From the man behind the football king to the football king.

Chapter 939 Incompetent Fury

So how does Manchester United view this problem?

In an interview, Mourinho said that he didn't care about any curses or not. He believed that the outcome of the game could only be determined by the performance of the players on both sides in the game, and had nothing to do with curses or anything like that.

As the core of the team, Bruno will naturally be asked this question by the media.

Outside the training ground, he said seriously: "Magic spell? Nonsense, I can't understand it at all. It's the 21st century, why do people still believe in the same excuses as in the Middle Ages? I don't believe in magic spells, it's nonsense."

He said it so firmly that one of the reporters couldn't help but ask: "But the fact is that Chelsea only won once against you... How do you explain this?"

Bruno looked at him and said seriously, "There is a very scientific term called 'Murphy's Law'. I think this should explain your question."

After saying that, he said goodbye to the reporters. A group of reporters stood there still thinking about what Bruno had just said.

"Murphy's Law?" Some reporters didn't quite understand.

But some reporters understood: "Damn, Bruno is doing something bad!"

Those who don’t understand ask those who do understand to explain: “What do you mean? Why is it a bad thing?”

"You know this saying, right? If you drop a piece of bread with jam on one side, the jam side will definitely land on the ground." asked someone who knew.

"Yes, yes, I've heard of it..." Those who didn't understand nodded repeatedly.

"That's Murphy's Law. If something can go wrong, it will go wrong."

After he explained it this way, those who didn’t understand now understood.

"So Bruno is saying that if Chelsea can lose to Manchester United, then they will lose to Manchester United?"

………………

"Murphy's Law" is not well known in China, but in the Western world, it has become a popular slang. When Bruno said this, some reporters' eyes lit up.

The next day, Manchester United's mouthpiece, The Guardian, used the following headline: "Bruno: There is no 'curse', only 'Murphy's Law'".

No need for further explanation, just looking at the title, everyone knows what Bruno means.

Murphy's Law is actually a psychological effect, in which "things that can go wrong will always go wrong" and "if you worry about something happening, it is more likely to happen" are the main contents of Murphy's Law.

Bruno is actually only using psychology to explain why there is a "curse". Since it is considered a curse, it means that such bad things will happen frequently, which of course falls within the scope of explanation of "Murphy's Law".

At the same time, the media also interpreted Bruno's words as a provocation to Chelsea, declaring in advance that Chelsea would definitely lose.

Naturally, his remarks were criticized by the London media, who believed that Bruno was arrogant and did not respect his opponents enough.

A host from a London TV station talked about Bruno's words in a program, and thought that Bruno was simply too rude. The host criticized Bruno very fiercely in the program.

However, Bruno couldn't watch the programs of this TV station, so he couldn't hear the criticism from his opponents at all.

This kind of criticism is actually meaningless except to satisfy the critics.

Perhaps one sentence can well describe this state: impotent rage!
So what is meaningful? Of course, it is to beat Bruno's Manchester United in the next game and break the superstition and curse with practical actions.

………………

Some people were furious and helpless, while some media immediately interviewed Chelsea players, wanting them to share their thoughts on Bruno's remarks, or simply their opinions on Bruno.

Most Chelsea players refused to answer these questions. They chose to avoid talking about it, but their emotions could still be felt. They must be very unhappy.

Blues captain Azpilicueta was the only Chelsea player to answer this question directly in the interview. He said: "Everyone has their own opinions, but we will respect every opponent. Chelsea has only one goal in every game, and that is to win."

Simply translated, it means "Bruno, you don't respect us enough, and we will definitely slap you in the face with victory!"

Where's Bruno?

He did not accept any more interviews before the game, perhaps because he was afraid that his words would be misinterpreted by the media, or perhaps because he felt that he had achieved his goal of angering his opponent.

In short, he remained silent before the game, disappointing those reporters who wanted to stir up trouble between the two sides.

………………At 2022:1 pm Greenwich time on January 5, , the first leg of Manchester United's League Cup semi-final away challenge against Chelsea officially began.

With the referee's whistle, Lukaku kicked the ball to Mount, who turned around and kicked the ball back to Jorginho.

The shouts resounded through the sky above Stamford Bridge.

After getting the ball, Jorginho did not pass it immediately, but waited for a while and observed the situation. He had to wait for his teammates to spread out the formation so that he would have the angle and space to pass the ball.

But this time, when he just raised his head to observe, he saw Amad Diallo rushing towards him and was very close!

This startled him.

Amad Diallo started the game in place of Rashford who was injured in the previous league game. Rashford was diagnosed after the game and needed to rest for two weeks, so his position was naturally replaced by Diallo. Diallo also used his two goals in the previous game to prove that his condition and physical condition were fine.

Jorginho really didn't expect Diallo to dive so hard. He quickly turned around and passed the ball back to Saul who was not far behind him.

But Saul's situation was not much better than his. As soon as the football fell to Saul's feet, Harry Kane came up, leaving him almost no space to handle the ball!
Faced with such a situation, Saul naturally did not dare to let the ball stay under his feet for too long. He is a defensive midfielder. If he loses the ball, the opponent may face the back line directly, which is very dangerous!

So he passed the ball sideways to Marcos Alonso.

………………

Alonso stopped the ball a little too long, and a red figure rushed up like lightning and kicked his ball away!
At that moment, Alonso didn't even see who it was before the ball was gone. Fortunately, the ball rolled a little far and landed directly at the feet of Chelsea's central defender Sarr.

"Bruno! Oh! What a pity!" Andy Gray exclaimed.

When Bruno poked the ball away from Alonso's feet just now, he originally thought it would be a Manchester United attack, but he didn't expect the ball to be caught by Sarr...

Sarr did not dare to delay and kicked the ball towards the front court with a big foot. It was better not to let the ball stay in his own half for too long. Even if he was going to lose the ball, it was better to lose it in the front court than in front of his own goal.

"As soon as the game started, Manchester United showed an aggressive momentum and seemed to be in control," said another commentator, Martin Taylor. "The aggressive pressing in the frontcourt did cause some trouble for Chelsea, but this style of play is also very energy-consuming. Manchester United started pressing like this from the first minute of the game. How long can their physical strength last? What will they do if they run out of energy in the second half? Will they collapse directly?"

People tend to sympathize with the weak. Although Chelsea is also considered a wealthy team, it is not wrong to say that Chelsea is the weak team compared to Manchester United, which has been invincible in Europe in recent years.

Secondly, as a commentator, unless you are a fan of a strong team, you will hope that the game will be evenly matched, which will make the game more exciting.

A one-sided game is what most fans, especially neutral fans, least want to see, except for the fans of the dominant team.

This time, there were dangers lurking in front of Chelsea's penalty area, but he could still see factors that were favorable to Chelsea.

………………

However, Chelsea head coach Tuchel on the sidelines was not as relaxed and confident as the commentator. When the TV camera swept over him, he could be seen frowning, standing on the sidelines, waving his arms and shouting.

If you could hear what he shouted clearly in the extremely noisy Stamford Bridge, you would find that he was asking Chelsea players to speed up the passing of the ball, turn the ball upside down, and not control the ball too much in the backcourt.

As an experienced and highly skilled head coach, it is impossible for him not to see how Mourinho arranged the game, nor the intention behind it.

It is obvious that Manchester United hopes to use high-pressure defense to disrupt Chelsea's rhythm and put Chelsea into a panic situation.

Tuchel's frown shows that Mourinho's arrangement is effective. Any team and any player are afraid of high-pressure defense, close entanglement and aggressive steals.

Even someone like Bruno would lose his temper somewhat when encountering those top defensive midfielders.

Chelsea players are also afraid, even more afraid.

As Chelsea's two-time head coach, Mourinho must have carefully studied Chelsea before formulating this strategy.

Of course, he couldn't be unaware of the problem with this tactic, which was that it required a lot of physical strength. But since he still chose to play this way, he must have his reasons.

Maybe he thought his team could establish victory before running out of energy, or maybe he thought Manchester United players had enough energy to run all over the field.

In any case, even if this style of play will cause trouble for Manchester United, it will only happen after Manchester United players have physical problems, which is in the second half of the game.

And now, in the first half of the game, it was Chelsea that was in trouble...

(End of this chapter)