Chapter 402 Moyes’s Ambition

In the 59th minute, Sunderland launched an attack. Cone made a long pass from the backcourt, but Bruno intercepted it in the midfield.

After blocking Sunderland's attack, Bruno waved his hand and asked everyone to counterattack.

Immediately, Lingard, Ibrahimovic, Carrick and Mata immediately turned forward and charged towards Sunderland's goal.

Bruno took two steps, observed, and found that most of his teammates had already reached their positions, so he passed the ball to Carrick who came to meet him.

After receiving the ball, the veteran drove straight in and shot with his left foot from the penalty area line, but the ball was blocked by Pickford.

But Manchester United's attack was not over yet, and they soon got a second chance to attack.

This can also be regarded as a characteristic of Mourinho's new Manchester United. Both their offense and defense are very layered, just like the waves of the sea, one after another, continuously.

When attacking, they will destroy the opponent's defense and score goals through wave after wave of attacks. When defending, they will pass through one line of defense after another to neutralize the opponent's offense.

To achieve this effect, the two players Mourinho relies on most are Bruno and Kante.

………………

Pickford blocked the football, but it did not fall at the feet of any Sunderland player, but fell at the feet of Lingard.

Lingard faced Cone's defense. Instead of shooting, he passed the ball to Ibrahimovic.

Ibrahimovic directly knocked the football to Blind with his heel. The Dutchman, who was a guest left back in this game, moved out of the way and shot with his left foot 18 meters away from the goal.

Pickford pounced again, but the football slipped from his fingertips. When he turned around, he saw the football hit the inside of the goalpost and then bounced in.

Second goal lost!

"2:0! Manchester United, playing at home, has expanded its lead!!"

Moyes was very depressed. He desperately defended and was scored by the opponent. He was scored again during the counterattack.

What will he do now that he is two goals behind?

The background for the depressed Moyes was the cheering Manchester United fans in the stands.

Manchester United scored two goals in twelve minutes, completely defeating Sunderland.

These two goals were like the rain today, dousing Sunderland's newly ignited fire of fighting spirit.

What's more terrifying than these two goals conceded is that Sunderland players found that Manchester United's offense can always create a threat to their goal.

This undoubtedly caused a lot of psychological pressure on Sunderland's players, and they had to think carefully when they wanted to attack again.

Offense and defense have always been a story of "fish and bear's paw" on the football field.

Although this goal was not directly assisted by Bruno, he intercepted the ball and initiated it.

Lineker said loudly: "Today is Boxing Day, and Bruno has given everyone the best gift! Obviously, Bruno has now completely become the leader of the team. It can be seen from this attack come out."

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When the game resumed, Moyes had figured it out. Anyway, being behind by two goals is a loss, and being behind by one goal is also a loss. Since they are both losses, why not press out and attack, and maybe create a miracle?

He stood on the sidelines, shouted the players' names, and told them by all means: Attack!

But Sunderland's players were a little hesitant, because Manchester United's offensive was very fierce and the threat rate was very high.

"What if we attack and they score another goal? The game will be unplayable!"

"...We have only conceded two goals now, and there are thirty minutes left in the game. Maybe there is still hope..."

"maybe……"

The thoughts of Sunderland players became complicated. Some wanted to continue to defend, while others wanted to counterattack.

But soon Manchester United let the Sunderland players who wanted to counterattack know that the hope of a counterattack and comeback was very slim.

In the 62nd minute, just three minutes after Manchester United scored, they organized another attack.

This time it was Mata who took the lead. He played one-two with Blind on the wing and pulled him to the wing to cross. After Ibrahimovic's header passed, Bruno hit the ball with his feet. Pickford was embarrassed by the football. The ground jumped out.

………………

Moyes, who was standing on the sidelines watching the game, seemed more anxious than the players on the field.

"Press out!" he shouted, almost rushing into the field and grabbing Sebastian Larsson who was closest to him, "We must attack!"

Larson was shocked by the coach's appearance. He had rarely seen Moyes so excited.

But thinking that today's opponent was Manchester United, he nodded with some understanding.

Moyes pointed to the court and continued: "Go up and tell them, let them attack, abandon the defensive counterattack tactics, we will attack with all our strength."

"But... but..." Larson, who finally reacted, was a little surprised and confused, "But the opponent's attack is very powerful. I'm worried that our defense will be, will be penetrated..."

"So we have to step up our offense and try to score their goals before our defense is broken by them. Go on, go out and tell them!"

From the corner of his eye, Moyes saw the fourth official looking towards him, and quickly patted Larson on the shoulder and pushed him onto the court. Then he walked back to his seat in the dugout and asked his assistant coach for a list of substitutes.

………………

Moyes decided to implement his will with substitutions.

Soon Sunderland replaced Ndong with Donald Love, a young player from Manchester United's youth training camp. Ndong is a defensive midfielder, while Love can play both attacking midfielder and defensive midfielder. This is considered an adjustment to enhance the offense.

After Loew came on the field, he also followed the coach's instructions and conveyed the latest tactics to his teammates.

"The coach said we must attack." He conveyed Moyes' order to his still hesitant teammates.

"But the defense..." someone expressed concern.

"Don't worry so much, try to score goals first, otherwise we will really lose!"

Sunderland's players also felt that at the moment, there was no better way than attacking, and they didn't like being stuck behind to defend. So after the game restarted, Sunderland restarted their offensive.

Manchester United seemed very uncomfortable with Sunderland's sudden strength. After four minutes, their goal was declared lost.

Van Aanholt assisted Manchester United within the 30-meter area. This was his first assist in the game.

As a left back, Van Aanholt has always guarded his defensive area and did not dare to act rashly.

Manchester United were poorly prepared for his sudden advance, allowing him to cross calmly.

The football flew to the goal, and Borini volleyed from the right side of the penalty area to help Sunderland regain the victory. De Gea was beyond his reach and the ball flew straight into the goal.

………………

This goal rekindles Sunderland's hope!

After Borini scored, the Sunderland fans in the stands finally let out their cheers.

They have been silent for so long in this game that it was almost thought that Sunderland had no fans coming to the away game.

The Sunderland players were very excited after the goal. They surrounded Borini who scored the goal and ran to the bottom of their fans' stands to celebrate the goal with them.

On the other side, Manchester United's players were helpless and surprised.

This goal was indeed unexpected. They did not expect that Sunderland, who had only one threatening opportunity in the entire game, would score a goal at the second opportunity.

Bruno knew that someone was missing in the defense, but he couldn't say anything yet.

Blaming each other and blaming teammates after conceding a goal is a big no-no!

He could clap his hands at everyone and tell them not to take the conceded goal seriously: "We are still one goal ahead, don't act like we are already behind, brothers."

Today is Boxing Day, and he doesn't want Sunderland to ruin Manchester United's festive celebrations.

Sunderland, who had pulled a goal back, saw the hope of equalizing the score or even reversing the score. They stood on the field, looking eager to try, planning to continue their offensive after the game restarted.

Moyes thought so too, and he was happy to see that his adjustments were paying off. As long as we persist, we can even the score.

Thinking of this, he continued to stand on the sidelines, full of expectations for the game.

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"We have to show them how awesome we are!" Bruno ran up to Ibrahimovic before the kick-off. "When the kick-off comes, you run forward and try to get into the opponent's penalty area. I will pass the ball to you. Let's Don’t be so complicated, make it simple!”

Ibrahimovic believed Bruno's pass was accurate and nodded in agreement.

When the referee saw that both players had returned to their positions, he blew the whistle to restart the game.

After receiving the pass from Ibrahimovic, Lingard turned and passed the football to Bruno.

Ibrahimovic kept Bruno's words in mind, looked back and rushed forward quickly.

After receiving the pass, Bruno, like a football quarterback, did not rush to pass the ball, but took the ball backwards, observing the situation on the field while attracting Sunderland players to run forward.

Just after kick-off, Sunderland's formation was still tight and did not spread out, just like a person putting his fist in front of his chest and preparing to punch.

Now he has to let the opponent punch out, only in this way will there be a flaw.

Bruno didn't pass the ball back, he just pulled the football back because he had to attract the opponent to his side.

Sunderland had just scored a goal, and their morale was now high. Seeing Bruno holding the football for a long time, they thought they had an opportunity. The two vanguards, Defoe and Anichebe, rushed towards Bruno.

Bruno noticed their movements, but he still did not pass the ball. He was still observing, still waiting, waiting for the Sunderland boxer to swing out both of his fists, so that he would definitely open the door wide!

Ibrahimovic was still running forward, and except for the first time, he never looked back.

He believed in Bruno that as long as he ran to the right position, football would naturally come from behind.