The legendary Red Devils coach: The road to success

Chapter 231 Three consecutive defeats

The Red Devils were plagued by instability, lack of firepower in the front line due to bad luck, and the points ranking continued to decline after a series of winless games. Suddenly, they suffered a three-game losing streak, which was a serious setback for Ferguson.

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After the Red Devils drew with Liverpool, they continued to face a strong opponent in the 13th round of the league - the suddenly emerging upstart Blackburn Rovers.

In this game, the Red Devils played away, and Ferguson's team had to travel to Ewood Park to challenge their opponents. There, he had to face an old rival, Blackburn manager Dalglish.

Ferguson attached great importance to Blackburn Rovers and was even more cautious towards his old rival Dalglish. Before the game, he had clearly stated that Blackburn Rovers could "change the league's landscape and become a new disruptor."

The same is true for opponents. Although Blackburn Rovers is not as famous as Liverpool, Dalglish was appreciated by the Blackburn Rovers owner when he returned to coach football. He was given more power and support here than in Liverpool. In just a few months, the team has been marked with his mark. Despite a series of strong reinforcements, Dalglish also has a clear understanding of the strength and difficulty of the Red Devils.

Sky Sports and other media outlets promptly created a hot topic and made a big fuss about the duel between the two famous Scottish coaches. In addition to digging up the black materials in the history of the two coaches, they also forcibly created a gimmick of the two giants "competing for the championship", exaggerating Blackburn and the Red Devils as the favorites to win the league championship.

Ferguson finally decided to implement a more radical tactic to fight against the opponent by attacking the luxurious team that spent money everywhere in the summer. The Red Devils sent all the main players to compete with the opponent in the midfield area. Blackburn was very cautious. They wanted to play steadily at first, slowly deal with the opponent, and then wait for an opportunity to move. After the game started, the Red Devils' quick attack did have a good effect, and the opponent was a little overwhelmed and quickly fell into a passive position. In the 12th minute, the Red Devils created a great opportunity, but unfortunately Kanchelskis missed the goal when facing the opponent's goal; in the 16th minute, Giggs dribbled past the opponent on the wing and sent a cross with an excellent landing point to his teammates after reaching the bottom line, but Hughes missed the ball with a strong shot. Despite this, the excellent performance of Manchester United's two wingers still made all the media praise them. Giggs is a newborn calf who is not afraid of tigers. His young body contains inexhaustible passion and a fierce spirit. He has completely overshadowed the aura of many famous players in the midfield, and his frequent attacks on the left side also made Blackburn very embarrassed, and they had to send more people to strengthen the defense. On the other side, the Red Devils' Kanchelskis also showed a huge threat, also putting the opponent in trouble through high-speed attacks.

Facing the stormy offensive of the Red Devils, the Blackburn team struggled hard and soon retreated across the board, struggling to resist. In the 29th minute, Manchester United launched another attack from the wing. Kanchelskis made a simple two-on-one with Ince on the right, and immediately ran to the corner of the penalty area to receive the ball, and then continued to dribble the ball into the opponent's hinterland. When Blackburn defender Benson came up to defend, he suddenly accelerated, leaving the unprepared opponent behind, and then cut diagonally into the opponent's penalty area, and then volleyed about 20 yards away from the opponent's goal. This volley opportunity was excellent, but Kanchelskis' shot did not have enough power, and was finally saved by the opponent's goalkeeper. In the 33rd minute, Manchester United launched a series of corner kicks. Several corner kicks posed a great threat. Bruce's header almost made the opponent's goalkeeper surrender, but the Blackburn team's full-back cleared the ball in time on the goal line. In the 38th minute, Hughes and McClair shot continuously in the opponent's penalty area, but they were also blocked by the opponent's defender. In the 41st minute, Manchester United had the best chance. McClair received a pass 6 yards in front of the goal, but the shot that was sure to score was missed!

Manchester United continued to attack. If not for the Red Devils' many attackers who missed opportunities in succession, the Red Devils would have probably beaten their opponents into a sieve in the first half. The Red Devils wasted countless opportunities, while Blackburn's defense got better and better. They also had continuous luck. Manchester United's two shots defeated Blackburn's players, but in the end they were blocked by the goal frame.

While Blackburn defended well, they also launched a quick attack, especially in the flanks and ribs, which Blackburn frequently exploited. In the 23rd and 35th minutes, they launched a quick counterattack, and the final crosses caused chaos in the Manchester United penalty area. Forwards Dacourt and Sander both had the chance to score. Thanks to the full defense of Schmeichel and Bruce, Manchester United was able to keep the goal.

The first half of the game was played in a fierce rhythm. After the start of the second half, both sides obviously slowed down the rhythm because they had consumed a lot of physical energy before, and the offense and defense of both sides gradually became dull. Ferguson's team relied more on wing attacks, but the forwards and attacking players in the middle were unable to break through the opponent's blockade. In the 51st minute, Manchester United's Giggs dribbled into the penalty area from the left and shot from about 28 yards away. The ball flew directly to the upper right corner of the opponent's goal. This shot that was almost a ten-point shot was finally saved by the Blackburn goalkeeper, who flew to save the goal; in the 57th minute, Blackburn returned the favor, and forward Dacourt shot hard from outside the penalty area, almost causing Schmeichel to lose the ball. After entering the 60th minute, Ferguson made continuous substitutions, hoping to strengthen the offensive and increase the success rate of shooting, but the attacking line still failed to complete the scoring task. In the end, the two teams tied 0-0 and could only get one point each.

Ferguson was not satisfied with the Red Devils' draw with Liverpool and then with Blackburn Rovers. He said after the game: "Manchester United deserved to win. We were the dominant side in both Liverpool and Blackburn Rovers. Although the opponents defended with all their might, we still created many chances in front of the goal. I am not satisfied with the draws in these two games."

Ferguson was well aware of the damage such a series of draws would cause to the team's points. After the match against Blackburn, the Red Devils' record became an embarrassing 5-game winning streak. The team had originally wanted to take the top spot in the standings as soon as possible, but now it has not been achieved.

After the game, Sky Sports said: "The score of this game is not enough to show how exciting the game was. 0-0, neither side scored a goal, but the process was extremely intense. The battle between the two coaches in this game was actually very exciting. Ferguson is obviously more aggressive, and his team played more proactively. Even at the opponent's home court, they had a greater desire to score goals and dared to exchange with their opponents. But their forwards were too extravagant, always wasting opportunities, and didn't score until the end. Ferguson naturally felt regretful for not being able to score despite pressing the opponent hard. Blackburn lacked the desire to win throughout the game, and Shearer played a bad game. Although the fans were looking forward to him scoring a goal, he didn't have any chance, and even disappeared in the Red Devils' penalty area. This was not his night."

The Red Devils then played in the third round of the League Cup on October 1992, 10, against Aston Villa.

Ferguson sent out all the main players to play. As soon as the game started, they took the initiative and frequently pressed the opponent's back half to launch a fierce attack. But although the Red Devils had the advantage and created many good chances to score, the attack line still fell into the curse of poor chances. After the opening, Manchester United created an opportunity in the 3rd minute. Giggs made an accurate cross after going down the bottom, but Hughes wasted the chance to score 8 yards in front of the goal. He received the ball and planned to turn around, but he didn't know that the chance to shoot directly was lost in vain. By the time he had the ball, the opponent's two central defenders had already blocked his shooting line and the opportunity to shoot with force; in the 19th minute, Manchester United hit the top of the Villa penalty area from the middle, McClair retreated to receive the ball, and then played a two-on-one with Phelan, and then assisted Ins. Ins' follow-up shot did not hit the target, and this opportunity was wasted; in the 25th and 28th minutes, Manchester United took consecutive corner kicks, but the crosses did not cause much threat and could not break the opponent's goal. Villa played steadily, and with former Manchester United player McGrath at the helm, they fought Manchester United very skillfully. As the opponent continued to break through and cross the ball from the wing, Villa was under increasing pressure, but their defensive contraction was still very effective, and the cross was cleared by the goalkeeper and the big black McGrath, and there was no threat.

The Red Devils became more impatient in the second half. They were so focused on attacking in the front court that they neglected defense in the back court. After Villa stabilized their defense, they also waited for an opportunity to counterattack, and took advantage of the fact that Manchester United's midfield and backcourt players were careless and pressed past the center line to launch a sudden fast break. In the 57th minute, Villa's fast break hit the Manchester United penalty area, and Ince, who was chasing hard, fell to the ground and made a yellow card. In the 63rd minute, Villa's fast break almost went to the bottom and then cut into the penalty area from the bottom line. In the end, Bruce fell to the ground and blocked the ball. In the 72nd minute, Villa took consecutive corner kicks, and Thompson's powerful cross corner fell into the Manchester United penalty area, creating a fatal killing opportunity. Villa striker Larry overwhelmed a group of defensive players in the Red Devils penalty area, jumped high and scored a header, which made the Red Devils lose the game.

Three days later, back in the Premier League, the Red Devils faced Wimbledon in the 14th round.

The Manchester United team was in a very bad state in this game. The whole team was very depressed. Although they were able to suppress their opponents with experience and personal ability in the early stage of the game, after 30 minutes, Wimbledon found a way to fight with the Manchester United team and gain the upper hand. The physical condition of the Manchester United team was very bad. Not only did they feel weak when running, but they were also completely at a disadvantage in the fight and confrontation. The Wimbledon team continued to fight in the midfield, quickly suppressed the mistakes of Manchester United players, and launched a strong attack.

Manchester United's defense collapsed in the 41st minute and the opponent's center forward headed the ball into the goal in the penalty area. Manchester United eventually lost the game incredibly with a score of 0-1.

到了11月7日英超第15轮红魔再次输球，苦主是阿斯顿维拉，比分同样是0比1。

The loss to Villa was exactly the same as the League Cup. The Red Devils also had a lot of offensive momentum and created many shooting opportunities. There were even more than one excellent chance to shoot an empty goal in the penalty area, but these scoring opportunities were wasted one by one by the players. In the end, they had to be ambushed due to defensive mistakes and lost again.

The Red Devils lost three games in a row, and the defense was in poor condition and was repeatedly defeated by opponents through set pieces and counterattacks, which made Manchester United's defense the focus of media criticism. The media would not miss the opportunity to attack other positions of Manchester United. The defense could not be defended, and goals could not be scored, which also gave the media a new target for criticism. They criticized the Red Devils' attackers one by one, whether it was Hughes, McClair, or even Giggs and Kanchelskis, all of whom missed more than one scoring opportunity. Since Hughes scored two goals in a row to tie Liverpool, the Red Devils' attackers have shot more than 40 times, but have not scored a single goal.

The Red Devils have not won in seven league games, including three consecutive defeats in various cup competitions. The entire team has been overwhelmed by media criticism.

The Sun even sent out paparazzi to dig deeper into the Manchester United dressing room to see if there were any special stories. They found no scandals or gossip, but they did find that Ferguson's influence in the dressing room was growing.

The Times tried to be fair and impartial, "Manchester United's losses in the past few games were unexpected. They have always been the dominant side on the field. Even though the loss to Wimbledon was ugly, they were generally in the initiative and had the advantage in ball possession."

The BBC has debated and argued over the topic of "What's wrong with Manchester United" in many commentary programs. Many guests believe that Manchester United suffers from the two forwards, especially without a center forward, the Red Devils' double-wing tactics cannot be brought into play. Not only that, another guest believes that Manchester United's tactics are too rigid, the two forwards have no ability to dribble, there is no explosive point in the middle of the midfield, and the two wingers can only play on the wing, which is impossible to score easily.

Ferguson was also helpless, and he couldn't accept why he lost so many games despite having all the advantages. For his team, it seemed that the balance was being broken. If the frontcourt attack was weak, the backcourt would naturally be unstable. The Red Devils' defense made mistakes one after another, and even Schmeichel made some low-level mistakes.

Ferguson is not unaware of the reasons, but even he dare not say when he will be able to make a complete change. He needs time, an opportunity to change, and more investment.