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

Chapter 945 will be outside

Bruno's assist helped Greenwood score, and Greenwood's goal helped Manchester United take the lead away from home.

As the first half was about to end, the home team Aston Villa lost the ball and fell behind. This situation made Aston Villa really depressed.

In the first half, they clearly had a higher possession rate, more shots, and even more shots on goal frame, but in the end it was Manchester United that scored the goal.

Aston Villa is currently ranked 13th in the standings, which is a rather awkward position. Although the pressure of relegation is not great, there is no hope of hitting the European competition spot.

Generally speaking, most teams in this position will be in a state of having no desire or ambition.

However, since Aston Villa returned to the Premier League in the 2019-2020 season, they have yet to win in seven matches against Manchester United in all competitions, with a poor record of 7 draw and 1 losses.

This season, the two sides met in the first round of the league, and Aston Villa suffered a 0:6 defeat. A week ago, in the third round of the FA Cup, Aston Villa also lost 0:2.

If they lose to Manchester United again today, it will be their seventh consecutive defeat against Manchester United in all competitions. This is not a good thing for any team.

Although losing to Manchester United is not surprising, if Aston Villa can snatch points from Manchester United, the boost to Aston Villa's morale will be immeasurable, which will be very beneficial in helping Aston Villa avoid relegation.

Especially Aston Villa's head coach Gerrard, as a Liverpool legend, he hated losing to Manchester United very much.

If he can lead his team to stop Manchester United, he can not only help his own team, but also contribute to his old club Liverpool's pursuit of Manchester United in the standings.

………………

So after the game resumed, Aston Villa did not retreat into defense, but instead launched a frantic counterattack, trying to equalize the score before the end of the first half.

But how is this possible?
Manchester United's defense is not made of paper. If the opponent equalized the score just after they scored a goal, it would be a shame for Manchester United's defenders.

So until the end of the first half, the score did not change, and Manchester United ended the first half with a 1:0 lead away from home.

During the half-time break, the commentators and guests were discussing Manchester United's goal, and the first-half review also repeatedly played this goal, especially Bruno's wonderful pass to Greenwood.

Many people were amazed at why Bruno could see the space behind him. After he took the ball and turned to the left, he did not turn his head to look anywhere else. All his attention was on the football under his feet and on confronting Jacob.

In the locker room, Manchester United head coach Mourinho was arranging for his players how to play in the second half.

He was very satisfied with the team's performance in the first half. They withstood Aston Villa's aggressive attack on defense and scored a goal on offense.

The second half is to try to continue to expand the lead. After all, a one-goal lead will make Aston Villa always feel that they have opportunities and hope, so they will continue to put pressure on Manchester United's defense, which is a very dangerous thing.

If Manchester United could score a goal at the beginning of the second half and make the game a two-goal lead, the pressure on the defense would suddenly be relieved.

………………

However, after listening to Mourinho's arrangements, Bruno had a different opinion.

For most people, a one-goal lead is a very unsafe score, and Bruno agrees with this view. However, insecurity is not always a bad thing. Insecurity means instability, and instability means being full of variables, and these variables may contain opportunities.

So, on the other hand, this insecurity is actually an opportunity.

When Aston Villa is unwilling to lose the game at their home ground, they will definitely attack with all their might, which will leave many exploitable spaces behind them.

In Bruno's eyes, these gaps can be converted into goals.

So when the second half was about to start, Bruno gathered his teammates on the court and told them his idea. That is, at the beginning of the second half, don't rush to attack, defend first.

"But this is different from what the coach said..." Gundogan was a little worried.

"It's okay, just listen to me." Bruno said. He didn't explain much, because explaining one problem would only lead to more problems.

It's not that he didn't want to explain these issues, but mainly because there was no time for him to explain them now. The second half of the game was about to start, and it was obviously impossible for him to gather with his teammates for a general meeting. So he simply said in a very firm manner that he would listen to him.

His teammates didn't think there was anything wrong with his toughness. After all, it wasn't the first time they listened to him during a game, and the key was that the results were very good, so no one questioned it.

Since Bruno said to listen to him, then listen to him.

………………In fact, it was also during the halftime break, when Mourinho asked the team to start attacking in the second half, Gerrard also asked his team during the halftime break to resist the urge to rush out in full force at the beginning of the second half, but to maintain a stable defense and fight back against Manchester United.

His theory is the same as Mourinho's. A one-goal lead is not a very safe score, so Mourinho will definitely let his team score as early as possible in the second half to turn 1:0 into 2:0.
At that time it was Aston Villa's chance. As long as they could counterattack Manchester United, the chance of scoring would be higher than fighting a positional battle with Manchester United, right?

So after the second half started, everyone at Aston Villa, including Gerrard, was waiting for Manchester United to attack.

But when the second half really started, the situation was different from what they expected.

Manchester United kicked off in the second half. Gerrard believed that Manchester United would definitely take advantage of this kick-off opportunity to launch a fierce attack on Aston Villa's goal, which would be a great opportunity for Aston Villa to counterattack.

As a result, Manchester United's attack ended hastily and the possession of the ball was handed over to Aston Villa. But what about themselves?

Shrink back!

Off the field, seeing that Manchester United did not make good use of the opportunity of the kick-off to put pressure on Aston Villa's goal, Manchester United's assistant coach Faria was surprised and said to Mourinho: "Why did you end the attack so quickly? It was too hasty! This is inconsistent with our arrangement..."

Mourinho next to him stroked his chin and said nothing.

This is of course inconsistent with their arrangements, because it was not arranged by their coaching staff at all.

He finally realized that Bruno was acting on his own again.

………………

It stands to reason that it would be very annoying for the head coach if the players completely ignored the head coach's arrangements on the court and acted on their own, because this would be considered a challenge to the head coach's authority.

But Mourinho doesn't think so when it comes to Bruno.

This is not the first time Bruno has adjusted his tactical arrangements during the game, but the effect of each adjustment is better than he expected.

In that case, what reason do I have to blame him?
There is a famous saying in the football world, "Victory can cover everything."

If we can win, there is no need to change anything, winning is everything.

So if Bruno's temporary adjustments on the field can bring the team victory, Mourinho will be happy to see it.

Besides, Bruno is a player. He is closer to the front line than Mourinho, the head coach. He will get all the information on the court first. He has first-hand information and can make the most intuitive judgment. The decisions he makes are often faster and more accurate than those of the head coach. This is also very normal.

Of course, not every decision made by the players on the front line is correct. In the intense game, the players don't have much time to use their brains to think about the problem and analyze the situation. They can only act on instinct. But Bruno is an exception. Mourinho believes in the decisions he makes, so he gives him the greatest power.

When a general is away from the emperor, he does not have to obey the orders of the emperor.

………………

Aston Villa wanted Manchester United to attack, so their formation was relatively backward. Manchester United did not attack, and their formation was also quite backward, which created a very strange situation on the field: both sides were in their own half and did not press forward easily.

After Manchester United ended the attack and the ball was returned to Aston Villa, Aston Villa, who had the ball, did not dare to put too many troops into the attack. They were afraid that if they pressed forward, they would give Manchester United a chance to counterattack.

Therefore, Aston Villa had very few players involved in the attack, and they had no intention of organizing it seriously. After reaching the frontcourt, the ball fell to Watkins' feet. The new England international saw that there was no support around him, so he simply chose to do it himself and headed straight for Manchester United's goal.

His lone heroic performance did not result in a goal for Aston Villa, but instead he easily lost the ball under the double-team of Manchester United players.

However, Aston Villa does not need to worry, because most of their players did not move forward at all, so there is no need to worry about the space behind them being exploited by Manchester United after losing the ball.

After getting the ball, Manchester United quickly launched an attack and pushed the ball into Aston Villa's half.

Aston Villa's defense didn't seem to have any good way to deal with it. After a series of simple passes, Harry Kane ended Manchester United's attack with a long shot from outside the penalty area.

Manchester United's performance made Aston Villa very glad that they did not press forward in a large scale, but instead were wary of Manchester United's fierce attack from the very beginning. Because of their thorough preparation, Manchester United's offensive was in vain.

If we had pushed forward with a big attack just now, I'm afraid the goal would have been breached by now...

(End of this chapter)