New Manchester United's 3-0 victory over Brighton was met with widespread praise, especially because of Curtis's outstanding performance. Almost overnight, the young defender became famous across Manchester.
Even Brighton's manager repeatedly praised the young player when interviewed by reporters after the match, saying that Curtis had great potential and a bright future.
However, after this match, New Manchester United's sense of urgency remained unchanged.
Although they had won, Alou Diarra would be absent for two matches, which meant he would also miss the game against Blackpool. That once again created a crisis for an already injury-hit New Manchester United.
Hangeland should be able to return for the match against Exeter, but to be safe, Mourinho decided to continue starting Curtis alongside Terry. He was satisfied with the young player's performance.
In midfield, Poulsen and Alou Diarra were both injured, so Mourinho could only use De Rossi and Essien.
If another player were injured, he would probably have to switch to a 4-4-2 formation, since the team had often practised that system this season.
It was a little strange, though. When using 4-4-2, Mourinho played two strikers, one tall and one quick, but the results were not as good as when using 4-3-3.
That was somewhat difficult to understand, but according to the data provided by OPTA, it was because when New Manchester United played 4-3-3, they always had five players in midfield. That gave them a significant advantage and allowed them to press the opponent's defence.
In the 4-3-3, Mourinho always used a tall center-forward, which meant New Manchester United were not afraid of the opponent's defence, as long as the opponent did not park the bus.
Once the opponent parked the bus, New Manchester United still looked somewhat helpless.
In the away match against Exeter, the home team focused entirely on defending. They showed little ambition and treated earning one point at home as a victory.
New Manchester United once again showed their helplessness against a team that parked the bus.
They dominated the match, holding seventy-seven percent possession and taking twenty-five shots, but only seven were on target. The opponent had a miserable three shots, none of which troubled New Manchester United's goal.
From the statistics alone, New Manchester United had absolutely dominated and should even have won comfortably. But what was the reality?
The final score was 0-1, with New Manchester United securing a valuable three points away from home thanks to Curtis's header from a free kick in the final ten minutes of the second half.
With two goals in two starts, Curtis became Manchester's new darling.
Almost every supporter realized that this was a rising star. Of course, he also attracted the attention of countless scouts and clubs.
Curtis's performances in these two matches were indeed amazing.
He was very steady in defence, almost never making mistakes. He did not look like a teenager under sixteen at all, and his style was tenacious.
He was always passionate on the pitch, and once he entered the flow of the match, he could even advise his teammates. That was completely different from Terry, who had been somewhat quiet when he first arrived.
Of course, this also had a lot to do with Curtis growing up at New Manchester United.
After all, everyone currently in the first team had joined later than him. Even Evra had joined later, which naturally gave Curtis an advantage in a traditional English dressing room.
In addition, Curtis was indeed very tough.
He almost never gave up on any ball he could compete for, and he always managed to inspire his teammates.
Sometimes, when Mourinho watched from the touchline, he even felt that this kid was more suited than Terry to becoming the leader of the defence.
After two consecutive high-level performances, Curtis attracted the attention of many clubs.
The first to inquire with New Manchester United were their cross-city rivals from the Premier League, Manchester City.
They asked whether New Manchester United intended to sell Curtis, and they were willing to let him stay with the team until the end of the season.
However, New Manchester United rejected them almost without hesitation.
After that, several other teams showed interest, from League Two, League One, the Premier League, and even Manchester United's scouts came to watch him.
However, New Manchester United's stance was very clear. No matter how much money was offered, Curtis would only stay at New Manchester United.
Facing a club that was not short of money, Curtis's suitors clearly had no solution, so they began shifting their attention to the player himself.
Surely a future star like him would not be willing to stay at New Manchester United for long, right?
But who knew that Curtis, who did not even have an agent yet, rejected the temptations offered by those big clubs almost without a second thought.
In an interview with Manchester Evening News reporter Scarlett, he repeatedly emphasized that he had witnessed the birth and growth of New Manchester United, and that he would accompany the club all the way until he retired.
A gifted teenager who would not turn sixteen until March 2001 was actually pledging his entire career to a League Two club. Anyone who believed that was a fool. That was the unanimous opinion of the outside world.
The only explanation was that New Manchester United had no intention of selling, while Curtis also wanted to stay at New Manchester United to gain match experience.
Therefore, both sides had staged this touching drama of mutual loyalty.
Despite transfer faxes arriving at New Manchester United in droves, Ethan gave the front desk a direct order. If they were inquiries about buying players, throw them all in the bin. He did not even want to see them.
However, the British media's love of hype was fully revealed at this time.
Although New Manchester United did not like being too high-profile, the media continued to build up Curtis.
They hyped him as Ferdinand II, claimed he should be selected for the England youth team, called him a future England star, and so on.
Although New Manchester United had consecutively defeated Brighton and Exeter, their league position did not improve at all.
The reason was simple. Cardiff and Blackpool both won their matches.
Cardiff also won in those two rounds and currently sat at the top of the table.
Although Brighton lost to New Manchester United, they defeated their next opponent and remained second.
Blackpool stayed third, still ahead of New Manchester United.
That made the nineteenth round of the league, New Manchester United's away match against Blackpool, extremely important.
If they won, New Manchester United would enter the top three.
If they lost, the gap to the leading group would widen further, increasing the difficulty of securing automatic promotion and moving them further away from the title.
Because of this, everyone at New Manchester United attached great importance to the match.
Mourinho was even more troubled by the team's injuries. Although none of them were serious, they had all happened at the same time, causing New Manchester United's current predicament.
Hangeland had recovered and met the requirements to play, but Mourinho planned to keep him on the bench for this match.
That was because the center-back partnership of Curtis and Terry had been excellent. Their chemistry was good, and although Curtis was young, he brought great energy on the pitch and could lift the team, which was exactly what New Manchester United currently needed.
Evra and Bosingwa occupied the two full-back positions.
Evra's recent performances had improved significantly, especially in terms of defensive effort, which everyone could see.
He was no longer as reckless on the left as before. Although he still frequently pushed forward to attack, he was now able to track back.
However, in the competition with Abidal, Evra clearly still could not surpass his French compatriot, because Abidal was more stable and stronger defensively, while his attacking ability was not weak either.
As for Bosingwa, Mourinho gave him heavy responsibilities.
After Steinsson left, Bosingwa was the only option at right-back.
Mourinho could only use him. Essien could also fill in at the position, but only as a backup option, and the midfield was currently short of players. Mourinho frequently stopped training to instruct Bosingwa on defending and positioning, criticizing his lack of focus.
However, the players were already used to such scenes.
Terry had been reprimanded by Mourinho before the season, and then became a key player for the team, performing excellently.
Later, Curtis had also been criticized in training, and now he was considered a rising star among English center-backs, with even Manchester United paying attention to him.
Now it was Bosingwa's turn. It remained to be seen whether he would also become mature and steady.
In midfield, New Manchester United currently had only three available players: De Rossi, Essien, and Juninho.
The first two were very young but had great potential. De Rossi was good in both attack and defence, Essien was fierce defensively, and both were strong runners.
Juninho was the team's tempo-setter. He controlled the team's rhythm and also had some defensive ability.
This three-man midfield was equally sharp. The only concern was the experience of De Rossi and Essien.
They were both very young and would inevitably lack experience, which was a concern.
As for the attack, that was New Manchester United's most complete area.
The front three were in excellent form, while Olić, Palacio, and Crouch each had their own characteristics.
Wright-Phillips, Malouda, and Hleb had formed healthy competition, rotating with one another and all performing well.
That kept New Manchester United's attacking power consistently strong.
They had scored forty-one goals in eighteen league matches, five more than second-placed Cardiff. Their defence had only conceded eleven goals, making them the team with the fewest goals conceded in League Two.
Cardiff had conceded twenty-three, more than double New Manchester United's total.
With incisive attacking and solid defending, New Manchester United had completely changed people's perception of them before the season had even reached its halfway point.
The bookmakers, in particular, had lowered New Manchester United's odds for winning the title and securing promotion, precisely because more and more people were beginning to take this team seriously.
In reality, New Manchester United's performances did not disappoint.
Riding the momentum of consecutive victories over Brighton and Exeter, New Manchester United travelled away and once again defeated Blackpool cleanly, winning 0-2 and replacing them in the top three.
However, entering the top three was only the beginning for the team.
Everyone knew the season was still very long. League Two had forty-six rounds each season, and only nineteen had been played so far, not even half.
The current results were only temporary.
New Manchester United naturally understood this, so Mourinho consciously began making adjustments in training, using the week-long break between rounds nineteen and twenty to prepare for the busy December schedule and the winter period.
(To be continued.)
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