The legendary Red Devils coach: The road to success

Chapter 112 Serious Decline

"Ferguson's team played a shocking season. Their overall strength should not be so weak, and their team should not be so sluggish. It is even more far-fetched to say that it is caused by injuries."

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At the end of the season, the Red Devils' ranking dropped from second place last season to 11th place, and they were eliminated in all cup competitions without any gains.

The season is over and the final word is out. If we judge heroes by their performance, Ferguson's efforts for the season can be said to have failed.

What Ferguson had to endure was not only the unpleasant rankings, but also the embarrassing end of the season. Three consecutive defeats were still before his eyes, followed by various struggles, and the final victory over Newcastle almost made the fans lose any joy and had no intention of celebrating the victory with the team.

Looking at the statistics of Ferguson's team this season, the media felt that he should be given a big thumbs up. Before the season, Ferguson received a lot of money for signings and had a lot of time to prepare, but what did he present to the fans in the end?

This season itself was full of topics. At the end of the season, the media was shocked by Graham's Arsenal winning the championship, but they also did not forget to criticize Ferguson and his team.

With Graham as his former coach and Atkinson as his predecessor, Ferguson felt helpless and bitter. The fierce competition in English football and the many difficulties in the long season made this coach, who was full of energy at the beginning, feel extremely difficult.

Ferguson's team only won two and lost six in the last eight games, which was too bad. Especially compared with the amazing winning streak that Manchester United won at the end of last season, the disparity in the team's performance made Ferguson unable to justify it.

The team's performance declined, and Ferguson himself summarized several reasons.

One is naturally the overall strength of the team has also declined, which is the most painful fact for Ferguson but he has to admit it. Before the start of the season and even in the middle of the season, Ferguson was unwilling to admit the fact that his team's strength had declined. Compared with last season, Manchester United's forward line has received strong signings, but McClair's second-year wall has also hit a solid wall; Whiteside is almost non-existent, and so is Davenport. Only Hughes is struggling as a forward. The status and ability of several main players in the midfield and backcourt have declined sharply, which has seriously affected the team as a whole. First, Robson and Strachan, the two veterans performed very poorly. Robson was not very good last season, and this season is even worse. Strachan was a brilliant offensive conductor last season, and Manchester United's offense almost entirely relied on him. However, this season, due to serious injuries and other reasons, he played very poorly and was almost completely useless on the offensive end. The defense was even worse, Anderson was not that good, and McGrath was completely broken, from the mainstay of last season to the guy who dragged down the team this season. Even goalkeepers Turner and Leighton were much worse this season than last season, which led to a rapid increase in the number of goals conceded by Manchester United.

Second, the team's spirit and fighting spirit are not as good as last season. In many games last season, Manchester United also encountered serious injuries and intensive schedules, but the spirit of the players last season was obviously much better than this season. There are also some special reasons. In many games last season, Manchester United started and progressed smoothly, and some key games also achieved a rare reversal. Basically, they played scenes that met the psychological expectations of the coach and players, so many games were under the control of Ferguson and the players. But Manchester United suffered a blow at the beginning of this season, especially after being hammered by Liverpool, and their emotions fluctuated. When they entered a period of multiple games without winning or even losing, the process of many games was very strange, which was not what Ferguson and the players had imagined. The strong attack failed to be attacked, the midfield strangled and was abused, and the offensive wasted opportunities and was punished... There were many such incredible games this season, and the fighting spirit and resilience of Manchester United players were greatly challenged, and it was expected that their spirit and emotions were worn out.

The most obvious decline in the team's will to win was actually in the last 10 rounds or so. After reaching this stage of the league, the players have become a little relaxed and have lost their enthusiasm for progress. Maybe in the eyes of some players, the difference between ranking th and th or th is not that big, and it does not affect personal income.

The most obvious negative impact on the team is naturally Whiteside. This once high-spirited young star who constantly broke Manchester United's youth training records has been suffering from injuries and alcohol since the beginning of the season. He has not played many games this season and his performance has begun to decline rapidly, which greatly disappointed Ferguson. Even in those games where he was able to play, Whiteside seemed a little conservative when fighting against opponents, and was very worried about getting injured again.

Whiteside said in an interview, "I have been hoping to return as soon as possible throughout the season, but I have been troubled by the long recovery. I played a very disappointing season and I am very sorry to everyone."

As a Manchester United youth player, Whiteside naturally loves Manchester United fans and hopes to play actively for the team, but his form and ability are really declining, and he has not provided any help to the team throughout the season.

All of this had been foreshadowed. The team had fluctuating form, a thin lineup, continuous injuries, and exhaustion on multiple fronts. Although Ferguson had tried his best and made many adjustments in the middle of the season, he still had to face the poor points.

Third, the team's tactics are indeed too radical and thankless. Ferguson has been insisting on playing offensive football this season, and has always emphasized the firepower input in the front field. No matter which team he plays against, he always presses the opponent at the beginning, launches an active offensive at the beginning, and then keeps attacking the opponent. Whether it is poking each other or attacking and focusing fire, Manchester United's tactics always seem so radical. This style of play lacks sufficiently sophisticated technology and coordination, and lacks sufficiently accurate crosses. In many cases, it is only lively but not effective.

Fourth, there is the mysterious problem of luck, and Ferguson has no way to deal with this. The team should not lose at least 5 games a season, and should win 4 to 6 games, but in the end it did not go as he wished. It is not that the team did not have an offensive, it is not that the team did not have a chance to score, it is not even that there was no goal, but in the end they did not win or even lost. Maybe the opponent only had 2 or even 1 shot in the whole game, but in the end Manchester United either drew or lost. The most outrageous game was against Queens Park Rangers. Manchester United had at least 20 shots in the whole game, but they still lost in the end - the opponent only had one counterattack opportunity!

The season ended, the Red Devils only won 38 of the 13 league games, lost 13 games, and had 12 draws, with a final score of 51 points, 25 points less than Arsenal, who won the championship. The Red Devils' final results were seriously poor, and they were empty-handed in various cup competitions. The whole season can be said to have achieved nothing, leaving only a subject of ridicule.

The Red Devils performed poorly, with problems on both offense and defense. The Red Devils' offense scored only 38 goals in all 45 games, which was a far cry from the 71 goals they scored last season. The media began to question the Red Devils' high-priced reinforcement of the forward line, which had no effect at all, and the Red Devils' fans were even more angry, fiercely criticizing the Red Devils' attacking combination led by Mark Hughes.

The Red Devils' win rate for the entire season was only about 34.5%, ranking even lower than Millwall. The Red Devils' defense was not strong, even though they only conceded 35 goals. Although the conceded goals may not seem like a lot, these conceded goals corresponded to nearly twice as many defeats as last season.

Even though the Red Devils had a classic home comeback against Liverpool, it was only a flash in the pan and not very convincing. For Ferguson, his Manchester United was ridiculed throughout the season, all kinds of ridicule, which is the most profound memory.

Gascoigne mocked the Red Devils' appeal at the end of the season as worthless, Norwich fans continued to mock Bruce, and Wimbledon continued to brag that they could bully the Red Devils at any time, not to mention enemies like Liverpool, Manchester City and Leeds United. Compared with the Red Devils' decline, Tottenham Hotspur ranked sixth this season and Norwich ranked fourth. They did have the confidence to ridicule the Red Devils who ranked behind.

The Red Devils could not always dream of defeating the league's dominant team, as reality was cruel in the end. Ferguson's team was too thin, too dependent on Strachan and Robson tactically, and the defense was very unstable. The team also suffered various unpredictable injuries, which affected the condition of the core players.

As soon as this failed season ended, Ferguson unsurprisingly became the target of media criticism.

Ferguson eventually had to deal with it.

This is inevitable. The team has not performed well most of the time and is also plagued by injuries. The most fatal thing is the breakup with Strachan... Of course, the coach must be held accountable for these problems that are on the table.

The Times said: "Ferguson's declaration at the beginning of the season was too unrealistic. He completely overplayed his hand, and the consequences were serious. The Red Devils' decline was predictable. They did not have the strength to compete for the championship. Now Ferguson is being mercilessly ridiculed, which is just a superficial phenomenon. The more critical thing is that he may have lost the support of some fans."

This is Ferguson's worst record as coach of the Red Devils. This fact makes all excuses meaningless.

Ferguson took the responsibility very calmly. When reporting to the club's board of directors, Ferguson said, "We were not actually prepared, and our true strength was not at the level of challenging the championship. The goals set before the season were unrealistic. My biggest mistake was that I did not judge the situation clearly and did not prepare a second plan to deal with it. There were so many unexpected things this season that we were caught off guard. The Red Devils' passivity during the season was the result of our inability to cope with it."

Ferguson said in an exclusive interview: "I will not give up my original ambitions, but we also need to bow our heads in the face of defeat and seriously learn lessons. We will start again instead of blindly shouting and not accepting it, attributing the reason to bad luck. Our most important task now is to recognize the gap and then start to act."

Ferguson emphasized very loudly, "We already know where the problem lies, and now there will be targeted improvements. I will let the fans regain their confidence in us and give us more encouragement and cheers."

"Nothing is impossible and I firmly believe we are on the right track."