The legendary Red Devils coach: The road to success

Chapter 270: Defeating Strong Enemies

"Everyone knows that the Premier League's Christmas and New Year's Day express schedule is very intensive and difficult, but Ferguson believes that the Red Devils need this extreme schedule to expand their lead and need this kind of difficult test to sharpen the team's will and enhance the team's strength."

--Inscription

By the end of November 1993, the Premier League had already gone through 11 rounds. Ferguson's team had played many wonderful games in the three months. They were brave and powerful, simple and efficient, gorgeous and passionate, fast and passionate, resilient and domineering... The Red Devils showed the strength and confidence of the defending champions in front of their opponents, moving forward steadily and sprinting towards the goal of the league championship.

At this time, the Red Devils also firmly maintained their lead in the league standings, and could be said to be in the lead and in the lead.

As December approaches, the Premier League enters the fast lane stage, and all teams are scheduled for numerous games. Ferguson's Red Devils have a heavier task this month as they have to play 12 league games.

On Saturday, December 1993, 12, Manchester was hit by an early winter snowstorm. In the cold weather, the Red Devils welcomed Norwich, their opponent in the 4th round of the league, at home.

This season, Norwich is still a very strong team. After 17 rounds, they are still tied for second place in the standings.

Ferguson deployed a formation different from the traditional 433. Ings played as a defensive midfielder, Giggs and Kanchelskis were on the wings, and Cantona, McClair and Hughes formed the trident. Of course, this 433 formation can be changed at any time. Cantona can retreat to become a 442, and even McClair can retreat to become a 451. As for the offense, Giggs and Kanchelskis can become wingers, and even Ings can take the initiative to join. The attackers may include Irwin or Bruce at most... In short, this is a formation that emphasizes offense. The Red Devils strengthened their impact in the frontcourt after the opening, and quickly took the advantage. The cheers of the home fans made the Red Devils soldiers particularly brave.

Manchester United launched an attack from the middle in the 7th minute. Ince dribbled the ball to the opponent's penalty area and passed it. His pass was intercepted by the opponent and he quickly tackled it on the spot and regained the ball. Before getting into a melee, Ince promptly transferred the ball to the sideline outside the penalty area near the right sideline. At this time, Cantona rushed in, took control of the ball and kicked a cross. Cantona, who had always played as a striker, showed his extraordinary passing ability. Giggs suddenly rushed out from the left, and suddenly appeared in the penalty area like a civet cat, and shot directly from 6 yards in front of the goal to score!

Manchester United leads 1-0.

Cantona's use of long passes to assist was surprising and fresh, because fans were familiar with his advancement and organization in the middle, which were mostly short passes and through balls. But no matter what kind of pass it was, Cantona always played it so coolly. Even though Ins was very sturdy and brave when he grabbed the ball, Cantona's subsequent handling made people feel natural and vivid, full of freehand brushwork.

After Giggs scored, the Red Devils took the lead. The whole team relaxed a bit, and the defense was a bit careless. The opponent Norwich team took the opportunity to counterattack. After many long passes, they attacked again on the wing in the 17th minute. The winger Levi passed the ball into the Red Devils penalty area from the left. Their striker Pulis retreated and then ran back, successfully countered the offside and formed a single-handed meeting. Schmeichel tried his best to save the opponent's first shot, and the ball bounced to the penalty area line. In the chaos, another Norwich striker Brereton rushed to Bruce and shot directly into the net to equalize the score.

The Red Devils naturally would not accept the situation of being equalized. They re-energized themselves and started a new attack. In the 25th minute, Parker sent a throw-in to Cantona. At this time, the Frenchman had already left the opponent's penalty area, but he kept shaking after controlling the ball with his back, and used his teammate McClair's forward movement to attract the attention of the defender, and turned around easily. Cantona then dribbled forward, swaying left and right for two consecutive times, easily getting rid of the opponent's defender's entanglement and advancing into the opponent's penalty area. At this time, Cantona was about 6 yards away from the penalty area, and there were 4 Norwich players in front of him ready to intercept. Cantona was not afraid. He took advantage of the situation and dribbled the ball horizontally, got rid of the Norwich defender's tackle again, and then resisted the close-up of another defender and successfully protected the ball under his feet. When the opponent's other defender came forward, Cantona directly used the outside of his foot to turn the ball to the other side and passed it to the waiting teammate there. The Norwich team almost focused all their energy on defending Cantona, but they didn't expect him to pass the ball accurately with the back of his right foot. Irwin, who was not marked, easily received the ball and rushed forward with it. Before going down the bottom line, he passed it to Ince at the top of the arc. He pretended to do a wall-to-wall match to attract the opponent's attention and took the initiative to diagonally move to the right side of the penalty area. After receiving the ball, Ince did not pass it back to Irwin, but gently passed it to Giggs at the edge of the penalty area. Giggs took the ball and turned around, passing it over the top into the penalty area. At this time, Cantona rushed over, jumped up and touched the ball lightly, and passed it directly to his teammates who were rushing to the front of the goal. McClair followed up in time from the back point and shot a quick direct shot, and the ball went into the net!

Exquisite attack, tacit cooperation, and wonderful goal!

This attack showed Ferguson's tactical thinking that was ahead of his peers. Seven Red Devils touched the ball, passing it from left to right, then cutting in the middle and breaking through. In the penalty area, he made a header from the right to assist, and then scored from the left. This tactic was not designed in advance, but was played out by high-level Manchester United players on the spot according to the core of their usual drills. The Red Devils players have always used Cantona as the core of their offense, and the Frenchman did play the most critical role. In addition, the players' tacit passing and telepathic running made Norwich's 7-man defense system unable to stop them. They seemed to be spectators, and could only watch the Red Devils players play delicate and smooth cooperation like flowing water. The last thunderbolt was scored by McClair with a whirlwind kick!

Cantona's outstanding ball control skills, confident organization, just the right header assist, McClair's smart pulling, the understanding of the explosive shot, Irwin's pass and feint, Ings's sharp through pass, Giggs's perfect turn and direct pass without stopping the ball, every link is so smooth, every action is so precise, every person is so selfless, the Red Devils' attack is really linked together and very beautiful.

After this wonderful goal, Manchester United took the lead again, but in the subsequent games, Norwich boosted its morale and launched increasingly fierce counterattacks. The Red Devils were a little careless, and many players were not focused, and gradually became passive on the field. Norwich's offensive in the second half of the second half was very fierce. In the 73rd minute, a long pass hit the Manchester United penalty area, and it almost succeeded by volleying the second point. Fortunately, Schmeichel reacted in time and saved the day. In the 77th minute, Norwich sent a throw-in, and striker Pulis made a fake move near the penalty area line to deceive Pallister, and then dribbled into the penalty area. Pallister lost his position and made a foul in the penalty area, giving the opponent a penalty kick, and the opponent finally shot easily and equalized the score for the second time.

In this way, Manchester United took the lead twice but was equalized by the opponent twice, and unfortunately only got 1 point.

Ferguson was very dissatisfied with the lazy defense after the game. He angrily lectured in the locker room, "I can't accept such performance, laziness, stupidity and arrogance."

Three days later, the Red Devils played against Sheffield United, and the veterans performed very well. First, McClair connected with Hughes near the right penalty area line and assisted the old man to score a wonderful long shot, helping the team open the door to victory and Manchester United led 1-0.

The Red Devils then played a quick pass, with the ball moving from the middle of the backcourt all the way to the frontcourt. Several players passed the ball directly without stopping the ball. After continuous passing and cutting, they finally tore through the opponent's entire defense line. Lee Sharp easily shot in the penalty area and scored, and the Red Devils led 2-0. In the second half, the Red Devils played a simple and quick counterattack. After the ball was cleared in the penalty area, Giggs received the ball in the arc of the center circle and then passed it to Cantona who was running at high speed. The French striker dribbled the ball all the way to the opponent's penalty area, and no one could catch up with his speed. In the end, Cantona faced the goalkeeper in the penalty area and scored a goal in a dead corner, and the Red Devils won 3-0.

On December 12, the Red Devils faced the "Magpies" Newcastle United in the 11th round of the Premier League.

Newcastle has long played a tough style of football with a simple style of play, but this season they began to pay attention to technology and began to make more tactical changes in the frontcourt. For this reason, they also introduced veteran Beardsley and French player Robert Lee. Veteran Beardsley was in excellent form in this game, and he also caused a lot of trouble for the Red Devils' defense. If it weren't for Schmeichel's outstanding performance and concentration, Beardsley's single-handed attack would have broken the city in the first half. Despite this, the Red Devils' wing attack was not vegetarian, and they used a goal in the first half to fight back. In the 33rd minute, Kanchelskis made a cross from the right, and Hughes did not take credit after getting the ball in the penalty area, but passed it to Ings who was unguarded. Ings shot hard and scored, and the Red Devils led 1-0!

The Red Devils did not stop attacking after taking the lead. Cantona received a header from Pallister in the midfield and passed it directly to Lee Sharpe who was advancing. Lee Sharpe made a single move into the penalty area, but unfortunately his shot was blocked by the opponent's goalkeeper! Newcastle United quickly counterattacked after stabilizing their position. Beardsley attacked again. This time he organized an attack on the left side of the midfield and passed the ball directly to Robert Lee who made a free pass. Then Andy Cole rushed to the penalty area and headed over the two towers in the Red Devils penalty area. He scored with a header and tied the score to 1-1.

The Red Devils eventually drew with their opponents, each getting one point.

Six days later, the Red Devils played at home against Aston Villa, a strong team at the time.

The Red Devils continued to play their strengths in wing attack. Parker made a straight pass from the right, Kanchelskis made a cross after going down the bottom, and Cantona headed the ball into the goal post! Cantona, who missed the goal, quickly made a comeback. This time, he received the ball from his teammate on the right, but Cantona's shot in front of the goal successfully broke through the opponent's goal, and the Red Devils led 1-0!

In the second half, the Red Devils continued to attack. Cantona made persistent efforts. He organized the attack in the midfield. When the opponent passed the ball back to the defender, the French striker ran back to the opponent's penalty area. The Red Devils defense quickly passed him an accurate over-the-top ball. Cantona rushed to the opponent's penalty area with the ball, and used his body and skills to get past the opponent's falling tackle. After stumbling and finding the center of gravity, he made a precise shot and broke the opponent's goal again. The Red Devils led 2-0!

Cantona is simply omnipotent!

The Red Devils, who were leading by two goals, took advantage of the situation. Hughes passed the ball in the frontcourt, but the opponent's defender made a mistake and passed the ball to Ings. Ings then dribbled into the penalty area and shot directly to score. The Red Devils beat Villa 3-0!

In the final minutes of the second half, Villa scored a face-saving goal, but eventually lost 1-3 to the Red Devils.

After the game, the media gave the Red Devils high praise. The Guardian said, "Ferguson's team played a very exciting game. They were very active and completely overwhelmed Villa in terms of momentum. They pressed very hard in the midfield and attacked very quickly in the frontcourt. Manchester United showed overwhelming strength throughout the game, and Villa had almost no resistance at all."