The legendary Red Devils coach: The road to success

Chapter 240 Seizing the First Place

"Opportunities are always earned by yourself, not given to you by others."

--Inscription

On January 1993, 1, after the new year, the Red Devils faced Bury at home in the third round of the FA Cup.

The Red Devils still used some of their main players in this game, with Cantona starting as the core of the attack - this was also what he repeatedly requested, because he felt that he never played enough games and didn't want to rest at all. Manchester United sent out a team that mainly rotated players to match Cantona, and tactically centered Cantona, letting the players play around him. Thanks to his dispatch in the midfield and frontcourt, the Red Devils' Phelan and Gillespie scored respectively, helping the Red Devils eliminate their opponents 2-0 and advance.

Gillespie was very excited to get a chance to play in this game, and he was very surprised to score a goal in the game. After the game, he said: "There is no better moment than now. I have realized my dream: playing for Manchester United and scoring a goal for Manchester United! Everything is like a dream, everything is unimaginable."

After the game, Gillespie met his parents and a large number of relatives and friends, all of whom he had notified in advance to watch the game. Gillespie said, "I want to thank the coach for arranging all this. He got a lot of tickets for my family and friends. Before the game, the boss met with my parents and thanked them for cultivating excellent talents for the Red Devils. I thought I would not have the opportunity to play, but my name was written on the big list, and my parents were very proud to see it. When I was warming up on the field, I heard my friend Dennis shouting on the sidelines, and they were already very excited at that time. But they didn't expect that I would play, and play for so long, and even score a goal. All this made my parents and friends unimaginable. They looked more excited and excited than me."

On January 1, the Red Devils faced Tottenham Hotspur, their opponent in the 9rd round of the Premier League, at home.

This match is the focus of the Premier League. Not to mention that Tottenham is a strong team in England, Manchester United is also the most watched team at the top of the standings. Before the match, Norwich ranked first with 41 points. The Red Devils and Aston Villa both had 38 points. The Red Devils were in second place with a goal difference of 5 ahead of the opponent. The match between the leader Norwich and Sheffield Wednesday will be held one day later. If the Red Devils win, they can legitimately rank first. The opponent Tottenham is ranked fifth at this time, only 7 points away from the top. If they win this game, the points gap will be quickly narrowed.

There were other highlights in this match. Cantona was at the height of his fame at the time, and the opponent had a similar attacker in Gascoigne. The comparison between the two was considered a "British-French battle", which also attracted strong attention from fans.

Ferguson attached great importance to this battle and sent out all the main players. Cantona continued to start as a deep striker. Ferguson was very flexible in his position requirements. Other starters included attackers such as Hughes, McClair, Giggs and Kanchelskis. How Cantona would perform in this battle made the Red Devils fans and reporters full of expectations. After all, in all the games he played for the Red Devils, the team was unbeaten, and there were many big wins. The Red Devils' points rose from sixth before he joined to second.

Ferguson was determined to win this game. He emphasized quick attack before the game, deploying two wingers to attack the opponent's flanks in turn, and making sure to completely penetrate the opponent's defense through flank attacks. He fully trusted Cantona and hoped that Cantona would tear open the opponent's defense in the frontcourt and create more opportunities. The Red Devils accelerated the pace at the beginning of the game, allowing the game to quickly enter a high-intensity confrontation. They directly started fighting in the midfield and frontcourt, and once they succeeded, they immediately attacked on the spot. When holding the ball in the backcourt, the Red Devils would speed up the active attack and quickly burn the flames of war to the hinterland of Tottenham.

Tottenham also played very actively at the beginning, but soon the Red Devils entered a familiar rhythm and began to take the initiative on the field. After all, the current Red Devils are still very good in terms of player tacit understanding and overall interweaving, and the two wingers are also very confident in the use of width and space. Starting from the 7th minute, the Red Devils firmly grasped the rhythm of the attack and continued to accelerate.

In the 13th minute, Manchester United launched an attack from the left. Cantona retreated from the opponent's penalty area to the midfield area to get the ball, then cooperated with Ince and passed the ball to Giggs. After Giggs got the ball, he passed an opponent midfielder and then connected with Hughes. After two transfers, Giggs ran with the ball to the baseline. When entering the opponent's backcourt near the baseline, Giggs encountered the close defense of the opponent's full-back. Unable to get rid of it, he passed the ball back to Cantona. Cantona's position became very flexible. He actively moved to the corner of the penalty area on this side, and the opponent's central defender followed him. Cantona turned around immediately after receiving the pass from Giggs. He dribbled the ball horizontally for two steps under the constant interference of the opponent's players behind him, and then immediately shot. This arcing shot did not pose enough threat because it was too far away, and was finally saved by the Tottenham goalkeeper.

Cantona soon reappeared in the 21st minute. He received the ball in the midfield area, took advantage of the opponent's central defender not daring to press near the midline, and then used a fake move to pass the opponent when the Tottenham midfield defender rushed to the penalty area. When he was close to the penalty area, the Tottenham central defender had to press out to defend. Cantona passed the ball to Hughes in time. Hughes received the ball with his back in the penalty area, and then used a change of rhythm to get rid of the opponent's defender and shot sideways to the bottom corner of the opponent's goal. The angle of this shot was tricky, but unfortunately it was not powerful enough and was saved by the opponent's goalkeeper.

Tottenham has always been a strong team in England. Their offensive configuration is not weak and their style has always been mainly offensive. However, when they came to the Red Devils' Theatre of Dreams, they were quickly pressed to the ground. Even though Gascoigne played in the midfield in the 25th minute and passed Ince and Webber, he lost the initiative in the face of the fierce attack. The Red Devils have always been very aggressive, suppressing the opponent's midfield, forcing Tottenham to shrink tightly and be passive everywhere.

The Red Devils made a simple test after the opening, and soon set up a strong attack, gradually pressing the opponent's half. At the end of the first half, the Red Devils pressed the fire line to the opponent's goal. Irwin attacked the front court from the left, and played a tacit cooperation with Lee Sharpe. After going down the bottom, he made an accurate arc pass to the Tottenham penalty area. At this time, Cantona flashed a gap at the back point as if he had already understood, and then he jumped slightly in advance with great acuity, completely suppressing the opponent's defender. Cantona aimed at the opponent's goal in the air and made a powerful header! This header made the ball fly to the far corner, and it seemed to fly out of the baseline, but at the moment it approached the far corner, it magically fell and fell directly into the bottom edge of the opponent's goal.

It was a header, a goal that Cantona executed with such precision, so much grace and elegance!

The Red Devils scored with this header and led their opponents 1-0.

This goal completely destroyed Tottenham's strategy of defending first and then attacking. They had to press forward and attack after the start of the second half. The Red Devils hoped for this. Ferguson's team set up their formation and began to attack the opponent. In the 47th minute, the Red Devils withstood the opponent's fierce attack, seized the opponent's weakness of poor attack and defense conversion, and took advantage of the opponent's excessive pressure to launch a quick counterattack. Mark Hughes received the ball in the frontcourt and rushed into the Tottenham penalty area. He advanced to the baseline and passed it back to his teammates who followed up. Irwin passed the ball directly, and Cantona appeared in the right position again. At this moment, he was as graceful and elegant as dancing a waltz. He gently rubbed the ball with the outside of his right foot. This time, like a lover's gentle caress, the ball drew a beautiful arc and landed accurately in front of Irwin. Irwin originally hoped to make a wall-to-wall cooperation with Cantona. After passing the ball to Cantona, he passed through the opponent's crowd at high speed and went straight into the penalty area. As a result, Cantona's pass flew to his feet in an extremely timely manner. In fact, this ball is not easy. Cantona needs to control it accurately. Not only does he need to let the ball pass the defense area of ​​the opponent's two defenders, but he also needs to have the right speed and accurate landing point. In the end, this pass was perfect. Irwin did not need to adjust at all. There was no Tottenham defender in front of him. He could draw the bow and shoot an accurate arc ball with his left foot. The ball was cleverly shot into the goal. The Red Devils led 2-0!

Gorgeous cooperation, elegant tacit understanding, exquisite movements, perfect timing... This goal is enough to be engraved in history. Cantona once again demonstrated the elegant art of football and the beauty of assists.

Cantona's assist became a teaching routine for all teams' flank attacks. First, experience, then awareness, then action, and then coordination... His awareness and action were so concise and precise that later generations had a standard template to learn from. The Red Devils replicated this attack in the 2012-2013 season, when Shinji Kagawa was in almost the same position as Cantona, and had almost the same coordination with Ashley Young, and also scored a wonderful goal. Shinji Kagawa's position in the penalty area, the footwork used for passing, and the grasp of timing all imitated Cantona exactly. As Shinji Kagawa said after the game, he was trying to pay tribute to the great Cantona in this way. He was shocked by this scene since he was a child and has always been obsessed with it.

Back to the Red Devils' game, the subsequent story is still exciting.

Spurs were two goals behind and their players were not interested in fighting, but the Red Devils were not satisfied. McClair then scored a wonderful long shot, and Parker easily scored a single goal, and the Red Devils completely shattered their opponents' confidence. In the end, Spurs barely scored a goal to save face, and the Red Devils won a hearty victory with a score of 4-1.

The team's big win was a delight, and Cantona's performance made the Red Devils fans obsessed and caused a sensation in the entire football world. Confident and elegant, gorgeous and exquisite, with dreamlike inspiration, rhythm and technology are intoxicating.

Cantona's performance was so beautiful that when he assisted Irwin with that heavenly pass, the famous BBC commentator John Motson exclaimed: "Cantona's feet seemed to be playing the violin. His feet seemed to have magic, just like the hands of a skilled doctor using a scalpel. His rhythm is better than the best band conductor. This man dominated the game."

After the Red Devils' big win over Tottenham, the team moved to first place in the standings.

To add to the good news, Norwich then lost 0-1 to Sheffield Wednesday, which was a big upset. The Red Devils have 25 points after 41 league games, catching up with the top of the table again, and are ranked first with the advantage of goal difference when three teams have the same points.

Now, the Red Devils who are determined to win the championship are finally back!

The Red Devils rose from eighth to first, with Cantona being the key.

Cantona led his teammates forward with his strength, encouraged his teammates to attack with his will, and led the team to catch up and lead with his noble temperament. Cantona made the Red Devils a new look, and he made the Red Devils play a different kind of football. The Red Devils players began to play in a way they had never considered before - Cantona opened the shackles on the Red Devils' feet. Cantona was full of magic, like a panacea that changed the face of the entire team and magically improved the strength of each position.

French L'Equipe said: "The Red Devils are now playing a new kind of football, which is full of energy and excitement. The Red Devils' style tends to be fast and concise. This kind of football is gorgeous and elegant, imaginative, with the beauty of details, and bears the imprint of Cantona."