From the man behind the football king to the football king.

Chapter 787 Grealish
At 2020:7 pm on July 9, 34, at Villa Park in Birmingham, England, a focus match of the th round of the Premier League is about to start.

This is the last game of this round. A day ago, Liverpool defeated Brighton 3-1 away and returned to the top of the standings.

The commentator in the commentary box is explaining the starting lineups of both sides to the fans and spectators.

Home team Aston Villa:
Goalkeeper: Reina;
Defenders: Konsa, Howes, Mings, Neil Taylor;
Midfielders: Hourihane, Nakamba, Douglas Luiz;

Forwards: Trezeguet, Kenan Davis, Grealish;

Manchester United lineup:

Goalkeeper: David de Gea

Defense: Cancelo, Maguire, Van Dijk, Luke Shaw;

Midfield: Kante, Gundogan, Bruno;

Forwards: Mbappe, Harry Kane, Rashford.

Aston Villa is not one of the traditional BIG6 teams in the league, but it is a traditional powerhouse. It once held the record of not being relegated in the Premier League for 24 consecutive seasons.

Last season, Aston Villa returned to the Premier League through the Championship play-offs. However, Aston Villa's current situation is not good. They are currently ranked 18th in the standings. If they cannot improve their ranking in the last five rounds of games, they will be relegated again.

From Aston Villa's starting lineup, we can draw a basic judgment that Dean Smith's team will mainly use offensive tactics in today's game.

Moreover, in the coin tossing session, Manchester United captain Bruno beat Aston Villa captain Grealish.

Mourinho felt that this would play into Dean Smith's hands because it would allow Aston Villa to get the right to kick off, and they could take advantage of the opportunity to kick off first and take the initiative.

………………

As Mourinho expected, after the start of the game, Aston Villa took advantage of the opportunity of kicking off and launched a fierce attack on Manchester United's goal.

Mourinho had a plan for this. Facing Aston Villa's opening attack, Manchester United chose to avoid the limelight and took the initiative to retreat.

This actually made Aston Villa even more excited.

Dean Smith sat in the coach's seat, staring at the field, occasionally exchanging a few words with his assistant. No one knew how anxious he was.

Ten minutes after the start of the game, Aston Villa was in a strong momentum, and they almost pressed Manchester United in the attack. If it weren't for the excellent performance of goalkeeper De Gea, who started today, Manchester United's goal would have been pierced long ago.

Especially Villa's match against Grealish, the 24-year-old English midfielder has been in extremely hot form recently.

Grealish was very active in looking for opportunities in the frontcourt, which put a lot of pressure on Manchester United's defense. In addition, the other Aston Villa players seemed to be in good shape, so Manchester United had to retreat and defend the penalty area.

Just watching these ten minutes of the game, it is hard to imagine that it is the Premier League champions Manchester United that are being suppressed by Aston Villa.

Dean Smith, who had been feeling uneasy, finally smiled when he saw Aston Villa besieging Manchester United and beating them so hard that they couldn't even get past half the court.

Coincidentally, Mourinho turned his head and saw Dean Smith smiling.

"Is there anything happy?" Mourinho expressed his incomprehension.

Even though Aston Villa bombarded Manchester United's goal for more than ten minutes, Mourinho was not panicked.

Manchester United's defense is very good this season. Having conceded only 33 goals in the first 26 rounds, Manchester United not only has the strongest offensive firepower in the Premier League, but also the best defense in the Premier League. So although Aston Villa has an absolute advantage on the field, they do not have any excellent scoring opportunities and it is still early for them to score.

………………

"It's about time." Mourinho made his judgment.

This kind of crazy attack right after the start of the game cannot last too long. If the attack is effective and a goal is scored quickly, it may stimulate the players to be more excited. But if there is no goal and it is difficult to form a truly threatening scoring opportunity, the team's morale and momentum will not last too long.

Sure enough, just as Mourinho predicted, fifteen minutes into the game, Aston Villa began to slow down the pace of the game and could no longer sustain that oppressive attack.

This wave of attack has greatly consumed the players' energy and physical strength, and Aston Villa needs to take a break.

Mourinho made a gesture on the sidelines and the players immediately understood.

Manchester United quickly took the opportunity to regain the initiative on the field.

Mourinho walked back to the coaching bench, sat in his seat, stared at the field, and then seemed to feel that the view from standing was not as wide as from sitting.

Besides, sitting still can easily make one's brain reaction slow, so he walked to the sidelines again, held his chin with one hand, and stared at the field.

The tactics the team has practiced these days are now being put to the test. He wants to know if the team can give him an answer, an answer that he needs and that satisfies him.

Mourinho's eyes stayed on his player Gundogan.

In this game, Gundogan was in charge of controlling the tempo of the game. Was it attack or defense? When to attack? Where to start? These were all controlled by Gundogan.

………………Gundogan received the ball in his own half, and Egyptian winger Trezeguet rushed forward. He wanted to take advantage of Gundogan's unstable ball to steal the ball and counterattack.

But Gundogan seemed to have expected his opponent to do this, and he calmly stopped the ball with his right foot.

Trezeguet then pounced on his right foot, trying to steal the ball, but Gundogan unexpectedly moved his body to the side, allowing the ball to pass to him, and then twisted his tilted body to push the ball back.

This move was not very elegant, but it was very practical. It directly got rid of Trezeguet and then dribbled the ball forward.

By the time Trezeguet reacted and tried to chase, it was too late.

However, Trezeguet did not chase him. He was a striker and there was no need for him to retreat so deep.

Gundogan easily got rid of Trezeguet's pressure and dribbled the ball forward.

Mourinho on the sidelines nodded with satisfaction. As an organizing midfielder, the most important thing is to be able to hold the ball when facing pressure.

Gundogan has good physical confrontation ability and the German midfielder has good footwork, so he is indeed very suitable to play in this position.

………………

Trezeguet did not continue to retreat to help defend, but Kenan Davis, who seemed very excited since the start of the game today, rushed over from the side.

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The 22-year-old Kenan Davis made his debut in Stevenage's youth training in England and joined Aston Villa in the summer of 2016, but has never been able to secure a starting position.

Facing the pressure from Kenan Davis from the side and back, Gundogan did not cling to possession of the ball and he quickly passed the ball away.

Gundogan passed the ball decisively, and Kenan Davis stopped. He just made a gesture of trying to return to defense for Dean Smith on the sidelines to see.

He won't really chase back to defend, it's mainly a matter of attitude. In addition to providing defensive strength on the competitive level, the forward's return to defense is also a statement of attitude.

The forwards are chasing back to defend, so other players have to work harder?

Dean Smith on the sidelines nodded. If nothing else, the defensive attitude was good this time.

………………

Gundogan passed the ball to Kante who came over to receive it. He did not stop but continued to run forward, ready to receive the pass from his teammates at any time.

Kante also did not let the ball stay at his feet. He immediately locked onto Gundogan without even looking up and quickly passed the ball to him.

Mourinho nodded. The two men now have a much better understanding of each other.

Kante protects Gundogan, and the two interact more, which is what Mourinho is most happy to see.

Then, Gundogan sent a diagonal pass, trying to find Bruno on the right.

This pass almost tore through Aston Villa's defense. At the critical moment, Nakamba fell to the ground and slid, shoveled the ball out of the sideline before Bruno received it.

Bruno gave a thumbs up to Gundogan, indicating that the ball had a broad vision, very good, let's do it!

………………

In the subsequent games, Gundogan was very active in midfield.

He can be found almost everywhere, either catching or passing the ball, or setting screens to create opportunities for his teammates.

His position is quite flexible. He can drop back almost to the same line as the central defender, or he can rush to the midfielder position to complete the final pass.

Dean Smith was also surprised by Gundogan's large range of movement.

Moreover, Dean Smith clearly noticed that in today's game, Manchester United did not focus on the flanks to play to the speed advantage of Rashford and Mbappe as in previous games.

This made Dean Smith, who had already made plans and preparations, feel like he was punching cotton.

Whether it was Rashford on the left or Mbappe on the right, they frequently interacted with Bruno and Gundogan in the middle.

Manchester United's style of play, especially under the protection of Kante and Gundogan's wide range of activities, made Aston Villa's defensive players feel at a loss.

They all know that this player is Manchester United's offensive hub, but the problem is that this hub is running around everywhere. Do you know when and where he will poke you?
………………

Mourinho was satisfied with the team's initial performance. Under the leadership of Gundogan, Manchester United's offense was very smooth.

Under Gundogan's tireless promotion, Manchester United gradually took control of the situation and the initiative.

Aston Villa fans and spectators were somewhat confused. Didn't we firmly take the initiative at the beginning of the game, suppressing Manchester United and making it impossible for them to get past the half? How come Manchester United firmly controlled the game situation just when we took a break to catch our breath?

Although Manchester United did not adopt the tactics of crazy suppression and crazy attack, the gradual control of the rhythm of the game gave people the feeling that a net had wrapped you up unknowingly. Although it did not make you unable to move, it was extremely uncomfortable.

(End of this chapter)