The legendary Red Devils coach: The road to success

Chapter 239: French Dance

Cantona didn't even conquer Manchester United fans by winning the Premier League title. He drove all the Red Devils fans crazy with just one game.

--Inscription

Two days later, the Red Devils played against Coventry at home.

This is a game that is destined to go down in history, a classic for Manchester United.

Cantona got a chance to start, which was also the biggest highlight of the game. Ferguson started Hughes, Giggs, Cantona, McClair, Ings, Kanchelskis, and the formation was changed to a more complex and changeable position, switching between 451 or 442 at any time. Cantona often exchanged positions with McClair, and more often he was in the offensive area on the right side of the front court, responsible for more offense and less retreat.

The opponent Coventry team has been in poor form recently, so they mainly played a defensive defense and waited for an opportunity to counterattack. The Red Devils pressed the opponent and attacked hard from the beginning. The two wingers played vigorously, constantly breaking through the opponent's interception on the wing and creating opportunities to attack the opponent's goal. Unlike Manchester United's previous missed cross opportunities in the penalty area, the Red Devils Giggs made a cross from the left shortly after the start of the game, and Cantona rushed to the front of the penalty area and shot hard. Cantona's shot was very sudden, but the opponent Coventry team's goalkeeper also reacted very quickly. He blocked the ball sideways. The Coventry goalkeeper only blocked the shot, but did not catch the ball. The ball was blocked into the penalty area, causing chaos. In the melee, Coventry's defenders got the ball and hurriedly cleared the ball under pressure, but did not kick it far. Giggs intercepted the ball on the periphery, adjusted it and shot. This tricky shot hit a big arc, aiming at the far corner of the opponent's goal. The Coventry goalkeeper flew as fast as he could but failed to touch the ball and could only watch Giggs score.

The Red Devils lead 1-0.

At this time, the deadlock was successfully broken after only 11 minutes of the game. Giggs' shot was very exciting, but it was also because Cantona's previous shot caused confusion among the opponents, and their players lost their target.

The Red Devils soon made a comeback, and Cantona found another chance. In the 19th minute, Manchester United launched an offensive in the midfield. Cantona dribbled the ball at the top of the opponent's penalty area. He received the ball with his back to the opponent's defender. The opponent's defender knew that he was powerful and quickly stepped forward to defend closely, hoping to hold Cantona back and prevent him from turning smoothly. After receiving the pass from his teammate, Cantona first stood firmly to prevent the opponent's defender from squeezing him away, then made a fake move with his upper body to make the opponent's close defender lose judgment, and then quickly pulled the ball and turned. Cantona did not entangle with the opponent's defender more, and passed the ball directly into the penalty area. This through pass came suddenly, and the ball passed the two lines of defense where Coventry defenders stood, found the empty space in the penalty area, and also found Mark Hughes who was ambushing there. Hughes took the ball very comfortably, and after pushing forward a step, he adjusted his rhythm and easily shot low to the lower left corner of the opponent's goal in front of the goalkeeper. The Coventry goalkeeper was very desperate for this shot of only about 8 yards, and could only watch the ball fly into the goal.

The Red Devils beat Coventry 2-0, basically securing the victory.

In the 25th minute, Manchester United launched a quick attack from the left. Giggs got the ball and changed his rhythm to pass the opponent's midfielder, then dribbled directly into the opponent's penalty area. When he was about 3 yards outside the penalty area line, the opponent made a tackle. Giggs dodged this fierce tackle and passed the ball to Hughes in the penalty area. Hughes took the ball sideways, and when the opponent's central defender rushed to grab the ball, he kept the ball from falling, and then passed it to McClair on the other side. McClair was a little slower, and it was a bit difficult for him to receive the ball and shoot, and he was blocked by the opponent's defender. In the 30th minute, Manchester United made a cross from the left. Giggs's sharp arc ball deceived several Coventry defenders in the middle of the penalty area, but also made Hughes' header lose its accuracy. In the 37th minute, Cantona got the ball in the frontcourt. He started to talk to the opponent's defender about 10 yards away from the penalty area. After several dodgings and moves, Cantona shook off the opponent's defender and dribbled the ball into the penalty area. At this time, another defender of the Coventry team had come up to make up for the defense, blocking Cantona's way forward. Cantona dribbled the ball horizontally, created an angle and then volleyed the ball, but the ball was too straight and was caught by the opponent's goalkeeper.

At the end of the first half, Manchester United temporarily led their opponents 2-0.

Although Cantona did not score, both goals of the Red Devils were related to him. Giggs' goal was due to the chaos caused by his shot, while Hughes' goal was entirely due to his exquisite assist. Not only that, Cantona was very active in this half, he was active in various areas of the opponent's backcourt, almost knowing everything. He interspersed, ran, took the ball to assist, organized the offense, passed the ball to assist, attracted attention, and took away the defensive force... In the frontcourt, Cantona played multiple roles, striker, offensive organizer, striker's wingman, assist, etc. He was not only a shooter, but also a very key commander.

The Red Devils continued their effective midfield pressure in the second half, without giving up the initiative or shrinking their defense. They did not stop attacking, but sought to play more offensive routines in the frontcourt.

In the 49th minute, Manchester United's midfielder started to attack. Ince passed the ball to the front court and found Cantona outside the penalty area. Cantona avoided the close defense of the opponent's defender and retreated to the midfield to receive the ball. After receiving the ball, Cantona passed a diagonal ball to the empty space on the left side. At this time, the Red Devils defender Parker quickly arrived, accelerated after receiving the ball, and rushed into the penalty area in one breath. Parker's sudden attack disrupted the opponent's defensive deployment, and the full-back had to come up to intercept in a hurry, but Parker had already made a cross. In a panic, the opponent's full-back Duke opened his hand to block the ball, and the referee directly blew a penalty.

Cantona took the penalty kick himself. He stood in front of the ball with great confidence and did not even need to adjust his rhythm. He directly shot a low shot. Cantona's shot deceived the opponent's goalkeeper, who jumped in the wrong direction and could only watch the ball go into the net.

Cantona scored and the Red Devils led 3-0.

In such a good situation, the Red Devils played with more confidence and flexibility. Cantona finally scored a goal after many shots, but he was not satisfied. Instead, he was very excited and participated in the attack more actively. Soon, the Red Devils launched another wing attack. Cantona overpowered the opponent's defender in the penalty area and jumped up. He won the header and accurately passed the long pass of his teammate to Lee Sharpe. Lee Sharpe did not hesitate and made a difficult sideways shot after receiving the ball. The Red Devils led 4-0.

The Red Devils fans were delighted, but Cantona still felt it was not enough.

Cantona's pursuit of brilliant performance made him continue to devote himself. In the last moments of the game, he still led his teammates to continue working hard and commanded the whole team to continue attacking. In the 81st minute, Manchester United launched another attack. Ins protected the ball in the midfield and passed it to Cantona. At this time, the opponents had returned to the backcourt to defend, but their running became slow. Most of the Coventry players were waiting for the game to end and bid farewell to this nightmare-like defeat early. At this time, Cantona received the ball sideways on the right side of the frontcourt. The opponent's midfielder defender Lukes came forward to press. Cantona used an elegant feint to get rid of the opponent's interception, and no longer dribbled forward, but directly chose to cross.

Cantona found out that the opponent ignored the defense at the far end of the penalty area a second ago, so he decisively kicked the ball up and made a long pass. This long pass was not a cross in the general sense, but a pass to the back point. There, Cantona accurately found his teammates who were ambushing at the back point of the opponent's penalty area. Hughes had just noticed Cantona's position, and then predicted that his teammates would pass the ball to him, so he started in advance and waited quietly here. Cantona's 40-yard pass directly passed several defenders of the opponent and was delivered to Hughes' feet. Hughes did not rush to shoot after getting the ball at the back point of the penalty area, because he found that the two central defenders of the opponent had come up to press and blocked the angle of the shot. He made a fake move to deceive the opponent's central defender Rice and rushed to the left, then quickly turned to dribble the ball to the bottom, and then made a triangle pass back at the bottom corner of the small penalty area. Hughes' pass was also very precise this time. When the ball returned to the middle again, the Coventry team was completely empty and no one was defending at this position. Red Devils defender Irwin appeared like a god from the sky. He suddenly appeared in the penalty area, then shot directly and hit the ball into the upper right corner of the goal!

Red Devils 5-0 Coventry.

The whole stadium was filled with jubilation as Manchester United crushed their opponents with overwhelming force!

Although Cantona only scored one goal, all five goals were related to Cantona. He dominated the game and became the undisputed best player of the game.

Cantona not only brought victory and goals, he also inspired all the Manchester United players at the scene and awakened the passion buried in all the Red Devils fans at the scene. He also destroyed, tore apart, and captured the opponent's city, silencing the opponent's fans.

The Frenchman's skills are extraordinary, he is a super magician. In addition, the Frenchman has a special magic that can keep his teammates positive and confident in spirit, allowing them to control the rhythm more "elegantly" in the game, deal with opponents more confidently, complete tactical moves more skillfully, participate in the attack more devotedly, and get the greatest joy.

Cantona's performance on the offensive end was dazzling. Heading, ferrying, passing, shooting, crossing, assisting, almost every link was extremely powerful. Controlling the situation, planning the offensive, adjusting the rhythm, supporting teammates, creating space, assisting and feeding the ball... The Frenchman was simply omnipotent. Cantona created 5 goals by himself, making the Red Devils fans excited about the victory and the immense power of the team leader. They found that the Red Devils' football was more enjoyable. This was the change brought by Cantona and the interpretation of Cantona's personal extraordinary ability.

After the big win, the Red Devils are now in second place.

The team is now truly beginning to rekindle hopes of winning the championship, and their confidence in winning the championship has increased a thousandfold.

The Manchester Evening News said: "What words can be used to praise Cantona? All words are weak."

Reporter Thomson said: "Cantona dominated the game. He made his teammates seem to have three heads and six arms. He completely controlled the opponent. He created 5 goals and was the best player of the game... No, no, no, all this is not enough. What we see is a player of a higher level. He plays another kind of football. His understanding of opportunities, technology and football are all at a higher level than other players."

Many years later, Manchester United diehard fan Stemans said, "If you haven't seen it with your own eyes, you will never know how powerful Cantona is; if you haven't experienced it in person, you won't know how influential Cantona is; if you don't pay attention to him from the beginning, you won't understand what Cantona has brought to the Red Devils."

"I will always remember the game against Coventry City, Cantona's performance in that game was amazing."