The legendary Red Devils coach: The road to success

Chapter 131 If being tough is useful

"If talking tough worked, Ferguson would have been invincible long ago. Ferguson never admits defeat and is stubborn, and he won't change even if he encounters setbacks everywhere in reality. Manchester United can lose to Arsenal and Crystal Palace. They dare to lose to anyone and can lose to anyone. Ferguson's position as coach has been placed on the edge of a volcano."

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Entering December 1989, the Red Devils did not make much progress.

What worries Ferguson even more is that the Red Devils are about to enter a tough schedule. According to the traditional practice of English football, the entire game schedule will become very tight starting from December, and most teams will start a dense schedule of consecutive games around Christmas. This stage is generally called the "Christmas and New Year Express". Whether a team can win the championship often depends on whether it can persist in the dense schedule, maintain an excellent state, and surpass other opponents.

On December 12, the Red Devils went to Highbury Stadium in London to face Arsenal. This match in the 3th round of the English League One was hyped by the media as a "revenge battle" before the game.

Given that the Red Devils defeated the Gunners in the last round, Arsenal had declared before the game that they wanted revenge. Playing at home this time, the Gunners certainly hoped to defeat their opponents directly. Some proud players even boasted that beating Manchester United by one goal was the starting point, winning by two goals was qualified, and winning by more than three goals was considered satisfying. This season, Arsenal cannot participate in European competitions due to the ban, and its performance since the beginning of the season has not been outstanding. The biggest task for coach Graham now is to defend the league title.

With so many teams competing for the lead in the standings, this is undoubtedly the best opportunity for the Gunners to sacrifice the Red Devils in this game.

Arsenal vowed revenge before the game, but Ferguson just thought it was a joke. But he did not dare to neglect the deployment of troops, and deployed all the elite lineups of 451, and ordered the players to strive to strangle the opponent in the midfield. At the beginning of the game, the Gunners launched an aggressive attack, and put on a rushing attack posture in the midfield, hoping to suppress the Red Devils with strength and body, so as to gain the upper hand in the power confrontation. The Red Devils did not show weakness. Robson and Ings played together to suppress the midfield. Bruce and Pallister were also tough. McClair and Hughes were better at hard battles. Blackmore and Martin were also very hardworking. Phelan and Wallace were also not inferior in impact on the wing. The whole team did not retreat, but wanted to take the initiative, hoping to play the same hearty attack as the opening game, and play a fast-interweaving speed and rhythm change to make the Gunners suffer again.

The two sides soon started a fierce battle in the midfield area. Robson and Insle fought against each other repeatedly. Every physical collision was like Mars hitting the Earth. The confrontation of strength was even more intense. The Red Devils' midfield maintained its strength, but the opponent was also very tough and did not give the Red Devils any offensive opportunities. Compared with Arsenal's tighter defense and stronger midfield, the overall defense of the Red Devils was slightly inferior.

Although Arsenal is more accustomed to playing high and high, and playing more long passes, it still puts the Red Devils' defense in a passive position. The pair of central defenders Bruce and Pallister still seem to be very strenuous in defending against the opponent's forwards who have both strength and speed. Bruce is fine, but Pallister is not particularly good at physical confrontation, and his speed of movement is a bit behind the opponent's movements. In the 16th minute, Pallister was left open by the opponent on the right side of the penalty area. He was already behind when he approached and was directly shot after being shaken off by the opponent. Fortunately, the goalkeeper concentrated and saved the shot in time.

Manchester United's defense continued to be under pressure, and under the opponent's bombardment, several players began to make minor mistakes, which made the coordination of the defense more difficult and the problem of lack of tacit understanding would also increase. In the long run, the opponent's continuous attack would naturally reveal its weaknesses.

Arsenal gradually suppressed the Red Devils in the attack, and the offensive became more and more fierce. Starting from the 19th minute, their crosses and lobs were very strong. The attackers kept passing the ball to the Red Devils' goal, trying to defeat the Red Devils. The Red Devils were gradually forced to retreat, but there were still loopholes in the defense. Under Arsenal's strong attack, a gap appeared in Pallister's area. Arsenal immediately created an opportunity on this side. A typical English cross, when the Red Devils' penalty area was in chaos, the Gunners' striker successfully grabbed the ball in front of the goal and shot directly. The Red Devils' goal was broken, 1-0.

Arsenal won the game, and the entire Highbury Stadium was filled with joy. After the Red Devils were defeated, their previous three-game unbeaten streak came to an abrupt end.

By the 15th round of the league, the Red Devils were already 12 points behind the top team.

With such a huge gap, it was a joke for Ferguson to talk about competing for the league title. The Manchester Evening News asked directly, "Alex, do you still remember the bragging you made back then? Have you woken up from your dream of competing for the title?"

Ferguson was speechless. His team only won 15 games in these 6 league games, drew 3 games and lost 6 games. Ferguson broke all his embarrassing records and put himself on the media's trial platform.

Ferguson cannot escape criticism. The Red Devils lost games not only to giants like Arsenal, but also to relegation teams like Crystal Palace. The poor form of Ferguson's team has really disappointed the Red Devils fans.

The reality is cruel, and Ferguson was once again mocked by the media. Compared with last season, when the Red Devils were still in the leading group after the 15th round, the situation is completely different. Although last season ended in a collapse, it was at least much better than the current Red Devils. Now, let alone the championship, the team has fallen to the bottom of the standings.

The BBC, The Times, Sky Sports, the Mail and many other media outlets came out and started a new round of concentrated criticism. Everyone once again dug up his high-profile remarks before the season and criticized him, saying that he boasted too early. Ferguson made a lot of signings before the season and then announced a high-profile attack on the league title, which now seems to be a joke.

The more high-profile Ferguson was before, the more vicious the ridicule he has to endure now.

The Times said: "What is Ferguson better than Atkinson? Is the change he brought to the Red Devils a team that is just a shoddy team? We have no hope at all since he took over. Now it's his fourth season and everything is still a mess."

The Sun said: "Ferguson is best at breaking into parties and ruining the dreams of Lee Sharpe and Maiorana. What else can he do? His performance in four seasons has only gotten worse. Comparing Ferguson and Atkinson, he is useless. The only advantage Ferguson has is that he survived until December, while his predecessor packed up and left in November..."

Ferguson knew that the fans were disappointed and the media criticized him fiercely, and he was sorry for it. But apologies would become meaningless if they were said too many times. What the fans wanted was victory, one victory after another, not apologies one after another. Although losing to Arsenal was not unexpected, objectively speaking, Graham's team was stronger than Ferguson's Red Devils, and this game was played at their home ground. The fans were not angry about losing to Arsenal, but about the Red Devils' long-term slump and felt cheated by Ferguson's nonsense.

Ferguson didn't expect that there was even greater danger waiting ahead.

After playing Arsenal, the Red Devils faced Crystal Palace in the 16th round of the English League One.

Facing such a weak team (Crystal Palace was eventually relegated this season), the Red Devils failed to seize the opportunity to win and get out of the predicament with a victory, but instead suffered another loss.

It is really unreliable that the game was played like this. The Red Devils players were still in a very low state, their performance was very unstable, and even very bad most of the time.

Apart from the loss, Ferguson's team did not look like a well-trained team at all, nor did it look like a team that would do anything to win.

The Red Devils lost two games in a row in the league. There is one more reason for the fans to be angry. Now it is not a question of not being able to play against strong teams, but also against weak teams. What did Ferguson's coaching bring? There was almost no shining point in the whole team. Many players were weak and sluggish. It was too painful to be beaten by a team like Crystal Palace.

Even Ferguson couldn't figure out what was going on after losing to Crystal Palace.

The media has become even louder. Ever since the disastrous defeat to Manchester City, the media has been questioning whether Ferguson is fit to continue coaching. Regardless of whether it is hostile or not, multiple media have started continuous and serial criticism. Many reporters have directly questioned whether he is good for anything.

As this wave of Christmas games unfolded, the anger of the fans began to grow, and more and more fans began to tend to fire Ferguson, believing that he was not a suitable coach for the Red Devils.

The media is hyping up, the fans are criticizing, but only the locker room remains stable. They are consistent with the coaching team and fully support the head coach.

The key now is the board of directors.

The Red Devils board of directors had always maintained a unified tone of "supporting Ferguson", but at this time they had to remain silent. Even though they received multiple interview requests from several media outlets, the press officer did not agree, let alone take the initiative to release any new news. Many reporters began to speculate that Edwards had failed to sell his shares in the Red Devils before the season, and now he must be regretting letting Ferguson spend so much money.

More media are speculating that the Red Devils may already be making plans, just like Atkinson, secretly preparing to change coaches.

Ferguson's bachelor character came out. In an interview with the media, he said: "I don't want to say too many words of apology. I know it's a difficult time now. I hope the fans will still support me and get through this difficult stage with us. Of course, I hope the dark days will pass quickly and we can win early as the fans hope."

Ferguson said: "In competitive sports, winners take all, and only the lasting winners don't have to worry about the right to breathe. Everyone knows that we must play at our best. Everyone knows that our season is not over yet. We will fight to the end. I will definitely change the appearance of this team and revitalize it."

Ferguson knew that the most important thing was the team's performance and the results of the game. Losing to Arsenal or Crystal Palace was not the end of the world. The key was that the team could learn from the shame and win the next game. He did not consider what to do if the Red Devils lost consecutive games and finally lost miserably.

Many years later, Ferguson said, "Pressure? Fear? No. I didn't know it would be so difficult back then. I knew my position as a head coach was in danger and I almost lost it. I can only say that it was a test of fate and I had to get through it."

In addition to fanning the flames, the media even pushed the fan organizations to put pressure on the club. They interviewed various influential fan associations extensively and got the same voice: "Ferguson had better resign now. If not, he must be fired!"

Some media began to publicize that Ferguson has entered the countdown to his dismissal: if the Red Devils are relegated at the end of the season, Ferguson will definitely step down; if the Red Devils suffer another series of defeats in the remaining games, Ferguson will leave immediately.

Ferguson took all the responsibility. He insisted, "I admit that the team's performance was unstable and could not maintain a good enough state. This is my problem. It's not that we can't cheer up, and it's not that we don't try our best to attack. We made mistakes during this difficult period, but this is not an inertia of continuous decline. I trust my players and firmly believe that the Red Devils will not continue to sink."

The Red Devils' unexpected loss to Crystal Palace made Ferguson think that was the most difficult moment.

Obviously he was wrong. This loss was just a small ripple in the Red Devils' winning streak, and even more difficult things are still waiting to come.