Chapter 496 - 102 — Fulham Away (II)

By the nineteenth minute, Marco Silva’s plan had fully revealed itself.

Palhinha stayed close enough to deny Demien a free run into the final third, but he’d stopped wasting energy trying to dispossess him outright. Fulham’s attacking intent had shifted to the wings and the space beside Eriksen instead.

Willian started receiving more often on the left.

Pereira drifted toward Eriksen’s side rather than Demien’s before every buildup.

Robinson kept overlapping whenever Antony was a half-second late tracking back.

Demien read the pattern and started shifting earlier to compensate, which cut down Fulham’s central access but pulled more and more of his own movement into repair work rather than attack.

Every defensive responsibility took him somewhere he wasn’t attacking from.

Fulham’s first real chance came off exactly that trade-off — United lost the ball on the opposite flank, Demien already tracking Pereira centrally when the switch went to Willian before he could leave his assignment.

Willian got to the edge of the box and got a shot away.

It flew narrowly wide, forcing nothing more than a held breath from Onana.

Demien hadn’t been able to appear twenty yards away while doing his actual job — no amount of acceleration solved being in two places at once.

United won the ball back, and Demien deliberately slowed the next attack rather than force it immediately.

「LEGENDARY SKILL ACTIVATED」 「Toni Kroos — Metronome」

Right to left, back again, patient circulation until Palhinha’s positioning finally opened a lane to Bruno between the lines.

Bruno turned.

Garnacho started his diagonal run.

Bruno released him.

Garnacho reached the penalty area, and his shot was blocked by a recovering defender.

Another chance manufactured. Another one that didn’t need Demien to be the one finishing it, and didn’t finish anyway.

By the twenty-eighth minute, Fulham had started giving Demien room outside their block entirely, because stepping toward him kept opening space for someone else instead.

He recognized it the moment it happened — they’d finally surrendered his shooting range rather than his passing range.

Nobody closed as he took the ball about twenty-five yards out.

Against his current level, that was the wrong decision to make.

「TRAIT ACTIVATED」 「Long Shot Taker」 「STATS ACTIVE」 「Long Shots: 98 | Composure: 99」

He drove it toward the top corner.

Leno read it early and got across, pushing it wide rather than conceding — the attribute guaranteed the quality of the strike, not the outcome against a goalkeeper doing his job well.

The save changed Fulham’s behavior again. Their nearest midfielder started stepping toward him the instant he entered shooting range, which opened exactly the passing lanes Demien wanted.

On the next similar possession, he shaped as though he’d shoot again.

Palhinha bit, stepping to close the shot down.

Demien didn’t take it — he threaded the ball through the space Palhinha had just left, straight to Bruno.

Bruno got into the box but held it a beat too long before shooting, giving the recovering defender enough time to get across and block it.

Demien glanced at him for half a second, the opening had been there, then let it go without a word.

United were dominating the moments that mattered without turning any of them into goals.

Fulham survived long enough that Craven Cottage started finding its voice, growing louder every time United gave the ball away, the home crowd’s confidence climbing with every clearance.

Palhinha won a loose ball off another United player around the thirty-eighth minute — proof he was still dangerous even if he’d stopped trying to take the ball off Demien directly.

Fulham broke forward.

Demien tracked Pereira.

Eriksen couldn’t get across in time to close the second runner.

The ball went wide to Harry Wilson, who got a clean shot away from a good position.

Onana had to save it properly, palming it round the post — a save that belonged entirely to him, and Demien didn’t need to own it to appreciate it.

Fulham won the resulting corner and attacked again almost immediately.

Demien had dropped close to his own box by then, read Pereira’s attempted pass into the striker, and stepped across the lane before it could arrive.

「TRAIT ACTIVATED」 「Ball Winner」 「STATS ACTIVE」 「Interceptions: 94 | Reactions: 99」

Clean interception.

Rather than clear his lines and reset, he turned straight into the space behind him and carried it forward himself.

It became United’s best sequence of the half.

A Fulham midfielder tried to stop him from behind with a lunging challenge.

Press Resistant kept him upright through it.

Palhinha stepped across ahead of him, forcing the decision.

Demien carried directly at him on purpose, inviting the commitment.

「LEGENDARY SKILL ACTIVATED」 「Jay-Jay Okocha — So Good Twice」

Two touches, no wasted flourish, and Palhinha was left facing the wrong way as Demien came out the other side into open midfield.

Fulham’s center-back now had an impossible choice — stay with Højlund, or step toward the ball carrier.

Demien kept driving forward until the defender finally broke and stepped.

That was exactly what he’d wanted.

Højlund had the whole channel open behind the vacated space.

Demien released it.

「STATS ACTIVE」 「Vision: 99 | Short Passing: 99」

Højlund was through, clean, one-on-one.

He shot.

Leno saved again, getting down low and holding it.

「MATCH MISSION PROGRESS」 「Clear Chances Created: 2/2 — COMPLETE」

Demien slowed as he reached the edge of the box, watching the rebound cleared without any real frustration in his face.

The play had worked exactly as designed. The finish just hadn’t gone in.

There was nothing in his attributes that could take the shot for Højlund while he was standing thirty yards away controlling the buildup — a cheat could win him the ball, win him the space, win him the pass. It couldn’t win him someone else’s finish.

Demien kept controlling the tempo as halftime approached, his pass accuracy still absurdly high now that Fulham had mostly stopped pressing him recklessly.

Another progression through Bruno.

Another second ball won cleanly.

One more switch out to Garnacho on the flank.

Fulham defended their box properly every time, blocking the final action before it could turn into anything, adjusted rather than beaten.

United had created enough to be ahead by two or three goals.

They simply hadn’t finished any of it.

The fourth official’s board went up for stoppage time, and one last United attack developed before the whistle.

Demien received outside Fulham’s block, Palhinha stationed between him and Højlund, a second midfielder shading over to cover Bruno.

He spotted Garnacho isolated on the far side and hit the switch immediately.

「LEGENDARY SKILL ACTIVATED」 「Paul Pogba — Long Switch Flair」

Garnacho brought it down in stride and attacked, whipping a cross into the box.

Fulham cleared it before Højlund could get a head on it.

The halftime whistle went.

Fweeeeeetttttttt!

HALFTIME — FULHAM 0 — 0 MANCHESTER UNITED

「HALFTIME MISSION UPDATE」 「Pass Accuracy: 95%」 「Central Pressure Escapes: 6/5 — COMPLETE」 「Possession Progressions: 7/6 — COMPLETE」 「Defensive Recoveries: 3/4」 「Clear Chances Created: 2/2 — COMPLETE」 「MATCH RESULT: 0-0」

He’d already cleared nearly every objective on the panel.

The scoreline hadn’t moved at all.

Demien walked into the away dressing room with the rest of United, boots loud against the tiled floor, nobody saying much yet.

He’d beaten Fulham’s pressure everywhere he’d faced it.

He’d created the chances Ten Hag had asked for.

He’d controlled large stretches of the midfield battle almost entirely on his own terms.

United still had nothing to show for any of it on the scoreboard.

Ten Hag turned toward the room, waiting for the door to shut behind the last player before he started talking.