Chapter 683 The winning hand
The subsequent game was in a tense state. Manchester United intensified their fight in the midfield. Kante even knocked down Ayoze Perez and Matt Ritchie twice in five minutes.
Referee Atkinson believed that Kante's knockdown of Ayoze Perez was not a foul, but the second time was considered a foul and Kante was given a verbal warning.
Benítez was furious and questioned the fourth official on the sidelines: "That guy is blind. Didn't he see the French foul?"
The fourth official said with a stern face, asking Benítez to calm down before speaking, otherwise he would record it, as such an accusation would cause an uproar.
"He's confused, don't mind him." Francis Moreno dragged Benítez back.
"Who are you saying is senile?" Benítez wanted to save his face, so he returned to his seat and scolded Moreno.
The latter endured it silently. The old man had to vent his anger eventually, and he could only vent it on him. Was he going to let Benítez really become a referee?
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The game was going on forty-first minutes when the referee finally pulled out a card. It was a tactical foul by Fred who knocked down Rong Dong.
Seeing this, Mourinho called out Kante's name and gestured. Manchester United's violent interception immediately disappeared, and everyone became more careful. On the other hand, Newcastle's anger, aroused by Manchester United, began to explode.
In the remaining five or six minutes of the first half, Newcastle players fouled Manchester United players one after another. After reaching the limit of tolerance, referee Atkinson began to use a frenzy of cards. In just a few minutes, Diame and Hayden on the Newcastle side received consecutive cards.
Mourinho smiled on the sidelines. Diame and Hayden are Newcastle's main defenders. Both of them have yellow cards, which is bound to make Newcastle timid when defending.
Benítez obviously realized this. The Spaniard had seen all the world and immediately realized that he had been fooled.
Finally, at the end of the first half, Manchester United led Newcastle 1:0. Mourinho's tactical goal was basically achieved, the team scored a goal, and Newcastle's attack was curbed.
During the half-time break, Mourinho first praised the players' performance, and then he reminded the players with a serious expression to be careful of Newcastle's counterattack in the second half.
"1:0 is not safe. We need to continue to strengthen our offense in the second half. We need to have at least two goals to be relatively safe."
"We have to be careful about Newcastle's counterattack. For Newcastle, as long as they score a goal to equalize the score, we will be in a passive position."
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After the start of the second half, Mourinho was surprised to find that Newcastle did not press forward to attack, nor was they in a hurry. Instead, they launched a defensive counterattack in an orderly manner.
Mourinho thought about it for a moment and understood what Benítez meant.
Obviously, after the tactics of the first half were curbed by Manchester United, Benítez made decisive changes and abandoned the offensive tactics of the first half. Their current goal is not to lose the ball again.
Even if the game ended 0:1, it was acceptable to Newcastle. Newcastle has escaped the relegation zone, and although they are still facing some relegation pressure, it is not urgent. They can lose against a strong team like Manchester United, as long as it is not a disastrous defeat.
In fact, this is exactly the case. In the first half of the game, Benítez hoped to attack, hoping to beat Manchester United at home and end the opponent's unbeaten record.
However, realizing that this tactic was not effective and had exposed loopholes in the team's defense, Benítez calmed down.
The score of 1:0 was not a very satisfactory result for Manchester United. He judged that Manchester United would continue to attack, so Newcastle would simply counterattack Manchester United.
If they could succeed in the sneak attack and change the score to 1:1, Newcastle would win.
Even though there were few chances to score, the score of 0:1 was within the acceptable range for Benítez and Newcastle.
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Benitez sighed.
In Benítez's view, this change is at most a timely stop loss and a helpless move.
Once upon a time, he led Liverpool to compete with Manchester United for the league championship in the Premier League, but now when he leads his team to play against Manchester United, he begins to consider losing less as a win.
Although he was very unhappy, Benítez had to admit that his Newcastle was now just a Premier League relegation team and was obviously inferior to Manchester United in strength.
Mainly on the offensive end, Newcastle's offensive ability is not as good as Manchester United. Otherwise, even if they didn't beat Manchester United at home, Newcastle should at least take the initiative to strive for goals instead of waiting for Manchester United to make mistakes.
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"Nice long pass!" the commentator shouted.
Benítez also made a brief adjustment in the second half, arranging the team to press forward and attack again to see the effect, but they were immediately counterattacked by Manchester United.
Lindelof launched a long pass counterattack, and Bruno still received the ball under Hayden's defense.
Bruno used his skills and experience to keep the ball firmly under his feet, waiting for his teammates to come forward and support.
Hayden tried very hard to steal the ball from behind, but he was out of position, and unless he committed a foul, he would definitely not be able to steal the ball. However, Hayden already had a yellow card, so he didn't dare to commit a foul rashly. Once the referee showed him a second yellow card, he would have to go off the field.
Bruno passed the ball to Greenwood, who started to speed up, changing direction and slowing down twice, making Fabio embarrassed, and then he found a gap and passed the ball.
Harry Kane pulled the ball with his left foot, trying to fool Scherer. The Newcastle central defender was experienced and his foot was steady, accurate and ruthless, and he made a direct tackle to clear the ball out of the sideline.
In the stands of the Sports Direct Stadium, there was a scene of relief after surviving the disaster. As long as Harry Kane dribbled the ball, it would enter the penalty area and almost face the goalkeeper.
"Shell has done a great job!" Andy Gray praised.
Benítez on the sidelines was also shocked. If Harry Kane had scored, Manchester United would have led 2:0 and Newcastle would have been in great trouble. Fortunately, Scherer defended successfully in time.
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After this incident, Benítez completely gave up the idea of pressing forward and ordered the team to play defensive counterattacks honestly, to defend well first, and never lose the ball again.
Benítez has accepted and set the course for the game:
Newcastle United avoided conceding any more goals, kept the score at 0:1, and placed their hopes of getting points on those mid- and lower-level Premier League teams. And those mid- and lower-level Premier League teams are Newcastle United’s real competitors.
However, football matches are always full of surprises.
First, in the 53rd minute of the game, Diame was accidentally injured and Benítez was forced to make a substitution: Diame left the field and former Liverpool midfielder Shelvey came on as a substitute.
This unexpected substitution changed the course of the game.
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Newcastle midfielder Hayden was the main person to defend Bruno. He did not dare to be careless or negligent during the game, because he knew very well that if he was careless, Bruno might create opportunities.
During the game, Hayden kept reminding himself to focus and pay attention. Benitez even allowed him to be responsible for keeping an eye on Bruno and ignore other things. He also fulfilled his duties very conscientiously. He clung to Bruno and followed him closely. Wherever Bruno ran, he followed.
He was like a plaster stuck to Bruno, which could not be shaken off.
This kind of man-to-man defense made it difficult for Bruno to deal with. Although he had several chances and created two threats, they were not very good and his teammates did not seize the opportunities.
As for his personal performance, Bruno found it difficult to make any progress due to Hayden's close marking and Benítez's tightly arranged central defense. Apart from instigating Manchester United's goal in the first half, he failed to show any eye-catching performance throughout the game.
Hayden ran for more than sixty minutes and he felt tired, very tired.
Bruno was also very tired and was already panting heavily.
His opponent today, Isaac Hayden, is also a talented player. He was born in Arsenal's youth training and was once considered the future and hope of Arsenal. However, a serious injury in 2014 made him lose his position in Arsenal and had to leave to seek opportunities. After a short time at Hull City, he permanently transferred to Newcastle and was reused under Benítez.
Faced with this kind of man-to-man defense, Bruno really had no other choice but to run.
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When Bruno saw Dalot get the ball in the backcourt, he immediately ran back to receive it.
The Portuguese right-back played a bit conservatively tonight, not daring to press too forward for fear of the player behind him.
Dalot did not pass the ball directly to Bruno, but passed it to Kante, who then passed it to Bruno, forming a triangle pass.
Just as Bruno was about to catch the ball, he found that Hayden did not entangle him at the first time, which made him overjoyed and he caught the ball smoothly.
At this time, Hayden caught up from behind, but because he reacted a beat too slowly, he chased a little too hastily.
Bruno knew very well what to do at this time. Without waiting for Hayden to come behind him, Bruno quickly turned around and pulled the ball.
Marseille roundabout!
Bruno turned around and shook off Hayden, then quickly rushed forward with the ball, gritting his teeth, gathering his strength, and running faster and faster.
Newcastle's central defender Lascelles saw this and quickly rushed towards Bruno. Unexpectedly, before Lascelles got close, Bruno made a series of fake moves and shook left and right, directly passing Lascelles, and continued to rush forward with the ball, heading straight for the penalty area.
"Nice dribbling! Bruno rushed past two Newcastle players and headed for the penalty area."
