The legendary Red Devils coach: The road to success

Chapter 190 The Two Wings of Transformation

"Ferguson can finally play two-wing flying tactics for the Red Devils. His years of waiting and exploration have begun to see a glimmer of hope."

--Inscription

Ferguson was rewarded for his youth talents, which was an enormous encouragement for the tactical play he had always wanted to explore and try.

He saw the effect of wing attack in the youth training, and it was like being struck by lightning, which made his whole body tremble. Using wing attack to open up space and pay more attention to the breakthrough of the wing itself is a rare contribution he made to English football.

Ferguson successfully tried to launch the flying wing tactics on one wing in this immature Red Devils team, and now he began to seek takeoff on both wings.

When fans discuss the most distinctive tactical styles of various top teams, the Red Devils during Ferguson's era will definitely be labeled as two-wingers. Humorous fans will also add some jokes, such as "Giggs and Rooney's two-wingers, I still remember...", "Giggs's fast horse, Beckham's scimitar...", "Rooney's little tank and Ronaldo's two-wingers"... etc., all of which are descriptions and comments on the Red Devils' offensive style on the wing.

Ferguson attaches great importance to offense, but he did not have such a distinct label at the beginning of his time at Manchester United. In the early days of his coaching career, he wanted to use the attacking power of Strachan and Robson in the middle, but he soon discovered that England's traditional wing-down and lob tactics required a threatening wing attack. He has always hoped to identify the right sharp knife through signings and promoting youth training. From Dennis Wallace, Maiorana, Lee Martin, Robins, to Lee Sharp, Giggs, and Kanchelskis, Ferguson has always insisted on paying more attention to the wing.

For a long time, wing attack has been a traditional skill in English football. Almost all English teams have this standing tactic. This routine is relatively simple, that is, through the cross from the wing to the penalty area, the center forward rushes or receives the ball in the penalty area, and then attacks the opponent. This tactic is a microcosm of England's long and short lobs, which is different from what Ferguson explored.

The side attack tactics that Ferguson wants to create for the Red Devils have one characteristic, that is, "fast". It requires the side attackers to be fast first, and secondly, the entire attack group must keep up to form a team-style attack. Last season, the Red Devils had already demonstrated their sharp attacking power on the left, and Lee Sharpe and Giggs were both recognized as good seedlings. In the summer, Ferguson introduced an important player, a fast horse from a Soviet football club. His joining can be said to be a sign that Ferguson has determined the direction of the Red Devils' construction - insisting on fast side attack and strengthening the two wings.

Ferguson inherited the English football tradition, but also explored upgraded wing attacks.

Ferguson explored new tactics for the Red Devils, which was also an important part of Ferguson's transformation of the Red Devils. The addition of new wing attackers made Ferguson's tactical platter complete. He could open up the wing at a faster speed, thereby expanding the width of the court as much as possible, strengthening the depth breakthrough of the wing, and thus increasing the attack speed.

The new player joining the Red Devils is Kanchelskiy from Ukraine, who is called "Ukrainian Express" or "Ukrainian Lightning" by the Red Devils fans. He is known for his speed and was the fastest among all their players when he played in the Soviet League. His mentor who trained him was Dynamo Kyiv coach Lobanovsky. Lobanovsky admired Kanchelskiy very much and had a unique understanding of his speed and attacking power. He said, "In the past, most teams' attacks started from the middle and the speed was also determined by the middle. But we started to try it with Kanchelskiy, with him as the main attacker to initiate the attack on the wing, and he dribbled the ball to the opponent's penalty area, and the other players also followed his progress. This style of play has played a very good effect in many cases."

For Ferguson, this style of play is similar to his idea. His Red Devils had a super powerful winger Lee Sharpe at the time, and an even more powerful Giggs. The two attacks on the left were just like the idea proposed by Lobanovsky. Now Ferguson bought Kanchelskis, drawing on Lobanovsky's experience and wisdom, not only to solve the problem of the Red Devils' poor breakthrough on the right, but also to make the Red Devils' fast attack on the wing more sharp and changeable.

This was the earliest foundation for Ferguson's fast attack tactics with both wings flying together.

Ferguson soon experienced the benefits of sending fast attackers to the wing at the same time. This style of play was always adhered to, inherited and carried forward during Ferguson's coaching of the Red Devils, and new experiments were constantly introduced. For a long time, fast attack on the wing was the essence of Ferguson's entire Red Devils tactical system, and it was also the Red Devils label created by Ferguson. Under Ferguson, whether the Red Devils played the traditional 442 formation, or the 4411, 451 or 433 offensive trident, or the 4231 single arrow with double wingers, or the 460 guerrilla warfare without a striker, from Lee Sharpe, Giggs to Kanchelskis, Gillespie, Beckham, from Bobowski, Blomqvist, Ronaldo, Nani to Valencia, Ashley Young, even including Solskjaer and Rooney, and Fletcher, these were almost all Ferguson's wing choices at different stages. Ferguson's emphasis on wing attack has almost never changed.

Ferguson's Red Devils emphasize quick attack from the wing, tearing open the opponent's defense through sharp breakthroughs or precise passes, and then continuously expanding their advantage on the offensive end, ultimately scoring goals and winning. This is a significant sign of Ferguson's foothold in the Premier League. And this season is the beginning of the shining of Ferguson's tactics.

Instead of attacking from one wing, the two wings fly together, and the attack from both sides has its own characteristics. The combination of the two wings makes the attack more powerful. Giggs and Kanchelskis can break through the wing, and both are fast-paced wingers. The sharpness and precise firepower of this fast attack excites Ferguson and the Red Devils fans.

It is interesting to explore how Ferguson explored and improved the wing attacking style. In the 1989-1990 season, he sent Lee Sharpe, an outstanding player in the Red Devils youth team, to build an attacking channel on the left, which was a start. Ferguson knew that there were too few fast wingers in England, and he regretted not signing Barnes, another good wing player.

When Lee Sharpe officially debuted, this typical attacker was fast, agile, energetic, good at passing, and tireless. Not only did he have outstanding footwork and strong shooting ability, but he also had excellent assist awareness, quickly opening a gap on the left for the Red Devils. Lee Sharpe's sudden appearance did not cause much discussion at the time, but in fact he could be said to be a symbol and the origin of the Red Devils' wing attack.

Lee Sharpe's attacking power in 1989 benefited the Red Devils a lot. Before Lee Sharpe, Ferguson's Red Devils played a different kind of football, a football that emphasized the traditional 442 formation. Crossing from the wing and advancing through the middle is a widely used style of play in England. The strength of the team and the advantages and disadvantages of the match are just the difference in strength and status of the players. Even a fast horse like Barnes or a newcomer like Gascoigne are not known for their wing attacks in various clubs in England.

Ferguson had not found a suitable wing forward for a long time. He lacked sufficient technology and breakthrough ability, as well as speed advantage. He could not play speed in the offense, let alone combine quick breakthroughs and break through the wing areas. He was often forced to stagnate within the opponent's 35-meter area and could hardly directly threaten the opponent's goal.

Almost the whole of England is like this. They don't force wingers to have outstanding strength, they don't ask them to be fast enough to dribble past opponents, and they don't ask them to be able to shoot. The wingers only need to learn to cross the ball to be qualified. If they can pass the ball accurately over 35 meters, they are already very good players. If they can cross the ball accurately at the right time, it is very easy to get assists. Crossing the ball from the wing has become their foundation, not speed, not breakthrough, let alone cutting inside or shooting after breakthrough. What they practice is the footwork, line and stability, landing point and timing of crossing. Trying to accurately hang the ball into the opponent's penalty area is all the tasks of the wingers. If someone can make a long pass near the midline to find the center forward to form an offensive, it is already a strong performance.

After Ferguson cleared Strachan, the Red Devils' midfield lacked players with excellent dribbling skills, and their ability to break through and advance was severely weakened, and their ability to directly create deadly threats in the middle was greatly reduced. Robson's organizational ability was good, but his position was getting further and further back, making it difficult for him to really add to the offense. Ince, Wallace, and Phelan also had the same problem. This also made it very difficult for the Red Devils to implement the ground middle advancement tactics in those years.

Only when Lee Sharpe emerged did Ferguson's eyes light up and he became more confident in implementing this style of play. When Ferguson signed Lee Sharpe from Torquay United, the Red Devils spent 20 pounds, which was already a sky-high price for an apprentice player, but Ferguson later said that the signing was really worth it. After a short period of training, Lee Sharpe played for the Red Devils. When Lee Sharpe was galloping on the left side of the Red Devils, it was also an important node for Ferguson to deeply consider and finally decide to start the fast break tactics on the wing.

Sharp soon performed well in the league, FA Cup, and especially the European Cup Winners' Cup, which surprised Ferguson. Lee Sharp, as a sharp winger, a winger who can break through, pass, cut inside, break into the penalty area, and shoot himself, can play an amazing role. In addition to the vertical threat, it also greatly widens the width of the Red Devils' offense in the horizontal area. In many games, Lee Sharp's rapid breakthrough quickly broke through the opponent's first line of defense, and even directly broke through the opponent's back line, posing a huge threat. His breakthrough on the left was so sharp that the opponent had to send more people to strengthen his defense, which caused a serious imbalance in the opponent's defense. His cut-in shot or cross into the hinterland of the penalty area can be regarded as the Red Devils' unique weapon. He either scored directly or made assists, and Mark Hughes and McClair benefited a lot.

Lee Sharpe was the starting point for Ferguson to determine the wing quick attack tactics, followed by Giggs and Kanchelskis. And then the Red Devils' real two-wing attack was in full swing. Although a winger cannot bring a team to the top of the league, after Ferguson discovered Lee Sharpe, he began to explore more about the Red Devils' wing attack, and began to deepen and consolidate this style of play.

This season, Ferguson has moved the Red Devils away from the high-ball passing style of the English game, and has also moved the Red Devils away from the middle, turning to the sides, opening up space for rapid advancement and breakthroughs on the flanks, and creating more gaps from the flanks. This is the new style of play that Ferguson has planned, breaking through the opponent after breaking through the flanks, and then pressing forward in the middle, establishing regional advantages through leading advantages in technology or speed. Ferguson's transformation of the Red Devils' offensive system has become increasingly clear.

Lee Sharpe's unilateral breakthrough made the top teams in English Football League One at a loss, which brought Ferguson a rich reward. In 1990, when the Red Devils won the FA Cup, most of the goals were achieved through wing attacks. The achievements and championships further strengthened Ferguson's thinking.

Ferguson's innovative fast attack tactics on the wing in the Red Devils are similar to the winger attack advocated by the European football world, and are also related to the Dutch all-out attack and the Soviet Union's fast attack on the wing. In fact, there is a traceable vein in these trends. Ferguson studied all-out attack and defense in depth, and also studied the Soviet team's use of speed and footwork to open up space on the wing, and was deeply inspired by the two offensive trends. In the study of the winger tactics of 433, he also deeply absorbed the experience of the sharper attack of the winger. In the end, Ferguson combined the actual situation of the Red Devils and the characteristics of England, and launched the double-wing tactics on the wing that emphasized speed and seizing the opportunity to attack.

Ferguson's fast attack on the wing is not 433, but an innovation on 442. Ferguson emphasizes the fast movement of the two wingers, especially the speed, breakthrough, cutting inside and creating opportunities in the penalty area, and emphasizes the expansion of the horizontal and vertical attack areas through the wing. Ferguson's tactical innovation of fast attack on the wing is different from the innovation of winger tactics, but he innovated the wing tactics in the British football, a country without foot technical advantages.

Soon after, the wing attacking style quickly became Ferguson's signature achievement and a unique tactical feature of the Red Devils.