Chapter 509 Don’t give him a chance!

After the start of the second half, Chelsea indeed stepped up their offense, but Manchester United had already anticipated this, so they also stepped up their defense.

There was a time when they couldn't even get past halftime, so they just stayed in their own penalty area.

Judging from the scene, this is certainly ugly, but compared with the result, it’s not a big deal to be ugly at this time.

This season, Manchester United has rarely played such ugly games, but when they decided to do so, they must have the belief of "results first".

The only difference from before is that in this style of play, Hazard served as the counterattack arrow in the front. He has outstanding speed and personal skills, and has strong individual combat capabilities. Sometimes one person can solve the problem. .

However, Chelsea did not dare to press forward across the board, because Manchester United's counterattack was also very threatening. The pair of wingers, Rashford and Mbappe, are both good counterattackers.

Therefore, even when Chelsea attacks, they still maintain sufficient defensive strength. There were several times when Bruno picked up the ball but didn't have a good chance to look up. He had no choice but to give up, regain control of the football, and pass it back and forth. The opponent's defenders and midfielders all retreated like the ebbing tide. Want to attack again? Let's have an honest positional war with Chelsea.

In the end, because he couldn't find a suitable opportunity, he had to force a long shot or a simple and crude cross. Under the defense of Azpilicueta, Christensen and Rudiger, Harry Kane did not get any decent opportunities.

However, Rashford and Mbappe were able to create some opportunities with their flexible footwork.

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For more than half of the second half, Chelsea besieged Manchester United, while Manchester United defended. Occasionally there will be a few opportunities to fight back, which is not painful.

Chelsea fans at Stamford Bridge kept chanting and cheering for their team.

There were not many Manchester United fans in the stands, only more than 2,000 people. As soon as they opened their mouths, their voices were drowned in the cheers of Chelsea fans.

The only thing that makes them happy is that the team has not conceded any more goals so far. The opponent's offensive is so fierce, but the score is still 0:1.

Manchester United fans think it's okay to lose this game with this score, but that doesn't mean that all the players on the field think so. At least Bruno has been looking for every possible counterattack opportunity.

As long as there is a slight chance, he will pass the ball without hesitation, and then it depends on the ability of his teammates to receive the ball.

It's just a pity that no scoring opportunities have been created so far.

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As the game passed seventy minutes, Chelsea still maintained their lead. At this time Chelsea chose to defend and counterattack, so Manchester United had more space in the midfield.

At this time, Conte no longer cares about whether to continue to contain Bruno in the midfield. Now Chelsea's strategy is to defend the thirty-meter area so that the opponent cannot easily penetrate the defense whether it is passing or shooting, and then wait for an opportunity to counterattack.

If you press out to grab Bruno, it is easy to mess up your defensive formation.

The essence of this defense is to give up possession to ensure that the three lines remain compact and the formation is intact, so that there will be fewer holes in the defense.

For Bruno, although he has more freedom in the midfield, he has to face an iron-clad defense.

If the opponent keeps their formation intact and compact, attacking opportunities will be much harder to find and you will find that there are people everywhere and it will be difficult for the football to pass through.

Therefore, he cannot stay outside the opponent's 30-meter defense zone. He seems to be working hard to find opportunities to pass the ball, but it is all in vain.

He must get closer to the opponent's penalty area, closer to the opponent's goal, and suddenly insert to disrupt the opponent's defense so that they cannot continue to maintain their formation, thereby finding opportunities for his own offense.

He made a gesture to Kanter: I want to move forward.

Kanter waved his hand: Go ahead, I’m behind you.

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Rashford couldn't find a suitable crossing opportunity from the wing, and there were people in front of the goal. If he passed the football in, he would definitely be criticized by Bruno after the game, because it would not have any effect, and it would just be a waste of time. It's just an offensive opportunity. So he passed the football to the middle again.

Bruno ran towards the football, Matic followed closely behind him.

Bruno did not stop the ball, but directly used the outside instep of his left foot to pass the football to Kanter behind him while running.

This is Bruno's most commonly used passing method in recent times. He does not observe where his teammates are, nor does he stop to adjust the ball. Instead, he passes the football along with the force of the pass. Unless you can get the football away from him early, expect a foul.

Matic initially received a yellow card for fouling Bruno who passed the ball, and now he is much more careful in defense. Usually they just follow and don't make any rash moves.

Anyway, Bruno's passes are often only backwards or to both sides. That is not the area he is responsible for. He just strictly followed what Conte said, controlled the middle, guarded the middle, and that was it.

After passing the ball, Bruno went around in a circle and ran back. Kanter had already distributed the football to the other side.

On that side, coming up is Mbappe. Mbappe finally decided to force a cross, and the ball bounced off the legs of Chelsea left center back Rudiger, who was defending him.

The game had been proceeding according to an established rhythm before, but this failed forced cross added some sudden changes to the established rhythm.

Chelsea's defensive formation has changed. They are no longer just shrinking in the penalty area, but are planning to wait for opportunities to counterattack.

Conte's tactics are originally defensive and counterattack. You can't just defend without counterattack.

So after Rudiger blocked the football, Chelsea's offensive players rushed out, intending to take this opportunity to launch a counterattack.

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Kanter consciously leaned over after passing the ball to Mbappe. When Rudiger blocked the football, he rushed towards the football immediately, and then stabbed the football down before Hazard. .

Hazard raised his arm high to signal the opponent to step on, but the referee ignored it.

Kanter didn't have time to adjust the football. He knew this was Manchester United's opportunity, so he picked the football in the air directly to Bruno.

Matic saw the ball coming and pounced on it.

Bruno still didn't stop the ball. This time he faced the direction of attack, dragging his right foot behind and extending his left foot forward, just like a normal running posture.

But the football flew over at this moment and hit the inside of his left foot. With a slight twist of his ankle, the football changed its line and flew forward!

Matic didn't expect Bruno to pass the football directly in such a difficult situation. He didn't make any blocking action and let the football fly past him!

"Oh! Beautiful!"

Bruno's ball did not pass directly to the center of the penalty area, which is the most crowded, but slightly to the right. Mbappe received the ball in the penalty area and then shot directly!

The ball was saved by Courtois, but Christensen pushed the ball over the bottom line under the pressure of Harry Kane.

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"Don't give him a chance!" Azpilicueta said to Matic who came back to defend in front of the goal.

The "he" in the Chelsea captain's mouth refers not to Mbappe who shot the ball, but to Bruno.

Matic spread his hands and said: "I rushed up to defend quickly enough, why didn't I give him a chance? The problem is that pass... I really didn't expect it!"

Azpilicueta admitted that when he saw this pass from the central defender position, the first thought in his mind was "How can he pass the ball like this?".

He knew how heavy Matic's defensive tasks were, so he did not continue to pester him. He just pulled Matic and asked him to pay attention to defense.

And what about himself? He stood next to Bruno. It's not that he deliberately challenged Bruno, but in the corner kick defense, the task given to him by head coach Conte was to prevent Bruno from heading the goal.

Data and videos show that the Portuguese's header ability has improved rapidly in recent years, and he has scored many goals with headers in the league.

However, this time the corner kick was not sent to Bruno's side, but went directly to the back point. Maguire, who was ambushing in the back point, jumped up and rushed to the top, intending to make up for it. Unfortunately, his header was slightly deflected and the football hit the side. online.

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In the pass that created the corner kick just now, Bruno's position was at the top of the penalty area. But Bruno felt that it was not enough and he should go one step further.

The concept of a free man is to come in from behind and allow one more player than the opponent to attack. He is freer than other teammates, so he is called a free man. However, with the prevalence of zone defense, the "sudden extra" advantage of the free agent in the offense has disappeared, so the free agent gradually lost the soil for survival.

However, Bruno's understanding is different. Free people should not be limited to this level of "freedom." The opponent's defense line is very tight, the formation is complete, and the advance and retreat are well-founded. And he has to act as a free agent, suddenly stepping in, using passes or dribbling to disrupt their defensive formation, causing them to fall into a brief panic, even if it is just for a second, so that he can seize the opportunity.

His freedom is true freedom. As an opponent, no one can guess what he wants to do next.

When Manchester United attacked, Bruno initially wandered outside the thirty-meter area, running left and right to support his teammates.

When he thinks the time has come, he will suddenly move forward, pass the ball or simply dribble the ball in to force a breakthrough. Even if you can't successfully break in, you still have to create free kick opportunities.

Matic and Fabregas stared at Bruno.

The ball was passed towards Bruno and this time Fabregas rushed forward while Matic stayed behind to intercept his pass.

Matic quickly looked back at the position of the opponent's players behind him to better judge where Bruno would pass the ball.

Judging from his position, passing it to Mbappe may be the easiest thing to do. So he was stuck between Mbappe and Bruno.