Soon, the match resumed.
Manchester United began consciously lowering their overall possession rate because Mourinho realized playing out from the back was a trap.
Klopp intentionally ceded possession in harmless areas just to trigger the press and counter-press, which maximized the mitigation of their lack of pure midfield organization.
The rapid opportunities created from pressing transitions were even more lethal than sustained possession!
And Manchester United themselves weren't historically adept at possession either; they were perfectly accustomed to the defensive counterattack.
Since there were few clear opportunities in the attacking third against a set defense, increasing the frequency of chaotic transitions between attack and defense would naturally create more broken-play chances!
Once again trapped and fouled by the combined efforts of Fabinho and Van Dijk, Ling staggered to his feet from the turf, looking down to see his white shorts stained green with grass.
He didn't complain to the referee, silently getting up and darting into the penalty area, preparing for the next attack.
As the tactics unfolded, he could clearly sense the grueling intensity of Liverpool's physical defense, especially in the central areas.
Although Fabinho is an excellent, world-class defensive midfielder, he is, after all, just one man trying to plug gaps.
Faced with Manchester United's multi-pronged attacks and Pogba's movement, he was already beginning to struggle with stamina, even losing his position just moments ago and resorting to a cynical foul.
If the referee had been stricter, the Brazilian would surely have received a yellow card.
"Equalize before halftime, lads!" Ling shouted to his teammates, sensing blood.
Next, Rashford's direct free-kick attempt produced the desired knuckleball effect, but the angle wasn't sharp enough, allowing Alisson to comfortably catch it into his chest.
Liverpool didn't launch a quick, trademark counterattack from the save either, opting instead to slow down the tempo.
With the clock nearing the 40th minute, their clear priority now was to stabilize the scoreline and take the vital lead into the halftime dressing room.
Moreover, high pressing consumes immense physical energy, and Liverpool's players were already visibly exhausted.
But Manchester United wouldn't comply with a slow tempo.
They aggressively pushed their entire formation about twenty meters forward, using numerical superiority to completely dominate the midfield, and continuously shifted play rapidly to the left and right half-spaces.
This way, they could effectively evade Liverpool's tired pressing in the middle third while also directly targeting the defensive vulnerabilities in the 4-3-3 formation's stretched midfield.
Left with no choice, Liverpool's players had to grit their teeth and continue chasing shadows.
On the touchline, Mourinho stood with his arms crossed, not as anxious as one might expect when losing a derby.
Instead, he smiled and said to his assistant, "Having a player on the pitch who truly understands tactics really makes my job easier!"
"Indeed. After all, they're the ones playing on the pitch, so they have a clearer, immediate understanding of the situation and circumstances," Rui Faria chimed in.
After speaking, he glanced at Mourinho beside him, feeling a surge of emotion.
What was fundamentally different about the boss now was not only that he had learned to delegate authority in the locker room to his captain, but also that he was finally willing to give his trusted players more creative freedom.
For instance, allowing Ling to adjust United's pressing and buildup tactics on the fly.
If Faria had seen this level of trust a few years ago at Chelsea, he would have thought he was dreaming. But sometimes reality is just that unbelievable.
"Don't think of me as that stubborn, Rui!" Mourinho seemed to sense Faria's thoughts with a smirk.
"Delegating authority depends entirely on whether the players actually have the ability to handle it. Whether it was Deco, Wesley Sneijder, or Frank Lampard before, I gave my best players freedom."
Take Lampard for example. He was originally a traditional, hard-working English midfielder but became Chelsea's all-time top scorer under Mourinho.
This was certainly due to his own incredible ability, but Mourinho's tactical influence and trust were also a massive factor.
Faria was about to argue that this level of freedom was still different, but suddenly looked toward the green pitch, pointing frantically at Kante and shouting loudly, "TOP OF THE PENALTY AREA!!!"
There.
Pogba's continuous and varied decoy runs finally attracted Fabinho's full attention.
Perhaps because the first half was nearing its end, the exhausted Brazilian unconsciously let his guard down, instinctively following Pogba's movement out of the central zone.
This directly created a massive, gaping hole in Liverpool's formation!
Kante couldn't hear Faria's voice from the touchline, of course, but the Frenchman also spotted that glaring opening.
Without hesitation, he immediately launched a precise, long through pass straight down the middle!
Liverpool's two wide midfielders desperately tried to cut inside to intercept the ball.
But Kante's passing route was extremely precise, and the gap was indeed quite large.
Ling quickly glanced back over his shoulder.
Sure enough, Van Dijk and Matip were already closing in rapidly to sandwich him, but he had absolutely no intention of turning to face them.
"Marcus!"
Ling executed a perfect, cushioned first-time pass with the outside of his right foot to Rashford, then immediately feigned a turn to cut into the penalty area for the return pass.
This brilliant dummy movement directly split the two Liverpool defenders: Matip went to press Rashford on the side, while Van Dijk stepped back to cut off Ling's expected forward run.
But Ling's movement suddenly stopped dead.
At the exact same time, Rashford delicately played a sideways pass right back into the space Jeremy now occupied.
Having played with Ling since their academy days, Rashford had long developed a unique, telepathic understanding with his captain.
"DON'T RETREAT, VIRG!" Alisson's hoarse roar from the goal line was filled with sheer panic.
Virgil van Dijk was excellent in nearly every way, but he had one fatal, much-discussed flaw: when defending one-on-one, he always preferred to retreat and jockey rather than engage!
But in reality, when Ling stopped his run, Van Dijk realized he had been completely deceived by the dummy, but his backward momentum prevented him from turning or stepping up immediately.
He could only watch helplessly as Ling's footwork adjustment before shooting was absolutely perfect, his body fully extended and balanced.
When the ball rolled perfectly to his feet... If not now, when else would he unleash a thunderous strike?!
Ling's instep made solid, violent contact with the football, transferring every single ounce of explosive power from his body into the shot!
With a loud thud that echoed around the stadium, the ball deformed dramatically from the impact, causing a swirling airflow during its flight.
The effect was a devastating shot with absolutely no spin, wobbling unpredictably in the air (a knuckleball).
Almost in the blink of an eye, the ball swept violently past the retreating Van Dijk and crashed into the net without a moment of hesitation.
The immense force made the goalposts shake violently!
Only then did Alisson react, mechanically turning his head to look at the ball nestling in his net, his throat involuntarily gulping in shock.
If he had actually tried to save that rocket, his hands would probably have swollen, right?
This wasn't an exaggeration—there were many examples of such power in football history!
Whoosh!!!
The next second, the Manchester United fans in the stadium erupted in deafening cheers, venting all the anger provoked by Mane's earlier provocation!
And such an unstoppable thunderbolt of a shot made anyone's blood pump faster just watching it.
Martin Tyler: "WHAT A STRIKE! A WORLD-CLASS STRIKE FROM THE CAPTAIN!"
Gary Neville: "In the 44th minute of the first half, Ling helps Manchester United equalize! And look, Martin, just look! This is the so-called world's best defender that Liverpool fans hype up! All Van Dijk can do against Ling is keep backing away! Why don't you just put on some gloves and play goalkeeper if you love retreating to the goal line so much?!"
Neville immediately switched to full taunt mode on the broadcast.
On the green pitch.
After scoring the wonder goal, Ling didn't aggressively goad his opponents like Mane did.
Instead, he ran straight to the main camera by the pitch, stared intensely into the lens, and passionately kissed the United badge on his chest.
When you blast a violent shot past your arch-rival's goalkeeper under the watchful, adoring eyes of tens of thousands of fans in the stadium, that feeling is simply indescribable.
Anyway, it's nothing but pure, unadulterated excitement.
Afterward, Ling closed his eyes and raised his arms, basking in the roaring cheers erupting for him from the Stretford End.
Though the gesture was quite flamboyant and arrogant, pulling it off felt truly exhilarating.
His Manchester United teammates behind him were equally ecstatic, slapping his back so hard it echoed, leaving a large red patch on his skin.
Such a goal provided a massive, much-needed boost to their morale before the break.
However, the Liverpool players felt the exact opposite.
Alisson held the football, staring at it, at a loss for words, until Henderson finally stepped up to rally his troops.
"Don't all look so downcast! Treat it as if the match has just begun at 0-0!" Henderson clapped his hands.
"Let's just focus on stabilizing our defense until the whistle!"
The Liverpool players bounced back quickly, as the sheer intensity of the North West Derby made it easy to cast aside other negative emotions.
In the remaining few minutes of the half, fierce, crunching challenges became frequent once again.
The two teams nearly clashed in a brawl again after a late tackle, prompting the referee to keep stoppage time extremely minimal and blow the whistle for halftime directly to diffuse the tension.
He also sternly warned both captains to cool their teams off properly during the break.