The Red Devils' revival starts with retaining Mourinho

Mourinho said to Harry Maguire: "Maguire, you have a strong physical confrontation ability, which is one of your strengths. You have an advantage when competing with the opponent's forwards in the penalty area. However, in defensive positioning, there are occasionally some small mistakes, which need to be polished. Sometimes it is just that small positioning error that may leave space for the opponent to shoot easily. Don't underestimate these details, which often determine the outcome of a game. You need to analyze your positioning in the game more, find the problem, and then correct it in a targeted manner in training." Harry Maguire touched his head and said a little embarrassedly: "Coach, I remember it, I will improve it."

Lu Ben Dias, Ashraf Hakimi, Theo Fernandez, Pepe, Diogo Dalot, Josh Gvardiol, Lu Kershaw, Timothy Fosu-Mensah, Reece Bennett, Alvaro Fernandez Carreras, Charlie Wellens, Dyson Bernard and other defenders also received targeted advice from head coach Mourinho. Everyone knew the importance of these instructions for their own improvement. They listened attentively and raised some questions from time to time. Mourinho and assistant coach Scholes patiently answered them. The atmosphere in the discussion room was serious and warm. Everyone was communicating with each other in order to make themselves better and make the team's defense more stable.

When talking about midfielders, Mourinho looked at Marco Verratti and said: "Verratti, your ability to organize and dispatch in the midfield is obvious to all. That pass can always find your teammates just right and activate the entire midfield. However, you still need to strengthen your defense and chase. Now the pace of the game is getting faster and faster. Midfielders must not only be able to control the ball and organize attacks, but also be able to quickly return to defense after losing the ball and put pressure on the opponent, otherwise it will be easy for the opponent to counterattack. You need to add some defensive exercises in training to improve your chasing speed and defensive awareness, understand?" Marco Verratti nodded slightly and responded: "Coach , I also realized this problem. I will add more exercises in this area in the future training to strive for a balance between offense and defense. ”

Then he pointed out the areas that need improvement and strengthening for Dani Olmo, Rodrigo Hernandez and others. For example, Dani Olmo can improve his passing accuracy, especially when facing the opponent's tight defense, he should be able to pass the ball more stably and avoid unnecessary mistakes; Rodrigo Hernandez needs to strengthen his ability to get rid of the opponent when facing the opponent's pressing. He should learn to use his physical and technical advantages to quickly get rid of the opponent and create conditions for the team to continue to control the ball, etc.

Nemanja Matic, Nico Williams, Juan Mata, Scott McTominay, Declan Rice, Vitinia Ferreira, Kobe Menou, Daniel Gore, Toby Collier, Florian Wirtz and other players also carefully kept these points in mind, thinking about how to implement them in subsequent training, and exchanging ideas with each other from time to time, discussing how to cooperate with each other to improve the overall strength of the midfield.

For the forwards, Mourinho's requirements are also very clear. He said to Edinson Cavani: "Cavani, your sense of smell in front of the goal is impeccable. You can always appear in the most threatening position. You have a strong ability to seize opportunities and have scored many key goals for the team. However, you have to pay attention to the coordination and running of your teammates. Sometimes you can't fight alone. You must learn to pull the opponent's defense through your own running and create better offensive space for your teammates. In this way, our overall offensive power will be greater. You can practice more with the midfielders and wingers in training to improve the tacit understanding of running, so that you can play a smoother offensive cooperation in the game." Edinson Cavani nodded thoughtfully and said, "Coach, I understand. , I will pay more attention to cooperating with my teammates in the future and try to create more opportunities for the team. ”

Mourinho said to Erling Haaland again: "Haaland, you are very fast, which is your killer weapon on the court. You can often break through the opponent's defense with your speed and create threats. However, in the choice of shooting, sometimes you can be calmer and don't be too anxious to shoot. Sometimes you can adjust a little and wait for a better opportunity to shoot, and the hit rate may be higher. You have to learn to grasp the best shooting time. This requires more simulation of game scenes in training and exercise your ability to make shooting decisions in different situations. "Erling Haaland responded: "Coach, I understand, I will pay attention to it in the future, and I will work hard to improve my ability in this area. "

Marcus Rashford, Jamal Musiala, Cody Gakpo, Mason Greenwood, Adam Hlozek, Michael Olise, Alejandro Ganacho, Ethan Whitley and other forwards also received corresponding guidance. Everyone knows that they still have a long way to go in improving their personal abilities, and these suggestions from the head coach are the guiding lights for them to move forward. Everyone silently made up their minds in their hearts to follow the coach's guidance in subsequent training, train hard, and constantly improve their skills and abilities.

After the individual training plans were roughly sorted out, Mourinho began to talk about offensive tactics again. He walked to the tactical board, picked up a marker, and drew some simple formations on the tactical board. While drawing, he said: "When we attack, the midfielders must play a good role in connection, which is like a link that connects the front and back fields. Midfielders like Verratti and Olmo need to get the ball moving in time, find the gaps in the opponent's defense through precise short and long passes, and then accurately deliver the ball to the striker's feet to create threatening offensive opportunities for them. "

He marked the running routes of different players with different colored pens so that everyone could understand more intuitively, and then said: "Forwards, you can't just stand there and wait for the ball. You must learn to change positions flexibly, and mess up the opponent's defense line by constantly inserting and pulling, so as to create more threatening offensive space. "

Mourinho swept his eyes over Edinson Cavani, Marcus Rashford, Erling Haaland and other forwards, and continued to explain in detail: "Take Cavani for example, you can sometimes pull to the wing to attract the attention of the opponent's full-back, free up space in the middle for teammates who cut inside, and then suddenly insert into the penalty area, relying on your keen sense of smell in front of the goal to capture shooting opportunities. ”

Edinson Cavani touched his chin and said thoughtfully: "Coach, you are right, but sometimes when I pull to the side, I am afraid that my teammates will not understand my intention and the ball cannot be passed to me."

Marcus Rashford on the side smiled and said: "Brother Cavani, don't worry, as long as you move, I will always pay attention and pass the ball to you when I find an opportunity. We need to work together more and we will definitely have a tacit understanding. "

Mourinho nodded slightly and continued: "And Rashford, your lightning speed can completely use the position change to catch the opponent off guard, such as pretending to break through to the left, and when the opponent's defensive center of gravity shifts, quickly change positions with teammates and quickly cut into the penalty area to the right. At that time, the opponent's defense line will definitely be in a short period of confusion, and we can seize such an opportunity to launch a fierce offensive. ”

Marcus Rashford responded excitedly: "Coach, I understand. I have to practice more of these feints and position changes, and then I will make the opponent's defenders run around in circles."

Erling Haaland also became interested and patted Marcus Rashford on the shoulder and said: "Rashford, when you rush at this speed, the opponent's defenders will definitely have a headache. I will follow you at that time. You attract the defense, and I will look for opportunities to shoot in the penalty area. We will respond to each other. "

Mourinho looked at Erling Haaland and seemed to see through his thoughts. He continued: "Haaland, you have a strong presence in the penalty area. The opponent's defensive players will focus on you, but you can't always rely on your body to resist. You must learn to cleverly use your teammates' running positions to create a better environment for receiving and shooting. Cross-change with your teammates more often so that the opponent can't figure out your routine, so that your power can be exerted more. ”

Erling Haaland scratched his head and said with a smile: "Coach, I understand. I have to learn more about the skills of position change from the big brothers. I can't just think about rushing hard by myself."

"And young forwards like Jamal Musiala, you should pay more attention to this aspect of practice. You should always observe the positions of your teammates and opponents on the court. Through flexible and changeable running positions, you can not only create opportunities for yourself, but also create space for your teammates. Only then can our entire offensive system be more smooth and lethal. "Mourinho said, while drawing several different examples of forward position change on the tactical board, using arrows to clearly show the offensive options after various running positions, or shoot directly, or pass the ball to teammates in a better position.

"Full-backs should also actively participate in the attack, like Ashraf Hakimi and Diogo Dalot, you should insert assists at the right time, put pressure on the opponent's wing defense, and then cut inside."Hakimi, with your excellent explosiveness and dribbling ability, you can completely break through the opponent's defense after getting in on the wing, and then choose to cross the ball from the bottom to send a great pass to the forwards in the penalty area, or play a one-two with teammates who cut inside, and continue to charge into the penalty area to disrupt the opponent's defensive deployment."