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

Chapter 942 Follow your words

During the half-time break, although there was a lot of pressure in front of the goal in the final moments, Mourinho still praised the team's performance in the first half and asked the players to continue playing like this in the second half.

There is no problem with the tactics. Even if the score was tied and we were under pressure, it was not a problem with the tactics.

In the back studio of a London TV station, the host and guests were commenting on the first half of the game between the two sides.

The guest thought that Manchester United's tactics were more successful in the first half: "...In fact, to be fair, the first half should not have been a draw, but Manchester United should have taken the lead. After all, Manchester United played better in the first half, their tactics were more targeted and effective, and the players executed them better."

This guest was fairly objective, while the host's stance was relatively clear: "Of course, but there are always many unexpected situations in football matches. Chelsea were indeed luckier, able to equalize the score immediately after conceding the goal. However, starting in the second half, I think the balance of victory will tilt towards Chelsea, as Manchester United's physical fitness will become a problem."

"Indeed, this kind of running and robbing tactics requires a lot of physical strength, so Chelsea needs to be more patient and withstand Manchester United's robbing in the second half. After 70 minutes, the initiative will gradually return to Chelsea's hands."

After all, the guests are local Londoners, so of course they have to support the London team.

………………

At the beginning of the second half of the game, the two sides changed sides and fought again.

Manchester United's tactics were the same as in the first half, still running and robbing the ball tirelessly.

Faced with Manchester United's tactics, Chelsea naturally could only shrink their defense and then counterattack.

The fifteen-minute halftime break did interrupt Chelsea's very good momentum. After the start of the second half, it was difficult for them to form an attack on Manchester United's goal.

Everything seemed to have returned to the same state as in the first half, but the difference was that the mentality of Chelsea fans had subtly changed from the first half.

The score is a tie, which means that everyone is on par with each other, and whoever can score a goal in the end may win the game.

As time went on in the second half, Manchester United, who were fighting on multiple fronts, were already in worse physical condition than Chelsea. Coupled with tactical issues, their physical condition was bound to be a problem. They could not always use such tactics. They would either collapse or give up this style of play. No matter what they did, it would be good news for Chelsea.

As long as Chelsea has enough patience and defensive toughness to withstand Manchester United's offensive during this period, the next game will be theirs.

When they thought of this, Chelsea fans became much calmer than in the first half. They were watching Manchester United's pressing and sieging, and they were all laughing at Manchester United in their hearts. They played like mad dogs, but in the end, wouldn't they still be doomed?
Run, keep running, and use up all your remaining energy in this meaningless run!

………………

So, amid the curses of Chelsea fans, Manchester United continued to use reckless running to contain Chelsea as always.

Chelsea fans were waiting for Manchester United to run out of energy and be forced to give up this style of play, or to collapse, but what they got was Manchester United's goal in the 64th minute.

During a corner attack, Maguire jumped high, overpowered all Chelsea defenders, and headed the ball into the goal.

The corner kick that led to Maguire's goal came from a shot by young player Diallo, which was saved by Kepa at the bottom line.

Before Diallo shot, he just received the ball from Bruno.

The ball passed by Bruno came from Manchester United's siege in the frontcourt.

So in the final analysis, it was Manchester United's high-pressing tactics that worked, and Chelsea was unable to withstand Manchester United's tactics.

Andy Gray, the famous commentator of Sky Sports, shouted: "Maguire! Manchester United leads Chelsea 2:1!"

At this time, the commentator of the local London TV station was comforting Chelsea fans: "It's a pity for this goal, but it doesn't matter... It's just one goal behind! Manchester United's physical strength will soon be exhausted, and then the game will enter Chelsea's rhythm!"

What he said made sense, so many Chelsea fans did not feel that "the game was going to be lost" after conceding the goal, but instead expected Chelsea to launch a counterattack.

Everyone was waiting for the moment when Manchester United ran out of energy and had to give up their high-pressing tactics, but that moment never came.

………………

In the 67th minute, Mourinho replaced Kante with Gundogan, giving the veteran, who was about to turn 31 and had exhausted a lot of physical energy, a chance to rest.

Gundogan, who is full of energy, has just come on the court and certainly has an advantage in terms of physical strength.

Apart from the substitutions, other Manchester United players did not show any obvious signs of physical exhaustion.

Those who are wishful thinking about Manchester United's physical collapse really don't understand Manchester United. You know, in the Premier League, Manchester United is a well-known team with excellent physical fitness and outstanding running ability.

If we look into their pre-season training arrangements, this result is not surprising, because physical training and running training account for a very important part of Manchester United's pre-season training.

Mourinho is famous for his emphasis on physical fitness and the running ability of the whole team, which every Manchester United player feels deeply. Every year in pre-season training, they are trained like dogs and may die at any time.

But now, the sweat and hard work they put into physical training finally showed its value and brilliance. Facing Chelsea, Manchester United's continuous high-pressure pressing showed no signs of weakening, and each of them was still running tirelessly on the court, as if their physical energy was inexhaustible.

This is especially true for Bruno, the team's midfield core who already has excellent physical fitness.

………………

This performance surprised those who knew that Manchester United had excellent physical fitness, because just three days ago, they had just played a fierce Premier League match with Wolves...

Before this game, in the last 2021 days of 40, Manchester United played 12 games, maintaining a high-density game rhythm of two games a week.

Such a schedule will definitely affect physical fitness even if Mourinho makes large-scale rotations in the team.

But what Manchester United players showed in this game was as if they had just rested for a month, and their physical fitness was surprisingly good.

The non-stop high-pressure tactics of Manchester United players caused some panic among Chelsea fans who were planning to wait for Manchester United's physical strength to collapse before counterattacking.

What will Chelsea do if Manchester United players keep running like this?
………………

As time went on, the score did not change and Chelsea's players became more and more anxious.

At the beginning, they also held the idea of ​​holding on until Manchester United collapsed due to physical exhaustion. After all, they knew too well how tired the players' bodies were under the intensive schedule.

同样是从去年的11月20日开始，切尔西在2021年的最后40天里踢了12场比赛。尽管切尔西的球员平均每一场比赛要比曼联球员少跑10公里，同时图赫尔也在尽力安排轮换，可是球员们依然有一种即将被累死了的感觉。

If they are like this, one can imagine what Manchester United is like as they have to run even more.

But now they find that this goal is unlikely to be achieved...

There is no sign that the Manchester United players' physical strength is running out. If they wait any longer, the game will be over!
So we can’t defend anymore, we have to attack.

But once they started attacking, Chelsea players made frequent mistakes under Manchester United's high pressure. It was not easy to push the attack forward!
………………

In the 73rd minute, Tuchel replaced the starting Havertz with forward Wirtz. This substitution was of course intended to strengthen the team's offensive firepower.

Then, in just three minutes, he replaced Ziyech with Pulisic, Mount with Chick, and Azpilicueta with Chilwell...

All five cards in his hand were played, and the next thing was out of his control as the head coach. He could only be a spectator on the sidelines, watching the players on the court perform. If they performed well, it was still possible to tie the score...

Unfortunately, his substitutions and adjustments did not have any effect and the score remained unchanged.

As the regular ninety minutes of the game were about to end, Mourinho began to make substitutions.

The madman first replaced Greenwood with Mahrez in the 87th minute of the game, and then replaced Bellingham with Fred and Maguire with Lindelof in the 89th minute of the game.

These two substitutions actually have no tactical significance, they are mainly used to delay time.

In the first minute of injury time, Bruno was also replaced by Mata.

The purpose of this substitution and the previous two substitutions was the same, which was to delay time.

If there were not only three substitution windows for the five substitutions, Mourinho would definitely use five substitutions to complete the five substitutions!
As usual, Bruno walked off the field "exhausted", and when the game resumed, most of the three minutes of injury time had passed, leaving Chelsea with less than two minutes to equalize the score.

………………

In the final moments, Chelsea almost went all out, and except for goalkeeper Kepa, everyone crossed the half court, but still couldn't bring the team even a single goal.

When the referee blew the whistle to end the game, the score was fixed at 1:2.

International practice is that the home team goes first.

Manchester United won the away game and took the absolute advantage in the two-round knockout match!
It will be too difficult and unlikely for Chelsea to turn the tables in the second leg at the new Old Trafford!

At this time, the first thought that comes to many people’s minds is not anything else, but "Murphy's Law".

Unfortunately, Bruno was right!
When something bad can happen, it will happen.

When Chelsea can lose to Manchester United, then they will definitely lose to Manchester United.

And the more people care about this probability, the greater the probability!

(End of this chapter)