The legendary Red Devils coach: The road to success

Chapter 283 Humiliated by the Ex

It was a huge pain not to win the League Cup, especially being defeated by his predecessor in such a special final, which was an immense humiliation for Ferguson.

--Inscription

March 1994, 3 was the day of the English League Cup final. On this day, Ferguson's Red Devils and Aston Villa gathered at Wembley Stadium to compete for the League Cup championship in a final.

In Ferguson's little thoughts, which he did not share with anyone, the League Cup title would be his first goal for the "treble" this season.

Now his Red Devils have been leading the league and will be able to defend the title soon. In the FA Cup, his Manchester United has been advancing smoothly and is heading towards the championship goal.

For Manchester United fans and the board, defending the league title is already Ferguson's overachieving goal, but if they can dominate English football and win the double or treble, that would be even better. Who would complain about too many championships and honors?

Aston Villa, the opponent in the League Cup final, is also a team that attracts a lot of attention. Before this match, the media also dug up more hot spots.

Aston Villa Football Club has a very long history. They were officially founded in Birmingham in 1874. This old club has always played an important role in the history of English football. They were not only one of the 1888 founding members of the first English Football League in 12, but the idea of ​​running a league was even first proposed by Villa's owner McGregor. Not only that, they were also the founding team of the English Premier League in 1992, and they even finished second in the first Premier League season.

Aston Villa has a brilliant record in history. Their earliest heavyweight championship was the English FA Cup in 1887, and their most important championship was the European Cup in 1982. As for the league championship, they have won more than a few. Since its establishment, they have won 1 Champions League, 1 European Super Cup, 7 English Football League Championships, 7 FA Cups, 1 Community Shield, 5 League Cups, and 2 Championships. They can be called an old-school giant with a deep foundation.

Aston Villa has experienced many ups and downs in its long history. They were relegated to the second-tier league in 1936. After World War II, Villa continued to fluctuate. At the worst time, they were relegated to the third-tier league. They began to rise again in the 50s, winning the FA Cup and League Cup in 1957 and 1961 respectively, but they then fell into trouble again and were relegated to the third-tier league in 1970.

In 1975, Ron Saunders became the head coach of Villa and invited Tony Barton to be his assistant. Ron Saunders led the team to open the most glorious page in history. In the 1974-75 season, Aston Villa bravely defeated Norwich City 1-0 in the final, won the League Cup, and won the runner-up of the Second Division, and was promoted back to the First Division. In the 1976-77 season, Aston Villa defeated Everton 3-2 in the final again and won the League Cup again. In the 1980-81 season, Saunders led a group of unknown players to beat all the giants and won the First Division championship after an absence of 14 years with only 70 players in the entire season. Saunders' incredible achievement also created a miracle for the club in nearly a century, allowing Villa to return to the ranks of giants.

Saunders fell out with the board over a contract extension in February 1982 and resigned in anger, with Barton becoming the interim manager. At the time, Villa was rumored to have invited Ferguson to coach, but it ultimately failed.

Barton led Villa from 15th to 11th place, but failed to defend the title. Barton's magic lies in the fact that he led the team to a blockbuster performance in the Champions League and proudly reached the final. In the Champions League final, they faced Bayern Munich, a giant that had won the Champions League three times. They defended steadily and counterattacked. Viv scored the most crucial goal in the 67th minute, and defeated the opponent with a score of 1-0 and won the Champions League.

This European Cup trophy brought Aston Villa to the pinnacle of history.

After that, Villa's prosperity declined and they were relegated to the Second Division again in 1987. They then returned to the First Division and became a member of the first Premier League in the 1992-93 season. Under the leadership of former Manchester United coach Atkinson, the team performed very well in the league. Although the Premier League title was snatched away by the Red Devils, Villa was also a strong contender for the championship. This traditional giant from Birmingham eventually finished second with 64 points. They once led the league points and remained unbeaten against Manchester United at home with a score of 1-0 and away with a score of 1-1.

In the 1993-94 season, Atkinson had called for a title challenge before the season began, but ultimately failed to do so. Despite this, Villa also had players such as Dwight Yorke and McGrath, and Yorke played as a left winger like Giggs. Villa also had another very stable defensive core, Ehiogu, and striker Saunders, who Atkinson had insisted on bringing in from Liverpool.

Before Ferguson led Manchester United to Wembley Stadium, the media launched a large-scale topic of attention by comparing Ferguson with Atkinson, Ferguson with McGrath, Yorke with Giggs, etc. The media believed that although Atkinson's coaching ability was not as good as Ferguson's, he was also a victim of Ferguson - a few years ago, Manchester United was defeated by the Sheffield Wednesday team led by him, and unfortunately lost the League Cup that Ferguson had originally tried to win. Even though Ferguson's Manchester United won the league championship last season, Atkinson's team still defeated Manchester United in the league.

Manchester United's League Cup journey was very smooth. They easily defeated Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 in the first leg of the semi-final at the Theatre of Dreams, and then won the second leg 4-1 at Hillsborough to advance to the final.

As Villa fell behind early in the league this season, Atkinson set his sights on the cup competition. They had great luck in the League Cup draw and hardly encountered any strong opponents along the way. In the semi-finals, Villa drew the low-level Tranmere Rovers. The first round of the game was a big upset, and Villa was defeated by the opponent with a score of 3:1, which caused an uproar in the football world. Atkinson did not dare to neglect it, and sent out all the main players in the second semi-final. York showed a strong breakthrough ability, helping Aston Villa to open the door to goals early and eventually beat the opponent 3:1 at home. After the two semi-finals, Villa and the opponent played 4:4, and had to go into overtime, and then a penalty shootout. In the end, the Villa players defeated their opponents in the penalty shootout and successfully reached the final.

In this final held at Wembley Stadium, Ferguson sent out all his elite players, and Atkinson did the same. Manchester United's tactics were aggressive and aggressive, while Villa's were more cautious, giving up the midfield and frontcourt early, deploying heavy troops in the defense zone, and setting up layers of defense.

In this game, Villa's two central defenders defended very well, especially McGrath, a former Manchester United player. He and his teammate Ehiogu became the source of Villa's confidence in defense. These two black central defenders have a great advantage in the confrontation. They are stronger and taller than Hughes and McClair. Moreover, they do not need to move quickly, nor do they need to turn around and run back frequently. They are very strong in frontal defense, making Villa's small penalty area a "silent place".

McGrath, who was called a miraculous rebirth by the media before the game, gave Ferguson a headache. This Irish black pearl not only quit drinking and recovered his health, but also played at his best in this game. McGrath can be regarded as the best defender of both sides in this game, even surpassing the two legendary central defenders of Manchester United, Bruce and Pallister. As the cornerstone of the defense, the captain on the field and the soul of the locker room, McGrath led Villa to continuous progress in the Premier League and became the Premier League Player of the Year in the 1992-93 season selected by the English Players Association, and also the best player in the league in the first season of the Premier League. Although McGrath was 35 years old this season, he still maintained an excellent state in the league. In the first 20 minutes of the final, he had won the challenges of Cantona and Hughes in the header, which also made McClair look at him as a daunting task. Not only that, McGrath even bounced the Manchester United midfielder directly when dealing with Ince's forward insertion, causing Manchester United's attack line to repeatedly hit a wall.

In this game, the Red Devils played in retro yellow-green jerseys, which were later ridiculed by the media as "unlucky", causing the players to misidentify, many passes had problems with landing points, and the tacit cooperation was greatly reduced. In the 11th minute, Manchester United's Giggs dribbled into the Villa penalty area, but his subsequent pass was quickly cleared by McGrath; in the 14th minute, Manchester United advanced in the middle, Cantona dribbled the ball to the right position of the top of the penalty area, and passed it diagonally. McClair responded in the penalty area and shot, but unfortunately it missed the goal. Although the attack was fierce at the beginning, it did not create a good opportunity. After Villa gained a foothold, it launched a counterattack and the game became more intense. Villa launched the first threatening counterattack in the 23rd minute, which turned out to be fatal. Eshiogu intercepted the ball on the back line and passed it to the left. York retreated from the front court to get the ball and began to accelerate. Although the winger did not make trouble in the center position he most wanted to play, he was also a great threat on the wing. The Red Devils' defense was seriously leaky, and the opponent's simple cross opened up the middle. Yorke's pass reached the goal, and Saunders rushed to shoot the ball towards the goal. Schmeichel failed to save the ball, and Kanchelskis blocked the ball with his hand in front of the goal in a hurry, resulting in a red card and a penalty for Villa.

Vera Sanders easily scored the penalty kick and Manchester United fell behind 0-1.

Manchester United's previous fierce attacks were all in vain, and the opponent's sneak attack took the lead. Now the situation has become that the Red Devils are one man short and the score is behind, Villa can continue to implement their defensive tactics, and even change to compete with Manchester United for the initiative in the midfield.

Atkinson was very experienced, or he was very cunning. He still focused on defense when he was ahead. Even if he had one more player, he had no intention of attacking Manchester United. But Manchester United had to press forward and attack, and the defense line had to make changes, changing the formation to 342. In the 33rd minute, Manchester United attacked from the left. Giggs and Irwin passed the ball continuously and pushed the offensive to the right corner of Villa's penalty area. When Giggs passed the ball to Villa's penalty area, Hughes took the ball with his back but failed to protect it. McGrath squeezed him away and took the ball away. In the 41st minute, Manchester United sent a ball from the right side. Cantona took the ball and turned around. After dribbling into the penalty area, he immediately shot, but unfortunately he still missed the target; in the 43rd minute, Manchester United intercepted the ball in the opponent's backcourt and immediately turned to attack, but Villa's formation was not disrupted, and Giggs's advance was intercepted before the penalty area.

Ferguson gave a speech in the locker room at halftime and said, "I don't want to say anything more. The situation is already very bad. If we can't react immediately and fight back immediately, then this championship is a luxury."

Ferguson said: "I have nothing to blame you for. Villa is not a team that can be easily controlled. Their tactical discipline is very strict, and now they have the advantage in numbers, so I won't say what must be done. I just hope you don't give up."

After the start of the second half, Villa continued to use conservative tactics and played more patiently. Ferguson's team was eager to equalize the score, and the overall formation was pressed forward. In many cases, 6 to 7 people pressed the opponent's backcourt to attack. In the 49th minute, Ings passed the ball directly from the midfield. Cantona received the ball in the frontcourt near the right side, and then quickly passed it to Hughes. Hughes avoided the opponent's close-up in the penalty area and passed it diagonally to McClair. The Scottish shooter shot directly, but was blocked by the opponent's defender. In the 53rd minute, Manchester United made a corner kick and Bruce jumped up in front of the goal in time, but his header did not hit the target. In the 61st minute, Manchester United advanced in the middle. Hughes and Ings cooperated and made a powerful long shot from the top of the penalty area, but unfortunately it was also blocked by the Villa goalkeeper.

Manchester United surrounded their opponents, but they never had any real threatening opportunities. Even though Hughes, McClair and Cantona were sprinting and interspersed in the penalty area, they did not receive a good enough cross assist. Villa was very stable, and their defense was very tight, and they did not give Manchester United any chance to score. Not only that, after Villa cleared the siege, they found that Manchester United's defense had many loopholes and gradually began to play a direct counterattack. In the 73rd and 81st minutes, Villa scored two more goals through quick counterattacks, expanding the score to 3 goals. Although the Red Devils scored one goal, they eventually had to lose the game with a score of 1 to 3 and lost the championship.

Including this time, Ferguson has lost to Atkinson in the battle for the League Cup title twice.