Chapter 523 129— Chelsea (IV)

Approaching the hour, Pochettino changed the problem.

Caicedo stopped charging at Demien. He stayed deeper, protecting Bruno and McTominay, while Palmer tried to press Demien from behind whenever he received.

Demien noticed it on his very next touch. He felt Palmer arriving at his back before he saw him.

He didn't turn into it.

He protected the ball with his body, let Palmer come closer, and laid it off to Shaw before moving into a new passing lane.

「TRAIT ACTIVATED」 「Press Resistant」

Shaw returned it. Palmer had overrun Demien's new position, and now Caicedo had a decision to make: leave Bruno and step forward, or let Demien have the ball facing forward.

Demien waited.

Caicedo came.

Demien released Bruno the moment he did.

United were through again. Bruno found Garnacho on the left, and Garnacho went at James before whipping a low ball toward Højlund. Disasi got a foot to it first and put it behind for another corner.

"That's a genuine tactical change from Chelsea," the analyst said. "They've stopped sending Caicedo at him, they're pressing from behind with Palmer instead. And he's just read it on the first touch."

The corner caused chaos. The ball ricocheted around the six-yard box, and Shaw got to it first and swung a shot through a crowd of legs. Chelsea blocked it, and players in blue went up appealing for a foul in the scramble. The referee waved play on, and Chelsea eventually hacked it clear.

Demien was outside the area again, where he'd positioned himself. He collected the clearance but didn't force it back into the crowded box. He moved it to Maguire, then across to Dalot, making Chelsea's whole block shift right before United went again.

He'd noticed something over the last five minutes. Every time the ball went wide, Chelsea's defenders were turning their heads to find McTominay. Scott had scored once already and had been the most dangerous runner in the game. They were watching him more than anyone.

Which meant somebody else would be free.

Demien received from Dalot, shaped his body to switch it out to Garnacho, and instead slid a firm pass into Højlund's feet. Højlund laid it off first time to Bruno arriving just inside the box, and Bruno hit it low toward the far corner.

Sánchez saved again.

Bruno put both hands on his head. Old Trafford let out a noise that was half anger, half disbelief.

"He's having one of those nights," Bruno said as he jogged back past Demien, exasperated. "Everything we hit, he's there."

"Keep hitting it," Demien said. "He can't do that all night."

Around the midway point of the half, Ten Hag stepped to the edge of his technical area and caught Demien's eye, pointing forward with two fingers. Chelsea were sitting deeper than they had been before the break. He didn't need to stay near the center-backs on every possession anymore.

When United had control around halfway, Demien could go.

The next time he received from Shaw, he did. He carried past Palmer, who'd come to close him, and when Enzo stepped in to meet him, he didn't release the ball straight away. He leaned into the challenge, used his balance to hold Enzo off, and kept moving toward the final third.

Chelsea's center-backs stayed where they were. Højlund was pinning them. Neither wanted to step up and leave him.

Demien found Garnacho outside him.

Garnacho cut inside onto his right foot and shot. Sánchez parried it. McTominay was first to the rebound, but Colwill got across just enough to block the finish.

United won the ball back yet again and kept pressing.

During the stoppage for a Chelsea throw, the broadcast put up a graphic.

DEMIEN WALTER — 64 MINUTES Pass accuracy: 94% Pressure escapes: 6 Chances created: 4 Recoveries: 7

"Chelsea have tried everything to stop him," the co-commentator said. "They've pressed him, they've dropped off him, they've changed who presses him. None of it's worked. The only thing they've managed to stop is United's finishing."

The goal came in the sixty-ninth minute, and it came from everything United had been rehearsing since Monday.

Chelsea's midfield had started retreating earlier every time Demien got the ball, their movements a half-second quicker toward their own goal. Caicedo stayed close enough to protect Bruno. Enzo tracked McTominay. James stayed alert to Garnacho on the outside.

Demien received from Shaw and saw all of it at once. They were protecting the forward passes. They weren't going to confront him.

He carried toward the left half-space.

Caicedo finally stepped.

Demien released Garnacho outside him, then kept running rather than admiring the pass.

Garnacho received with James closing him down. Instead of trying another dribble, he checked and played it back inside to Demien, who'd arrived in the pocket between Chelsea's midfield and their right-back.

The return pass turned Demien to face the far side of the box, and he could see the whole picture.

McTominay starting another late run from deep.

Højlund moving toward the near post, dragging Thiago Silva with him.

Bruno occupying Caicedo on the edge of the area.

Three movements. Chelsea's defenders were trying to respond to all of them at the same time.

Demien waited — a heartbeat, no more — until McTominay drifted beyond Colwill's shoulder.

「LEGENDARY SKILL ACTIVATED」 「David Beckham — Delivery Master」

He wrapped his foot around the ball and sent a measured delivery toward the far post, bending it away from Sánchez and dropping it exactly into McTominay's path.

McTominay rose above Colwill.

Header.

Down and past Sánchez's outstretched hand, into the net.

MANCHESTER UNITED 2 — 1 CHELSEA Scott McTominay, 69' (Assist: Demien Walter)

Old Trafford detonated.

McTominay sprinted toward the Stretford End with his arms spread wide, screaming something nobody could hear. Garnacho chased after him, Demien behind Garnacho, and Bruno caught all three of them near the corner flag, the four of them collapsing together in front of the crowd.

"Two goals!" McTominay was shouting into Demien's ear. "Two goals! That ball — that ball was—"

"You did the hard part," Demien said, laughing. "You got there."

"I just had to stand there!"

On the touchline, Ten Hag punched the air once, then immediately turned and started signaling to the bench, then to his players — back, shape, reset.

"McTOMINAY! A second for Scott McTominay, and United finally lead!" the commentator shouted. "What a delivery that is!"

On the replay, his co-commentator walked through it. "Watch the build-up. Garnacho gives it back to Walter instead of forcing the dribble. Højlund goes near post and takes Thiago Silva with him. Chelsea hesitate for one second, and Walter puts it right on McTominay's head at the far post. He's seen the whole move before it happens."

Chelsea restarted and tried to punish the celebration straight away, working it through Palmer.

Demien positioned himself between Palmer and Jackson before Palmer had even turned, and the only option left was wide. James overlapped and looked for Sterling. Reguilón delayed Sterling, and Demien slid across to take away the pass back inside.

Chelsea lost it.

United countered. Demien received and immediately released Antony, who carried into the box and cut it back toward McTominay arriving again.

For a moment, Scott had a hat-trick on his right foot.

He dragged it wide of the far post.

McTominay dropped to his knees, hands over his face. Old Trafford roared at him anyway, half in encouragement, half in disbelief that the scoreline still wasn't 3–1.

"Next one," Demien called to him, jogging back. "Next one's yours."

"I'm going to have a nightmare about that," McTominay muttered, climbing back to his feet.

Chelsea started taking bigger risks.

Pochettino pushed Palmer further up the pitch. James pushed higher on the right to provide width. Sterling started looking for chances to isolate the fullbacks.

Demien saw what that meant. The more Chelsea committed forward, the more space they'd leave behind. But he didn't start forcing every possession into that space. He picked when to accelerate and when to make them chase.

For the next several minutes, United had the ball almost exclusively.

Caicedo and Palmer tried to trap him together. He took it on the half-turn and moved it through Bruno before the trap could close. United circulated across the left through Shaw and Reguilón, and every time Chelsea narrowed toward the ball, Demien was there in the middle offering another way out.

When Enzo finally lost patience and stepped forward, Demien sent Antony into the space behind him.

Antony drove toward the box and cut it back. Bruno tried to thread it through to Højlund. Chelsea cleared.

Demien collected the next ball and started it all again.

"Chelsea just can't get their foot on it," the co-commentator said. "In the first half, every United attack that broke down turned into a Chelsea chance. Now it's just turning into another United possession."