Chapter 666 Two Major Challenges in Breaking the Record
Both offenses had ideas, but failed to create a threat.
Mourinho still couldn't sit still on the sidelines, and finally made substitution adjustments. Mahrez, who has been in great form recently, replaced Mbappe, who had an average performance today.
This is a matchup substitution, and there is not much change in the team's formation and tactics.
However, according to Mourinho's opinions brought by Mahrez, Gundogan's positional premise is to form a double attacking midfielder with Bruno, and Kante plays as a single defensive midfielder.
Mourinho obviously still hopes that the team can play more proactively and create more opportunities.
At this time, the time had reached seventy-three minutes, and there were only twenty minutes left in the game.
Bruno gained more freedom in the midfield and began to actively expand his area of activity, actively running through and looking for opportunities, but Southampton's two defensive players followed him closely, making it difficult for him to get a chance to perform. .
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Time passed bit by bit and finally passed eighty minutes.
Manchester United fans who originally expected Bruno to change the situation gradually calmed down and realized that the opponent's difficulty was indeed beyond everyone's expectations.
But what to do next?
Mourinho has no more moves to make. He has no moves to make.
The players on the field now are already the best offensive combination he can arrange. How else can he change them?
If even Bruno can't do anything, then there is really nothing he can do.
Southampton became more confident the more they defended.
2:2, although it failed to end Manchester United's unbeaten record, it was still a victory for them.
Being able to draw with the powerful Manchester United is not something that ordinary teams can do. The new season has already played 14 rounds, and only the powerful Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City had drawn with Manchester United before. Other traditional Premier League teams such as Chelsea and Everton were all defeated by Manchester United without exception.
And now, they are about to become the third team to draw with Manchester United.
As long as they score 1 point in today's game, Southampton can overwhelm Burnley in front of them and escape the relegation zone.
Southampton players and fans seemed to see the goddess of victory waving towards them.
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Manchester United is still patiently looking for opportunities. Bruno's advantage is that he is calm enough.
Mourinho also realized that the right back Cancelo did not provide enough support to Bruno, always leaving him alone surrounded by two players, which made it difficult for Bruno to display his characteristics, so he kept gesturing to Cancelo on the sidelines to do more. Press forward.
After Cancelo moved forward, the pressure on Bruno became much easier.
Originally, the connection between Gundogan and Bruno was too obvious, but after Cancelo moved forward, there was an additional connecting point in the middle, and it became a triangle pass, making it difficult for the opponent to defend.
Soon, a triangle pass from the right created an opportunity.
After Bruno received Rashford's pass on the right rib, he had no chance and passed it back to Gundogan. He did not run away again, but followed Hoibel.
Gundogan, who has become more and more cooperative with Bruno, is clearly aware of Bruno's intentions: when Hoibel comes out to the front of the penalty area, there is an opportunity behind him, and Bruno has an advantage in speed.
But it will definitely not work to pass it directly like this. The intention is too obvious. Bruno will be stuck behind Hoibel and will not be able to catch the ball.
So Gundogan quickly gave it to Cancelo, signaling him to pass it diagonally to Bruno.
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After Cancelo received the ball and passed the ball diagonally, Bruno quickly started and inserted from the right side of Hoibel to behind him.
Cancelo's idea was there, and the ball was passed, but the force was a bit strong, and it was passed directly to the bottom line. This was far beyond Gundogan and Bruno's expectations.
But there was no other way, Bruno could only continue to speed up and catch up.
"Cancelo's pass was too big, but Bruno still didn't give up. Hojbjerg was chasing after him."
Bruno also clearly knew that Hoibel was chasing behind him, but he had no choice but to catch up as quickly as possible, otherwise the ball would go out of the baseline.
Finally, he caught up with the football before it went out of the baseline, but Hoibel had also caught up to his left.
At that moment, Bruno knew clearly that he had no angle to cross, and a forced cross would only hit Hoibel, and it would be a corner kick at best.
But he is already on the edge of the penalty area now. What a good opportunity, we must not waste it.
On the football field, there are many cases where one's team fails to seize the opportunity and is then counterattacked by the opponent, thus losing the game.
Bruno doesn't want this to happen to Manchester United.
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Bruno was so anxious that he immediately stopped and smashed the ball in front of the baseline without going out of bounds. He rushed out of the baseline due to inertia, but he quickly stabilized his body.
Hoibel next to him was not so lucky. After all, he responded hastily and passively, and rushed out directly.
Bruno quickly moved the football horizontally with his left foot and rushed into the penalty area. At the same time, he used his body to block Hoibel from outside the baseline. At this time, all the advantages were on his side.
Hoibel didn't dare to foul at all, and he didn't even dare to touch Bruno. Because as soon as he touches it, Bruno falls, and that's a penalty.
After Bruno blocked Hoibel with his body, he dribbled the ball toward the goal along the baseline.
Southampton goalkeeper McCarthy stood firmly beside the goal post, leaving Bruno no shooting angle at all. The opponent's central defender also quickly returned to defense and stood beside the goalkeeper.
In this case, Bruno had no angle.
But Bruno did not give the opponent any time to react. When he quickly dribbled the ball horizontally to the front of the small penalty area, he suddenly shook his body and dunked the ball to the left. When he was about to shoot with his left foot, he tricked the opponent's central defender to kick.
As soon as the opponent's right foot was raised, Bruno gently pushed the ball horizontally with his left foot. The ball just passed under the opponent's raised right foot, forming a crotch and rolled behind the opponent.
It was also at this moment that Harry Kane suddenly woke up, and with a light sweep of his right foot, the football hit his right foot, changed direction, and rolled into the Southampton goal.
The English center forward was stunned, but the more than 2,000 Manchester United fans in the stands behind the goal were crazy!
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“GOOOOOOOOOOOALLLLLLL!!!!!!”
“In the 87th minute, Manchester United finally broke through Southampton’s goal again!”
“Bruno’s dribbling breakthrough on the right was very exciting. When Cancelo passed the ball too far, Bruno still did not give up. He finally caught the ball before the baseline, and broke through Hojbjerg’s defense and dribbled into the penalty area.”
“Then, with all the shooting angles blocked by the opponent’s goalkeeper and central defender, he relied on fake moves to get a little space for passing the ball, and passed the ball through the crotch to Harry Kane who was responding in the middle.”
“Harry Kane can be said to have picked up a big bargain. What he has to do is very simple. He just needs to kick the ball into the empty goal. The opponent’s goalkeeper and central defender can’t affect him.”
“3:2!”
“Manchester United finally took the lead in the 87th minute!”
“Bruno! It’s still Bruno!! At the critical moment, it was Bruno’s outstanding performance that saved Manchester United!!!”
“He is really amazing Surprised! "
"Before the game, the media had counted that Bruno had played 65 games for Manchester United and the Portuguese national team since 2018."
"11 months, 65 games, and almost every game played 90 minutes. He can be said to be an iron man. What's more rare is that he played a key role in almost all games, which makes people have to admire his excellence. "
"The biggest credit for Harry Kane's goal should belong to Bruno, and if Manchester United wins tonight, Bruno will undoubtedly become the team's top contributor. "
"The Manchester United fans who came to the away game were boiling, and they were all cheering Bruno's name. This will be Manchester United's 12th league victory in the new season, and it is also Manchester United's 6th reversal victory in the new season when they fell behind. Bruno once again let them enjoy the joy of victory. "
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In fact, Manchester United reversed Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League group stage. Manchester United has reversed and won 7 times in various competitions in the new season.
The 3:2 reversal to defeat Southampton was a narrow victory, but it still made Manchester United fans all over the world and the club very happy.
The Red Devils have extended their unbeaten record in the Premier League to 54 games.
Not only are they continuously rewriting the Premier League unbeaten record, but they are also very close to AC Milan's 58-game unbeaten record in the top five leagues.
But everyone knows that Manchester United still faces difficult tests if they want to tie or even break AC Milan's 58-game unbeaten record.
The first is the intensive competition.
If nothing unexpected happens, including today's away game against Southampton, Manchester United is very likely to play 9 games in December, including 6 Premier League games, 1 Champions League group match, and two Club World Cup games.
For two of the Club World Cup games, they have to travel thousands of miles to the UAE in the Middle East.
The second is a strong opponent.
If Manchester United wants to tie AC Milan's 58-game unbeaten record, they must at least remain unbeaten in the next 4 Premier League games.
On the evening of December 5, in the 15th round of the Premier League, Manchester United will play against Arsenal at home;
On the afternoon of December 8, in the 16th round of the Premier League, Manchester United will continue to play against Fulham at Old Trafford;
On December 16, in the 17th round of the Premier League, Manchester United will visit Anfield to challenge the Red Army Liverpool.
The next Premier League Round 18 Manchester United vs. Cardiff City has been postponed because of the Club World Cup. So Manchester United's match to tie AC Milan's unbeaten record will be against Huddersfield at home on Boxing Day.
Of course, the premise is that Manchester United can overcome the two major difficulties of Arsenal and Liverpool.
It is obvious that neither Arsenal nor Liverpool can let Manchester United pass easily!