From the man behind the football king to the football king

Seeing Manchester City's starting lineup, Mourinho said to his assistant Faria: "Ruy, we have a better chance of winning this game."

Faria looked at Mourinho in surprise. The game has just started, and the opponent is the powerful Manchester City. You are so confident. Are you a little bit floating?

At the same time, in the visiting team's coaching bench, Guardiola smiled confidently and said to his assistant Mikel Arteta: "Very good, everything is under my control."

For Manchester City's possible starting configuration, Manchester United has carried out targeted tactical drills. When the players on the field saw Fernandinho starting and Manchester City playing a single defensive midfielder, they knew what they should do.

According to Mourinho's arrangement, in this case, Manchester United's response is very direct: concentrate all offensive forces and attack Fernandinho.

This does not mean that Fernandinho is not capable. On the contrary, this is a very strong player, but in this Manchester City, in this starting lineup, the Brazilian as a single defensive midfielder is the breakthrough point of Manchester City selected by Mourinho.

The game has been going on for more than ten minutes. At present, his strategy is quite successful.

From the beginning of the game, Manchester United, playing at home, launched an offensive against Manchester City, surrounding Fernandinho in the midfield and exerting pressure frequently.

Manchester City seemed to be unprepared for this. On the one hand, they did not expect Manchester United to play so actively and aggressively against Manchester City. On the other hand, they were not prepared for Manchester United to concentrate the offensive firepower of the whole team to attack Fernandinho, so that Fernandinho was somewhat embarrassed by the impact, and David Silva and De Bruyne had to come to help.

The most direct reaction is that Manchester City's midfield fell into a passive position, exhausted from defense, and unable to support the forward line.

This is Guardiola's second season as the coach of Manchester City's first team. After the failure of the four major games last season, Manchester City's management chose to continue to believe in Guardiola and spared no effort to invest in signings in the summer transfer market, which made Manchester City full of hope for the new season.

However, in the first round of the league, Manchester City almost failed to win the newly promoted Brighton away, almost causing a big upset, which also directly caused the media and fans to question and distrust Guardiola.

Especially in the second round of the league, after Manchester City was tied 1:1 by Everton at home, the local Manchester media "Manchester Evening News" has even begun to discuss whether Guardiola should be dismissed.

However, starting from the third round of the league, Guardiola's team began to slowly get on the right track.

They beat Bournemouth 2:1 away in the third round. From this game until this round against Manchester United, Guardiola's team has won 13 consecutive league games.

Among these 13 victories, five were big wins, including a 5:0 bloodbath of Liverpool at home in the fourth round, a 6:0 slaughter of Watford away in the fifth round, a 5:0 home win over Crystal Palace in the sixth round, a 7:2 home win over Stoke City in the eighth round, and a 3:0 home win over Burnley in the ninth round.

It can be said that Guardiola's Manchester City has begun to show strong offensive strength. Whether the opponents in the five rounds played against Manchester City, such as Liverpool, or parked the bus, such as Stoke City, they could not stop the Blue Moon's pace of progress.

These victories have greatly boosted the confidence of the entire Manchester City team, especially Manchester City coach Guardiola. Guardiola has a kind of confidence: the team that dares to attack Manchester City is courageous, but it will die miserably!

So, seeing Manchester United take the initiative to attack and attack Manchester City after the start of the game, Guardiola was surprised at first. He thought Manchester United would be more conservative against the powerful Manchester City, but he didn't expect Manchester United to insist on attacking.

Then, Guardiola was happy. Since Manchester United was overestimating its own strength and didn't know whether to live or die, he didn't mind sending Mourinho and Manchester United a way.

In this state of mind, even if Manchester City was a little passive when seeing Manchester United besieging Fernandinho, Guardiola didn't care too much. He had confidence in his team. As long as they could withstand this wave of offensive, Manchester City, which had recovered, would teach Manchester United a good lesson.

However, Guardiola overlooked one point, a very important point: he lacked the most direct understanding of this Manchester United.

Although Manchester City was defeated by Manchester United three times last season, and even lost 0:5 at home, as Guardiola said in an interview with the media, that is in the past, and Manchester City is stronger now.

Moreover, Guardiola knows that Manchester City implemented a certain degree of rotation in that game. After all, they fought Arsenal for 120 minutes in the FA Cup semi-finals three days ago, which was very exhausting. Various factors led to that humiliating defeat.

In the summer, Manchester City made a lot of signings. Manchester City this season and Manchester City last season can be said to be two completely different teams.

However, Guardiola forgot that Manchester United also made a large-scale signing, and the intensity was even greater than Manchester City. Almost half of Manchester United's main lineup in the new season has been replaced.

Guardiola obviously lacks the most direct and deep understanding of Mourinho's Manchester United.

Although Guardiola has watched almost all the game videos of Manchester United and the new season, and thinks he has a better understanding of this Manchester United and Mourinho's tactical system, it is like seeing flowers in the fog. Without clearing the fog and facing it truly, you will never know whether the person in front of you is a real beauty or a transgender shemale.

What Guardiola didn't expect was that facing Manchester United's constant attack, his Manchester City seemed to be unable to hold on.

Fernandinho is Manchester City's single defensive midfielder. He is under siege here. Once he is broken through, it will be very dangerous, so this forces David Silva and De Bruyne to come to help. Facing Manchester United's high-intensity pressing tactics, Manchester City's midfield is very passive.

Mourinho watched from the sidelines, his fists clenched, loosened, and clenched again. He was also nervous.

Now, the only thing that can relieve his nervousness is to score.

"Break the ball!"

Fernandinho chose to pass the ball to De Bruyne in the face of Bruno's pressing, but Gundogan had been prepared for this. He suddenly rushed up and stabbed first, and then Kante controlled the ball before David Silva counter-robbed, and quickly passed the ball to Bruno.

Well done!

Mourinho applauded on the sidelines, and the siege cooperation of several players was very tacit.

Bruno pulled the ball, adjusted it slightly, and then looked ahead.

"Bruno's through ball! Mbappe! Speed! Speed! Speed! Very fast speed! Divide the sides, Luke Shaw crosses the ball! Otamendi! He clears the ball! It's a miss... Harry Kane - GOOOOOOOOOOOOALLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!"

"GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOALLLLLL!!!!!! Harry Kane! He scored! 1:0! Manchester United leads Manchester City 1:0, and the goal is scored by Harry Kane!"

Along with the roars of the commentators, a huge cheer broke out at Old Trafford.

Harry Kane, who scored the goal, ran towards the corner flag area with his arms open, followed by the excited Manchester United players!

Manchester United took the lead in the score with Harry Kane's goal. Guardiola frowned slightly, and he was a little unhappy about the loss.

However, Guardiola had to admit that Manchester United's goal was very beautiful. From Bruno's pressing to Gundogan's successful interception, and then Manchester United launched a quick counterattack, the whole counterattack process was very fast, and Manchester City's defense was completely exhausted.

Guardiola naturally saw where the team's problem was. Manchester United's attack started when Fernandinho's pass was intercepted after being pressed.

"Fernandinho is a single defensive midfielder, and the pressure is very high." Arteta said.

"I know." Guardiola nodded.

How could he not know that, in fact, when arranging this lineup, Guardiola knew that Fernandinho might become the focus of Manchester United's attack, but he still insisted on such tactics and lineup, because: in this game, the important thing is not defense!

Arteta took a look at Guardiola and understood that Guardiola was going to play against Manchester United completely, and score goals.

Fernandinho is good at both offense and defense. Now he is besieged by Manchester United. Although the defense may be more difficult, the Brazilian should be able to contribute more on the offensive end.

"The team must press forward and use offense to suppress Manchester United's offensive." Guardiola made a judgment.

However, he did not expect that Manchester City's second goal would come so quickly.

In the 31st minute of the game, Bruno sent a long pass, Rashford dribbled into the penalty area, pretended to shoot from a distance, tricked Mexican veteran Otamendi into making a move, but passed the ball out, followed by Harry Kane holding Kompany, half-turned and volleyed, the ball was blocked by Ederson's legs, and Bruno followed up and finished the supplementary shot in front of Otamendi, and the ball went into the net.

"GOOOOOOOOOOOOALLLLL!!!!!!"

"Bruno! 2:0! Manchester United is two goals ahead of Manchester City." Andy Gray shouted, "It's crazy. Facing Manchester United's offensive, Manchester City seems to have no way out. Their defense line was torn apart again, and their offense still didn't improve. Sterling, Jesus, Sane, David Silva, De Bruyne, Manchester City's big stars are like sleepwalking."

Yes, Andy Gray was right. Manchester City stars including Sterling, Sane and Jesus, lacked midfield support and did not pose any threat to Manchester United's goal on the offensive end.

When Bruno, Mbappe and other Manchester United players celebrated the goal, Sterling put his hands on his waist and looked at the grass. Beside him, Sane spit on the ground unhappily. Not far away, Jesus shook his head helplessly.

Manchester City's offensive trident was in a depressed mood, and it could even be said that they felt frustrated. With David Silva and De Bruyne having to frequently help Fernandinho defend, the trident, without support from the midfield, had to frequently retreat to get the ball, trying to use their personal skills to tear open Manchester United's defense, but facing Manchester United's tight and tough defense, the effect was mediocre.