Hats off to Jose Mourinho

(Baonghean.vn) - Europe must bow down to MU, not because MU had a resounding 4-1 victory over the home team.CSKA Moscow, the special thing is the way Jose Mourinho operates the game in Russia..

In theory, CSKA is not MU's opponent. In the last 4 meetings, MU won 2 and drew 2. What experts are interested in is how coach Jose Mourinho will handle key players Pogba, Carrick and Fellaini who are injured. "The rock" Phil Jones, an important figure in his 4-2-3-1 formation, is also absent for the same reason.

Attack with confidence

If Herrera starting in central midfield alongside Matic was predictable, Jose Mourinho even arranged for them to play together in the Red Devils' 1-0 win over Southampton. But Jose Mourinho switching to a 3-5-2 formation in the context of MU's rise with the 4-2-3-1 tactic is something that many people think about.

To do that, Jose Mourinho, in addition to understanding his students, carefully studied coach Viktor Goncharenko and the CSKA Moscow players.

CSKA head coach Viktor Goncharenko and left-back Georgi Shchennikov both expressed their admiration for MU. Photo: Internet

Even MU fans were surprised to see Smalling, Bailly, Lindelof in the starting lineup, especially Lindelof who was absent from the Premier League but unexpectedly appeared in the arena.Champions League. Wings indeed.Blind and Young playing in defense or midfield is not too surprising, these have long been Jose Mourinho's versatile players.

But why Jose Mourinho chose Martial over Rashford, the player who has been shining on the left wing for MU for a long time, is a big question mark. Later, when the match ended and Anthony Martial won the Manchester United Player of the Match award with 1 goal and 3 assists, he said:

“He understands and appreciates my intentions. I think the game and the way we play suits his qualities. He exploits a lot of space and receives a lot of support from the satellites around him, so I feel satisfied.”

In the 3-5-2 formation, the American midfielder Mkhitaryan, who speaks Russian and is knowledgeable about Russian football, was assigned to play the highest position, right behind the two strikers in the role of an attacking midfielder instead of moving to the right wing as usual. With this position, Mkhitaryan made life difficult for the Russian team's defense when he repeatedly carried the ball straight into the center, while Martial sometimes moved to the wing, making it difficult for the CSKA defenders to mark anyone.

Adjust the pace of the game

Playing away, but MU dared to confidently attack with a fast, intense style of play, making the home team lose their composure and continuously make mistakes, which was within the Portuguese coach's calculations.

Jose Mourinho proudly said: "It's simply because MU is too strong, not because CSKA doesn't play well." Photo: Internet

If the opening goal was the unstoppable explosion of the attacking duo Lukaku and Martial, the two goals conceded after that were the consecutive mistakes of the home team's defense. Straining to withstand the diverse and cunning attacks of Herrera, Matic, Blind, Mkhitaryan, Lukaku, Martial, the mistakes of Vasin, Berezutski, Ignashevich, Fernandes were understandable.

More than anyone else, captain Berezutski, with 16 years of experience in top-level football, understands that the level of England's top teams is far different from Russian clubs in terms of speed, strength and destruction.

When the first half was 0-3 down, the fate of the match was considered decided, the result of 4-1 was only because Jose Mourinho wanted it that way, MU needed to save energy for the long haul. However, even when MU replaced 3 official players on the field, slowing down the speed of the match, they could still have scored more goals if Lingard and Rashford were more careful when facing goalkeeper Akinfeev.

People still cannot understand what made Jose Mourinho confident enough to strike first, score an early goal, win big and then create an advantageous position without wasting too much energy against Russia's top team.

Lukaku became the first MU player to score in both of his first two Champions League matches and MU had the 5th match with 4 goals. More than anyone, Jose Mourinho is the father of those records, Europe is gradually starting to bow down to this Portuguese man.

N@T