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

Chapter 966: Madman vs. Scumbag
In the locker room, Mourinho was encouraging the team to step up their attack in the second half.

The current situation is that Liverpool will definitely shrink their defense in the second half and then fight back against Manchester United. If Manchester United does not attack and allows Liverpool to shrink back, when the game is dragged into overtime, the physical condition will become unfavorable to Manchester United.

You know, in the two months since entering 2022, including today's League Cup final, Manchester United has played 15 games, while Liverpool has only played 11 games.

If the situation drags on, Manchester United, which has physical problems, will likely become very passive, or even lose the ball again and fall behind.

As for the game entering a penalty shootout, it is a situation that Manchester United does not want to see. After all, there are too many uncertainties in a penalty shootout.

Although attacking is risky and the space behind can be used by Liverpool, Manchester United has no other choice but to attack.

So the problem has actually become simple. Don’t think about anything else. Just attack with all your strength and try to score more goals.

Since Liverpool has already scored first, let's make their goal meaningless.

How did it lose its meaning?

Of course, we will overwhelm our opponents in terms of the total score and not give them any chance to play overtime or penalty shootouts!
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At the same time, in the next locker room, Liverpool coach Klopp made a strategic contraction adjustment to the team.

Reduce investment in offense and increase manpower in defense. Everyone must be 100 times more alert in defense and absolutely cannot give Manchester United any chance to take advantage.

Although this would cause his goal to be besieged by Manchester United for a full 45 minutes, Klopp believed that Alisson and his defense line could withstand the pressure from Manchester United.

You have to know that after they entered the League Cup final, all their training content was about how to withstand Manchester United's fierce offensive for as long as possible.

They even brought this idea to the league. In the 25th round of the Premier League two weeks ago, when Liverpool challenged Burnley away, Klopp made a large-scale rotation because they had to go away to challenge Inter Milan in the following midweek. Liverpool played with a substitute lineup against Burnley. Except for a few counterattacks, they basically let the relegation team Burnley press them. In the end, they relied on a quick counterattack to score a goal and won 1:0.

Of course, as a relegation team, Burnley's offensive strength cannot be compared with Manchester United. But at least it is a warm-up, allowing the players to get familiar with the feeling of defending.

Klopp also warned the whole team not to attack easily unless there was a particularly good opportunity.

How to handle the ball in the backcourt safely? Not with a precise long pass to find teammates in front, because there will be no teammates in front at all - but to kick the ball out directly with a big foot, no matter whether it is kicked to the frontcourt or out of the sideline.

The closer you are to the goal, the more decisive you need to be in handling the ball.

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In addition, in order to curb Manchester United's attack, Bruno is also a person who must be taken care of.

The reason why Liverpool lost the ball in the first half was actually because they gave Bruno an opportunity when defending, so they must not make such a mistake again in the second half.

When defending Bruno, you must be 100% close and you can use foul tactics, but be careful to avoid dangerous areas when choosing the location to foul.

Finally, Klopp encouraged the players to hold on for another 45 minutes. Persistence is victory. After withstanding Manchester United's offensive, they will be the ultimate winners.

This is the first time that Liverpool has won a major tournament since Klopp took over as coach of Liverpool for more than six years!
Winning the championship by stepping on the corpse of arch-rival Manchester United is undoubtedly the most perfect ending!

Klopp's highly inflammatory tone, coupled with his exaggerated gestures, made the Liverpool players in the locker room excited, and they couldn't wait to go out and tear those Manchester United players apart.

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The second half of the game started, and neither side made any substitutions, they just changed sides and continued the game.

Not long after the start, Manchester United launched a threatening attack. Rashford's cross was poked by Liverpool defender Matip and fell right at Harry Kane's feet.

However, the English striker's shot was caught directly in the arms of the alert Alisson.

"It was a close call! Alisson made a great save!" The commentator of Liverpool's local TV station exclaimed, "Liverpool seemed to have not yet entered the state at the beginning of the second half... This mistake in the back line was simply too bad! If it weren't for Alisson, they might have lost the ball!"

Of course, Liverpool soon counterattacked. Gundogan fouled Arnold in defense, and the referee Atwell awarded Liverpool a free kick.

After the free kick was kicked into the penalty area, Koulibaly headed the ball horizontally, and Mane's header from nine meters in front of the goal was blocked by De Gea with one hand. "Liverpool fought back! Both teams had some problems in their defense, but the goalkeepers of both teams performed very well and stably!"

"The second half just started and both sides had an attack that threatened the goal. It seems that the second half of the game will not be boring..." said He Wei.

For Chinese fans who stay up late to watch the game, the most important thing is that the scene is exciting and thrilling. If the two teams play a 120:0 game for 0 minutes, it will make Chinese fans feel that their lives have been wasted.

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Next, the two teams exchanged blows, but overall, Liverpool was in a defensive position. They were defending more often, while Manchester United's attack was more fierce.

The TV broadcast gave close-up shots of the two head coaches on the sidelines. Klopp and Mourinho are both world-class coaches and also coaches with strong personalities.

The imprint of their personalities is very obvious in the teams they coach.

In this duel between two world-class coaches, who will win in the end?

This is also the focus of everyone's attention.

Although Manchester United's attack was fierce, they were unable to score any more goals due to the outstanding performance of Alisson standing in front of Liverpool's goal.

As the time of the game passed by minute by minute, the time gradually came to the 65th minute, and Mourinho decided to make proactive adjustments.

He replaced Kante with Bellingham, reducing a defensive midfielder in the midfield and adding a defensive midfielder who is good at organizing offense. Mourinho's intention is obvious, that is, to strengthen the offense and strive to score goals as soon as possible. Even if he sacrifices defense for this, Mourinho doesn't care.

Klopp was secretly happy about Mourinho's adjustment.

Such an adjustment shows that Mourinho can no longer sit still. He will reduce the defensive strength of one midfielder. When Liverpool suddenly launches a counterattack, he wants to see how Manchester United's midfield configuration will resist!

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With Mourinho's substitution, the situation on the field changed slightly. Liverpool began to consciously increase the number of counterattacks and the number of troops invested.

In the 70th minute, Liverpool launched a textbook counterattack. The Red Army captain Henderson's low shot from the corner of the penalty area was touched by De Gea's foot, brushed the far post and rolled out of the bottom line.

However, the referee Atwell did not give a corner kick, but a goal kick, which caused dissatisfaction among Liverpool players. Henderson protested to the referee Atwell, but was ignored by Atwell.

Although Liverpool's counterattack did not result in a goal, it made many Manchester United fans break out in cold sweats.

After Liverpool's counterattack, Manchester United further strengthened their offensive and their attack became more fierce.

However, during this period, the protagonist was not the Manchester United attackers, but Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson. The Brazilian goalkeeper blocked all the shots of the Manchester United players with high and low blocks.

In the 76th minute, Bruno made a long pass from the center circle, Cancelo passed the ball from the right side of the penalty area, and Greenwood made a shovel shot from eight meters in front of the goal, but Alisson blocked it with his foot and it went out of the right post.

Three minutes later, Rashford and Bruno played a wall pass in the middle. Bruno passed the ball directly into the penalty area with his left foot. Rashford shot from ten meters in front of the goal. The football drew an arc and flew towards the back of the goal!

Faced with such a sudden and quick shot, Alisson stretched out his foot and swept the ball with the outside of his left foot without having time to save it, causing the ball to eventually go wide of the far post!

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"Oh oh oh oh!! Alisson!" The commentator of Liverpool's local TV station shouted excitedly, "Alisson! Alisson! Two consecutive wonderful saves, he kept the goal safe!"

Gary Lineker said with some regret: "Manchester United obviously stepped up their offensive, hoping to score another goal, but such a fierce offensive was blocked by Alisson. Manchester United missed several good opportunities, and even if they seized one of these opportunities, Manchester United would take the lead in the score. Now it is still a draw. I think missing these opportunities will definitely have a negative impact on the psychology of Manchester United's players..."

Gary Lineker was right. Greenwood and Rashford had two close and almost certain scoring opportunities within three minutes, but they were blocked by Alisson with his feet. This really dealt a heavy blow to Manchester United's morale.

Especially Greenwood and Rashford, who were prevented from scoring by Alisson, even thought that Alisson was invincible.

Greenwood is a little better, after all, he has already scored a goal, so he is not completely lost in confidence. But Rashford is different. The Manchester United winger has not achieved anything today. Instead, Alisson has blocked several excellent shooting opportunities, which has completely collapsed his confidence. When facing Alisson, he didn't even dare to shoot.

(End of this chapter)