Chapter 683 The Winning Hand

The subsequent game fell into a tense state. Manchester United strengthened the fight in the midfield. Kante even knocked down Ayoze Perez and Matt Ritchie twice in five minutes.

The referee Atkinson believed that Kante's knockdown of Ayoze Perez was not a foul, but the second time was considered a foul, and Kante was verbally warned.

Benítez was furious and questioned the fourth official on the sidelines: "That guy is blind. Didn't he see the French foul?"

The fourth official had a stern face and asked Benítez to calm down before speaking, otherwise he would record it. Such an accusation would cause an uproar.

"He is confused, don't mind it." Francis Moreno dragged Benítez back.

"Who are you saying is confused?" Benítez wanted to save face, so he returned to his seat and sprayed Moreno fiercely.

The latter endured silently. The old man had to vent his anger, and he could only vent it on him. Did he let Benítez really become a referee?

………………

The game was in the 41st minute, and the referee finally pulled out a card. This was a tactical foul by Fred, who knocked down Rong Dong.

Mourinho saw this on the sidelines, called Kante's name, and made a gesture. Manchester United's violent interception immediately disappeared, and everyone became careful. On the contrary, Newcastle's anger aroused by Manchester United began to explode.

In the remaining five or six minutes of the first half, Newcastle players fouled Manchester United one after another. After the referee Atkinson's tolerance reached the limit, he began a manic card-playing mode. In just a few minutes, Diame and Hayden on the Newcastle side received consecutive cards.

Mourinho smiled on the sidelines. Diame and Hayden were the main defensive forces of Newcastle. Both of them had yellow cards, which would inevitably make Newcastle timid when defending.

Benítez obviously realized this. The Spaniard had seen all sorts of things and immediately realized that he had been fooled.

In the end, at the end of the first half, Manchester United led Newcastle 1:0. Mourinho's tactical goal was basically achieved. The team scored and Newcastle's attack was curbed.

During the halftime break, Mourinho first praised the players' performance, and then he reminded the players with a serious expression to be careful of Newcastle's counterattack in the second half.

"1:0 is not safe. We will continue to strengthen our offense in the second half. We must have at least two balls in hand to be relatively safe."

"Be careful of Newcastle's counterattack. For Newcastle, as long as they score to equalize the score, we will be very passive."

………………

After the start of the second half, Mourinho was surprised to find that Newcastle did not press out to attack, and was not anxious. Instead, they played a defensive counterattack in an orderly manner.

Mourinho thought about it for a while and understood what Benítez meant.

Obviously, after the tactics of the first half of the game were contained by Manchester United, Benítez decisively changed and gave up the offensive tactics of the first half of the game. Their current goal is not to lose the ball again.

Even if this game ends with 0:1, it is acceptable for Newcastle. Newcastle has now escaped the relegation zone. Although it still faces some relegation pressure, it is not urgent. They can lose against a strong team like Manchester United, as long as it is not a collapse-like defeat.

In fact, this is exactly the case. In the first half of the game, Benítez hoped to attack and hope to beat Manchester United at home and end the opponent's unbeaten record.

However, realizing that this tactic did not work well, it exposed the team's defensive loopholes, and Benítez calmed down.

The score of 1:0 is not a very satisfactory result for Manchester United. He judged that Manchester United would continue to attack, so Newcastle simply counterattacked Manchester United.

If the sneak attack can be successful and the score is rewritten to 1:1, Newcastle will make a profit.

Even though there was no chance to score, the score of 0:1 was acceptable to Benítez and Newcastle.

………………

Benitez sighed.

In Benítez's view, this change was at most a timely stop loss, a helpless move.

Once upon a time, he led Liverpool to compete with Manchester United for the league championship in the Premier League, but now when he leads his team to play against Manchester United, he begins to consider losing less as winning.

Although he is very unhappy, Benítez has to admit that his Newcastle is now just a Premier League relegation team, and is obviously inferior to Manchester United in strength.

Mainly on the offensive end, Newcastle's offensive ability is not as good as Manchester United. Otherwise, even if it does not beat Manchester United at home, Newcastle should at least take the initiative to strive for goals instead of waiting for Manchester United to make mistakes.

………………

"Beautiful long pass!" the commentator shouted.

Benítez also made a brief adjustment in the second half, arranging the team to press out and attack again to see the effect. However, Manchester United immediately hit a counterattack.

Lindelof launched a long pass counterattack, and Bruno still received the ball under Hayden's defense.

Bruno used his skills and experience to firmly control the ball under his feet, waiting for his teammates to come forward to receive it.

Hayden tried very hard to steal the ball from behind, but his position was gone. Unless he committed a foul, he would definitely not be able to steal the ball. However, Hayden already had a yellow card, so he didn't dare to commit a foul rashly. Once the referee showed him a second yellow card, he would have to go off the field.

Bruno passed the ball to Greenwood. Greenwood started to speed up. He changed direction and slowed down twice, which made Fabio embarrassed. Then he flashed out of a gap and passed the ball.

Harry Kane pulled the ball with his left foot, trying to deceive Scherer. The Newcastle central defender was experienced and steady. He directly shoveled the ball out of the sideline.

In the stands of the Sports Direct Stadium, there was a scene of relief after surviving the disaster. This ball, as long as Harry Kane dribbled it, entered the penalty area and almost faced the goalkeeper.

"Scherer has made a contribution!" Andy Gray praised.

Benitez on the sidelines was also shocked. If Harry Kane scored, Manchester United would lead 2:0 and Newcastle would be very uncomfortable. Fortunately, Scherer defended successfully in time.

………………

After this incident, Benítez completely gave up the idea of ​​attacking and ordered the team to play defensive counterattack honestly, do a good job of defense first, and never lose the ball again.

Benítez has accepted and preset the process for the game:

Newcastle avoids losing the ball again, keeps the score of 0:1, and puts the hope of getting points on those mid- and lower-level Premier League teams. And those mid- and lower-level Premier League teams are Newcastle's real competitors.

However, football games are always full of various accidents.

First, in the 53rd minute of the game, Diame was accidentally injured, and Benítez was forced to make a substitution: Diame left the field and former Liverpool midfielder Shelvey came on as a substitute.

This unexpected substitution changed the trend of the game.

………………

Newcastle midfielder Hayden is the main person to defend Bruno. He dare not be negligent or careless in the game. Because he knows very well that as long as there is a little carelessness, Bruno may create opportunities.

During the game, Hayden kept reminding himself that he must focus and pay attention. Benítez even allowed him to be responsible for keeping an eye on Bruno, and he didn't need to pay attention to other things. He also fulfilled his duties very diligently. He entangled Bruno tightly and followed him closely. Wherever Bruno ran, he followed.

He was like a dog-skin plaster stuck to Bruno, and he couldn't get rid of it.

This kind of man-to-man defense made it difficult for Bruno to deal with it. Although he also got several opportunities and created two threats, they were not very good, and his teammates didn't grasp them.

As for personal performance, limited by Hayden's close defense and Benítez's tightly arranged central defense, it was difficult for Bruno to make any progress. In addition to instigating Manchester United's goal in the first half, he failed to show a dazzling performance throughout the game.

Hayden ran for more than 60 minutes, and he felt very tired, very tired.

Bruno was also very tired and had been panting for a long time.

His opponent today, Isaac Hayden, is also a strong player. He was born in Arsenal youth training and was once considered the future and hope of Arsenal. However, a serious injury in 2014 made him lose his position in Arsenal and had to leave to seek opportunities. After a short period of playing for Hull City, he permanently transferred to Newcastle and was reused under Benitez.

Faced with this kind of man-to-man defense, Bruno really had no more options but to run.

………………

When Bruno saw Dalot taking the ball in the backcourt, he ran back to meet him as soon as possible.

The Portuguese right-back played a little conservative tonight and did not dare to press too much, worrying about the back.

Dalot did not pass the ball directly to Bruno, but passed it to Kante, who then passed it to Bruno, forming a triangle pass.

When Bruno was about to receive the ball, he found that Hayden did not entangle himself at the first time, which made him overjoyed and caught the ball smoothly.

At this time, Hayden caught up from behind, but because he was a beat slower, he chased too hastily.

Bruno knew very well what to do at this time. Without waiting for Hayden to come behind him, Bruno quickly turned around and pulled the ball.

Marseille turn!

After Bruno turned around and shook off Hayden, he quickly rushed forward with the ball, clenched his teeth, gathered his strength, and rushed faster and faster.

Newcastle's central defender Lascelles saw this and quickly rushed towards Bruno. Unexpectedly, before Lascelles got close, Bruno made a series of fake moves and shook left and right, directly passed Lascelles, continued to rush forward with the ball, and went straight to the penalty area.

"Beautiful pass! Bruno rushed up, passed two Newcastle players in a row, and rushed to the penalty area."