The legendary Red Devils coach: The road to success

Chapter 203: FA Cup: Hard fought and lost

"The FA Cup itself is a hotbed of upsets. Southampton was not a particularly weak team, so it was not surprising that Ferguson's team was defeated. But Ferguson's team was miserable because they were not only eliminated from the FA Cup, but also had to play two fierce battles and overtime. The intense consumption of physical energy is the most fatal to the tight league."

--Inscription

Two days later, the Red Devils played in the 24th round of the league against Notts County.

The Red Devils were fatigued in this match. Ferguson sent out the same team as against Leeds United, and also used the wing attack tactics in the 442 formation. But even if Ferguson wanted to copy it completely, the players' condition affected the execution of the tactics. After the start of this match, Manchester United took the initiative and actively launched the attack.

The main goal of Notts County this season is to avoid relegation. At this point in the league, they are already in the bottom of the league table and are deeply trapped in the relegation vortex. In this game, they naturally don't want to fight with Manchester United in the midfield, but want to defend the defense and secure a draw. If they can seize the opportunity to steal three points, it would be even better.

After the game started, Manchester United did not encounter too much fierce resistance from Notts County, and the transfer and control in the midfield were also very easy. Manchester United took the initiative early on with all its main players. However, despite this, facing the opponent's intentional contraction and active retreat, and the intentional slowing down of the game, Manchester United did not have many ways to attack in the midfield. Ferguson's players found it difficult to speed up in the game. Even if they wanted to make a fast break, the opponent huddled near the penalty area and there was no space for you to sprint. The opponent kept shrinking the defense, making it difficult for Manchester United to speed up, and it seemed to lack a little passion. Manchester United's attack intensity could not easily defeat Notts County's defense system. In the 12th minute, Giggs dribbled the ball forward from the left side of Manchester United. After passing the midfield, he made a long pass to the opponent's penalty area. This was originally an opportunity to attack the opponent before they could shrink back, but Giggs' teammates did not really run. Hughes had not entered the penalty area when the pass fell into the penalty area. In the 17th minute, Manchester United advanced in the middle. After withstanding the confrontation of the opponent's midfielder, Ince dribbled into the top of the Notts County penalty area, and then shot straight to the upper right corner of the opponent's goal. Unfortunately, this shot did not have power in the end. When the ball flew to the goal, it became soft and was easily saved by the opponent's goalkeeper... Manchester United's entire first half was like a microcosm of these two attacks: taking the initiative and having a huge advantage, but failing to cooperate, not running fast enough, and not having power in the shot, and ultimately lacking a threat to the opponent's goal.

After focusing on defense for more than 30 minutes, Notts County began to slowly adapt to Ferguson's team's style of play and began to feel that the opponent's attack was not too threatening, so they began to slowly expand their formation and dared to launch an offensive.

The consumption of Manchester United players was indeed too great, and they gradually became a little passive between offense and defense. In the 37th minute, Manchester United continued to attack the opponent on the left. Giggs and Webber cooperated to pass the opponent's full-back, and directly dribbled the ball to the bottom and made a cross. However, this cross did not find Manchester United's attacker and was easily cleared by the Notts County center back. In the 39th minute, Notts County turned from defense to offense. Thomson intercepted the ball on the left and passed it directly. The winger Levita dribbled the ball to the right side where Manchester United could not return to defense in time, and made a cross to the Red Devils' penalty area. At this time, both Manchester United's central defenders lost their man-marking targets while moving, and the opponent's center forward Clare easily headed the ball into the dead corner of the goal.

Manchester United is trailing their opponent 0-1!

Manchester United let their opponent score the first goal due to their carelessness, which made the whole team very anxious, but they were unable to equalize the score until the end of the half. During the halftime break, Ferguson directly called out several players who were unable to run and gave them a crazy attack. All the players listened with a frown on their faces, not daring to say anything.

In the second half, Manchester United's rhythm and offensive intensity improved greatly. Ferguson's team launched a massive attack and violently attacked the opponent's hinterland. Notts County was forced to clean up the ball randomly. Almost everyone returned to defend and did not attack at all. In the 51st minute, Manchester United took a corner kick. Bruce's powerful header almost made the opponent's goalkeeper surrender, but unfortunately his header was too straight and flew directly in front of the opponent's goalkeeper and was subconsciously blocked by him; in the 54th minute, Manchester United took another corner kick. Hughes shot in the penalty area. The ball was like a venomous snake and was strung towards the opponent's goal, but unfortunately it was intercepted by the opponent's defender on the goal line; in the 57th minute, Manchester United's center Ins shot hard, in the 59th minute, Webber shot from the corner of the penalty area, and in the 61st minute, McClair shot after entering the penalty area... None of these shots achieved the final goal.

Ferguson made substitutions on the Manchester United side. In the 78th minute, he even let Bruce play as a center forward. The formation was changed to 325, with two wingers and three forwards attacking repeatedly in the opponent's half. In the end, Manchester United's fierce attack worked. In the 3nd minute, Manchester United pushed forward on the left. After the opponent's full-back was passed, the formation loosened up. Giggs quickly cut into the penalty area and then made a wonderful pass to Blackmore. The Notts County center back had to knock him down behind him. The referee decisively whistled a penalty!

Blackmore withstood the pressure and scored a crucial penalty with a powerful shot, helping Manchester United equalize the score.

In the last 10 minutes or so, Manchester United launched a wave of attacks, one higher than the other, but the forwards missed too many opportunities. Robbins, who came on as a substitute, even missed an empty goal in front of the goal, leaving Ferguson, who was supervising the game on the sidelines, with nothing to do but sigh.

At the end of the game, Manchester United was tied 1-1 by their opponents and only got one point.

Manchester United failed to win all three points, and Leeds United then took the top spot with a victory, ahead of Manchester United in points.

In the 25th round of the league, the Red Devils faced the strong team Aston Villa at home.

In view of the embarrassing draw in the previous game, Ferguson decided to change some of the starting lineups. Ferguson sent Robson, who had returned from injury, and newcomer Donaghy to start, letting Giggs take a rest, Lee Sharpe replaced him, and Webber replaced Kanchelskis on the other side.

Has Manchester United completely given up attacking from the flanks?

In fact, it is not. Lee Sharpe's power is underestimated, but this is just an illusion of the opponents and does not affect Manchester United's initiative. The Red Devils cheered up in this game, but did not launch a fierce attack at the beginning, but patiently controlled the rhythm in the midfield. Although the cooperation between Robson and Ings was slightly insufficient in organizing and planning the attack, they were capable enough against Villa, an opponent with obvious English football thinking, and did not need to perform particularly amazingly. Ferguson's tactical thinking in this game was very clear, which was to rely on the comprehensive positional ability advantage to consume the opponent, slowly but firmly consume the opponent, and finally use the impact of Lee Sharpe and Robbins to harvest the game.

Villa played steadily and did not want to take risks in attacking, but their consumption in the midfield lacked sufficient threat, and their passive style of play was quickly controlled by Manchester United. In the 31st minute, Manchester United advanced in the middle. Ince and Robson made a two-on-two cooperation, and then passed the ball to Hughes who was retreating. The Manchester United striker turned and faced the opponent's goal with the ball, and passed it to Ince who was following before the opponent's central defender rushed up. Ince had already entered the top of the penalty area at this time. He took the time to shoot hard and hit the upper right corner of the opponent's goal. Unfortunately, the angle of this shot was too tricky, and the ball hit the crossbar and bounced out. In the second half, Manchester United replaced Kanchelskis in the 69th minute and began to launch a sharper wing attack, which soon broke the opponent's defense line into pieces. Kanchelskis played a huge power, and his impact on the right made the opponent's left back suffer a lot.

In the 77th minute, the Red Devils attacked from the left, then passed the ball diagonally to the midfield, Webber dribbled forward and passed the ball diagonally to the right, Kanchelskis broke into the penalty area and made a cross from the bottom, Hughes rushed to the front point and quickly shot low in front of the goal to score, Manchester United 1-0!

In this way, the Red Devils, under Ferguson's strategic planning, won the game 1-0 without any bloodshed.

In the fourth round of the FA Cup on January 1992, 1, the Red Devils faced Southampton.

Manchester United was drawn against a League One team, which meant a tough battle. Ferguson sent out all his main players, while his opponent Southampton also sent out all their elite players. The two sides fought fiercely for 90 minutes but neither created many chances. In the end, the game ended in a 0-0 draw and had to be replayed on another day.

After the FA Cup, Manchester United will face Arsenal in the 26th round of the league, with the Red Devils away.

Ferguson was not afraid to neglect the tough and rough London Timbers. He sent Schmeichel as goalkeeper, Irwin, Bruce, Pallister and Parker as defenders, Robson and Ings as midfielders, Kanchelskis on the right, Webber on the left due to Giggs' injury, and Hughes and Wallace as strikers. Graham of Arsenal had a higher reputation and prestige than Ferguson at the time, but his team was also caught in the problem of slow renewal and reconstruction. The tactical style was basically understood by all opponents, and they all found tactics to clamp down on it.

Ferguson's 442 formation mainly focuses on a midfield battle, and then considers attacking on the spot, or taking advantage of Kanchelskis's attacking power on the wing, allowing Wallace to suddenly attack outside the penalty area and rely on his flexibility to create opportunities.

Graham was also familiar with Manchester United's style of play. They were also well prepared and did not leave much room for Manchester United to attack. Several Manchester United players in the frontcourt were restricted by the opponent's close entanglement and could not easily break into the opponent's penalty area throughout the game. In the end, they only tried to cross from the wing and long shots outside the penalty area, which naturally did not pose much threat.

Arsenal's attack played a very wonderful combination in the first half. After midfielders Smith and Dixon passed the ball continuously, Wright dribbled into the Manchester United penalty area. Winterburn then received the ball at the back point and broke the balance of the field with a calm volley. Arsenal led 1-0.

Manchester United, who were trailing, continued to launch fierce attacks in the second half. Bruce scored in the 75th minute of the second half. When Manchester United received a cross from a corner kick, he overpowered the opponent's striker Wright, jumped high about 8 yards away from the goal in the penalty area and headed the ball successfully, helping the team to equalize the score at 1:1.

In the end, Manchester United and Arsenal attacked and defended each other, and their defenses were also cautious. No one scored again until the end of the game, and they could only draw with Arsenal 1-1.

After the game, the media criticized this boring game. "Ferguson's team didn't play well enough, but Graham's Arsenal was even less aggressive. This was not a game at the level of a big battle. Both teams played timidly. There was no exciting element in the scene and process. Graham's lack of aggressiveness was the core reason why the game was so conservative. We guess the Gunners fans at Highbury will not be too satisfied."

The Manchester Evening News believes that this was a tactical confrontation, with Ferguson's wisdom and Graham's toughness, and tactical sparks constantly bursting out between the offense and defense. It is not that it was not exciting, but it requires a certain tactical quality to be truly appreciated.

After a very exhausting league match, the entire Manchester United team came to the FA Cup replay a little exhausted. This completely "extra" game was forced into the gap between the two league games, and the Red Devils had no way to effectively suppress the Saints even at home. In the 12th minute of the first half of this game, Southampton's god Le Tissier broke through the siege, broke into the penalty area, passed two Manchester United guards, and then took a precise shot and hit the dead corner of the goal.

Manchester United fell behind soon after the start of the game, and had to change the strategy of stabilizing the situation and taking things slow before the game, and had to use up the remaining energy early. In the 33rd minute, Manchester United began to attack fiercely, but they did not have many opportunities. In the 41st minute, Kanchelskis took the ball on the right and quickly rushed into the opponent's penalty area, and made a timely cross pass to the middle. Ince shot the ball and scored this wonderful goal, Manchester United tied the score 1-1. In the 53rd minute, Manchester United's midfielder made a quick attack, Robins advanced to the heart of the opponent's penalty area, and shot from a small angle to help Manchester United lead 2-1.

After the 70th minute, the entire Manchester United team was exhausted, especially the midfielders, who were a little tired. Ferguson made substitutions, but none of them could change the situation. Southampton played very concisely in the last ten minutes, bringing increasing pressure to Manchester United's defense. In the 83rd minute, Southampton also pushed forward in the midfield. They first passed Ings with two against one, and then made a delicate cooperation near the edge of Manchester United's penalty area. The midfield commander Leighton sent a precise ball behind him, and Stiles got in from behind to receive the ball and faced the goalkeeper directly, easily shooting into the dead corner to score. Southampton tied Manchester United 2-2!

The game finally ended here. Neither side scored in overtime and it eventually went to penalty shootout.

The Red Devils only scored 2 goals in the penalty shootout, while their opponents scored all the first 4 rounds. As a result, Manchester United lost 2-4 in the penalty shootout and were unfortunately eliminated, thus stopping their FA Cup campaign.