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

Chapter 539 Internal strife?

Seeing that he did not pass the ball immediately, Son Heung-min controlled the ball under his feet, looked around to observe, then ran up and planned to counter-steal the ball on the spot.

Under his pressure, Van Dijk hurriedly passed the ball to the wing to left-back Luke Shaw.

His pass was so powerful that Luke Shaw had to use his chest to stop the ball in mid-air on the sideline to prevent it from going out of bounds.

But by the time he adjusted the ball, Trippier was already beside him.

Luke Shaw panicked, and the only thought in his mind was to break through. He planned to poke the ball out between the opponent's legs, but Trippier had expected this and pressed down in advance, closing his legs, just in time to stop the ball kicked by Luke Shaw.

Luke Shaw realized the ball was not following him after he passed it. When he turned around to chase it, Trippier had already dribbled the ball out and ran towards Manchester United's goal.

"Ahhh! This is a great opportunity! After waiting for forty minutes, there is such a big gap in Manchester United's defense. Trippier rushed forward with the ball, and in front of him there were only two central defenders and a goalkeeper of Manchester United... Tottenham's counterattack!"

………………

After passing the ball, Bruno has been moving, seeking cooperation with his teammates, so he is now the Manchester United player closest to Trippier.

He rushed towards Trippier from behind, intending to steal the ball. Because he started late, if he didn't stop Trippier here, it would be too late when Trippier entered the penalty area, so he chose a very dangerous defensive move, which could lead to him receiving a red card: a flying tackle went towards Trippier's heel.

Trippier, who was dribbling the ball at high speed, could sense Bruno's intention. When Bruno flew over, he gently knocked the ball away, then jumped high and flew over Bruno!

"Oh! Bruno didn't make the tackle! He got passed!"

………………

Manchester United's two central defenders Van Dijk and Maguire rushed towards Trippier's direction, and only Valencia was guarding the huge space in the middle.

Trippier did not shoot himself. He saw Morata waiting for him in the middle and passed the ball horizontally.

The ball passed in front of Maguire and Van Dijk, and Cabo completely missed Luca Morata behind him.

The 1.9-meter-tall Spanish center forward calmly stopped the ball passed by Trippier, and then shot.

De Gea turned around to save the ball, but it was too late. The ball rolled into the goal along the goal post!

"Oh!" the Spanish commentator shouted, "Morata! Morata! Alvaro Morata!! The ball goes in!!! This is a crucial goal, Tottenham broke the deadlock on the field! A classic counterattack on the spot!"

After scoring the goal, Morata performed his signature celebration: putting one hand to his ear and turning it continuously.

He wanted to hear the cheers of the Tottenham fans in the stands.

He got what he wanted, and tens of thousands of Tottenham fans at the scene cheered loudly.

"Hurray! Tottenham!"

………………

"Damn it!"

Goalkeeper De Gea was very angry about losing the ball. He yelled at Luke Shaw: "You should be more decisive when handling the ball!"

Luke Shaw, who chased back to the penalty area but still failed to prevent the ball, felt aggrieved: "What does this have to do with me? If Virgil hadn't passed the ball so hard..."

When Van Dijk heard Luke Shaw put the blame on him, he was immediately furious: "Who told you to stay so far away from me? If I pass the ball lightly and the opponent intercepts it, the result will be the same, right? Look where you have been? You have already reached the midline before I passed the ball!"

The two were teammates, but they became enemies because of the goal. No one was willing to admit that the goal was his own responsibility.

Bruno and Kante hurried over to stop the fight.

"Stop arguing, stop arguing. Okay, brothers, stop arguing!" Kante pushed away Van Dijk and Luke Shaw who were colliding with each other.

Bruno said to them: "It's just a goal lost, we still have half a game time, what's there to argue about? Instead of arguing here, why not think about how we can score a goal!"

………………

The TV commentators also noticed what happened in front of the Manchester United goal. The Tottenham commentator applauded: "It looks like there is an internal conflict in Manchester United, which is good news for Tottenham players. Internal strife will greatly affect their combat effectiveness! Our players should seize the opportunity and strive to score another goal before the end of the first half - there are still five minutes, why not?"

The Manchester United commentator began to pull his hair: "How can there be internal strife in such an important game? Now is not a good time to quarrel. If you want to quarrel, wait until the game is over and return to the locker room, you can quarrel as much as you want... Now that the score is behind, they are still quarreling with their own people... The situation is really terrible! Will Manchester United's winning streak really end today?"

Finally, with the help of Bruno, Kante and other teammates, the quarreling Van Dijk and Luke Shaw were separated, but neither of them looked at each other and were still fighting.

Captain Bruno did not have the time to continue to enlighten them. The Tottenham players had already ended their celebration and were watching the internal strife of Manchester United as if it were a play.

There were five minutes left in the first half and Manchester United had to ensure that Tottenham would not take advantage of their internal strife to score another goal during this time.

But this is not a long-term solution. They can only hope that the conflict between Van Dijk and Luke Shaw can be resolved during the half-time break, and that the head coach can make tactical adjustments to let them know how to score goals and win the game.

………………

Thanks to the efforts of Bruno, Kante and others, the team held on for the last five minutes.

Although Van Dijk and Luke Shaw still have conflicts and do not pass the ball to each other, they are still professional players and they know what they should do.

So Tottenham's wishful thinking was wrong, they did not find any opportunity in Manchester United's infighting.

Manchester United has the best defense in the Premier League and even in the world today. When they are determined to defend, they are as solid as a rock.

When the whistle sounded to end the first half, the score was still 1:0.

International practice is that the home team goes first.

Leading the powerful Manchester United at halftime, Tottenham fans in the stands encouraged their players with applause, and did not forget to boo Harry Kane and Manchester United.

In the first half of the game, Harry Kane used his understanding of Tottenham's midfield commander Eriksen many times to help the team steal the ball and then launch a counterattack. Although he did not help Manchester United score, Tottenham fans still refused to let him go.

But amid the boos, Harry Kane did not lower his head, instead he held his head up proudly.

Bruno didn't care about the struggle between Harry Kane and Tottenham fans. He ran off the court quickly. He hardly played any role in the first half. Although he was thinking about finding loopholes in Tottenham's defense, Tottenham did not give him such an opportunity. Their strictness made it difficult for him to find many spaces that he could exploit.

The most annoying thing is the conflict between Luke Shaw and Van Dijk. Internal strife really destroys one's character.

At that time, Bruno had already noticed that head coach Mourinho had a very unhappy face, and he would definitely get angry in the locker room during the half-time break.

However, he did not give up the game. There were still 45 minutes left in the game, and he and Manchester United still had time to try hard.

………………

During the half-time break, Mourinho unexpectedly did not lose his temper, and did not even criticize the two parties involved. He just gave a glove to Van Dijk and Luke Shaw respectively.

This action made everyone puzzled and felt very strange: What is this for?

The two parties involved didn't understand why the head coach did this.

Mourinho said to the two parties who were unaware of the situation: "I will give you an opportunity. During the 15-minute halftime break, you can throw gloves to each other to decide the winner. This matter will end here. When you are on the field, forget about everything and devote yourself to the game. How do you think?"

Now everyone knows what the head coach is doing.

Van Dijk and Luke Shaw lowered their heads under Mourinho's stimulation. They also realized how shameful their performance on the field was.

Mourinho pointed at the gloves in their hands: "What? You don't want to duel now?"

"I..." Luke Shaw said, "...we don't need a duel, boss. We...uh, we're fine..."

Mourinho asked: "Are you sure? Are you really sure there is nothing to resolve between you?"

"I'm sure." Luke Shaw nodded.

Mourinho looked at Van Dijk again, and the Dutchman nodded quickly: "I am sure that quarrels on the court are normal, sir. Luke and I both want the team to win, and it's over..."

Mourinho took back the gloves from both players and said: "I hope you really think so, because in the second half, you will have no chance to duel. We have to duel with Tottenham. We lost the ball in the first half, but compared to losing the ball, what I care more about is our performance in the first half."

He looked at Bruno and spoke again: "In the first half, our midfield did not function well and we were stuck in a quagmire with Tottenham in the midfield. A tug-of-war with the opponent in the midfield? This is not what I want to see. We must change this situation in the second half and we cannot be deadlocked with the opponent in the midfield. This is Tottenham's strategy. If we fight with them in the midfield, it will play into their hands."

As a bystander, Mourinho always sees the situation clearly, and he explains the situation to the players in the simplest language.

"So we have to speed up the tempo in the second half. Bruno, you have to reduce the time you have the ball at your feet. When necessary, you have to reduce the number of times you take the ball. We don't necessarily have to organize the attack through you."