On September 8, New Manchester United travelled to face Peterborough United.
Mourinho's side had enjoyed a full week of rest, leaving the players in excellent physical and mental condition.
Despite playing away from home, New Manchester United completely dominated Peterborough, allowing them almost no meaningful chances and comfortably winning 2-0.
Seven consecutive league victories had given New Manchester United tremendous momentum.
However, Brentford's performances had been even more impressive.
They had also won seven consecutive matches, scoring 23 goals in the process and establishing themselves as the most dangerous attacking team in League Two.
Brentford's style contained many traditional elements of English football.
They played a 4-4-2 with two quick strikers, two hard-working wingers capable of contributing in both attack and defence, an adventurous central midfielder who frequently made forward runs, and a more defensive partner who remained behind him.
Both full-backs also possessed strong attacking instincts. They were quick and constantly made overlapping runs.
Brentford's aggressive tactics had worked particularly well because their early-season opponents were not especially strong.
Their fixtures had included Cambridge United, who were bottom of the table, twenty-third-placed Wrexham, Bury, and Northampton.
Their strongest opponent had been Bristol City, who were currently eighth.
Of course, New Manchester United's early schedule had not been particularly difficult either.
Most of their opponents had been mid-table sides, with Cardiff City providing the toughest challenge.
However, several difficult fixtures awaited them toward the end of September.
After defeating Peterborough, New Manchester United returned home to face Notts County.
Notts County had moved regularly between League One and League Two in recent years, and their performances had been inconsistent.
They were currently seventeenth in the table, having declined further from the previous two seasons.
New Manchester United fielded a front three of Drogba, Wright-Phillips, and Hleb.
Wright-Phillips had performed extremely well since joining the club.
His displays that season had created fierce competition between himself, Malouda, and Hleb.
In Mourinho's squad, intense competition was considered healthy.
There was little concern that it might damage the team's unity because every player understood that only one person had the final say.
The manager.
Juninho, Senna, and Essien continued together in midfield.
The back four consisted of Abidal, Terry, Curtis, and Touré, while Almunia remained in goal.
The Spaniard had been extremely reliable that season, and Mourinho continued to place complete trust in him.
Of course, New Manchester United's excellent defensive record was also closely connected to the improvement of the team as a whole.
They had been the strongest defensive side in their division for the previous two seasons.
During their Conference title-winning campaign, they had scored more goals and conceded fewer than any other team.
In League Two that season, only the unexpectedly prolific Brentford had scored more goals than New Manchester United.
However, the Red Rebels had conceded fewer than all 23 of their rivals.
That did not mean they played conservatively.
On the contrary, even the most critical football commentators would have struggled to describe New Manchester United as defensive.
Martin Tyler had discussed the team several times in his newspaper columns.
He believed their tactical principles had remained consistent during Mourinho's two seasons in charge, while continuing to improve as the players developed and the team's performances became more mature.
According to Tyler, New Manchester United's attacking football was built primarily around movement off the ball, which gave their play a fluid and expansive quality.
Yet their football still contained great detail in tight areas.
Hleb, Juninho, and several others frequently produced clever combinations over short distances, creating unexpected openings.
New Manchester United were particularly skilled at using the full width of the pitch.
Their players constantly moved to stretch the opposition's defence, searched for gaps, and then attacked those spaces relentlessly as a unit.
The opposition were given no opportunity to recover.
By doing so, New Manchester United could suppress their opponents' momentum, dictate the tempo, and gradually assume complete control of the match.
On the surface, they appeared to be a thoroughly English side.
They were aggressive, combative, resilient, direct, and efficient.
Those qualities made them ideally suited to English football.
Beneath the surface, however, they played with considerable sophistication.
Their passing combinations were smooth and purposeful, while the players' constant movement and coordination made them extremely difficult to mark.
In his column, Martin Tyler wrote that he found it difficult to believe such a team existed in League Two.
However, he also identified several weaknesses.
The most obvious was the lack of attacking penetration through the centre.
When the two wingers were unable to cut inside and combine with the striker, the midfielders did not always make forward runs quickly enough.
Put simply, New Manchester United lacked a player like Paul Scholes.
Juninho was outstanding at controlling the tempo and linking the team's passing.
He understood Mourinho's tactical intentions better than almost anyone.
However, he was not the kind of midfielder who consistently attacked the penalty area from deep.
He was primarily a playmaker.
Elsewhere in the squad, Essien and Alou Diarra were defensive midfielders.
Senna contributed in both directions but was stronger defensively.
De Rossi possessed good attacking instincts, but his pace and technical style made it difficult for him to become New Manchester United's version of Scholes.
Martin Tyler believed that if New Manchester United could solve that final problem, their strength would increase dramatically.
They might then achieve consecutive promotions and charge all the way into the Premier League.
...
Although Martin Tyler had identified New Manchester United's weakness in his column, opposing teams had struggled to exploit it because Mourinho's tactics concealed it so effectively.
Mourinho understood that his side lacked a natural attacking midfielder who could provide penetration through the centre.
To compensate, he instructed Drogba to drop deeper, alternated the forward runs of Senna and Juninho, and occasionally allowed Curtis to step out of defence and move into midfield.
All of those adjustments were designed to compensate for the lack of a central runner and maintain pressure on the opposition.
Perhaps Notts County had read Tyler's column.
They concentrated heavily on defending the flanks, reducing the space available to New Manchester United's wingers while deliberately leaving more room through the middle.
Their intention was obvious.
They wanted to exploit New Manchester United's supposed weakness in central attack.
Mourinho responded with a simple fact.
Attacks through the middle did not necessarily have to be led by an attacking midfielder.
Near the end of the first half, Curtis suddenly carried the ball forward and continued his run into the penalty area.
After exchanging passes with Drogba, he scored the opening goal.
1-0!
After the break, New Manchester United scored twice more.
Senna struck in the 63rd minute, while Essien surged forward from deep to add another in the 80th.
New Manchester United completed a comfortable 3-0 victory at the City Ground.
Three days later, they played at home again, this time against Huddersfield.
With the third round of the League Cup scheduled for September 18, Mourinho rotated his squad and gave several fringe players an opportunity.
New Manchester United fell behind twice but equalised on both occasions.
Palacio then came off the bench to score the winner, securing a narrow 3-2 victory.
...
In the third round of the League Cup, New Manchester United hosted Sheffield United.
They were one of only two League Two clubs still in the competition.
Their luck in the draw had undoubtedly been better than that of the other remaining League Two side, Stoke City, who had been paired with Steve Bruce's Birmingham City.
During his pre-match interview, Mourinho jokingly expressed envy toward Stoke.
He even claimed that he would happily exchange opponents with them.
Many people had previously questioned Mourinho's New Manchester United and suggested that his side was inferior to the team Steve Bruce had built.
Mourinho wanted an opportunity to prove himself, although he remained deeply respectful of Bruce's contribution to the Red Rebels.
Bruce, meanwhile, described Mourinho as an excellent manager.
He said the current New Manchester United side played aggressive football while remaining defensively organised.
More importantly, Mourinho had led a newly promoted team to the Conference title, and Bruce hoped to hear that New Manchester United had earned another promotion at the end of the season.
The two managers' compliments sounded almost as though they had forgotten about their actual opponents.
Both Sheffield United and Stoke City's managers were irritated.
Mourinho and Bruce had made them feel invisible.
That anger was soon reflected on the pitch.
However, Mourinho had always been skilled at responding to anyone who doubted him.
At home, New Manchester United fearlessly engaged Sheffield United in an attacking contest and overwhelmed them from the opening whistle.
After taking a two-goal lead, Mourinho instructed his players to drop deeper and defend.
Sheffield United eventually recovered and launched a fierce response.
They managed to score once, but New Manchester United held on to win 2-1 at the City Ground.
Elsewhere, Bruce's Birmingham appeared to stroll through their match, comfortably defeating Stoke City 2-0 away from home.
The media immediately described it as another victory for Bruce in his supposed rivalry with Mourinho.
As a result, Mourinho severely criticised his players during training the following day.
He believed their carelessness had caused the conceded goal.
Otherwise, New Manchester United could also have won 2-0.
The players were already familiar with their manager's temper.
They knew he was furious and that arguing would only make the situation worse.
So they quietly exchanged amused looks, remained still, and allowed him to continue his rant.
As expected, Mourinho imposed no punishment once he finished.
Furthermore, for the away match against Tranmere Rovers on September 22, he continued trusting the regular starters.
New Manchester United successfully collected all three points at Prenton Park in Birkenhead.
With ten consecutive league victories, New Manchester United were full of confidence.
Their supporters were equally optimistic ahead of the difficult away match against Reading.
Given the team's current form, they believed the Red Rebels could win at the Madejski Stadium and increase the gap between the two sides.
However, the day before the match, New Manchester United received a succession of bad news.
First, starting centre-back Curtis Davies was ruled out through suspension after accumulating too many yellow cards.
Then Juninho suffered an injury during the final training session.
The problem was not serious, but his absence from the match was confirmed.
Unfortunately, something even worse awaited New Manchester United once the game began.
(To be continued.)
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