Chapter 558 What is the Team Brain?
Chapter 558 What is the Team Brain?
"Manchester United, playing away from home, is in trouble. After 25 minutes, they still can't find the rhythm and direction of their attack, and the opponent shoots through the goal first...Manchester United is always good at playing when they are ahead, so how will they perform when they are ahead..."
The commentator who supports Manchester United was very worried about Manchester United and even couldn't help but recall an experience six years ago.
That season, with only six rounds left in the league, Manchester United had an 6-point advantage over Manchester City. It seemed that it was only a matter of time before Manchester United won the championship. However, Manchester United lost to Wigan Athletic unexpectedly, led Everton 8-4 but let the opponent score 2 goals in a row to get only 2 point, and lost the derby match that gave Park Ji-sung a very high tactical position. Losing 1 points in 4 rounds quickly disintegrated Manchester United's points advantage, and Manchester City finally won the Premier League championship with the advantage of goal difference.
If Manchester United loses the game away from home today, it is not impossible that Manchester City will reverse the situation again.
Although Manchester United's performance this season is perfect, Manchester City's performance is also very good. In 31 Premier League games, they got 81 points, averaging 2.61 points per game, which means they can get 99 points at the end of the season.
This score would be enough to win the championship in any other league.
Facing such a strong opponent, if Manchester United makes too many mistakes, it is entirely possible that they will be reversed.
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Seeing the goal, Guardiola jumped up from his seat and raised his arms to cheer, while Mourinho next to him looked annoyed.
Manchester City showed everyone who watched the game a different kind of defensive counterattack. They didn't hide in their backcourt and wait for the opponent to attack, then counterattack in the gap behind the opponent. Their defense was very active, and Manchester City players were actively stealing from the frontcourt to the backcourt, which made Manchester United's players very uncomfortable. They had no space to play freely on the court, and the effectiveness of the game would be greatly reduced.
After taking the lead, Manchester City did not launch an all-out attack, but continued to stick to their "defensive counterattack", relying on midfield interception and restriction of Bruno. Once Manchester United was paralyzed, they would immediately use sharp attacks to hit their vital points.
Bruno found that Manchester City players paid great attention to the severity of fouls. Although they fell on some balls and the opponents did commit fouls, they were not enough to get a yellow card.
It seems that this is also what Coach Guardiola told them in advance...
Damn it, after two seasons, I have really been studied thoroughly by the other side!
Even so, what else could he do? He could only continue to look for opportunities between the three of them.
Bruno didn't believe that he couldn't find such an opportunity, and didn't believe that Manchester City's players could maintain that state from beginning to end in a 90-minute high-intensity game...
Wait? Ninety minutes of high intensity from start to finish?
Bruno suddenly thought of one thing, that is, can Manchester City's defense always maintain such compactness and tacit understanding? Is it really possible?
He didn't believe that there were such players and teams in the world who could play a 90-minute game without making any mistakes or loopholes.
If so, it must be because the pressure we put on the other party is not enough.
I was so busy fighting with the opponent's three midfielders, how could I have forgotten this point?
It is too narrow-minded to only focus on three people...
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Bruno continued to break through and seemed to want to commit a foul, but when the opponent pounced on him, he suddenly passed the ball to Kante beside him, then he stopped and turned around and ran in another direction.
Mkhitaryan thought he was going to continue receiving the ball, so he followed him closely.
However, Bruno gestured to Kante behind him, asking him not to pass the ball to him. As for who to pass the ball to, that was Kante's own business and he had no say in it.
Otherwise, why would Bruno recommend Mourinho to buy Kante to partner with him? The two of them have that special tacit understanding, and you can know it without saying it.
When Kante saw Mkhitaryan following Bruno, he knew that the ball could not be passed to him, so he turned around and passed the ball to Gundogan on the other side.
Gundogan made a direct cross, Harry Kane almost got the ball, but Kompany got the lead and headed it out.
Corner kick!
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Taking advantage of the dead ball opportunity, Bruno called several teammates over.
It was impossible for him to call all the team members to his side and give them instructions. He could only speak to a few people first and then pass it on.
"We need to improve our offensive rhythm." He said to everyone, "I'm sorry, we didn't find the rhythm before, it was all my fault. Now we have to change this situation. My pass will be very fast, so I need everyone to cooperate with me."
"That's good!" Harry Kane clenched his fist and shouted, "Speed suits us! You don't have to tell us, Bruno, we are adapted to fast football, ha!"
Others agreed.
"Then it's settled, we'll pass the ball quickly and use our speed to tear open their defense!"
Everyone responded with a roar.
Everyone else left, but Bruno pulled Rashford and he had something to say about the corner kick.
"Marcus, don't kick the ball directly to the goal. Their central defenders are very good at air defense."
"You mean the tactical corner?" Rashford asked.
Bruno nodded and said, "Give me the ball, I will organize the attack, we will launch a quick attack on them in the 30-meter area!"
Rashford found Bruno's comment funny and he laughed too.
Rashford ran to take the corner kick, but Bruno did not follow him. Instead, he stood on the ribs, some distance away from the corner area.
He didn't want to be too obvious and let the other party see through his intentions.
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There was a crowd in front of Manchester City's goal, but Bruno did not go in to join in the fun.
Rashford didn't pass the ball there. He swept the ball directly to the outside of the penalty area and it fell at Bruno's feet.
Watching the ball fly towards Bruno, Fernandinho bypassed Kante who was blocking him in the penalty area and rushed towards Bruno.
Bruno saw Fernandinho and pretended to shoot, which caused Fernandinho to fly over to block the shot. However, he suddenly dribbled the ball past the Brazilian midfielder, and then passed the ball again without waiting for other Manchester City players to surround him!
Instead of passing the ball to the wing, he passed it through!
The football passed under the feet of two Manchester City players on the flank. At the same time, Mbappe made a diagonal cut and broke through Manchester City's overall forward defense line!
"Beautiful counter-offside!"
"Bruno finally made a decent through ball!"
"Wow! Beautiful! So beautiful!"
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The commentators exclaimed loudly.
When Mbappe received the ball, some Manchester City players raised their hands to indicate that the opponent was offside, because they did not expect Manchester United's attack to be so fast and determined.
After receiving the ball, Mbappe turned around to face the goal and shot directly!
The ball was saved by Ederson, another corner kick!
"Wow! Manchester United finally has a chance to threaten Manchester City's goal!"
There was a huge cry of surprise from Manchester City fans in the stands. They almost thought that their team’s lead was about to be lost.
Mbappe held his head in his hands, feeling regretful for missing this great opportunity.
"In the duel with Manchester City's three midfielders, Bruno finally won a round!" Lineker, who gradually turned into a "Bruno fan", really valued Bruno's personal performance.
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Fernandinho stood up and looked at his Brazil national team teammate Ederson who looked a little embarrassed, and knew that he had been fooled by Bruno.
Football is so unfair, no matter how many times the offensive players are blocked by the defensive players, the praise the defensive players deserve will not be as great as when the offensive players occasionally break through the defensive players.
When Manchester United took another corner kick, Fernandinho did not retreat to the penalty area, but stayed beside Bruno.
Bruno still stood in the same position as before, but this time Rashford did not kick the ball to him, but passed it directly in front of the goal.
Rashford is not a stupid person. When he saw Bruno was being closely guarded by the opponent, he still executed the previous tactics.
Although Rashford's cross found a Manchester United player, Maguire headed the ball high, and Manchester United's attack ended there.
Although there was no goal, Bruno and his Manchester United teammates gained confidence through this attack.
Manchester City's defense is not completely without loopholes. When facing Manchester United, who suddenly changed their rhythm, some unexpected loopholes appeared.
"Let's do it!" Manchester United players encouraged each other.
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Guardiola could no longer sit back and relax regarding the loopholes in defense. He rushed to the sidelines and was furious about the defense.
"What the fuck are you doing?! Don't give him that chance!"
He soon realized that it was not that their players were not defensively strong, but that Manchester United became more active and they seemed to be about to find the right track.
As soon as Bruno got the ball, he passed it, then ran quickly, continued to receive the pass from his teammates, and passed it quickly again.
Not only him, but other players around him are like this, passing and running fast.
Manchester United suddenly became aggressive, making it difficult for Manchester City players to adapt for a while.
"Bruno receives the ball, pass it! Kante! Mbappe! Bruno! Rashford! Shaw... Bruno! Harry Kane - misses!"
"Bruno passed the ball without stopping and Mkhitaryan fouled him! The referee Martin Atkinson blew the whistle to suspend the game! He gave Mkhitaryan a verbal warning, but Manchester United players were not satisfied. They believed that Mkhitaryan should have received a yellow card for this foul!"
"Manchester United's performance has suddenly improved, which is related to Bruno's activity. Could it be that he has found a way to deal with Manchester City's midfield?"
