manchester City in the second half.
After all, they had to rest for fifteen minutes.
Guardiola turned his head and glanced at Bruno who was leaving the field, and saw the expression on his face. It seems that this kid knows his plan? But even if he knows, what can you do? You are just a player, not a head coach, and you can only change a limited amount.
Guardiola was not worried at all, and turned around and strode towards the corridor.
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Vanessa can finally rest for a while. At the last moment, Manchester United besieged Manchester City, and she was very nervous.
She can more or less understand why Manchester United attacked Manchester City wave after wave under Bruno's leadership, because the halftime break is not good for Manchester United, whose morale is high.
But now the result is 1:1, which cannot be changed. I wonder what adjustments Manchester United will make during the halftime break.
After the wild performance in the first half, she is now much quieter. She stretched lazily without any image, and sat on the chair without moving.
Taking advantage of this time, she began to be distracted, imagining what it would be like if she married Bruno. Because according to Bruno and her plan, after the engagement, she will marry Bruno next summer.
But when it comes to marriage, except for the confirmation of "getting married", she has not thought about everything else.
How to get married? Where to get married? Who to ask to take the wedding photos? Where to take them? What to do with the wedding? Is it a big show or a low-key and mysterious one? Which guests and friends to invite? Where to spend the honeymoon? How to spend it... Vanessa doesn't know how to sort out all the things.
Although there is still more than a year, the preparations have to start.
For a major event in life like marriage, it is not too detailed.
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Vanessa was worrying about how to hold the wedding, while Bruno was worrying about what the team should do in the second half.
Mourinho was happy with the team's performance and optimistic about the team's prospects, but Bruno was not optimistic at all.
The head coach is different from the players. The players have the most intuitive understanding of the opponent's ability when they play on the field. He knows very well how strong this Manchester City team is.
In the first half, he took advantage of their lack of preparation and launched a series of attacks, but this does not mean that he can do the same in the second half.
This is almost certain. Guardiola is not a fool. Who is he? He is the highest-paid head coach in the world football today. He dares to take on porcelain work without diamonds? He can't get the highest salary in the world without sufficient level?
He will definitely make adjustments based on Manchester United's performance in the first half. It will not be easy for Manchester United to recover to that performance in the second half.
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Bruno was right. In the Manchester City dressing room, Guardiola praised the team's performance in the first half, mainly for the team's ability to keep a clean sheet in the face of Manchester United's fierce attack at the last moment, which gave him confidence in his new tactics.
Then, he made some fine-tuning to the team's tactics. Mainly, he warned everyone not to be confused by the opponent's fast passing and cutting. As long as the defensive formation is kept compact and complete, the opponent will only pass the ball around on the periphery and cannot directly threaten the goal guarded by Ederson.
Guardiola's requirement for the team is that they must recover quickly when defending, the forwards interfere in the frontcourt, and the midfielders retreat directly, leaving the midfield completely to Manchester United, allowing them to pass the ball outside their 30-meter area regardless of how they pass the ball. Just defend the 30-meter area. If the defense is well organized, then they will not be afraid of Manchester United's fast passing and cutting.
As for Bruno... Bernardo Silva is responsible for interfering with him when defending, so that he can't organize the attack with peace of mind.
This job was originally done by Fernandinho, the defensive midfielder, but starting from the second half of the game, Guardiola did not allow Fernandinho to do so, because once he went up to defend Bruno, the team's defense would be disrupted.
In the end, this task was given to the more mobile Bernardo Silva, who did not have to bear the task of maintaining the defense and could maneuver in front of the defense.
Moreover, Bernardo Silva and Bruno are teammates in the national team and are very familiar with Bruno.
And if Bruno breaks through this point, he will not chase him and leave it to the defensive players behind to deal with.
In short, Guardiola gave the players examples of any actions that Bruno might make in the game, and then told them how to defend Bruno in a certain situation.
As for other Manchester United players, whether it was the famous England top player Harry Kane, or the two super talents in the team, Mbappe and Rashford, Guardiola did not mention them at all.
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Mourinho's requirement for the team is to play as in the second half of the first half, and use their speed to break through Manchester City's defense.
But after the start of the second half, all Manchester United players on the field, including Bruno, found that this was unlikely. Because Manchester City's retreat speed is very fast, even players like Danilo basically do not attack in the half court, just to ensure that there are no loopholes in their back line and to ensure that the defense line maintains a compact formation.
Don't think that Manchester City has no way to attack in this way. The configuration of three midfielders can attack and defend, which is quite practical. Coupled with the raiding ability of the two forwards Sterling and Sane, Manchester United's defense can still be very tense.
Bruno's constant and rapid transfer did not bring any decent opportunities to the team. No matter where he transferred the ball, he would encounter the opponent's airtight defense.
Manchester City's defense was much more organized and orderly than in the first half, and there was no panic at all.
Obviously, their head coach made targeted deployments during the halftime break.
Bruno knew it would be like this, but what could he do. He was not the head coach of Manchester City and could not stop Guardiola from making these adjustments.
He could only keep trying various passing modes and occasionally take a long shot himself. Apart from that, he had no better way.
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In the 51st minute, Manchester City intercepted Bruno's pass in the backcourt and launched a quick counterattack. Bernardo Silva passed the ball to Sterling. The happy English boy sprinted with the ball alone, exerting his speed advantage to the extreme. Manchester United's defensive players could not stop him at all.
After rushing into the edge of the penalty area with the ball, Sterling had attracted the attention of all Manchester United players, but did not shoot, but a cross!
The ball passed between Van Dijk and Luke Shaw and landed at the feet of Mkhitaryan who was running in front of the goal.
At this time, there was no Manchester United player around the Armenian. Even goalkeeper De Gea rushed to the front to block Sterling's shot.
Facing the huge empty goal, Mkhitaryan unceremoniously swept the ball into the goal!
The Etihad Stadium erupted with huge cheers again, and Manchester City led 2:1!
"Manchester City scored again! It seems that they are determined to win this game today!"
"Mkhitaryan scored the goal! Beautiful! But 80% of the credit for this goal should be attributed to Sterling! It was his quick breakthrough that tore open Manchester United's defense!"
In the first half, the commentators were full of praise for Bruno and Manchester United, and had always been pessimistic about Manchester City. Now their attitude has taken a 180-degree turn.
But this is normal for the commentators. They not only have to sympathize with the weak, but also praise the strong.
Manchester City players hugged each other to celebrate the goal, while Manchester United players looked very upset.
They were so busy attacking that they forgot that their opponent was not a toothless tiger, but a beast that could eat anyone at any time.