Chapter 787 Grealish

At 8:10 pm on July 9, 2020, at Villa Park in Birmingham, England, a focus match of the 34th round of the Premier League is about to start.

This is the last game of this round. A day ago, Liverpool had defeated Brighton 3:1 away and regained the top spot in the standings.

The commentator on the commentary stand is explaining the starting lineups of both sides to the fans and spectators.

Home team Aston Villa:

Goalkeeper: Reina;

Defenders: Konsa, House, Mings, Neil Taylor;

Midfielders: Hourihane, Nakamba, Douglas Luiz;

Forwards: Trezeguet, Kenan Davis, Grealish;

Manchester United lineup:

Goalkeeper: De Gea;

Defense: Cancelo, Maguire, Van Dijk, Luke Shaw;

Midfielders: Kante, Gundogan, Bruno;

Forwards: Mbappe, Harry Kane, Rashford.

Aston Villa is not the traditional BIG6 of the league, but it is a traditional powerhouse. It once maintained a record of 24 consecutive seasons in the Premier League without relegation.

Last season, Aston Villa returned to the Premier League through the Championship promotion play-offs. However, Aston Villa's current situation is not good. They are temporarily ranked 18th in the standings. If they cannot improve their ranking in the last 5 rounds of games, they will be relegated again.

From Aston Villa's starting lineup, we can draw a basic judgment that Dean Smith's team will focus on offensive tactics in today's game.

Moreover, in the coin-guessing session, Manchester United captain Bruno won Aston Villa captain Grealish.

Mourinho felt that this was exactly what Dean Smith wanted, because this would allow Aston Villa to get the right to kick off, and they could take the opportunity to kick off first and take the initiative.

………………

As Mourinho expected, after the game started, Aston Villa took advantage of the opportunity to kick off first and launched a fierce attack on Manchester United's goal.

Mourinho had a plan for this. Facing Aston Villa's opening attack, Manchester United chose to avoid the limelight and took the initiative to retreat.

This made Aston Villa even more excited.

Dean Smith sat in the coach's seat, staring at the field, and occasionally communicating with the assistant beside him. His inner anxiety was unknown to anyone.

More than ten minutes after the start of the game, Aston Villa was in a strong momentum, and they almost pressed Manchester United in a fierce attack. If it weren't for the outstanding performance of goalkeeper De Gea, who started today, Manchester United's goal would have been penetrated long ago.

Especially Villa's match against Grealish, the 24-year-old English midfielder has been in a very hot state recently.

Grealish was very active in looking for opportunities in the frontcourt, which also put a lot of pressure on Manchester United's defense. In addition, the other Aston Villa players seemed to be in good shape, and Manchester United had to return to defense across the board and defend the penalty area.

Just looking at the game for more than ten minutes, it is hard to imagine that it is the Premier League overlord Manchester United who is being pressed by Aston Villa.

And watching Aston Villa besiege Manchester United and beat Manchester United so badly that they couldn't even get through half the game, Dean Smith, who had been worried, finally smiled.

Coincidentally, Mourinho turned his head and saw Dean Smith smiling.

"Are you happy?" Mourinho said he didn't understand.

Although Aston Villa bombarded Manchester United's goal for more than ten minutes, Mourinho was not panicking.

Manchester United's defense is very good this season. Manchester United, which only lost 26 goals in the first 33 rounds, not only has the strongest offensive firepower in the Premier League, but also has the best defense in the Premier League. Therefore, although Aston Villa has an absolute advantage on the field, they don't have any excellent scoring opportunities, and it's still early to score.

………………

"It's almost time." Mourinho made a judgment.

This kind of crazy attack after the opening can't last too long. If the attack is effective and the goal is scored quickly, it may stimulate the players to be more excited. But if there is no goal, it is difficult to form a truly threatening scoring opportunity, then the team's morale and momentum will not last too long.

As expected, as Mourinho predicted, Aston Villa began to slow down the pace of the game after 15 minutes of the game, and could no longer continue the oppressive attack.

This wave of offensive has greatly consumed the players' energy and physical strength, and Aston Villa needs to slow down.

Mourinho made a gesture on the sidelines, and the players immediately understood.

Soon Manchester United took the opportunity to regain the initiative on the field.

Mourinho walked back to the coaching seat, he sat in his seat, stared at the field, and then seemed to think that sitting and watching was not as wide as standing.

And sitting still can easily make people's brain reactions become slow, so he walked to the sidelines again, holding his chin with one hand, staring at the field.

The tactics that the team has been practicing these days are now being tested. He wants to know whether the team can give him an answer, an answer that he needs and satisfies him.

Mourinho's eyes stayed on his player Gundogan.

In this game, Gundogan was responsible for controlling the rhythm of the game. Offense or defense? When to attack? Where to start? These are all controlled by Gundogan.

………………

Gundogan received the ball in his own half, and Egyptian winger Trezeguet rushed up. He wanted to take advantage of Gundogan's unstable ball and directly intercept the ball and counterattack.

But Gundogan seemed to have expected his opponent to do this, and he calmly stopped the ball with his right foot.

Trezeguet then pounced on his right foot, intending to steal the ball, but Gundogan turned his body to the side, letting the ball pass, and then twisted his tilted body back.

This action was not very elegant, but it was very practical. He got rid of Trezeguet directly and then dribbled the ball forward.

By the time Trezeguet reacted and chased him, it was too late.

However, Trezeguet did not chase him. He was a striker and there was no need to retreat so deep.

Gundogan easily got rid of Trezeguet's pressure and dribbled the ball forward.

Mourinho on the sidelines nodded with satisfaction. As an organizing midfielder, being able to hold the ball when facing pressure is the most important point.

Gundogan has good physical confrontation ability, and the German midfielder's footwork is also good. It is indeed very suitable to play this position.

………………

Trezeguet did not continue to retreat to help defend, but Kenan Davis, who seemed very excited after the start of the game today, rushed over from the side.

The 22-year-old Kenan Davis made his debut in the Stevenage youth training in England and joined Aston Villa in the summer of 2016, but he has not been able to secure a starting position.

Facing Kenan Davis's pressing from the side and back, Gundogan did not covet the ball, and he quickly transferred the ball out.

Gundogan decisively passed the ball, and Kenan Davis stopped. He just made a gesture of trying to return to defense for Dean Smith on the sidelines to see.

He would not really chase back all the way to defense, it was mainly a matter of attitude. In addition to providing defensive power at the competitive level, the forward's return to defense is also a statement.

The forwards have returned to defend, so other players must work harder?

Dean Smith on the sidelines nodded. If nothing else, this attitude of returning to defense is good.

………………

Gundogan passed the ball to Kante who came to receive it. He did not stop himself. He continued to run forward, ready to receive the ball from his teammates at any time.

Kante also did not let the ball stay at his feet. He did not even need to look up to find it. He immediately locked onto Gundogan and quickly passed the ball to Gundogan.

Mourinho nodded. The two of them now have a much better understanding of each other.

Kante protected Gundogan, and the two interacted more at the same time, which was what Mourinho was most happy to see.

Then, Gundogan sent a diagonal through ball, trying to find Bruno on the right.

This pass almost tore open Aston Villa's defense. At the critical moment, Nakamba fell to the ground and shoveled the ball out of the sideline before Bruno received the ball.

Bruno gave Gundogan a thumbs up, indicating that the ball had a wide field of vision, very good, just do it!

………………

In the subsequent game, Gundogan was very active in the midfield.

He can be found almost everywhere, either receiving or passing the ball, or creating opportunities and providing cover for his teammates.

His position is quite flexible. He can retreat to almost the same line as the central defender, or he can rush to the front midfielder position to complete the final pass.

Dean Smith was also surprised by Gundogan's large range of activities.

Moreover, Dean Smith obviously noticed that in today's game, Manchester United did not focus on finding the wing like in previous games to play the speed advantage of Rashford and Mbappe.

This made Dean Smith, who had already made plans and prepared for this, feel like a punch on cotton.

Whether it was Rashford on the left or Mbappe on the right, they frequently interacted with Bruno and Gundogan in the middle.

Manchester United's style of play, especially under the protection of Kante, Gundogan's large-scale activities made Aston Villa's defensive players feel at a loss.

They all knew that this player was Manchester United's offensive hub, but the problem was that this hub was running around. Do you know when and where he would poke you?

………………

Mourinho was satisfied with the team's initial performance. Under Gundogan's leadership, Manchester United's offense was very smooth.

Under Gundogan's tireless promotion, Manchester United gradually took control of the situation and the initiative.

Aston Villa fans and spectators were a little confused. Didn't we firmly take the initiative at the beginning and suppress Manchester United so that they couldn't get through the half? How come Manchester United firmly controlled the game situation just when we took a break to catch our breath?

Although Manchester United did not have the tactics of crazy suppression and crazy attack, this gradual control of the game rhythm gave people the feeling that a net would wrap you up unconsciously. Although it didn't make you unable to move, it was very uncomfortable.