Chapter 497 - 103 — Fulham Away (III)

Ten Hag didn’t open with criticism — Demien’s first-half numbers already told him everything he needed to know about whether the job was being done.

"Fulham have stopped wasting bodies trying to take it off you," he said, tapping the tactics board. "Now they’re protecting the space around Bruno and Rasmus instead. That’s why we’re not scoring. Our wide play is breaking down too easily to punish it."

He turned to Antony first. "Release it earlier. Robinson’s recovering into every duel because you’re holding it a touch too long."

Then Garnacho. "Keep attacking Castagne — they’re giving you more isolation on that side than anywhere else on the pitch."

Then Højlund. "Vary your movement. You’ve been threatening in behind the whole half. Give them something different to think about."

He looked at Demien last. "When they retreat and Palhinha won’t follow you, carry it forward yourself — force someone out of that block. But Christian stays connected behind you every time you do. We can’t have both of you committed at once."

Demien nodded, drank, and glanced once at the system panel still sitting a step short of complete.

The whistle called them back out before he could think about it any longer.

The second half opened far more openly than the first.

Fulham stopped handing United comfortable possession almost immediately, attacking the areas Demien couldn’t be in two places to cover.

In the forty-seventh minute, United lost it on the right after Antony held the ball a beat too long again. Robinson released Willian quickly, Pereira broke beyond Eriksen at the same instant, and Demien had a choice to make in half a second.

He tracked Pereira — the central run was the greater danger.

That left Willian enough room outside to put a ball into the area.

Maguire cleared it, but only as far as another Fulham shirt.

The recycled attack found Harry Wilson shooting space.

Onana saved.

The correct decision hadn’t ended the danger — it had just moved it somewhere else, which was the whole shape of the afternoon in one sequence.

Fulham won the loose ball almost instantly. Palhinha arrived outside the box and drove a shot through a crowd of bodies.

Onana reacted again, pushing it away with both hands.

United survived it, but Craven Cottage had found its voice properly now, sensing the shift toward their side.

"Give it to me, give it to me!" Demien shouted at Maguire, arms out, demanding it with more urgency than he had all half — United needed to stop this becoming transition after transition rather than a match they controlled.

He dropped closer to the center-backs, received, and deliberately slowed the tempo rather than attacking immediately.

「LEGENDARY SKILL ACTIVATED」 「Toni Kroos — Metronome」

He worked Fulham from one side to the other until their first pressing line lost its shape, then punched a pass through to Bruno.

Bruno turned and released Garnacho, who drove at Castagne and got a shot away.

Leno saved it, but the attack had done its job — Fulham’s momentum broke, and United found several minutes higher up the pitch again.

In the fifty-fifth minute, Demien got his own look at goal, Bruno returning the ball to him outside the box after Fulham had shut down Højlund’s route through.

Palhinha stepped late.

Demien already had the half-yard.

「TRAIT ACTIVATED」 「Long Shot Taker」

He struck it clean enough to beat the first body in front of him, but Leno got across and pushed it behind for a corner that came to nothing.

Fulham adjusted again after that, this time bypassing Demien entirely — rather than building through Pereira where he could interfere, they moved the ball quickly into the wide areas and went straight at United’s fullbacks.

That was where United actually struggled.

Demien could recover centrally at full sprint whenever he needed to, but every time he shifted toward one flank, Fulham simply recycled the ball to the other.

One Fulham move produced a dangerous ball across the six-yard box that Dalot had to hack clear before the far-post runner could get a touch on it.

Demien looked around at the players near him — Eriksen visibly tiring now — and started organizing the midfield distances himself.

"Christian, tighter to me, you’re too far out!" he called, waving him in with one hand. "Bruno, drop when they switch, don’t wait for it to come to you!"

Short instructions, no speeches, just pointing men into the right spaces before the next phase began.

Around the sixty-third minute, Ten Hag made his first change, Pellistri on for Antony.

The effect showed almost immediately.

Pellistri didn’t try to prove himself on every touch. He ran in behind Robinson, pressed him the moment Fulham won possession, and released the ball fast rather than holding it.

Demien noticed the difference within a couple of minutes.

He received centrally, Palhinha shading to protect Bruno’s lane, and rather than force that pass anyway, he looked right instead.

Pellistri was already moving behind Robinson.

Demien clipped it into his path.

Pellistri reached it and cut inside before Bassey could fully recover, getting a shot on target.

Leno saved it, but United finally had another player making exactly the kind of movement Demien had been waiting for all match.

"That’s the run!" Demien shouted at him as they jogged back for the goal kick. "Every time, yeah? Every time."

Pellistri grinned, still catching his breath. "Just give me the ball early enough."

Still 0-0.

In the sixty-seventh minute, Fulham broke again after Bruno tried a risky pass that got cut out.

This time Demien was ahead of the ball, having joined the attack himself — for once, even his pace couldn’t put him immediately between Fulham and United’s own goal.

He turned and sprinted back while Pereira carried it centrally.

「LEGENDARY SKILL ACTIVATED」 「Gareth Bale — Galáctico Surge」

He closed enough ground to take away Pereira’s shooting lane, but Pereira released Willian before Demien could fully arrive.

Willian went at Dalot, and the resulting shot was blocked.

Another transition affected, not deleted.

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

Every objective on his panel except the result itself was finished now.

He barely glanced at it before it faded — the match still mattered more than the notification confirming he’d done his part.

Bruno jogged past, tapping his own chest twice. "You’re everywhere today," he said. "Just need one of them to go in now."

"Working on it," Demien said.