[Football] Bad Boy Batty

At the beginning of the game, Manchester City pressed forward with full confidence. Every step was planned in advance by Guardiola. Kyle Walker made crazy forward runs and attacked Theo's wing defense together with Batistuta. Zinchenko moved inward to play the role of half defensive midfielder. Neymar and B Silva restricted Wan-Bissaka and Mbappe, so De Bruyne and Aguero could participate in the attack freely.

But what the Blue Moon Army did not expect was that Mourinho used a surprising tactic in today's game. He gave up the fight on the two flanks and instead attacked the middle. He used large-scale running (crazy running) to combine middle penetration and counterattack, launching an attack against Manchester City's relatively weak midfielder and central defender.

This is a risky move, but it can produce amazing results if used well.

Attack wins the hearts of the people, defense wins the championship, this is an eternal truth on the court. In Mourinho's view, the main reason for Guardiola's team's success in the past three seasons is the balance between offense and defense.

Football is war in peacetime.

The forward is equivalent to a cannon, while the midfield and backcourt can be compared to a turret. Having sophisticated and powerful artillery but a vulnerable platform will not be of any use in sieges, and may even backfire on you after the turret collapses.

Manchester City's performance this season speaks for itself.

Manchester City started to become as arrogant as their king during the summer transfer window, only bringing in Rodri in the backcourt, while Cancelo, who was replaced by Danilo, did not help the defense at all.

This is what Mourinho thought before the season, and he still thinks so now. Looking at Gundogan who was overwhelmed by the attacks of Augustus, McTominay and Lingard on the field, the Portuguese sat firmly in the coaching seat, quietly waiting for the results to be accepted.

He believed they would win this game.

Pep Guardiola, Mourinho pronounced the name slowly in several steps, my old friend, I once said after we came to Manchester together, you will always fall into your madness one day.

And this day is today.

In the 18th minute, seeing that the all-out attack had not produced any results, Manchester City retreated and, at Guardiola's request, the midfielder passed the ball back to stabilize the situation. De Bruyne passed the ball back to Walker for cooperation, but he made a mistake under the pressure of McTominay. Theo seized the opportunity to steal the ball, and without making too many adjustments, he made a long pass to Mbappe to launch a quick counterattack.

Zinchenko just moved into the middle, leaving a large open space on the outside. Mbappe accelerated with the ball and easily broke through Manchester City's two layers of defense and came to the edge of the penalty area.

Fortunately, Fernandinho is experienced enough and positioned himself well to prevent Mbappe from entering from the baseline. Zinchenko returned to defense and Otamendi also returned to the front of the goal. Mbappe tried to dribble past the opponent and passed the ball back immediately after being blocked. De Bruyne and Augustus entangled and blocked the receiving point. McTominay fought for the ball and after observation, he made another long pass to the frontcourt.

It's bad for Manchester City.

Allowing Manchester United to play smoothly in the frontcourt and successfully compete to grab the ball twice is definitely a dangerous signal.

Batistuta retreated to the center circle and saw Lingard lurking between B Silva and Gundogan.

"Hey! Bernardo!"

But by the time he spoke out to remind him, it was too late. He saw Lingard was ready to start. When B Silva realized that the gap behind him had been exploited and turned back, and Gundogan also wanted to intercept, Manchester United's counterattack had been completed for the most part.

Lingard received the ball in the middle and then passed it to Mbappe. Even though Neymar retreated from the front court early to participate in the defense and tried to stop his former teammate by fouling, he failed.

Before Neymar could get out, Mbappe volleyed the ball into the far corner. Bravo's sight was blocked, and the ball was moving very fast, so he was powerless to stop it from going into the net.

This is the effect Mourinho wants.

【The ball went in! Amazing cooperation. In the past 1-2 minutes, Manchester United took the initiative completely. Manchester City, who had the home advantage, did not play to their full potential. The entire defense was a mess. When Lingard got the ball, you could even see 4 defenders standing in a straight line! Neymar had to transform into a BTB defensive midfielder and cross most of the field to defend. You know, he would never do this before... Lingard assisted Mbappe to score the first goal. 1-0! Manchester United leads away from home! 】

This was Mbappe's 12th goal of the season and his first in a Manchester derby. Manchester United fans who went deep into the enemy camp to support their team went crazy. They shouted Mbappe's name loudly in unison in the stands, and then someone took the lead and they sang a live adaptation of Mbappe's song.

"Don't look, don't look!" Batistuta called on his teammates to concentrate, "Stand still, pretend they don't exist! This is Al-Ittihad, everyone! Don't let our fans down!"

Perhaps seeing his behavior of motivating the team, those Manchester United fans changed the lyrics to more directly mock Manchester City's performance this season. You know, if ranked according to real-time points, they are 8 points higher than Manchester City, which is a grand occasion that has not happened since Sir Alex Ferguson retired.

The leader of Manchester United fans stood on his seat and waved the team flag.

"What colour is the sky in Manchester!" he wondered aloud.

"Red!"
"Red!"
"The sky in Manchester is - red!"

All the Manchester United fans responded together.

From a distance, Batty heard the fans' singing (if roaring could be called singing). Due to the stadium environment and accent, he could only understand a few words, such as his name, crying, fighting, going home and victory.

Only a few minutes had passed and the first half wasn't even halfway through.

Batistuta snorted a few times with some sarcasm, then he gave a thumbs up to the Manchester United fan section, using this seemingly affirmative way to provoke and fight back.

This caused dissatisfaction among many fans, and in the corner flag area, they threw countless plastic wine cups, bottle caps and all kinds of strange things.

The referee warned the visiting fans but not Batistuta.

After all, it's not a foul to give the fans a thumbs up.

……

After taking the lead, Manchester United slightly retracted their formation. Many home fans began to mock Mourinho and his beloved bus. Manchester City took the opportunity to launch an attack, but the method remained unchanged and they still failed to score a goal.

Wan-Bissaka played exceptionally well today, perfectly restricting Neymar and isolating him from Manchester City's offensive system; Theo on the other side was also in great form, as if he had figured out Batistuta's tactics, so defending alone was no problem, and on the rare occasions when he didn't have time to return to defense, he was able to resolve the situation by cooperating with his teammates.

Mourinho also had a plan for Manchester City's signature pass from the flank, which is known throughout the football world. McTominay and Augustus both guarded their own defense tightly and suppressed Manchester City's passing points. Data showed that compared to the first Manchester derby last season, Manchester City passed the ball 38 times less, and the success rate dropped from 79% to 53%.

At the same time, Lingard was particularly eye-catching today. From the frontcourt to the backcourt, he was busy everywhere. Not only did he assist Mbappe to score a goal, he almost scored one himself in the previous attack. He can be said to have used his strength to shut up the black fans.

It seems that Guardiola and his team's previous predictions were accurate. If they want to win this derby, the use of set pieces is the key.

In the 38th minute of the first half, McTominay fouled Neymar, giving Manchester City a free kick opportunity in a good position.

"If you're in more pain, maybe we can get a yellow card." Batistuta pulled Neymar up, "Who's coming?"

"I can try." Neymar stamped his feet and covered his mouth. "This position is not close." De Bruyne picked up the ball and looked at the position, "We can play a cooperation, pass it in and then operate."

"That's fine." Neymar agreed, "I'll go in and find Kun, and I can also provide support from the outside."

De Bruyne did not object.

Suddenly Batistuta snatched the ball from him, which surprised the two people next to him. Normally, if Batistuta wanted to take a free throw, he would say it at the beginning.

"Do you want to come?" De Bruyne asked.

"Here he comes," Batty said.

"Then what are you stealing?" De Bruyne asked again.

"I don't know." Batty shrugged. "Maybe he just doesn't like you having the ball."

De Bruyne looked at him, his eyes changed, but in the end he didn't say anything about Batistuta's behavior of stealing the ball. He waved his hand, stepped back, and made a small "please" gesture.

The atmosphere is very subtle.
But nothing could be more subtle than Neymar's mood.

He never thought that this day would come.

The good news was that Batistuta became annoyed with the Belgian and took the initiative to target him. The bad news was that this situation continued on the court while they were still behind.

Putting aside the emotions, if the ball had gone in, then everything would have been fine, but if it hadn't gone in or worse, and the opponent had launched a counterattack, then Batistuta's little move would have definitely been caught and magnified by the media, which would have turned him into a target.

It would be better if Batistuta could distinguish between public and private affairs, Neymar thought with a headache.

"Okay, stop standing there and get ready for the free throw." Batty said as he stepped on the grass in front of the free throw spot.

Neymar took a deep breath and put the ball down.

Why think so much? Just take one step at a time and finish the game first before thinking about other things. The most important thing is to stand on the court and find a way to get the ball into the net.

"get ready!"

Neymar's free kick was sent to the front point, and Kyle Walker was lucky enough to get the ball, but he was double-teamed by several Manchester United players and failed to make a beautiful header. The ball was still in the penalty area, and Aguero seized the opportunity to shoot, but De Gea got to the ground quickly and blocked the ball with his legs.

At this time, Batistuta rushed into the penalty area. He liked melee and was good at winning in chaos, but Theo discovered his intention and stepped forward to block him. Batistuta lost his balance and fell on his back, and just one second before he fell to the ground, the ball hit his calf and bounced vertically, and then hit Theo's elbow.

He swore with his eyesight of nearly 5.2 that it was definitely a handball!

"Hey! It hit your hand!" Batty turned over and got up without caring about the pain. He shouted and gestured to the referee, "It hit your hand, sir, look, handball!"

But the referee ignored him and did not suspend the game.

After Theo's rebound, the ball came to Augustus' feet. He didn't care about that. Even if the referee suspended the game and the ball was invalid, he would continue. So the French midfielder turned around and made a long pass to counterattack.

Most of Manchester City's forces were concentrated in the frontcourt, and several people on the defense line were attracted by Batistuta's "handball", which resulted in the Blue Moon's defense being abnormally empty.

"God!"

Mbappe ran towards Manchester City's goal with the ball at full speed. Walker chased back with all his strength. Bravo was also extremely nervous. In a split second, he chose the latter between staying and attacking.

Seeing that Walker was about to catch up and Bravo also came to his front, Mbappe shot directly in a hurry. The Chilean goalkeeper subconsciously stretched out his hand, but fortunately he did not touch the ball, otherwise he would be sent off with a red card for handball outside the penalty area.

But it’s not time to relax yet.

Mbappe's panicked shot hit the post and bounced back into the field. Before Otamendi cleared the ball, Lingard poked the ball into the net.

2-0!

Neymar's bad fantasy became reality. It was clearly their attack but now they let the opponent score a goal. Now some media said that even if Lucas' brother really committed a handball foul, they would not let Batistuta go.

【Manchester City's attack failed and they were countered. Mbappe's speed was really fast. Walker, known as the fastest defender in the Premier League, could hardly keep up with him. The final shot was a little short of the mark, but luck was still on Manchester United's side. Lingard made a supplementary shot and scored. 2-0! Manchester United led by 2 goals away from home... Wait, there seemed to be a controversy on the field.】

Batty was furious.

"Handball! They committed a foul first!" The Manchester City king rushed to the referee, "That's right, I saw it, the ball hit the arm of the opponent's No. 22! You must enforce the law impartially! Go and see VAR!"

Unexpectedly, the referee rejected his suggestion outright.

"There was no handball, my assistant and I saw it, there is no need for VAR to intervene," he said, "Now go back to your position, or I will show you a yellow card."

"No! You—"

"Don't do that." Neymar desperately pulled Batistuta down and covered his mouth. "Scolding the referee is a big deal. We must ensure the integrity of the team. No one can get a card. Do you understand?"

Batistuta didn't say anything. It took a lot of willpower for him to stop himself from cursing at the blind referee.

"Yeah." He shook off Neymar's hand and vented his anger on the grass, "Foda se..."

The first half ended quickly without any goals being scored, and several controversies added to the tension on the field.

Manchester United temporarily leads 2-0.

(End of this chapter)