Chapter 522 128 — Chelsea (III)

The dressing room at halftime didn't feel like a team that was drawing.

It felt like a team that had been robbed by its own finishing, and everyone in the room knew it. Bruno sat with his elbows on his knees, staring at the floor for a moment longer than usual before lifting his head. Højlund kept flexing his fingers like he could still feel the save Sánchez had made off him. McTominay was already on his feet, restless, the way he got when a game felt unfinished.

Ten Hag didn't raise his voice.

"You don't need to work harder," he said. "You've already shown you can break their midfield. We've done it all half. The problem is what happens after."

He brought up a clip on the screen — United's attack breaking down around Chelsea's box, then the frame jumping forward three seconds to Sterling carrying into forty meters of open grass.

"Scott, you're getting beyond their pivot every time. Good. Keep doing it. The fullbacks are pushing on to support the forwards. Also good. But when all of that happens at once and we lose the ball, there's nobody left between Palmer and our back line. That's where their chances came from. That's where the goal came from."

He turned to the bench. "Sergio, you're on. Victor, well played — come off. Luke, you move inside next to Harry. Sergio takes left-back."

Lindelöf nodded and started unlacing his boots without complaint. Shaw pulled his shirt straight and glanced at Maguire, who gave him a small nod back.

"They'll change too," Ten Hag added. "Expect Reece James. He'll push high on the right and give Palmer another option every time he drifts over there."

Demien studied the new shape on the board rather than waiting for anyone to explain it to him. Shaw and Maguire in the middle. Reguilón outside. Dalot on the right. Himself and McTominay in front of them, but no longer on the same line whenever United had the ball.

"Scott keeps attacking the box," Ten Hag said, looking at McTominay. "They can't track your late runs. Don't stop making them."

Then at Demien. "When Scott goes, you stay. You're the security behind every attack. Bruno, fullbacks — when an attack gets crowded, recognize it and give him a safe ball. Don't force it into five bodies."

"Understood," Bruno said.

Ten Hag held Demien's gaze a moment longer. "They haven't found an answer to your passing. Not once. You don't need to force the winner. Keep creating the conditions for it."

"Understood," Demien said.

「PREMIER LEAGUE MATCH MISSION」 「Clear Chances Created: 3/3 — COMPLETE」 「Progressive Actions: 7/7 — COMPLETE」 「Midfield Recoveries: 3/4」 「Pass Accuracy: 94%」 「TEAM OBJECTIVE: Win」 「Reward: +70 MP」

The panel faded as he took his position on the halfway line.

Across from him, Reece James was jogging onto the pitch in place of Cucurella, already pointing up the right touchline to show Palmer where he intended to live for the next forty-five minutes.

"Two changes at the break," the commentator said. "Reguilón on for Lindelöf, Shaw moving into the middle for United. And Chelsea bring on Reece James — that's a statement of attacking intent from Pochettino."

"James changes the shape of that right side completely," his co-commentator said. "Palmer's been drifting there all half. Now he's got someone overlapping him every time he does."

Chelsea restarted.

They went straight at the change.

James pushed high immediately, and Palmer came short to receive from Enzo, drawing McTominay a few steps toward the ball. The moment McTominay committed, Palmer released it outside to James.

Reguilón had to move toward him. Demien stayed where he was, close enough to the middle that Palmer couldn't get the return pass in a more dangerous position.

"Sergio, show him outside!" Demien called. "Outside!"

James took it to the byline and crossed toward Jackson. Maguire got there first and headed it out, and Dalot collected the loose ball before Chelsea could turn it into a second phase.

Chelsea came again before United could settle. This time Palmer received facing forward, and Demien saw his hips open toward the right channel where Sterling had started his run.

He didn't follow Palmer.

He moved toward where the ball was going.

「TRAIT ACTIVATED」 「Ball Winner」

He stepped across the passing lane a fraction before Sterling could receive, took the ball cleanly on the half-turn and found Bruno beyond Chelsea's first line in one movement.

「MATCH MISSION PROGRESS」 「Midfield Recoveries: 4/4 — COMPLETE」

Bruno turned and released Antony down the right. United pushed forward quickly, Chelsea's back line retreating toward their own area. Antony looked for Højlund across the six-yard box, but Disasi slid across and blocked the delivery.

Chelsea recovered and tried to build through Caicedo.

Demien was already standing in the lane.

Caicedo looked, saw him, and turned back toward his own center-backs.

"That's the difference already," the co-commentator said quietly. "United lose the ball there and Chelsea have nowhere to go with it."

The next few possessions made it plain who was running the middle of the pitch.

Shaw found Demien from the left side of center-back, and Caicedo came to press. Demien let the ball run across his body and turned away with his first touch before Caicedo could even make contact, leaving the Ecuadorian stretching at air.

Enzo shifted across to close the next route.

The space Enzo had just left was the route.

Demien found Bruno in it, and United were through Chelsea's midfield again. McTominay was already sprinting beyond Bruno into the box, arm raised.

"Bruno!" McTominay shouted. "Now!"

Bruno tried to find him, but Thiago Silva read the run and stepped across to intercept.

Chelsea broke through Mudryk. He picked up the ball on the left and looked up at a pitch that, for once, wasn't wide open in front of him. Demien hadn't chased toward the touchline. He'd held the central route, and Mudryk had no choice but to keep going down the outside, straight into Dalot, who got close enough to slow him until United's shape settled behind them.

Mudryk checked back. Chelsea recycled. The danger drained out of the move.

"He's not even going to the ball," the analyst said on a replay. "He's going to where Chelsea need the ball to go. Watch — Mudryk looks inside, Walter's there, so it stays outside. That's positioning doing the defending for him."

United regained it and settled into a sustained spell.

Chelsea tried to press high. Jackson went at Shaw. Palmer positioned himself to block the pass into Demien.

So Demien moved.

He drifted several yards toward the left half-space, out of Palmer's shadow, and Shaw found him at the new angle.

Caicedo came forward again.

Demien played it back to Reguilón and kept running into the space Caicedo had just vacated. Reguilón returned it first time, and now Demien received facing Chelsea's goal with their first midfield line already behind him.

He looked up. Garnacho, wide, outside Reece James.

He switched it.

Garnacho attacked, but James stayed right with him and blocked the attempted cross. Chelsea cleared toward midfield where Enzo looked to lift it forward toward Palmer.

Demien got there first.

The ball came back to United, and Old Trafford's noise lifted another notch — a crowd that had spent the first half wondering how their team wasn't winning, now watching Chelsea struggle just to get out of their own half.

Demien received outside Chelsea's area and drew Caicedo toward him before releasing Bruno between the lines. Bruno turned and found Antony, whose curling effort was blocked by Colwill. The ball ricocheted back toward midfield.

Demien collected it again.

This time, nobody came to him.

Chelsea had dropped back to protect the passes into Højlund and McTominay, and they'd left him alone twenty-five yards from goal.

He took one touch forward. Still nobody.

「TRAIT ACTIVATED」 「Long Shot Taker」

He struck it low and hard toward the bottom corner, the ball skidding off the wet surface.

Sánchez reacted late but not too late, diving full stretch to push it around the post.

Old Trafford groaned and applauded in the same breath.

"Sánchez again!" the commentator said. "That's the problem for Chelsea — they press him and he plays through them, they back off and he does that."

Palmer, jogging back past him, glanced at Demien for a moment and shook his head — not in frustration, more like a teammate would at training when someone did something annoying and good.

Demien didn't react to it.

Bruno swung the corner in. McTominay attacked it, Chelsea got the first header away, but the clearance didn't travel far enough to relieve anything.

Demien was waiting outside the box. He took it on the half-volley and switched straight to the opposite side, where Shaw had wandered up from center-back after the set piece. Shaw got into the area and hit a shot that Colwill threw himself in front of, the ball deflecting wide.

Another corner. Chelsea cleared it. United came again.

"This is sustained now," the co-commentator said. "Chelsea can't get out."

When they finally did, it was through Reece James. He picked up a loose ball, carried it beyond halfway and played a one-two with Palmer, who'd drifted into the right half-space to receive the return.

Demien read the second part of it. James wasn't stopping. He was continuing his run outside, and if Demien jumped at Palmer, the middle would open for Jackson.

He held the lane instead.

"Sergio, James is going!" he shouted. "Go with him!"

Reguilón turned and went.

Palmer hesitated, both options covered, and tried switching toward Sterling on the far side. The ball hung long enough in the air for United to shift across and deal with it.

United had it back again.