Chapter 497 Double Red Society

October 10th, at 14:8 noon, Anfield Stadium, the first match of the th round of the Premier League, Manchester United challenged Liverpool away.

This is a showdown between two of the strongest teams in English history.

Compared to Manchester United, which had won consecutive games in the first seven rounds without conceding a goal, Liverpool's record was much inferior. Klopp's team only achieved 3 wins, 3 draws and 1 loss, ranking seventh in the standings.

In this game against Manchester United, Liverpool can no longer afford to lose.

Although Liverpool made some reinforcements in the summer transfer window, compared to Manchester United's signings, it pales in comparison.

However, when facing a game like the Double Red Club, it is often impossible to predict the final result of the game based on the team's historical record, recent status, or even the team's strength.

In history, there are many cases in the Double Red Club where the side in good condition but relatively weak ended up winning.

Facing Manchester United in this game, Klopp's team actively took the initiative to attack Manchester United's goal from the beginning, with the singing of "You Will Never Walk Alone" resounding in the Anfield Stadium. offensive.

In the first ten minutes, Liverpool's ball possession rate was as high as 63%.

Three minutes into the game, Henderson made a wonderful pass to the right. Salah passed straight into the penalty area. Coutinho tried to pass the ball to Firmino, but Van Dijk, who was returning from injury in this round, suddenly stepped forward to clear the ball. , ruining Liverpool's first attack.

A minute later, there was another direct pass from Henderson. Salah took a left-footed shot from the center of the penalty area, but failed to hit the ball.

Two minutes later, Coutinho passed the ball, and right back Gomez followed up with a long shot from 25 meters away.

In the seventh minute, after Wijnaldum stole the ball in midfield, Salah tried to dribble the ball into the penalty area, but was successfully intercepted by Cancelo.

The two have worked together in Udinese, and Cancelo naturally knows Salah's characteristics.

In the ninth minute, Firmino passed the defender and shot a long shot from outside the penalty area, but it was confiscated by Manchester United goalkeeper De Gea again.

A minute later, Wijnaldum took a long shot from more than 30 meters away, but it was a little too wide.

………………

In the first ten minutes, the game was completely controlled by Liverpool, and Manchester United was forced to defend tightly.

In this game, Gundogan's task is more to defend the midfield, especially to protect the back line with Kanter.

It was difficult for Liverpool to break through Manchester United's defense in the middle, and they were forced to frequently take long shots.

Being beaten away by their opponents in the away game, Manchester United did not gradually regain their form until the 15th minute. The right wing, with Mbappe and Valencia sitting on it, has become the active area of ​​Manchester United's offense, but Klopp also attaches great importance to the defense of his left wing. Not only Moreno has been defending from behind, but even Coutinho He also often drops back to help defend.

Seeing that the right wing could not open up the situation, Bruno frequently changed his position and often appeared on the left wing.

In the following time, the two teams exchanged offense and defense.

Among them, Manchester United's most threatening attack occurred in the 33rd minute. Valencia quickly stepped in from the right, cooperated with Bruno, and passed into the penalty area, where Harry Kane headed the ball.

Bruno, who quickly crossed into the penalty area from the right rib, rushed all the way to the front of the small penalty area and shook his head to attack the goal from close range.

But such a close header was caught by Liverpool goalkeeper Mignolet.

Harry Kane raised his hand apologetically. Under Matip's interference, he failed to get the ball upright, causing it to be a bit high.

Bruno himself also felt a little depressed. He subconsciously used his head to hit the ball passed by Harry Kane, but he didn't hit it well. In addition, Mignolet was in a good position, so he couldn't score. .

However, Bruno quickly adjusted his mood and continued to patiently look for opportunities.

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Before halftime, Harry Kane retreated to receive the ball and passed the ball directly behind him. Bruno quickly got rid of Emre Can and stepped in, successfully countering offside and dribbling the ball into the penalty area. After passing Liverpool goalkeeper Minnie, After Ole, when he was about to hit the goal, Liverpool central defender Lovren quickly used his body to block it. At this time, there was an obvious opening of his hand, causing Bruno's shot to hit his hand and bounce out of the baseline.

Bruno quickly appealed to the referee, thinking it was an intentional handball, and Lovren's hand was obviously open.

"If he hadn't opened his hand, my shot would have gone in!" Bruno said with certainty.

But the referee on duty rejected Bruno's appeal and believed that his decision was not wrong. This made Bruno feel very depressed and turned around and walked back.

When Lovren passed by him, he patted his shoulder gently. It was obvious that the Croatian himself felt guilty. Whether it was intentional or not, his arms were indeed opened just now.

………………

"It was undoubtedly a handball! But there is no way, we need to forget this misjudgment and concentrate on the second half of the game."

At halftime, in the home team's dressing room, Mourinho replayed the slow-motion replay to all the players.

Handball, there is absolutely no problem. Although it is impossible to tell whether it was intentional or unintentional, it was indeed a handball.

After playing hard for forty-five minutes, the players were obviously very tired. Their opponent, Liverpool, was not weak at all.

"As I told everyone before the game, Liverpool's defensive problems are mainly concentrated in the deep midfield position."

Mourinho drew a large long strip at the front of Liverpool's penalty area on the tactical board.

Goalkeeper Mignolet, defense is Moreno, Lovren, Matip and Gomez, midfielder is Wijnaldum, Henderson and Emre Can, frontcourt is Coutinho , Firmino partners with Salah.

"Frankly speaking, I was not satisfied with the performance in the first half. Our start was not smooth. We should have taken the initiative, but we were overtaken by Liverpool. Then we failed to complete the pre-match tasks very well. deploy."

Mourinho drives the pieces on the tactical board that represent United players.

"As we said before the game, pull Liverpool's midfielder from both wings and ribs. They often only have one Henderson in this area. As long as he is pulled away, our players who insert from behind will have a chance."

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What Mourinho is talking about is not only the flanks of Mbappe and Rashford, but also the team's center.

Bruno and Gundogan are both good at inserting from behind and are good at shooting from long range.

Bruno has played against Henderson and knows the passing ability of the Liverpool midfielder, but regarding his defense, Bruno believes that both himself and Gundogan have the ability to create gaps in him.

The only trouble is German strongman Emre Can. He is like a god, standing at the edge of Liverpool's penalty area. It is difficult to break through him.

But one person cannot cover everything. It is difficult for James to stabilize the midfield alone. This is also a key factor why Liverpool has frequently conceded goals this season and even suffered a 0:5 defeat at the feet of Manchester City.

"Let me do it!" Bruno stepped forward and stood up.

Everyone immediately looked at him in unison, with admiration in their eyes.

Facing an opponent like Liverpool, being able to step forward at this time shows Bruno's courage and responsibility.

With such a captain, who wouldn’t be convinced?

"I will be responsible for dribbling the ball and attracting defensive attention, and others will be responsible for running into space." Bruno said.

Many times, the core players of the team are not just as simple as scoring goals, but also have to take on more.

In particular, core players are often the targets of opponents' focus.

………………

Looking at the current Manchester United team, it can be said that there is only one player with Bruno's comprehensive abilities.

Rashford and Mbappe on the two wings, both like to run long distances, and both like to pass people. They often solve each other in one stop, but they are quite different in terms of the overall situation.

As for Kanter and Gundogan, they are positioned at the back and are not as easy to attract defensive attention as Bruno.

There are many players on the bench who can dribble, but there are really no players who can dribble the ball with confidence, attract the attention of the defense, and then pass the ball out. Not even Mata can do this.

But Bruno can do it.

"Then I'll pull the strings from the front." Harry Kane also took the initiative to take on the task.

"Matip is not in good shape in this game, pay attention to him." Bruno reminded Harry Kane.

Just now when fighting offside, I had noticed Matip's state.

Although Matip was handpicked by Klopp to join Liverpool, the German central defender's abilities are not top-notch. It is said that Liverpool is already looking for a real top defender to reshape Liverpool's defense.

Bruno knows that if Manchester United hadn't made a preemptive move and lured Van Dijk from Southampton last summer, Liverpool would have been very active with the Dutch central defender.

However, now that Van Dijk has put on a Manchester United jersey, it may be difficult for him to wear a Liverpool jersey again in this life.

………………

"Manchester United still passed the ball to the right."

"Leave it to Bruno!"

"Bruno starts quickly, spikes the ball and changes direction, cutting inside!"

"Pretty!"

……

Beep!

As the referee blew his whistle, Moreno got up from the grass panting.

Bruno was still lying next to him, uninjured, but looking excited.

Damn boy!

Moreno cursed secretly in his mind and backed away slowly.

At the last moment of the first half, Bruno suddenly crossed into the penalty area against offside and even passed goalkeeper Mignolet. If Lovren hadn't blocked his shot with his body and a suspected handball at the last moment, Manchester United would have scored.

This serious mistake caused Moreno and Matip to be severely criticized by Klopp during the halftime break. Uncle Zha obviously could not accept that the team's defense made such a mistake.

Moreno was also holding back his anger.