Chapter 572: Don't Underestimate Manchester City
Manchester United players celebrated the goal as Bruno ran towards the away supporters' section, gesturing for more noise from the fans. He was quickly surrounded by his teammates. The attack that led to the goal started with Kante's pressure, and Bruno's goal made Kante very happy. He sprinted over to join in the celebration.
The Etihad Stadium erupted in boos. Manchester City fans were far from friendly towards Bruno, who had scored the most goals against them for Manchester United. It wasn't just the United players' exuberant celebration that provoked City; Mourinho's actions did too. Amidst the overwhelming boos, Mourinho was seen jumping and clapping enthusiastically on the sidelines, further irritating the City fans.
"There's no evidence that Mourinho is deliberately provoking City fans, but his celebratory actions are certainly not appreciated by the Etihad crowd."
Mourinho was immensely pleased, even humming a tune quietly as he returned to his seat next to his assistant, Faria. "Rui, everything is under my control," he said smugly.
Faria didn't respond, but gave a thumbs-up.
However, Mourinho's composure lasted only five minutes.
"F***!" Mourinho fumed on the sidelines.
Not far away, his dear friend and rival, Guardiola, was celebrating City's goal, even shaking his hips a little. Mourinho had once said that Guardiola was his true friend, a bond formed during their time together at Barcelona. Guardiola had called to comfort Mourinho for nearly two hours when his father passed away in June last year.
But on the pitch, they were the fiercest competitors, always trying to get under each other's skin.
"Offside! That was an offside goal!" Mourinho roared, only to be sternly warned by the referee, Felix Brych, before reluctantly returning to his seat.
Perhaps leading 4-0 on aggregate made United players complacent, or maybe seeing the first half nearing its end caused them to relax. In the 44th minute, Van Dijk's pass from the left side of the defense was intercepted. Fernandinho passed to the right where Sterling was, and Sterling's cross into the box was finished by Jesus. The score was now 1-1.
As Sterling made his cross, Luke Shaw, who was marking him, did not even attempt to block the pass, watching it sail into the box. Jesus was left unmarked, and Maguire, closest to him, was busy raising his hand, signaling for offside.
Mourinho could see clearly that Jesus was not offside when Sterling crossed, but it didn't stop him from protesting to the referee in the hope that it might sway the decision. It did not. The goal stood.
The equalizer boosted City's morale significantly.
United chose to defend with all their might in the closing minutes of the first half against City's onslaught.
The remaining few minutes saw no further goals. The first half ended 1-1, with United still leading 4-1 on aggregate.
In the tunnel, Mourinho continued to argue with the referee Brych, insisting that the goal had an offside element.
Brych assured Mourinho that he had seen it clearly and there was no offside.
"Are you sure?" Mourinho asked, feigning doubt.
"I'm sure," Brych replied firmly.
"Okay, I believe you," Mourinho nodded, adding, "Everyone knows you're an excellent and trustworthy referee."
Hearing this, Brych, who had been somewhat annoyed, couldn't help but smile.
"What were you thinking? Were your eyes plucked out by a dog?" Mourinho bellowed in the Etihad's away dressing room. "Don't forget, our opponent is Manchester City. Just because we've beaten them four times this season doesn't mean we can take them lightly!"
Mourinho glared at his players. "What are you laughing at? I'm serious. Get serious."
But then he himself couldn't help but burst into laughter.
His laughter broke the tension in the dressing room.
"Alright, back to business," Mourinho said, knocking on the table. "That goal we conceded, our defense needs to reflect on that. We clearly lost concentration."
"1-1 isn't good enough for us, and City is even less satisfied. So in the second half, City will continue to push hard. We need to stabilize our defense first and then hit them on the counter," Mourinho instructed.
"Our target is—" Mourinho circled De Bruyne's name heavily on the tactics board, emphasizing, "Press him! Disrupt him!"
Mourinho had studied Manchester City thoroughly, with a particular focus on De Bruyne.
De Bruyne has exceptional vision for exploiting space behind the defense and a high-level passing ability, making him uniquely powerful. Because of this, De Bruyne instinctively looks for spaces behind the opponent's defense when he has the ball, trying to create dangerous passes.
However, due to this style of play, his ball control and dribbling skills are less developed. When faced with tight marking, he struggles to hold and protect the ball, often relying on simple acceleration to get past opponents. This trait, combined with his tendency to avoid tight control situations, results in a higher error rate under pressure.
This style is beneficial when playing against weaker teams, where his passing can easily break down less skilled defenses. But against stronger teams, his higher error rate can be detrimental.
When De Bruyne plays, City's forwards tend to make forward runs in anticipation of his passes. But if he loses the ball, it often leaves City vulnerable to counterattacks because the forwards and midfielders are caught out of position.
Defensively, De Bruyne's eagerness to regain possession can lead to risky challenges and open spaces for opponents if he fails.
Given De Bruyne's technical characteristics, defending against him can be relatively straightforward. Allow him to receive the ball but apply immediate pressure. If he receives the ball with his back to goal, his limited ball control makes him prone to errors. If he turns, allow non-threatening space and control the passing lanes to intercept.
For Mourinho, De Bruyne is a double-edged sword: highly capable of creating opportunities when in form but equally likely to make mistakes under pressure.
Mourinho emphasized, "De Bruyne's passing is dangerous, don't give him any easy chances to control the ball."
In Mourinho's view, De Bruyne's weaknesses include mediocre long-range shooting, average ball control, slow decision-making, poor stamina, weak defensive skills, and lack of speed.
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