The legendary Red Devils coach: The road to success

Chapter 109 The Gunman's Fire

"Even though the team's overall strength was inferior and its form was low, Ferguson was always able to inspire the players' morale and the fighting spirit when facing a strong opponent, Arsenal, and ultimately compete with the opponent through bloodiness and bravery."

--Inscription

The league has reached the 29th round, with the Red Devils facing Arsenal, the favorite to win the title this season.

Before the game, Arsenal had been at the top of the standings for nearly a month. Graham's team was ambitious and aimed at the league championship. They started the season quietly, but after the fourth round they quickly won a series of games, defeating Everton, Tottenham, Villa, Forest and other strong teams, and took the top spot in the standings.

Since Ferguson came to the Red Devils, the conflict between Arsenal and the Red Devils has become increasingly acute, mainly due to the confrontation between the two sides' playing styles and coaches. In the first round of this season, Manchester United played against Arsenal and sparked sparks, but in the end Manchester United lost to their opponents 1-2, swallowing a very unacceptable defeat.

Arsenal manager Graham made a big fuss before the game, "Ferguson's coaching is simply rubbish. He keeps playing fancy tricks and making tactical innovations, but in fact they are nothing. The Red Devils play badly, the whole team is unbalanced in offense and defense, many tactics are just fancy, and the atmosphere in the locker room is dull and spiritless. It's all stagnant. They even sold their most core players. I don't understand what Ferguson wants to do at all. Isn't this self-destruction? They say they want to beat us? This is a joke. What do they have now? They actually have nothing. We are the best team in England, and they will be beaten to a pulp."

Ferguson certainly won't let his opponent go, and he clearly remembers the humiliation he suffered in the fifth round of the FA Cup last season, and the league match he lost this season. He knows several of his team's best performances against the opponent, and has some experience in how to develop tactics against the opponent, so he will certainly seek revenge in this match.

Deep down, Ferguson understood Graham's ambition and believed that it would be impossible to succeed without it. However, Ferguson disagreed with the Gunners' current tactical style. At Manchester United, he was determined to abandon this tactic that simply relied on physical strength and did not consider the overall precision of the team's operations.

The style of play that Ferguson pursues is to build a tight overall team, focus on offense, combine technology with physical strength and speed, and combine experience, awareness and wisdom.

Ferguson encouraged everyone in the locker room: "Arsenal is strong? They are the dominant team? It seems so, but it is not actually like that. They are very similar to the Celtics or Rangers teams I defeated before. I don't think this brutal and physical style is anything to brag about. We now have the opportunity to show different tactics and different systems in front of them. I hope everyone can inspire their spirits and fight with their opponents with confidence."

Many years later, Ferguson's assistant Norris revealed an inside story in an interview. When the team held a meeting to discuss how to play against teams like Wimbledon, Bolton and Arsenal, Ferguson tacitly allowed the players to find ways to fight against each other. He even encouraged the players to use tougher means to fight. Norris said that every time Ferguson was preparing to play against these rough teams, he was always very excited and easily angry.

Before the game against Arsenal, Ferguson suddenly exploded and shouted angrily at Mullen who was a little careless in training, "Be more ruthless! You are playing so elegantly and carelessly now, but you will cry to your mother when the game comes!"

Ferguson knew that when facing a lumberjack team like Arsenal, he must not lose in momentum, and must not be timid in attitude. He must dare to confront the opponent head-on and dare to fight to the end. Ferguson said: "We will not be defeated by brutality, absolutely not. Arsenal is a team that dominates the football world with strength and fouls. I don't like this style very much. I firmly believe that we can overwhelm the opponent with speed, technology and tacit understanding. Those rough and bad fouls should be punished by our technology!"

The Red Devils players did not need encouragement as they had already been irritated by Graham's wild words.

As soon as the game started, Manchester United players gave their all, shouting silently to fight with their opponents, to carry out tough midfield strangleholds, to fight for every ball, to fight for every space, and to strive for the initiative in the midfield while sparks flew with their opponents.

Just three minutes into the game, a fierce fight broke out, with the two teams fighting in the midfield. Ferguson placed McClair, Robson and Mullen in the middle, Gill and Lee Sharpe on both sides of the midfield, and Hughes rushed forward. Behind this five-man midfield supporting a striker were four defenders: Bruce, Donaghy, Anderson and Lee Martin. Ferguson arranged the team to strictly maintain the formation before the game, and not to be out of touch with the front and back, and required the three people in the middle of the midfield to move more to help the two sides strengthen the confrontation.

Arsenal's offensive strategy was simple. While they were fighting a tough battle in the midfield, they hoped to tear open Manchester United's defense with simple crosses and break down Manchester United's defensive system with a quick advance in the middle. In the 7th minute, Arsenal tried the first shot of the game. Smith's shot in front of the goal hit Bruce, but the ball was directly blocked. In the 11th minute, Arsenal launched another offensive. Dixon took the ball in the midfield and then passed it into the Manchester United penalty area. Wright headed the ball and missed. In the 14th minute, Manchester United's midfield was intercepted. Arsenal immediately launched an attack. Winterburn advanced to the top of the penalty area and shot directly, but was blocked again by Manchester United's central defender. In the 17th minute, Adams intercepted the ball in the penalty area and launched a quick counterattack. Winterburn advanced at high speed, but was directly tackled at the edge of Manchester United's penalty area... After the game started, Arsenal took the initiative, but both sides were very fierce, fouls continued, and whistles were blown frequently.

Arsenal's attacks were frequent, and Manchester United's defense was under pressure and gradually began to collapse. In the 32nd minute, Arsenal's Thomas took the ball and advanced along the right road at high speed. After passing Manchester United's Mullen, he rushed to the penalty area. At this time, he cooperated with Winterburn to drive away Manchester United's defenders, and then made a long pass. Manchester United's penalty area was crowded, and Gunners striker Smith suddenly rushed to the front point, quickly jumped up, and headed the ball hard, hitting the ball into the upper left corner.

Manchester United is trailing 0-1!

In the second half, Ferguson decisively changed the formation to 442 and stepped up the attack, hoping to equalize the score as soon as possible. Arsenal was still thinking about expanding the score and did not actively shrink, and also implemented the strategy of attacking. The game began to become open, the tempo quickened, the offense and defense conversions increased, and the situation became more intense. In the 55th minute, Lee Sharp dribbled the ball on the left, and when he accelerated all the way, his opponent Dixon rushed over diagonally to make a tackle. Lee Sharp changed the direction of the ball and passed his opponent directly. Then, he risked being knocked out of the field by the opponent's rushing defender, and kicked a cross near the opponent's baseline. Unfortunately, Hughes did not grab the landing point in the penalty area, and McClair at the back point had no chance to head the ball; in the 61st minute, Hughes took the ball in the middle and pushed forward. After dodging the space 6 yards outside the penalty area, he shot hard, but unfortunately it was easily confiscated by the opponent's goalkeeper; in the 74th minute, Robson was on the opposite side. He got the ball outside the penalty area, dodged an opponent midfielder and volleyed, but unfortunately the shot was too straight and blocked by the opponent's defender; in the 78th minute, Manchester United made a cross from the right, and there was chaos in the Arsenal penalty area. McClair got a position in the crowd, but he was squeezed by the opponent when he shot and it was difficult to exert force. He did not hit the ball with power, and the ball was caught by the opponent's goalkeeper; in the 81st minute, the Red Devils attacked again, and this time even Bruce pressed into the opponent's penalty area. Mullen made a high cross from the right, and there was chaos in the Arsenal penalty area again. After Hughes, Robson, and McClair stretched their feet to grab the ball and disrupt the situation several times, the opponent's defense line made mistakes under pressure and actually knocked the ball into their own goal, 1-1!

Arsenal scored an own goal - Manchester United ended up with a draw.

Graham was furious that Arsenal failed to get three points. The most important thing that made him unhappy was that the Gunners could not lose points at this time, because their title rival Liverpool was on a points-grabbing spree, and their wave after wave of winning streaks made Graham shudder. Although the Gunners were still leading the standings, if every game was like the one against Manchester United, Liverpool would soon overtake them and they would lose the initiative in the fight for the league title.

The Gunners were all a bit angry, and they even started to complain about their opponents playing rough. Adams said after the game, "Manchester United played too savagely, everyone of them looked like they wanted to fight, and every interception was a bad foul. We paid a huge price and played at a very good level, but everything was ruined by the opponent's unreasonable play."

Arsenal manager Graham specifically said about Ferguson's tactical style: "The Red Devils are not playing football, but rugby. They play more rough and dirty than us. They use super technical fouls many times, and always pretend to be injured, wasting time and making the game fragmented. We have most of the advantages and created many opportunities. We should have won easily."

Graham finally emphasized, "The Red Devils are sniping Arsenal? No, no, no, they can't do anything about it."

Is this like the officials are allowed to set fires but the common people are not allowed to light lamps?

The Daily Mail made a special comment after the game, "Did Arsenal lose? Did Manchester United win? Actually, neither. In the end, Liverpool may be the real winner."

In the BBC's post-match highlights program, commentators Robson and Styles also commented on this match. Robson said:

"Manchester United is still at a disadvantage and cannot beat their opponents. Ferguson needs to improve the team's strength, make better tactical arrangements and build a stronger team so that they can play to their full potential in the challenge of the Gunners and effectively deal with the opponent's fierce firepower."

Stiles commented: "This game was very exciting, a classic of this season. Arsenal played a little better and their offense created more opportunities, but the advantage was limited. Ferguson's team was obviously more exciting. They never gave up even when they were behind, and kept attacking proactively and tenaciously, and finally threw everyone into the opponent's penalty area. Although they didn't win and played awkwardly, they were able to walk out of the stadium with their heads held high in the end."

"These guys are all good guys!"