Chapter 533: The Great Duel (Part II)

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After the game resumed, Arsenal's set-piece tactics did not receive any good results, because it was a little too far away from the opponent's goal, and there are no good free kick masters in the team at present, so they had to choose to hoist the ball into the penalty area and let a few high points scramble, only to be easily cleared by Bailly, who has excellent bounce.

Similar to his previous coaches in Torino, Li Mudi does not seem to have a set-piece disciple, and the current top three players in the Gunners' first-team squad are Torreira at 14, Mkhitaryan at 13 and Golovin at 12, which is a big problem for the team's attack.

After Sanchez switched to rivals Manchester United, Mesut Ozil was purged, and Spanish veteran Cazorla returned to Spain for retirement, the team's goal rate in this area showed a clear downward trend, although there were some gains through corners and indirect free kicks in the previous games of the season, but it was all through a lot of chances and a little luck to help, not very reliable in nature.

So when his players wasted those well-positioned free kick opportunities again and again, Li Mudi's heart was still extremely eager to immediately bring in a master who was proficient in this business, so a reinforcement that was not in his plan was put into the shopping cart of the winter window, and he clicked the pay button immediately after the time was up.

In the next ten minutes, neither team was able to create a particularly good scoring opportunity, but because the pace of the game was very fast and the intensity of the scramble was also very hot, it still did not make the audience bored, and the only regret was that there was no goal.

The referee soon blew the half-time whistle at the right time, and both sides rushed back to their dressing rooms to recover from their tired bodies while receiving the latest instructions from their respective coaches.

In Sky Sports' broadcast signal, former Liverpool captain Carragher analysed the situation in the first half of the game with guest Redknapp Jr., and gave a prediction that neither team seems to have any intention of breaking the cauldron and attacking now, so it is difficult for the situation on the pitch to change significantly after the rematch.

However, as soon as these words were spoken, the slap in the face came.

After a quarter-hour rest, the Gunners, who had the first possession of the ball in the second 45 minutes, came back with a comeback, and seven players pressed across the half pitch to lay siege to United's penalty area.

All fans around the world know that Mourinho is best at tweaking the team's defensive ability, and although it has been more than 20 years since his debut, the basic strategy has not changed much, but even in today's football, his set is still very powerful.

Whether it was at Chelsea, Inter, Real Madrid or finally Old Trafford, he managed teams that ranked in the top three in the Premier League in terms of goals conceded (the fewer the numbers, the higher the ranking, of course), and he was a complete defensive master.

However, since the beginning of last season, the Red Devils' previously excellent backline has had a lot of problems, and Sweden international Viktor Lindelof, who broke Rio Ferdinand's record as the most expensive central defender in Manchester United's history, although he can occasionally put on world-class performances, but in most cases he still makes various low-level mistakes, so that the manager of the team who has always supported him has to choose to give up.

In the short period after that, in addition to Bailly's other central defender, Phil Jones and Chris Smalling took turns in the Manchester United defence. Mourinho had been tempted to bring in a new centre-back this summer, but was unable to do so because he couldn't find a home for Victor Lindelof and the rarity of some of the best centre-backs in world football today.

So against Arsenal today, in order to cope with the super speed ability of the opponent's forward line, Mourinho still chose to start Phil Jones, after all, the England homegrown central defender's running ability is still the strongest in the team.

It's just that the two sides of the story made the Red Devils manager's arrangement quite controversial, and less than 100 seconds into the restart, Mkhitaryan, who had been pulled to the left, shook off a small space and suddenly sent a cross close to the ground and headed straight for the edge of the box. It was only due to the deliberate need for concealment that the Armenian's footwork was not used well, and the ball landed a little too close to the front post, compared to Aubameyang, who was speeding up and outflanking, it was clear that the home goalkeeper De Gea, who had made the attack in advance, would take the lead in his own hands.

However, this should not have created any dangerous attack, but because Phil Jones's brain suddenly turned 180 degrees, he was close to the side of Mei Yangyang, and he inexplicably stretched out his arm to make an obvious action of pulling the opponent's jersey, which was caught by the referee with a good sight.

Penalty kick! Friander blew the whistle to stop the game with extreme determination, giving the visitors a golden chance to score.

Although the United players still wanted to have a final argument, the foul was so obvious that it was difficult to overturn the referee's decision with simple verbal pressure.

In the end, Mkhitaryan deceived De Gea's centre of gravity with his eyes and leg swings, and easily pushed the ball into the left side of the net to give Arsenal a one-goal lead.

As soon as the goal was conceded, the entire Old Trafford stadium was turned into a hell of a stadium, with almost all the home fans yelling at their sworn enemies. Combined with the anger of the first half that the goal was blown away, it was all vented on the Gunners players who were doing the celebration.

The broadcaster's camera focused on Jose Mourinho, who had been on the sidelines since half-time in the second half, and from the 20-second close-up, one could easily make up an idea of what the state of the volcano was like in the moment before it was about to erupt.

Standing in the middle circle in the middle circle, Lukaku's ball placed in the center of the pitch was pushed to his teammates, and he immediately accelerated forward and went straight to the opponent's penalty area.

While Li Moody and his players were ready for the immediate attack, United's decision to level the scores as soon as possible came as a surprise to everyone, with all but the goalkeeper's two centre-backs pressing through the half-time, almost identical to Arsenal's strategy.

When the home team's forward line, which had been unable to open up the situation on the pitch for a long time, received strong support from their teammates, they immediately showed their strength to receive a sky-high annual salary from the club.

With Marcus Rashford at the front of the pack, United's formation has changed to 4-3-1-2, with Jesse Lingard in his favourite midfield position, with three world-class stars behind him to protect him and share the pressure, and his ability to link the team and run can finally be unleashed. With the local player's central connection, the home team finally evolved from a loose game in the first half to an organic whole, and exploded with impressive power.

The concrete manifestation was that after the score was rewritten, the first attack of the lagging side paid off, and they put the two sides back on the same running line just a minute and 20 seconds after conceding the goal.

Although Ndidi's range of control is already well-known in world football, the advantage of the former against Lingard, who is still in good physical condition, is not very obvious. Because as a defender, he is born in a passive position, and must spend more energy to judge the intention of the attacking player, and then make an emergency response after the opponent has made a move, so he does not have much of the upper hand in one-on-one situations as in the past.

Lingard is not just able to run, he also has a high ball intelligence, even if it is difficult to get the opportunity to organize calmly due to the focus of the opponent's waist, but the team does not let himself do this line of work alone, he has Pogba and Andreas Pereira behind him two teammates with better passing ability, as long as he can draw Ndididi's attention away, the most important task given to him by the manager will be completed.

So in this attack, Lingard after knocking the ball to Pogba, immediately made a diagonal forward sprint to the left, because Bellerin had to mark Luke Shaw on the edge of the set, in order to prevent the home team from a possible side attack, Ndidi had to choose to follow the opponent's forward midfield, back and give up the defensive position in the middle.

United's current number one star used his physical advantage to squeeze past former team-mate Mkhitaryan and head straight for the edge of the box. After attracting Torreira's reinforcement, the Frenchman did not choose to play alone, but distributed the ball to his right side, and Andreas Pereira immediately made a straight stop, allowing Portuguese right wing-back Ricardo Pereira, who was cutting forward at high speed on the wing, to get a cross after a successful anti-offside position.

The veteran, who just moved from Leicester City in the summer, took a step forward before sending in a wide range of crosses. The ball flew past Kolasinac, who had been blocked by his doppelganger, and then bypassed the visitors' left centre-back Mustafi before immediately turning towards the penalty spot, allowing Leno, who was just about to pick up the ball, to abandon the plan and choose to stay in front of goal.

As everyone's eyes moved, the trajectory of the ball finally changed dramatically in the middle of the penalty area, but the toucher was not the veteran French Koscielny, who had already stood in position, but Lukaku, who rushed from behind him with an unstoppable momentum.

At this moment, the little monster exerted his impact power that was not inferior to Drogba, and his right leg kicked the ground with all his strength like a super heavy bomber, and the scene of the incident appeared in an instant, first with absolute power to overturn the old central defender of the away team who had jumped, and then it was the most classic powerful header on the goal. The ball went straight to Leno's right top corner like a cannonball, so fast that the German couldn't make an effective save, and when he subconsciously raised his right arm, the net behind him was already creating a fierce ripple.

This time, though, the United players didn't immediately start celebrating, and instead locked their eyes on the referee along with the visitors, as the Belgian centre-forward still seemed to be suspected of a foul based on what had just happened.

Fortunately, this time, Kevin Friander was on the home side, and although there was a slight hesitation in his eyes, he still blew the whistle and gestured that the goal was valid. At this moment, the boos that had filled the entire stadium turned into cheers of excitement, and the scoreboard changed from 0-1 to 1-1. No matter how much Li Mudi protested to the fourth official, it could not prevent the Gunners' lead from disappearing just after it appeared.

However, before the Arsenal fans could vent their frustration, the situation on the pitch changed dramatically three minutes later. Rather than reverting to their original tactics, the Reds kept their commitment up front, even at the risk of being counter-attacked by two of the opposition's fast forwards.

With Marcus Rashford's containment, Lukaku's defensive pressure has been reduced by at least 40 per cent, and even if he still can't easily get a chance to face the goal head-on in the box, his function as an attacking bridgehead can still be fully displayed in this situation. The midfielder's aggressive forward insertion gives him more passing options, and he can even take advantage of the distraction of the opposition defence to get the possibility of his own sudden power.

As a result, not long after the equaliser, the little monster received a low cross from the left in an attack, and he immediately used a feint to stop the ball to shake off the defense behind Koscielny, and smashed the ball with his left foot to the baseline, but the subsequent cross knock was blocked by the latter with a flying tackle.

However, Lukaku's mood did not let the failure of this choice last long, as Pereira's special corner did not pass into the already crowded box, but unexpectedly drifted towards the top of the big box, where the abruptly retreating Pogba undisturbed a peerless volley comparable to that of Zizou in the 2002 Champions League final. The ball passed through the gaps in the bodies of several players from both sides at breakneck speed, and hung in the top left corner of the goal, stunned everyone on the scene and watching the live broadcast.

Even Carragher and Little Redknapp, who were sitting in the broadcast room, couldn't say a complete word in a short period of time, except for the various rotten exclamations that kept coming out of their mouths.

2-1, Manchester United completed the transition from backwardness to overtaking almost instantly, pushing the atmosphere in the stadium directly to the climax.

However, after taking the lead, Mourinho still failed to continue the tactics of his own side to grasp the initiative, although he dared to take risks when he was behind, but he was not so bold when he was ahead, after all, the Gunners' counter-attacking ability is not vegetarian, and a careless one may be seized by the opponent to score again.

As a result, the home team's formation and style of play quickly returned to the situation in the opening stage of the game, which strengthened the insurance coefficient of the goal of the goal, and also gave the Arsenal players who were stunned by this wave of blitzkrieg a rare respite.

Then in the 63rd minute, Mourinho made another substitution that would make him suffer from the outside world, replacing Lingard, who had made a big contribution to the team with French defender Abdoulaye who had brought in French defender from Watford, and advanced Pogba's position.

This series of moves paved the way for this duel that was destined to be crowned "great" by future generations, but people at the time didn't realize it.