The legendary Red Devils coach: The road to success

Chapter 204: Embarrassing Undefeated

"To put it nicely, it's an undefeated team. To put it bluntly, it's a draw and loss of points. Ferguson's team has fallen into this embarrassing situation of 'gaining face but losing substance', and the points have been surpassed by the opponent."

--Inscription

After being eliminated from the FA Cup after a hard fight, Manchester United had no choice but to gather their fatigue and return to the league to continue their battle.

In the 27th round of the league, the Red Devils faced Sheffield Wednesday.

At that time, Sheffield Wednesday was not a strong team, but this team had a nervous character, and its fighting power was very erratic and unpredictable. The performance on the field was like opening a blind box, almost unpredictable. Even in the same game, there was often a huge contrast at different times. If the game did not play well, it would be a weak team that could be easily bullied; if it played well, it would be full of energy and all the strong teams would be brought down.

In this match against Manchester United, Sheffield Wednesday suddenly got a "magic card" and the whole team turned into a super team. The fighting spirit suddenly burst out, and the whole team was like possessed by gods, exerting a fighting power far beyond the usual routine.

Manchester United was exhausted after playing the FA Cup make-up match. They were not in a good mental state for this game, and their bodies were even weaker. They were exposed as soon as they came into the game and were directly beaten by their opponents. Sheffield Wednesday immediately launched a fierce attack after the opening. They also knew that Manchester United had no power to fight back, so they quickly played various cross and lob tactics. Ferguson did not expect his players to be so weak. They could not withstand the opponent's three-pronged attack. The pre-match deployment of the midfield and the rhythm control strategy was completely in vain. Sheffield Wednesday completed the first shot in the 7th minute. In the 10th minute, the corner kick caused chaos in the Manchester United penalty area. In the 14th minute, Manchester United's defense made a mistake. The Sheffield Wednesday midfielder launched an attack. After hitting the left, a cross from the bottom passed the ball into the Manchester United penalty area. In the melee, Sheffield Wednesday's center forward Wright was in position in the penalty area and scored a powerful header. Manchester United fell behind 0-1 early.

Ferguson was furious. His face was livid and he stood on the sidelines shouting and scolding the players to wake up and not let the opponent's attack break their defense and suffer a crushing defeat.

The Red Devils were still confused when they were scored a goal, and the players' mental state had not yet recovered, but Ferguson's scolding immediately sobered them up. Bruce quickly called on his teammates to tighten the defense and asked Ings and other teammates in the front and midfield to retreat in time and re-establish the defense. The Red Devils defense, which had just woken up from a dream, immediately showed a cautious attitude, while the midfield strengthened interception and steals, and quickly took back the situation.

At this point in the 25th minute, the game began to tilt in the Red Devils' favor. Sheffield Wednesday was a little complacent after scoring the goal, and suddenly became a mediocre team, almost immediately losing its edge.

Fantastic Sheffield Wednesday!

While the commentators on the sidelines were still analyzing how the game would develop, Ferguson's team had already started to fight back. In the following 65 minutes, Manchester United began to put all their efforts into equalizing the score and overtaking the score. From the 26th minute on, the Red Devils went all out to launch a fierce attack, constantly using various methods to attack the opponent, constantly trying various shots, various crosses and breakthroughs.

The Red Devils' continuous attack achieved the first step of results in the 39th minute. Hughes received a cross from Kanchelskis. He turned his back in the penalty area and pushed away the Sheffield Wednesday central defender who was almost lying on him. He then turned around and shot directly into the dead corner. This textbook center attack model was performed very well by Hughes. Hughes' final shot was also extremely accurate and the opponent's goalkeeper was completely unable to save it.

1-1 - Manchester United equalized the score.

The Red Devils would not give up, and they launched an attack from the beginning of the second half. But Sheffield Wednesday's defense suddenly became solid, and Manchester United's attack could not break through. The Red Devils pushed the ball into the opponent's defensive third zone again and again, organized the attack into the opponent's penalty area again and again, and made various combinations again and again, trying to break through the opponent's penalty area defense line or get a penalty kick again and again, and they also made crosses from the bottom again and again, and tried high-altitude bombing...but their efforts failed in the end.

The final score of the game was 1-1, and Manchester United could only draw with their opponent Sheffield Wednesday.

After the game, Hughes was very regretful. In an interview, he said, "I scored the most difficult goal, but wasted the two easiest chances. I was carrying my opponent away like a polar bear, and I had to endure my opponent pinching my waist with his hands. That was really fatal. I don't want to say that scoring a goal is glorious, but I want to emphasize that I am very disappointed. I missed the next few chances. I don't know why this happened. Those two chances were very good, I didn't feel any pressure, and I had enough time to adjust. Before shooting, I could even guess how the opponent's goalkeeper would save the ball..."

Ferguson laughed in anger, "Mark is a guy who thinks too much! Opportunities in front of the goal are fleeting, and you must handle the ball without any distractions. Shoot when you have the chance, don't think about those miscellaneous things!"

Then Manchester United played against Crystal Palace in the 28th round of the league. Manchester United was highly alert in this game and played very hard and seriously from the beginning. Although Crystal Palace was stronger than Sheffield Wednesday, Manchester United, who had recovered their form, directly crushed the opponent's defense. Manchester United launched a fierce attack at the beginning of the game. Crystal Palace's defense had problems in both ribs and in front of the penalty area. In the 17th minute, Giggs went all the way down the left sideline and crossed the ball near the bottom line. Crystal Palace did not pay attention to the protection of the second point, and the ball was headed out of the penalty area and temporarily cleared. However, Ince intercepted the ball outside the arc and quickly passed it to McClair in the penalty area. The Scotsman took the opportunity to volley and Manchester United took the lead 1-0.

In the second half, Manchester United's offensive continued, and Mark Hughes continued to show his strength. In the 67th minute, he received a pass from Kanchelskis in the penalty area, shook off the interception of the Crystal Palace defender, and shot directly into the lower right corner of the opponent's goal. The Crystal Palace goalkeeper saved too slowly, and his vision was blocked by his teammates in front of him, so he could not make an accurate judgment and could only watch the ball go into the net.

In this way, Manchester United launched an aggressive attack and won the game with a score of 2-0.

A reporter from the Manchester Evening News commented, "After losing the FA Cup, the League Cup is still in full swing. Ferguson's team still maintains the intensity of fighting on two fronts, but is still being consumed in the tough games. Whether Ferguson and his team can hold on to the end, and how resilient they are, will ultimately determine how high they can reach."

Manchester United attacked like a tide, but Chelsea's defense was also rock solid. Throughout the game, Manchester United had many shots and many chances, but except for the goal scored by Hughes, all other opportunities were wasted and they were never able to expand the score. McClair played poorly in this game. He missed two consecutive empty-goal opportunities less than 10 yards in front of the goal, and made many mistakes when holding the ball with his back to the goal in the penalty area. Giggs once sent the ball in front of him, but he headed the ball away from him!

Manchester United wasted opportunities lavishly, but they were unable to expand the score. Chelsea defended with all their might, but they were unwilling to lose and occasionally looked for opportunities to counterattack. In the 73rd minute, Chelsea made a long pass from the left, and Gatton received it in the penalty area. Facing Bruce's defense, he feinted twice and shot directly. This shot was not very threatening, but the ball hit Bruce and refracted, flying strangely to the opposite angle. Schmeichel was completely unable to react and could only watch the ball refracted into the net.

Manchester United failed to win the final victory and was tied 1-1 by the Blues.

The statistics released by the media after the game were both funny and helpless: Manchester United had 19 shots on target out of 6, 37 shots into the opponent's defensive third zone, and 17 shots into the opponent's penalty area, but only scored one goal in the end; Chelsea had only 3 shots and shots on target and scored one goal. In comparison, Ferguson's team was too wasteful and didn't cherish opportunities.

After the game, the Manchester Evening News said: "Manchester United should have won a big victory, and their fans were ready for a grand celebration. But football games are like this. Even if you have countless advantages, even if you are already ahead, even if you are still bombarding, the final result of the game may still make you sad."

A reporter from the London Evening Standard asked Ferguson, "Manchester United suffered another unlucky result in this game. What do you want to say to the fans?"

Ferguson was very upset, but he still had to say with regret: "I am very sorry and very unhappy. I know what the fans expected. We didn't give them a great performance. This is all our responsibility."

In the 30th round of the league, the Red Devils traveled to Highfield Road to challenge Coventry. In this game, the Red Devils also had the upper hand, and kept pressing the opponent, but they just couldn't get the ball into the opponent's goal. Kanchelskis sent at least two excellent crosses, and Giggs created more than one excellent opportunity for his teammates, and there was also a single shot, but the Red Devils' forwards completely forgot to wear shooting boots, either face-to-face shooting missed, or the small penalty area header flew, or the volley in the large penalty area was blocked... The Red Devils bombarded the opponent's goal, but they just couldn't score.

Ferguson's team has remained unbeaten since the 23rd round, and by the end of this game, they had won another 8 games. But they drew with Notts County, Arsenal, Sheffield Wednesday, Chelsea, Coventry... Ferguson's team only won 8 of the 3 games, and the rest were tied.

8场比赛只拿下了14分，对于弗格森和红魔球迷来说这种拿分的力度是远远不够的。8场全胜的话足足24分，现在14分甚至还不如赢5输3场。

Manchester Evening News said: "The Red Devils' problem now is very clear, that is, they can't win the game. It's not that they don't have advantages, they haven't been able to create opportunities, and they don't have shooters, but everything is a collection of paradoxes. They just can't score goals and can't beat their opponents. Emphasizing that they haven't lost the game at this time is a slap in Ferguson's face."

Unconsciously, Manchester United began to be surpassed by Leeds United in points. Leeds United's record this season was beyond everyone's expectations. They almost never lost a game, playing nearly 30 games and only lost two games, which was even more amazing than Manchester United.