Chapter 124: Refined Missiles, Expanding the Score

The on-site director had not had time to switch the broadcast camera. The commentator of New England Sports, Jin Xiangkai, who was in the live studio at Old Trafford, saw it clearly and blurted out: "Li Qing made a long pass to the left, and veteran Milner rushed in at high speed! This is Liverpool's only good chance in the first half!"

Phil Jones quickly pulled back from the middle to the wing, and Valencia gritted his teeth and ran back with all his strength.

But Li Qing's long pass was very accurate, so accurate that it could be calculated in centimeters, which was exactly the same as Milner's running.

As early as the Melwood training base, Li Qing would often pass such large-scale transfer balls to Milner, Mane, and Firmino, and sometimes even pass straight-line passes to Klein and Arnold, and the precursor actions of passing to each player were different, so the teammates running were different.

Milner accelerated forward only after receiving Li Qing's long pass signal. Li Qing's long pass was accurate and the lead time was just right, which was comparable to Milner's speed. He had enough time to look up and observe the running positions of his teammates while running.

Since Mane and Firmino were in bad positions, Milner chose to dribble into the penalty area.

Seeing that Phil Jones and Valencia were about to form a pincer attack, the old and shrewd Milner suddenly raised his left foot to pass the ball, but he did not pass the ball to Mane and Firmino who were closely guarded, but... an inverted triangle pass.

The ball rolled along the grass to the penalty spot, and Pogba subconsciously stuck to Henderson to prevent him from having an easy shot.

Henderson, who was under pressure from Pogba's defense, was not the player who completed the final shot. He faced the ball without shooting while attracting the attention of almost all Manchester United defenders. He opened his legs and let the ball pass.

Mourinho, who was originally satisfied with Pogba's active defense, realized something and his heart sank. He thought to himself: "It's over!"

The ball rolled along the grass to Coutinho who was running forward, and the latter raised his right foot while running.

Because the defensive attention in Manchester United's penalty area was focused on Mane, Firmino and Henderson, Coutinho, who should be defended the most, was left unguarded.

This is tantamount to a penalty for Coutinho, who often performs the trick of piercing the clouds.

"aoaoaoaooaoooo——"

When the Liverpool fans in the East Stand saw this, they were all excited and made huge cheers to cheer for Coutinho.

"wuwuwwuuuu——"

At this time, the Manchester United fans from the other three stands made huge boos, completely swallowing up the cheers from the East Stand.

Coutinho supported himself with his left foot, raised his right foot, and hit the middle of the football with the instep.

The football kicked out vigorously was like a fast-moving spirit snake, drilling out from the gap between people and rolling to the far corner of the goal.

There were already many people in the Manchester United penalty area, and De Gea's vision was blocked. His iconic Guanyin sitting lotus did not touch the football.

The football passed quickly before De Gea stretched out his foot to block the ball, and rolled into the goal along the inner edge of the right goal post...

"The ball is in! The ball is in!!"

Leshi Sports commentator Zhan Jun was in high spirits: "Allowing a long-range shooter to calmly complete the shot in the penalty area is fatal! Manchester United paid a heavy price for their defensive negligence! Now the score is Liverpool leading 2:0 away!"

Andy Gray, the commentator of British Sky TV, stretched out his signature voice as if he didn't need to breathe, and people had to admire his strong lung capacity: "The goal lost at the end of the first half is unforgivable! The mood of entering the locker room with a 0:2 deficit is not as good as 0:1. Manchester United, who is at home, is in big trouble."

Mourinho, standing in the command area of ​​the home team coach, felt that his mentality was about to explode. He would remind the players to stay focused in the four time periods when it is easy to lose the ball in every game. Now, it's all gone by the wind.

Li Qing's first goal was at the beginning of the game, and Coutinho's goal was at the end of the first half, which happened to occupy the two time periods when it is easiest to score.

In other words, losing the ball is not a technical problem, but more of an attitude problem.

Liverpool players celebrated the goal ecstatically at Old Trafford, and the fans who had booed before chose to shut up. Judging from what Manchester United showed for most of the first half, it was very difficult to equalize the score, and even whether they could score a goal had to be marked with a big question mark.

In this case, why bother yourself with unhappiness?

Sometimes, just bear with it and it will pass.

All the Manchester United players shown on the broadcast screen shook their heads and sighed. Ibrahimovic, Pogba, and De Gea are currently the few players in Manchester United who can be called superstars.

They have worked hard during the game, especially Ibrahimovic and De Gea, who can be said to be the players who contribute the most in the front and back courts.

Pogba does bring creativity and threat to Manchester United on the offensive end, but as a central midfielder, he is often not focused enough on defense, and sometimes he is easily distracted when dribbling the ball, so that Liverpool can easily find a breakthrough point from him.

In the injury time of the first half, Mourinho walked to the player tunnel in advance with a dark face to express his strong dissatisfaction with the performance of the players on the field.

Although Mourinho was not in a good mood, he still waved to the Manchester United fans who passed by and greeted him.

While the Liverpool players were celebrating the goal, the live director switched the broadcast screen, and the fans sitting in front of the TV could see Mourinho walking towards the player tunnel with a sullen face.

Pogba also saw Mourinho walking towards the player tunnel with a gloomy face from the corner of his eye. He sneered in his heart: "With this tactical level, you still have the nerve to show us a gloomy face? Why?"

The injury time of the first half ended shortly after Manchester United restarted the game. Players from both sides walked onto the field one after another, and fans in the audience also stood up and left their seats.

It was not that they left the field early, but that their physical energy had been consumed after the shouting in the first half of the game, and they had to take advantage of the halftime break to eat and replenish the lost energy.

Those fans who stayed in their seats took out their mobile phones and posted on social networking platforms such as INS, Twitter, and Facebook to share this double red meeting at Old Trafford with friends and netizens.

As assistant coach Faria closed the door of the locker room, the noise from Old Trafford came to an abrupt end, and Manchester United players all lowered their heads, not daring to offend.

In sharp contrast to this was the away team's locker room. The 2:0 lead made Liverpool players feel extremely relaxed, the atmosphere was light, and the players were joking with each other.

About five minutes later, Klopp clapped his hands, and the relaxed players looked over with a correct attitude.

Klopp was very satisfied with the players' reaction. If the players can always have a correct attitude, defeating Manchester United away and advancing to this season's FA Cup is a foregone conclusion.