After defeating Bradford, the Red Rebels entered the most demanding stretch of their Christmas schedule.
They had to play three matches in six days, from Monday to Saturday, with a rearranged fixture squeezed between two regularly scheduled league games.
There was no realistic way around it.
The festive programme ahead was already crowded enough, so postponed matches had to be fitted in wherever space could be found.
New Manchester United could only accept the situation and console themselves with one thought.
If they won all three matches, they could create some breathing room between themselves and Portsmouth.
In reality, that was easier said than done.
Mourinho had already experienced two English festive periods, but this season was different.
The schedule was more punishing than anything the Red Rebels had faced before, in some respects even more demanding than that of Premier League clubs.
League One contained twenty-four teams, meaning every club had to play forty-six league matches.
Then there were the League Cup and FA Cup.
New Manchester United also had the UEFA Cup to contend with.
Premier League clubs, by comparison, played only thirty-eight league fixtures, and their season extended into the middle of May.
League One finished earlier, with the play-offs beginning soon afterwards.
More matches had to be crammed into a shorter period.
By the end of December, after an exhausting November and December, the strain was beginning to show.
Even Mourinho's extensive rotation could not prevent the Red Rebels from finally suffering defeat.
It was their first league loss of the season.
Away to Sheffield Wednesday, a side hovering just above the relegation places, New Manchester United lost 2-1.
The performance itself was not particularly poor.
The Red Rebels simply began carelessly.
Sheffield Wednesday punished them with an unexpected early goal.
New Manchester United responded well, gradually took control, and eventually equalised.
From there, the visitors attacked relentlessly.
But the ball simply refused to go in.
Hleb, who had been in excellent form, squandered several opportunities.
Others did the same.
Then Sheffield Wednesday created another rare opening and scored again.
The statistics almost looked absurd.
New Manchester United had twenty-one shots, sixteen on target, and scored once.
Sheffield Wednesday managed six shots.
Only two were on target.
Both went in.
Could anyone seriously argue that the home side had been more efficient?
Technically, perhaps.
In every other sense, it had simply been one of those matches.
"We lost because we didn't take our chances," Mourinho told reporters afterwards.
"We controlled the game and created enough opportunities to win comfortably.
"Today, the finishing wasn't there and the luck wasn't there either.
"That happens in football."
When journalists suggested that New Manchester United's form was beginning to decline, Mourinho did not reject the idea outright.
"A season is long.
"No team maintains exactly the same level for ten months.
"There will always be periods when form drops.
"What matters is how you respond.
"I'm confident this team will respond."
Ethan was interviewed the following day.
He took an equally calm position.
"I actually think the defeat came at a useful time.
"The unbeaten run had become something people talked about before every match.
"Now that burden is gone.
"We can stop thinking about records and concentrate entirely on what comes next.
"This is the beginning of the most important part of our season.
"I trust the manager and I trust the players.
"They'll get through it."
One reporter immediately challenged him.
"Some people believe the Red Rebels are physically exhausted because you've competed on too many fronts.
"If you continue pursuing the league, UEFA Cup, and FA Cup, isn't there a danger that you could finish the season with nothing?"
Ethan paused.
He had heard the argument repeatedly over the previous few weeks.
There was some truth to it.
But he did not believe it accurately described New Manchester United's situation.
"I understand the concern.
"But our players have been outstanding in Europe, and I'm proud of what they've achieved.
"Our primary objective this season is promotion.
"That has never changed.
"As far as I'm concerned, the UEFA Cup is secondary.
"But if José and the players believe they can go farther in Europe and they want to try, then I will support them."
"Then why haven't you strengthened the squad after selling Bosingwa?"
Ethan smiled.
"Because after discussing it internally, we concluded that the squad is already strong enough.
"We don't believe another signing would improve us enough to justify disrupting what we already have.
"For this team, right now, doing nothing is the right decision."
...
Mourinho did not criticise the players for failing to take three points at Sheffield Wednesday.
As far as he was concerned, they had given everything.
He said so repeatedly in public.
The next challenge was Crystal Palace at home.
Another difficult fixture.
Drogba and Robben had both been rested against Sheffield Wednesday, but even they looked short of their usual sharpness when Palace arrived.
New Manchester United dominated possession and controlled long periods of the match.
They still could not find a winner.
1-1.
Then came news from elsewhere.
Portsmouth had won.
The Red Rebels were now level with them on points at the top of League One, retaining first place only because of their superior goal difference.
For the first time all season, their grip on top spot looked vulnerable.
Yet nobody inside Newton Heath panicked.
Players, coaches, and directors all delivered essentially the same message whenever reporters approached them.
Yes, the team was going through a difficult period.
No, they did not believe it would last.
They would work through it together.
One subject did unite the entire club in open frustration.
The fixture list.
Everyone at New Manchester United criticised the scheduling as unreasonable.
The remarkable thing was what did not happen.
There were no public complaints from players.
No dressing-room leaks.
No accusations.
No stories about exhausted footballers blaming Mourinho or the club.
Many journalists had been waiting for the first signs of internal tension.
Instead, they saw a club closing ranks.
...
January began with New Manchester United's third match in six days.
They travelled south to face Wimbledon.
This was the club that had already left its traditional home in London, although it had not yet adopted a new identity.
Ethan made his feelings clear before the match.
"The Crazy Gang belonged to Wimbledon.
"Once the club left the community that created it, something essential was lost.
"For me, AFC Wimbledon are the true continuation of that spirit, even if they're still playing non-league football."
Nobody was surprised.
Ethan's support for AFC Wimbledon had never been a secret.
When the supporter-owned club was founded, he personally contributed £2 million.
The Red Rebel Foundation added another £1 million.
New Manchester United had also helped wherever possible during the club's formation.
AFC Wimbledon had since joined Droylsden as one of the Red Rebels' affiliated clubs in England and benefited from substantial support from Newton Heath.
That relationship gave the upcoming match an added edge.
Wimbledon responded aggressively to Ethan's comments.
Before kick-off, several representatives insisted they would show New Manchester United who the real Crazy Gang were.
With the Red Rebels stumbling, they sensed an opportunity.
They openly talked about knocking Ethan's side off the top of the table.
The fixture attracted considerable attention.
Wimbledon were eighth in League One and still harboured ambitions of breaking into the top six and reaching the play-offs.
A victory over the league leaders would strengthen those hopes considerably.
Mourinho selected Drogba up front.
Ronaldo started on the left, Ribéry on the right, and Kaká operated behind the striker.
De Rossi and Yaya formed the midfield pair.
Evra, Terry, Curtis, and Lahm lined up across the defence.
Čech started in goal.
After being rested for two consecutive matches, Ronaldo looked far fresher than many of his teammates.
He immediately became New Manchester United's most dangerous player.
Again and again, he attacked from the left.
His diagonal runs inside were particularly threatening.
Drogba, however, was having an off day.
Several excellent opportunities came his way.
None went in.
The first half ended 0-0.
At the start of the second, Wimbledon changed their approach.
They had spent much of the opening forty-five minutes defending cautiously, but they believed the Red Rebels would tire as the match progressed.
So they pushed forward.
They wanted the first goal.
That decision brought De Rossi and Yaya into the centre of the match.
The two midfielders protected the defence superbly.
They closed the space in front of the penalty area, broke up attacks, and gave Wimbledon almost no opportunity to penetrate centrally.
And the farther the home side pushed forward, the more space appeared behind them.
New Manchester United's attackers gradually began to find their rhythm.
The decisive change came when Palacio replaced the ineffective Drogba.
Suddenly, everything clicked.
In the seventy-second minute, Ronaldo received the ball on the left.
He accelerated past his marker, cut diagonally into the penalty area, and drove a low pass across the centre.
Palacio was waiting.
Instead of touching it, he cleverly allowed the ball to run past him.
Kaká arrived from deep.
One controlled finish into the near corner.
The goalkeeper reacted.
Too late.
0-1.
The goal released the pressure.
New Manchester United's football immediately became more fluid.
Ronaldo, in particular, began terrorising Wimbledon's right side.
Five minutes later, he created another goal for Palacio.
Then, in the eighty-seventh minute, De Rossi spotted his run and threaded a pass through the middle.
Ronaldo timed his movement perfectly, beat the offside trap, rounded the goalkeeper, and rolled the ball into the empty net.
0-3.
In less than twenty minutes, the Red Rebels had produced their most exhilarating attacking spell in weeks.
Ronaldo had been at the centre of almost everything.
The Portuguese winger was not yet seventeen, but his performances that season had already become impossible to ignore.
Mourinho had deliberately avoided making him an automatic starter.
Even so, Ronaldo's form had forced him firmly into the competition with Robben and Hleb.
There was still plenty of room for improvement.
Under the coaching staff's direction, he had recently begun a specialised finishing programme designed to improve his movement around goal, shooting technique, and composure.
His physical development was also progressing well.
The sports science department had gradually increased the amount of football he was cleared to play, giving Mourinho greater freedom to use him.
Robben was making similar progress.
The Dutchman's physical condition had improved substantially over the first half of the season.
Ribéry was developing quickly as well.
Perhaps sensing the growing competition around him, Hleb had responded with the finest football of his career.
In twenty-six competitive appearances that season, he had scored seventeen goals.
He also had eleven assists.
That made him New Manchester United's leading scorer.
And he was only twenty-one.
His performances, particularly in Europe, had attracted attention from clubs across England and the continent.
The January transfer window had barely opened before several Premier League and foreign sides made their interest known.
Ethan's answer never changed.
New Manchester United's winter transfer business was finished.
Nobody important was leaving.
Nobody was coming in.
At least, that was what everyone assumed.
Because at the same time, Ethan made another announcement.
"The biggest signing of our winter has already arrived."
(To be continued.)
◇◇◇
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)