The legendary Red Devils coach: The road to success

Chapter 205 Reaching the League Cup Final

"Manchester United also fought two games in the League Cup semi-finals before reaching the final. While seeing the hope of winning the championship, Ferguson also felt that the team was under increasing pressure and the taut string could be broken at any time."

--Inscription

The tough league season has not stopped yet, but Ferguson's team still has to fight hard in the League Cup. They still need to defeat two opponents to win the championship trophy.

The first opponent was Middlesbrough, who were Manchester United's semi-final opponents. The Red Devils played on March 1992, 3, playing the first leg of the League Cup semi-final against Middlesbrough.

Ferguson issued a mobilization order before the game, "Now is a crucial game for us to compete for the League Cup championship. If we win, we will reach the final, which is our hope of winning the championship. No matter who the opponent is, we must have the confidence to defeat the opponent and show our true level."

The match at Ayersume Park was very intense. Ferguson sent out all his main players and commanded the team to attack the opponent from the beginning of the game, but Manchester United fell into its recent bad luck again.

Manchester United still used the traditional 442 formation in this game, and the main tactic was to attack from the flanks. In the face of the impact of Giggs and Kanchelskis, Middlesbrough's flank defense was under great pressure and soon collapsed. However, despite Manchester United's many offensives in the frontcourt, they were unable to score in the end. The forwards had no way to turn the opportunities sent to the front of the goal into goals. In the 11th minute, Giggs rushed all the way from the left and crossed near the bottom line of Middlesbrough, but Hughes missed the chance to shoot 6 yards in front of the goal. In the 16th minute, Ins sent the ball into the penalty area from the midfield. McClair flashed out of the gap and faced the opponent's goalkeeper directly. Unfortunately, he wasted this excellent opportunity in front of the goal in a hurry. His shot was not powerful and was blocked by the opponent's defender.

Manchester United's attack was one wave after another, and Middlesbrough's defense was under increasing pressure. In the 21st minute, Manchester United launched an attack from the middle. After Ince got rid of the opponent's midfielder, he dribbled the ball to the Middlesbrough penalty area and passed it to McClair before the opponent's defender came forward to intercept. McClair turned and passed the ball to Hughes at the far end. Hughes shot the ball, but unfortunately he missed the target. In the 26th minute, Manchester United took a corner kick from the right. Bruce got the position in front of the penalty area and headed the ball, but unfortunately it hit the door frame and bounced out!

As for other players, Ins's shots in the penalty area were missed twice, one of which was not threatening because he did not use enough force. Kanchelskis was squeezed by opponents after breaking through the penalty area, and his stumbling shot was also threatening. Webber and Bruce both missed the chance to score with headers in the penalty area, as both headers lacked angles.

Middlesbrough played their best in this game. After withstanding Manchester United's fierce attack in the first 30 minutes, they gradually started to exert their strength and began to invest in attacking, creating many opportunities. In the 33rd minute, Lambert's shot from 16 yards in front of the goal was saved by Manchester United goalkeeper Schmeichel. In the 39th minute, Middlesbrough made a chance with a pass from the frontcourt. Roshchenko's shot from 3 yards outside the penalty area almost caused Manchester United's goal to be lost. In the 41st minute, Middlesbrough's free kick was blocked by the wall, and then Lambert followed up with a shot and almost succeeded. This shot went straight into the dead corner, and the deviation from the goal was only 10 centimeters.

When Middlesbrough was attacking, the entire Manchester United team attached great importance to defense, especially Schmeichel, who was in excellent form and completely blocked the opponent's efforts to score.

In the second half, Ferguson made substitutions to strengthen the offense. Wallace became a new breakthrough point, and Giggs was also asked to try to break through more. In the 53rd minute, McClair got the ball with his back outside the penalty area. He resisted the harassment of the defender and turned around. After adjusting his pace, he shot a volley. This volley was powerful and the angle was very tricky, but it was still saved by the opponent's goalkeeper. In the 59th minute, Middlesbrough cleared the penalty area and launched a counterattack. Lambert rushed forward with the ball and almost passed Bruce and Irwin to meet him alone. Fortunately, Irwin was fast enough to catch up with the opponent and knock him down directly. In the 65th and 67th minutes, Manchester United took consecutive corner kicks. Bruce and Hughes both grabbed the first point in the opponent's penalty area, but they did not head the right direction, resulting in failure.

Throughout the fierce battle, both sides attacked and defended, but neither was able to break the deadlock. In the end, the two teams ended up in a 0-0 draw and had to replay.

A week later, the two teams moved to Old Trafford for the second match.

The Red Devils were enthusiastically encouraged by the fans before the game even started, and their momentum far outstripped their opponents. Ferguson was determined to win, but he did not play too hastily in this game, and did not launch a strong attack in the opponent's defense area at the beginning of the game. Ferguson chatted with everyone in the locker room before the game, and emphasized that "impatient people will get burned by cheese. We can't be impatient because of the draw in the last game, and we can't neglect the defense because of the rush to attack. In this game, we must play steady, make sure to control the rhythm in the game, and use enough patience and enough pressure to wear down the opponent's will."

Hughes was called upon to speak, and he also emphasized, "We will definitely have a lot of shooting opportunities, so we can't be impatient or panic. The opponent will definitely make mistakes under our pressure, but if we shoot too casually and waste opportunities too casually, the opponent will become more and more confident, and then we will get into more and more trouble."

Sharp, who was fearless, couldn't help but interrupt, "Don't talk about big principles. As long as you seize the opportunities in front of the goal and score the goals you should score, everything will be fine! If you can't score, there's no point in saying anything!"

Hughes was furious, "What do you want to say, brat?!"

Sharp stuck out his tongue and said no more.

Ferguson specially sent Robson, the hero of the cup, to start the game, hoping that he would continue the good luck of the magic captain, and also hoping that he could control the rhythm and not get into a panic. Ferguson specially arranged for him to do more midfield organization, and the defensive task was given to Ings. Manchester United occupied the midfield advantage at the beginning of the game, but did not launch a quick attack like the previous game. Instead, they repeatedly passed the ball in the middle and front court, allowing the team to gradually get into the rhythm. Middlesbrough played away from home and set up a defensive formation at the beginning. They gave up the middle and front court early and focused on playing defense and counterattacks. In the first few minutes after the start of the game, Middlesbrough saw that Manchester United passed the ball in the midfield most of the time and did not plan to launch an attack. They could not help but start to deploy the formation to seek attacking opportunities. After the 12th minute, Manchester United intercepted the ball in the midfield, suddenly accelerated, and immediately turned to a quick counterattack. Robson passed the ball forward in the area behind the middle of the midfield. Ince accelerated after receiving the ball. His fast pace made Middlesbrough lose the opportunity to organize the defense. In the chaos of the opponent, Ince quickly passed the ball to Giggs, who had already pressed into the opponent's penalty area. As soon as he received the ball, he immediately passed it to McClair in the penalty area, and McClair passed it horizontally. Manchester United performed this extremely rare and delicate operation in the opponent's penalty area, which made the audience hold their breath. Webber, who came in from behind, attracted the opponent's attention after receiving McClair's pass, and then passed it to the left with a small diagonal line.

Lee Sharp suddenly appeared here at this time. There was no defense in front of him, which gave him enough time to adjust before he shot. Lee Sharp's shot went straight into the dead corner, and the powerful shot directly broke the opponent's goal!

Lee Sharp issued a challenge before the game, and now he really started to show his strength!

Manchester United led 1-0 and had the advantage of advancing to the final.

In the second half, Middlesbrough was unwilling to accept the fate of being eliminated, so they also strengthened their active attacks and launched more offensives. In the 63rd minute, Middlesbrough received a cross from a corner kick, and Lambert almost scored with a powerful header in front of the penalty area. Fortunately, Schmeichel reacted quickly and saved the ball successfully; in the 67th minute, Middlesbrough advanced in the middle, and Roshenback made a long shot from the top of the penalty area, which was saved steadily by Schmeichel. In the 71st minute, Middlesbrough received a cross from the right, and the two forwards rushed to the small penalty area to shovel the ball together. The Manchester United defenders did not block the opponent's cross route in advance, and they were afraid of the opponent's move and could not make a flying shovel in the chaos in front of the goal. As a result, they could only watch the opponent directly shovel the ball into the goal in front of the goal, tying the score 1-1.

Manchester United did not relax after being tied by the opponent. They naturally would not accept the draw. Instead, they continued to play fast side attacks and continued to press in the middle, and accelerated the rhythm of attack and defense conversion, which made the opponent quickly exhausted and unable to withstand Manchester United's fierce attack. In the 79th minute, Manchester United's Giggs and Lee Sharpe cooperated on the left. The two fast horses responded and accelerated while vigorously attacking the opponent's full-back. Middlesbrough's right back and right forward were quickly blown up, and the space on the right was torn open. Lee Sharpe quickly advanced to the edge of the opponent's penalty area, and went down to the opponent's baseline before crossing. This cross first found McClair, who headed the ball to the back point. At this time, there was chaos in the penalty area. Hughes competed with the opponent, and Ince also came up to help. In the end, the ball was poked into the corner of the small penalty area. Giggs suddenly appeared in the penalty area at this time. After getting rid of the defense, he shot coldly and broke through the opponent's goal again!

Red Devils 2-1 Middlesbrough!

The last ten minutes of the game were extremely intense, with Middlesbrough launching many long passes, but after taking the lead, Manchester United strengthened their defense and retreated to their defensive zone, playing very steadily and not giving their opponents any chance.

At the end of the game, Manchester United defeated their opponents and entered the League Cup final.

The BBC said after the game: "This was a wonderful game. Middlesbrough tried their best, but Manchester United's victory was reasonable. Manchester United was stronger and they also worked hard. We saw Manchester United tried more attacks and the final score proved their efforts. Now Ferguson has another chance to win the cup. They didn't pass the ball to their opponents in the previous final, and they should be more prepared this time."

The Guardian also said, "Ferguson is ambitious and has great aspirations. He and his Red Devils will face new challenges from new opponents, a new opportunity and a new test."

The BBC has always been optimistic about the Red Devils this season, and they are relatively objective and calm in the entire football world. Sky Sports and the Manchester Evening News also believe that Manchester United will have the upper hand in the final. After all, the Red Devils have been leading the standings for most of the season, and their unbeaten record is not deceptive, and their strength is obvious to all.

However, Sky Sports pointed out that the cup final is full of suspense, and there will be various accidental factors that affect the game. No one can say that they have a sure win until the final battle. They also specifically brought up the history of Manchester United losing the League Cup last time to discuss whether Manchester United will repeat the same mistake.

Ferguson didn't want to pay attention to the so-called objective analysis of the media. His most critical task now was to win the League Cup final.

Before the final battle, what Ferguson needs to do is to eliminate distractions, assemble the coaching team to carefully analyze the final opponent, make good pre-match deployment, and do his best to win the championship.