Chapter 682 New Year, New Beginning

Manchester United's first game in 2019 was on the evening of January 2, when they challenged Newcastle at the Sports Direct Stadium.

This was Manchester United's third game in the Christmas Devil's schedule, and it was also the last league game of the Christmas Devil's schedule.

Perhaps because the team had broken AC Milan's record, the players also broke some shackles in their hearts and began to become normal.

The former St. James Park, now the Sports Direct Stadium, was brightly lit on this night, and the stands were full. At a glance, it was all a sea of ​​black and white.

This season, after a difficult start, Newcastle has become more and more outstanding under the leadership of the famous coach Benitez. It has now escaped the relegation zone and leaped towards the middle of the league.

Newcastle fans burst into a fanatical and crazy enthusiasm. They hope that their team will end Manchester United's 59-game unbeaten record at home.

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"Players from both sides have entered the field, and the game is about to start. Let's take a look at the starting lineups of both sides in this game." He Wei's voice sounded.

It was already late at night, which was not very friendly to Chinese fans at this time. However, according to statistics afterwards, there were quite a lot of fans watching the match between Manchester United and Newcastle.

"For Newcastle, the goalkeeper is Dubravka."

"On the defensive line, Benítez arranged 5 defenders, the left back is Matt Ritchie, the three central defenders are Dumet, Lascelles and Scher, and the right back is Yedlin." He Wei said, "In the midfield, there are four midfielders of Ayoze Perez, Hayden, Diame and Atsu, and Rongdong is the single arrow on the front line."

Mourinho was a little surprised by Newcastle's starting lineup. He didn't expect Benítez to be so conservative and directly arranged a 541 iron bucket formation.

After the game started, Benítez sat in his seat, staring at Manchester United's players, thinking about Mourinho's starting lineup.

The goalkeeper is the number one goalkeeper De Gea. The central defenders are Lindelof and Maguire. The left back is Ashley Young, and the right back is Dalot. Obviously, Mourinho has made a relatively large-scale rotation of Manchester United's defense.

In the midfield, Manchester United arranged a three-back lineup of Kante, Gundogan, and Fred. In front of the three midfielders is Bruno, and the Manchester United captain appears in the front midfielder position today, and then the forwards are Harry Kane and young Greenwood.

Mourinho's on-the-spot change of formation made Benítez alert.

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Benítez got up from his seat, roared, and cursed in his mouth. He was very dissatisfied with the referee's penalty.

Only five minutes into the game, Manchester United had two fouls. This time it was Fred's very fierce tackle, knocking Ayoze Perez to the ground with the ball.

However, the referee Martin Atkinson only verbally warned Fred and did not play a card.

After confirming that the referee of this game was Atkinson, Mourinho made up his mind.

This referee is an old acquaintance. Mourinho was familiar with him when he was at Chelsea. Atkinson's enforcement has always been very lenient: he has a high tolerance for physical resistance and some big movements, and he will not easily pull out a card... Well, until he can't stand it anymore, pulling out a card is a red card.

What Manchester United has to do now is to strike first before Atkinson can tolerate it, and then...

The referee can also be a tool man, as long as the right medicine is used, it can also be used and dug a pit!

Mourinho's established tactics are that Manchester United will focus on offense in this game, and his offense does not mean weakening defense. Manchester United's offensive tactics are very hard and aggressive. There is only one purpose, to use offense to suppress Newcastle, and to fight for protection for the defense line with offense against offense.

Manchester United's offense is inherently very threatening and sharp.

In this game, Mourinho arranged three midfielders of Gundogan, Kante and Fred in the midfield, which ensured Manchester United's defensive hardness in the midfield and its ferocity in the forward direction.

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Mourinho's arrangement gave Newcastle a headache. Benítez soon discovered that Newcastle's established tactics of opening the game were basically difficult to organize an effective attack in the face of Manchester United's tough midfield interception.

Manchester United's midfield interception was very fierce, and it could even be said that the action was very large. Newcastle lacked the necessary preparation for this.

For a while, the scene of people and horses falling down on the field appeared frequently, and the unprepared Newcastle was a little flustered. Diame, Ayoze Perez and even Hayden, the Newcastle midfielders, were completely caught in a muscle fight with Manchester United.

Manchester United's tactics were very simple. The three midfielders tore Newcastle's midfield and fully escorted Bruno, while Harry Kane and Greenwood were cruising in the frontcourt, ready to launch a critical attack at any time.

Manchester United quickly seized a mistake of Newcastle in the chaos and launched a counterattack.

This was Ayoze Perez facing Kante's entanglement and was forced to transfer the ball to Hayden.

Hayden was about to receive the ball when he was surrounded by Fred and Ashley Young. He chose to pass it back to Matt Ritchie, and then the ball was intercepted by Gundogan.

Manchester United quickly launched a counterattack. Gundogan passed the ball directly to Bruno. After the Manchester United captain attracted the defense of many Newcastle players with the ball, he suddenly passed the ball.

After Greenwood took the ball, he took two steps horizontally and shot a powerful long shot directly outside the penalty area.

The shot was very powerful and fast. Dubravka didn't dare to hold the ball and chose to hit it out.

Harry Kane, who was lying in ambush in the penalty area, got the ball before Scherer. He first dribbled the ball to avoid Scherer's robbery, and then passed the ball to the right.

Manchester United right back Dalot made a low shot and the ball went into the net!

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"Dalot! Dalot! Beautiful shot! The Portuguese defender scored his first goal since joining Manchester United!"

"Manchester United's attack was very aggressive. Their right back rushed into the penalty area and scored before Yedlin!"

"1:0! Manchester United, playing away, led Newcastle 1:0. They scored first!"

Benitez was furious on the sidelines. He was very, very dissatisfied with the team's defense this time. Dalot was completely missing.

"We pressed too close." The assistant coach persuaded.

Benitez snorted and said nothing.

He naturally knew the reason. Newcastle's tactic was to press forward and attack, relying particularly on the two flanks, especially Matt Ritchie's left flank. This made Matt Ritchie have to press forward frequently, and this time Manchester United attacked the space behind Matt Ritchie.