The legendary Red Devils coach: The road to success

Chapter 241 Extra Training During the Holidays

"Will the British take the initiative to work overtime? Are there any involutionaries among the British? The answer is of course yes."

--Inscription

After the 23rd round of the league, Ferguson's team had already topped the table. They played in excellent form, firmly grasped the lead, stood firm in the fierce league, and quickly expanded their points advantage. Ferguson disbanded the team on the spot and let everyone take a vacation. Cantona took the opportunity to apply for a trip back to France to visit his family.

Beckham also applied to go back to London to visit his parents and family. Ferguson fulfilled his wish and sent a car to take a lot of gifts he prepared. Not only that, Ferguson also asked the club staff to edit the video of Beckham's game and make it into a special gift for him to take home and share with his family.

Beckham was really happy.

Gary also got a gift, which made his brother Phil Neville jealous. Scholes also got one in the academy, Gillespie also got one, and Butt was not forgotten. Savage, O'Kane, Cook... all the young people who played in official matches for Manchester United had their own video albums.

Their first steps with the Red Devils and their first games were noticed by Ferguson and recorded in full by the club.

Among all these players, there is only one guy who is the most special. He did not go home to visit his family, nor did he arrange other travel or programs, but continued to train at the Carrington base.

Yes, others are on vacation, but he is still working overtime.

This guy is Gary Neville, the most hardworking and desperate one in the Red Devils' youth training.

During this holiday, in the empty Carrington team base, only Gary Neville was practicing alone. On the empty and lonely grass, there was only his lonely figure, and the football, goal, and a green field.

In the 24th round of the league, the Red Devils played away against Queens Park Rangers.

After returning from the holiday, Cantona was still the most watched player in Manchester United. Many reporters even went to the airport to meet the French superstar. But Ferguson did not start him in this game, but instead deployed a somewhat strange four-man midfield: Ince, Lee Sharpe, Kanchelskis, and Giggs. Once this starting lineup came out, the opponent was completely dumbfounded. Queens Park Rangers originally thought that Manchester United would continue to start Cantona, and deployed a strategy in advance that one person would follow closely to defend, and the other would be ready to assist at any time. According to their team reporters, this tactic had been practiced for a long time, but it was completely cracked by Ferguson's new formation.

The Red Devils' four-man midfield played very well at Loftus Road, allowing the Red Devils to take the initiative from the beginning and press the opponent. The Red Devils quickly broke through the situation with the advantage. In the 19th minute, Manchester United launched an attack from the left. Ince passed the ball to Lee Sharp, who quickly broke through the opponent's midfielder's interception and went directly to the bottom of the wing. He used a feint to shake off the full-back in the right area of ​​the opponent's penalty area, cut into the penalty area to find space, and then shot hard. The opponent's defender stretched his legs to block Sharp's shot. Although blocked, the ball still flew to the front of the goal. At this time, there was chaos in the Queens Park Rangers penalty area. Ince suddenly grabbed the position, jumped on the spot, and made an overhead kick. This shot was beyond everyone's expectations. When Ince jumped with his back to the goal, there was no Queens Park Rangers defender to block him, and when he shot, the opponent's goalkeeper had no reaction at all, and the ball went into the net!

Manchester United leads their opponents 1-0.

Manchester United then continued to maintain strong offensive pressure, and Queens Park Rangers played more and more passively, and the midfield interception was constantly broken. In the 26th minute, Manchester United attacked from the middle, and the ball passed by Pallister in the penalty area accurately found Kanchelskis in the frontcourt. After receiving the ball, the Eastern European Express quickly cut into the penalty area. The opponent's defender did not predict the defense at all and was passed by him in an instant. Kanchelskis dribbled into the penalty area, flashed out of the space and shot hard. This heavy artillery shot was too straight and was saved by the Queens Park Rangers goalkeeper.

In the 33rd minute, Manchester United came back with a tactic of going past the midfield and directly looking for the front attacker. It was Pallister again, and he counterattacked after intercepting the ball in his own penalty area, and he made an accurate long pass. This time, it was Giggs who quickly responded in the frontcourt, and his accelerated running made it impossible for the opponent's defender to catch up. Giggs accelerated on the left to the opponent's penalty area line, successfully received the pass from the backcourt, and then rushed into the penalty area like a gust of wind. The defender of the Queens Park Rangers lost track of Giggs and could only watch him go to the meeting alone. After Giggs dribbled into the penalty area, he easily scored a lob shot.

The Red Devils lead 2-0!

Queens Park Rangers did not give up even though they fell behind. They seized on Manchester United's weakness in midfield confrontation and found opportunities under full pressure. The midfield advanced to the 35-meter area and then passed the ball to the sides. Then, the right cross was passed to the Red Devils. Center forward Sokberg held off Manchester United's central defender Pallister in the penalty area and seized the opportunity to shoot into the dead corner, helping the team to recover a goal and the score became 1 to 2.

The Red Devils then cheered up and launched a sharp counterattack. Giggs passed the ball forward without delay after receiving it in the backcourt. Sharp kicked a surgical long-distance pass after receiving it. The ball flew diagonally from the left back half of the Red Devils to the opponent's left half, passing through at least 6 defensive players. Kanchelskis likes this kind of breakthrough with space the most. He started quickly, like a Ukrainian express train that is unstoppable. After receiving the ball, he rushed into the penalty area and easily scored 3-1!

The Red Devils then changed sides and played in the fourth round of the FA Cup against Brighton.

Ferguson continued to make major rotations in this game, replacing Hughes and Lee Sharp with Phelan and Wallace, but Cantona still did not play.

Even though reporters asked doubtfully, "Why didn't Cantona start?", "Did Ferguson have a conflict with Cantona?", "Is Cantona injured?" and so on, Ferguson still pretended to be mysterious and "hidden" Cantona.

Ferguson later explained: "I was very worried about Cantona's physical condition at the time because he only joined in the middle of the season and I didn't know how he was preparing before the season. In addition, Cantona enjoyed playing football very much and he was too involved in the game. I was also worried that he would be exhausted during the game. I had to use Eric carefully. I wanted him to have enough rest and try to arrange his physical fitness reasonably during the game."

Ferguson said: "It's not just Cantona. We are actually still considering how to reasonably rotate players when attacking on multiple fronts, so as to keep our team as balanced as possible and ensure the team's combat effectiveness. It has to be said that we have too many games in a season, and the players cannot play all the games. We don't have such a large roster."

Without Cantona, the Red Devils still had the upper hand in this game, and soon launched a sharp attack, tearing the opponent's defense into pieces. In the 11th minute, Manchester United midfielder Ince dribbled the ball and passed the opponent's midfielder at the top of the Brighton penalty area, and then shot hard. The Brighton goalkeeper flew all his body and barely saved the long shot, giving Manchester United a corner kick. In the 13th minute, Manchester United made a cross from the corner kick, and Bruce jumped high in the opponent's penalty area and headed the ball, but unfortunately he missed the target a little.

In the 35th minute, Manchester United continued to attack and Brighton's defense finally made a mistake. Giggs, who was in great form, launched an attack from the left. He dribbled past the opponent's defender at the edge of the left penalty area and was pulled down from behind by the opponent. This free kick opportunity about 38 yards away from the goal was won by Giggs himself. He made a swift little arc with his left foot and hit the goal directly. The Red Devils beat Brighton 1-0.

Brighton did not launch many attacks in the following game time, and Manchester United eliminated their opponents smoothly.

In the 25th round of the Premier League, the Red Devils played against Nottingham Forest at home.

In this game, Cantona returned to the starting lineup, and Lee Sharpe was arranged by Ferguson to play on the right. The Forest team was still coached by the famous coach Clough, and the team had famous players such as Roy Keane, Shelingham, and Pearce, but the team was in constant chaos, the overall strength declined significantly, and the points ranking was very bad.

Ferguson had previously learned that the Forest coach was in trouble with alcohol poisoning due to excessive drinking and was in very poor health. He expressed his condolences and called Clough specifically.

Ferguson's goodwill was not responded to at first. Clough's thinking ability deteriorated significantly, and he could not distinguish between good and bad for a time. He even thought that Ferguson was going to come to Forest to steal his position as coach, and he was furious about this.

The Red Devils, who were at home, had a good start. After all, there was a gap in the strength of the two teams, and the playing styles were even more different. Manchester United was leading by a large margin. Ferguson and the entire Manchester United coaching team faced Clough, who was in a confused state due to alcohol poisoning. This was a completely different tactical targeting. In the 10th minute, Manchester United launched a fast break. Lee Sharpe's pass in the frontcourt was blocked, but the ball came to Ince's feet in the chaos. Ince met the ball unreasonably and volleyed it hard. The ball hit the opponent's player and deflected, and flew directly into the opponent's goal. The Red Devils led 1-0!

Falling behind, Nottingham Forest continued to launch offensives, hoping to equalize the score as soon as possible. Their midfield core Pearce played very well and frequently created threats in front of the Manchester United penalty area. In the 33rd minute, the Forest team launched a fierce attack. Staspi passed Giggs' defense on the left and then made a strong cross. Bruce headed the ball to clear the ball in the Manchester United penalty area, but the ball fell into the penalty area arc area, and the crisis was not resolved. Keane of the Forest team grabbed the ball before the Manchester United players, and then he shot the ball and hit the goal. The shot was very sharp, and Manchester United goalkeeper Schmeichel flew to save it in time. He almost thought the goal was broken, but in the end the ball hit the post and flew out, giving all Manchester United fans a false alarm.

The Red Devils were under increasing defensive pressure, but all the Red Devils players were not afraid and did not shrink their defense. Ferguson knew that he could not retreat completely and had to withstand the opponent's arrogance. Not only that, his competitive mentality was also thoroughly stimulated, and he waved his hand to let the players strengthen their attack. 31 minutes Manchester United turned from defense to offense. Bruce dribbled the ball to the midfield and used an accurate long pass to find Cantona who was cruising at the edge of the opponent's penalty area. Cantona appeared in the right corner of the Forest team's penalty area, jumped up and directly used the inside of his foot to cushion the ball to Mark Hughes. Mark Hughes turned around with the ball and swung his leg directly. This very wonderful shot hit the dead corner under the crossbar of the goal and went into the net. The goalkeeper of the Forest team was powerless, and the Red Devils won 2-0.

After this round, Manchester United continued to advance in the league. Forest's defeat accelerated their decline and put the entire team into crisis again.

Ferguson's coaching ability is gradually being taken seriously in English football. The Red Devils are no longer the kind of team that plays with bumps and bruises, nor are they the embarrassed team that struggles in a tough schedule. They maintain strong confidence and excellent form, and the quality of the games they play is also comfortable, and the results of the games make Manchester United fans happy.

The Red Devils maintained a high morale in the league and further consolidated their advantage in the standings after playing 10 games unbeaten. A reporter from the Manchester Evening News said, "The Red Devils are in high spirits, and they are leading the pack and rushing towards the championship throne!"