The legendary Red Devils coach: The road to success

Chapter 201 Sudden Frustration

"A sudden defeat has a huge impact. This defeat is full of weird factors and is completely out of the reasonable track. The Red Devils' momentum of rapid progress was stopped in an instant."

--Inscription

A draw with Leeds United did not satisfy Ferguson, but maintaining the lead in the standings is still beneficial to the Red Devils.

The Red Devils have been maintaining a strong position in the league and have been rushing up the standings. Ferguson hopes to use the devilish schedule of Christmas and New Year's Day to gain an advantage over Leeds United.

They faced Queens Park Rangers on New Year's Day 1992, with Ferguson's side having home advantage.

This is the 22nd round of the league. Ferguson's team ranked first in the standings before the game, while the opponent was only ranked 13th. Judging from the points, there is a huge gap in strength between the two teams, and Manchester United is the favored side by most media.

At the beginning of the game, many Manchester United fans were shocked. Queens Park Rangers, who were visiting Old Trafford, were not very strong, and their morale and fighting spirit were not as good as Manchester United's in away games, but they attacked actively after the game started, and caught the Red Devils off guard with their first three moves.

Ferguson's starting lineup and tactics were not problematic. He used a regular 442 formation, which was basically full of main players. The tactical requirement was to focus on offense and control the midfield. However, Ferguson did not expect the opponent to be aggressive in attacking. Manchester United's defenders were not focused at the beginning and were not well prepared for the sudden attack from the opponent, so the defense was caught off guard.

As soon as the referee blew the whistle, Queens Park Rangers launched an attack across the board. They were very fast, and they did not simply charge or lob the ball, but passed the ball quickly in the frontcourt, passing the defense of Manchester United's midfield. Queens Park Rangers' attack quickly hit Manchester United's penalty area, and Bruce made a mistake. He actually left the opponent's forward Hinton empty in the penalty area, allowing him to move freely when he entered Manchester United's penalty area, and he did not block his shot after receiving the ball in time. Full-back Parker was not in good shape when he started, and was passed by the opponent's winger as soon as he came up, so he was naturally powerless against the opponent's cross.

Manchester United suffered a heavy blow in the second minute of the game. Queens Park Rangers made a quick attack from the right, and striker Sinton shot into the net from six yards in front of the goal, putting Manchester United behind 2-6.

Ferguson's team suffered a heavy blow, and before the whole team could recover, the defense made another mistake. In the 5th minute, Manchester United was intercepted by the opponent in the midfield again, and then launched a quick counterattack. This time, it was Ins in the middle who made a mistake. He let go of the opponent's striker Bailly at the top of the penalty area, and Bailly fired a wonderful long shot from outside the penalty area, hitting the upper right corner of the goal guarded by Schmeichel.

Schmeichel's flying save was of no avail, Manchester United fell behind 0-2!

Manchester United conceded two goals in a row, and the game had only been going on for 5 minutes!

Queens Park Rangers got off to a dream start, and Ferguson was livid on the sidelines. Many years later, he recalled this game, "There are not many games like this in my coaching career. This is not a rule. This game is a bit like the one we lost to Manchester City. They were able to score goals at the beginning of the attack, and they scored two goals with two shots, but we did nothing, or it was too late to do anything."

The media commented: "Queens Park Rangers started with two strong punches, completely stunned the Red Devils who had not yet entered the game. Judging from the development of the game, there should be many more goals."

The reporter was half right. The Red Devils were not in the right state, but they were not in the right state throughout the game. The accumulated fatigue and continuous tense psychological pressure from the battles suddenly vented in this game. First, one or two players were in a slump, and then it spread to the whole team like an infectious disease. Manchester United fell behind at the beginning of the game, even falling behind by two goals. This would not have made the Manchester United players give up the attack, but the players' fatigue made them unable to compete with their opponents in the scramble, and they also lost the speed advantage in the attack. The technical advantages that several players originally had were no longer able to play.

All Manchester United fans had strong confidence in their team and always believed that the team could fight back and launch more attacks to equalize the score. They kept shouting cheers and singing when the team was two goals behind.

This also allowed Manchester United players to recover a little bit and start to compete with their opponents for the initiative. After the 10th minute of the game, Manchester United barely managed to stabilize the situation and launched a continuous offensive. But the opponent Queens Park Rangers seemed to be completely crazy. Not only did they not retreat, but they also confronted Manchester United in the midfield, constantly seeking opportunities to intercept the ball and counterattack in the midfield. In the 23rd minute of the first half, Manchester United attacked, Kanchelskis broke through the bottom on the right, but the quality of the cross was not good; in the 26th minute, Manchester United launched an offensive in the middle, and Ins's last long shot hit the plane directly; in the 31st minute, Manchester United made a long pass from the backcourt, and forward Hughes was squeezed down when he was fighting with the opponent at the edge of the penalty area, but the referee ignored it; in the 35th minute, Manchester United made a cross from a corner kick, and the opponent's penalty area was in chaos, but Bruce and Webber did not grab the landing point... The entire Manchester United team was visibly out of shape, and all kinds of cooperation were a little bit lacking, and finally the shot was completely threatening.

Another reason for Manchester United's setback was that Giggs was knocked down by a sideways tackle in the 7th minute of the first half. His right calf was injured, which seriously affected his speed and performance. Manchester United's offensive on this side was naturally greatly affected, but Ferguson did not replace Giggs until the second half, which ultimately affected the entire battle.

After the Queens Park Rangers withstood several attacks from Manchester United, they also launched a lot of counterattacks and offensives on the spot. In the 22nd minute, the Rangers midfielder intercepted the ball and quickly passed it to Manchester United on the left. Clinton, the full-back who came in from behind, defeated the Manchester United midfielder with his speed, dribbled into the penalty area and shot, but Schmeichel held the ball tightly. In the 28th minute, the Rangers intercepted the ball in the frontcourt and forced Manchester United to make a mistake in passing. After getting the ball in the middle, they launched an attack on the spot. This time, the Rangers also played a sharp cross from the side, and the English striker Bailey scored a header in the penalty area, and Manchester United fell behind by 0-3.

During the half-time break, Ferguson turned the hair dryer to the highest setting.

Ferguson found that his hair dryer seemed to be out of order, or the team was completely out of control in this game. The players sat in their seats in a daze, almost everyone had a look of despair on their faces, and did not react much to Ferguson's violent scolding.

Ferguson knew that the game was fraught with danger and he had to intervene in advance.

Ferguson made substitutions at the beginning of the second half, but even so, the team's offense lacked a fierce and crazy feeling, and it still made people feel tepid. After Lee Sharpe came on the court, he successfully dribbled past the opponent in the 48th and 53rd minutes, but when he reached the bottom line of the opponent's penalty area, he did not pass the ball in the right direction. McClair, who followed up, could only sigh with his head up; in the 56th minute, Wallace dribbled past two midfielders of the Rangers and entered the penalty area, but unfortunately his shot was also off target. In the 58th and 60th minutes, Manchester United won consecutive corner kicks, but unfortunately these cross opportunities did not pose any threat and were easily resolved by the opponent. After the start of the second half, the Rangers shrank their defense, slowly set up their formation and consumed the Red Devils, and did not give Manchester United players too many opportunities. In the 72nd minute, Manchester United's players became more depressed after many attacks without scoring, and their spirits on the field were not focused enough, which gave the Rangers another counterattack. Bailly first returned to the midfield to receive the ball, then attracted the Manchester United center back to press forward, and he immediately dodged the Manchester United center back, then turned and rushed into the penalty area. At this time, the Rangers team made a cross from the wing, and the ball was delivered to him accurately. Bailly did not encounter double-teaming and frontal interception, and easily flew to the top of the ball and headed it into the dead corner of the Manchester United goal.

Bailly scored a hat-trick and Rangers led Manchester United 4-0!

The outcome of the game was already decided at this point. It was meaningless for the Red Devils to continue to counterattack after falling behind. In the end, only McClair scored a face-saving goal, and they had to swallow the bitter fruit of a 1-4 defeat.

This tragic defeat of the Red Devils was unacceptable to many fans.

After the game, the media focused on the reasons for Manchester United's big defeat. Part of the reason can be attributed to the dense league schedule. After all, the team will play Queens Park Rangers 3 days after playing Leeds United, and the team's fatigue is inevitable. Of course, to some extent, the Red Devils also underestimated the opponent in this game. The main players were not in good shape, and the opponent's simple rush and lob caused the Red Devils defense to suffer enough. By the time the team woke up and wanted to turn the situation around, it was too late.

The Times said: "This is a very rare non-Ferguson defeat for us. This game is completely out of his control. The team seems to have problems as a whole. They have no passion on the court? It seems not, but they just can't run, and every chance is a little bit short. The players are overly tired? The last time they won the European Cup Winners' Cup, the schedule was just as tight; Ferguson's tactics have problems? Who can say that this tactic has problems?"

Bruce was very painful when he was interviewed alone after the game, "It's all my fault, I messed up the whole thing." The three goals conceded in the game were indeed related to Bruce, but it is actually difficult to blame the players for such mistakes, because they are all problems of choosing defensive strategies. No one can accurately predict the opponent's next step, and no one can really predict the trajectory of the football and the opponent's pass every time. Bruce made several wrong judgments, but his teammates were unable to fill the gaps in time. In the end, the goalkeeper, who was at the bottom, could only watch the ball and sigh when he encountered the opponent's shots in the blind spot almost every time.

Schmeichel was very depressed, he conceded 4 goals in this game, while the opponent only had 6 effective shots. In other words, more than two-thirds of the opponent's shots hit the dead corner, which was completely impossible for the goalkeeper to stop.

This defeat seriously affected the morale of the Red Devils, and Ferguson could not accept the team's loss like this.

Ferguson's team lost the second game in the 22nd round of the league. This kind of loss is not worth excessive criticism. Even an authoritative organization like the BBC would not blame the team. But Ferguson and his players still couldn't accept it. This was not just the result of the league's unbeaten streak being broken, nor was it a chicken soup for the soul to put down the burden and start again. This was a crisis that the team could not cope with when facing difficulties and sudden adversity.

At the end of the season, Ferguson talked about the defeat with his close assistant Knox. "We played well throughout the season, but this game doesn't count. From the perspective of the season, this game was a turning point and a key for Leeds United to surpass us. We lost our spirit and confidence, and to some extent, we also lost the dominance to intimidate others."

"Now the whole league will think that's a team that lost to Queens Park Rangers and there's nothing to fear. This change in sentiment will make it more difficult for us."

Before Leeds United tasted the second defeat and had to stop the rush, the Red Devils had already suffered such a serious setback. Ferguson believes that you can't wait for the opponent to make a mistake, you must give all the onlookers the correct response in time.

On the other hand, Leeds United took advantage of Manchester United's defeat and quietly won the league, surpassing Ferguson's team in points.