The legendary Red Devils coach: The road to success

Chapter 289 Double Champion

The Red Devils had double the joy this season, winning the league title and FA Cup. Ferguson won the double championship for the first time in his career as coach of the Red Devils.

--Inscription

One of the main reasons why the Red Devils had such a tough time at the end of the season was that Ferguson's team had to fight on multiple fronts and compete for more championships. As a result, the Red Devils' schedule at the end of the season was much more intensive than that of Blackburn Rovers, and the games were naturally much more difficult.

How many battles does the Red Devils have to fight on? Ferguson's team not only has to defend the league title, but also fight hard in the Champions League, and also go all out in the FA Cup and League Cup.

This is a season of fighting on four fronts.

Although the Red Devils did not go far in the Champions League, the intensity and difficulty of the Champions League are top-notch. Considering the factors of long journeys and the fact that they are all scheduled in the middle of the week, the Champions League is actually the most exhausting. After playing a few Champions League games, the Red Devils' condition dropped significantly when they returned to China. It was simply a big outbreak of Champions League syndrome.

In addition to the Champions League, the Red Devils advanced in two domestic cup competitions, overcoming all obstacles along the way and reaching the final.

The Red Devils' campaign in the League Cup can be described as ups and downs. Ferguson's team encountered opponents with weak overall strength and good luck in the draw. The Red Devils first won Stoke City 2-1 away, and then returned to their home court to win another 2-0, easily entering the next round. Then the Red Devils defeated Leicester City 5-1 and Everton 2-0 away, thus reaching the quarterfinals. The Red Devils had some twists and turns in the quarterfinals. Portsmouth tied 8-8 at the Red Devils' home court, forcing the Red Devils to go all out away from home, and finally passed with a score of 2-2. Then the Red Devils defeated Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 at home and 1-0 away, easily reaching the final.

The Red Devils' opponent in the League Cup final is Aston Villa, a strong and aggressive team that has played well in the league for several consecutive seasons.

Ferguson did not have Schmeichel in his starting lineup, as the Dane had a minor injury before the game and could not play, which cast a shadow over the Red Devils before the game even started. Except for Schmeichel, the other positions were basically half of the main players and half of the rotation players.

After the game started, several Red Devils players showed obvious fatigue. These players were in low spirits and not in good physical condition, lacking both strength and initiative. It was not that the Red Devils players did not want to win the championship, but that they had played many high-intensity games before the final, and the schedule was very tight, which resulted in the team being unable to suppress enough and the initiative on the field was taken away by the opponent.

The fierce midweek match against Arsenal consumed too much energy from the Red Devils players, which could not be replenished with just a few pre-match mobilizations. The continuous fierce battles since March also consumed the Red Devils' physical reserves, and injuries were also an influencing factor. In addition, with Schmeichel and several main players absent, the Red Devils could not control the rhythm throughout the game. Although the opponent did not play fast at the beginning, the Red Devils still had a bit of a hard time keeping up.

After some testing, Aston Villa quickly found the Red Devils' weakness. They quickly accelerated, increased the rhythm, intensified the confrontation, and pushed the Red Devils back to the backcourt defense.

Villa's aggressiveness won them many offensive opportunities. They relied on simple passes from three attacking players in the middle of the frontcourt to quickly cut through the Red Devils' defense. Atkinson received the ball and had a one-on-one chance, easily scoring the ball into the goal guarded by the Red Devils' substitute goalkeeper. Villa took the lead 3-1.

Then in the second half, the Red Devils still had difficulty in getting back on their feet and were unable to launch a fierce offensive. Instead, they were once again given a chance to counterattack by Villa in their slow offensive. Villa launched several quick counterattacks, which quickly put the Red Devils in a passive position. In the 63rd minute of the second half, Villa got a free kick on the sideline of the penalty area. They quickly sent the free kick into the Red Devils penalty area. As a result, the Red Devils defenders were clumsy in the penalty area and let the ball slip to the front point. Unguarded Sanders easily stretched out his foot and sent the ball into the Red Devils goal. Villa easily led 2-0. The Red Devils were helpless after falling behind, and Villa played even more smoothly. They then launched several offensives and forced the Red Devils right winger Kanchelskis to block the ball with his hand in front of the goal at the last moment to prevent the ball from flying into the goal. He had to receive a red card and was sent off. Sanders easily scored a penalty kick and scored twice to help the team secure the victory!

The Red Devils' fast attack, which used to make the Premier League giants tremble, was nowhere to be seen in this game. Not only that, the Red Devils did not even achieve the goal of suppressing their opponents. In this game, Aston Villa's central defender McGrath performed well. This defensive stalwart from the Red Devils back then was the core of Villa's defense, but he easily defended the defense line, leaving the Red Devils' attackers helpless. The Red Devils launched a short offensive when they were one goal behind in this game, but even though the Red Devils continued to press through the half court, they did not create many opportunities. Most of the balls passed into the penalty area were easily resolved by McGrath. The Red Devils only scored a consolation goal with Mark Hughes. In the end, the Red Devils lost the game 1-1 and watched their opponents take the League Cup championship trophy.

Ferguson was very upset about this game and he has been brooding over it ever since. The Red Devils' loss to Villa directly led to the loss of the League Cup, which was not resolved until they beat Villa 2009-2010 in the League Cup final of the 2-1 season.

The Red Devils are also giving their all in the FA Cup.

The English FA Cup has a special competition system, with a large number of lower-level football clubs signing up to participate, so the number of matches is spectacular. Before the Premier League teams intervened in the competition, the FA Cup had already played many rounds of matches, and a large number of lower-level teams had experienced fierce battles before they were able to enter the third round with Premier League teams participating.

Even though many rounds of competition have eliminated a large number of amateur teams, the FA Cup has become unpredictable due to its knockout system and has always been a hotbed for upsets.

The Red Devils started to participate in the third round of the FA Cup. The first opponent was old friend Sheffield United. Ferguson sent out a lineup of main players and rotation players. With absolute advantage, Hughes scored in the 1st minute and eliminated the opponent 0-. In the fourth round, the Red Devils played against Norwich. Ferguson still adopted the arrangement of rotating the main players. Norwich performed very poorly in the FA Cup. Facing the fierce attack of the Red Devils, they were unable to resist and were eventually defeated by the goals of Keane and Cantona of the Red Devils. The Red Devils successfully advanced. The Red Devils played against Wimbledon in the fifth round. Although the Wild Gang defeated the Red Devils in the league, they were vulnerable in the FA Cup. The Red Devils were fierce and aggressive, and quickly destroyed the opponent's defense. Cantona, Ince and Irwin scored easily in the game, and the Red Devils destroyed the opponent with great momentum.

In the sixth round, the Red Devils defeated Charlton 3-1 and advanced to the semi-finals.

The opponent in the semi-finals was Oldham from the second division. The two semi-finals were held at the end of the season when the Red Devils were in the most intense competition for the championship, which still had some impact on the mentality of Ferguson and the Red Devils team. In the first semi-final, the Red Devils narrowly tied the opponent. The Red Devils fell behind in the extra time. The whole team fought bravely and fought back with all their strength. Finally, Hughes scored a key goal in the 119th minute to equalize. In the second game, the Red Devils team focused on the balance between defense and offense, and then played a very sharp fast break. The Red Devils' offensive was overwhelming, and a wave of lightning-fast attacks completely broke through the opponent's defense. The Red Devils scored two goals in each half and finally eliminated the opponent 4-1.

The FA Cup final was held between the Red Devils and Chelsea.

The atmosphere at Wembley Stadium was very lively, not only welcoming the British royal family, but also the fans of both teams. Facing Chelsea, who had suffered a lot in the league, Ferguson did not dare to neglect it and sent out all his elite players.

Before the game started, the Red Devils had already won the league championship trophy and were determined to win the FA Cup.

Chelsea has always been a strong team in cup competitions. Although not as abnormal as it is now, its strength should not be underestimated. Because it often defeated the Red Devils in the league, Chelsea was once called the "Red Devils Nemesis" by the media. At that time, Chelsea had famous players such as Sinclair and Clark, the team captain was the extremely fierce and brave "King of Killers" Wise, and the head coach was the famous coach Hoddle. The strength could be ranked in the first echelon of British football.

At the beginning of the game, the Red Devils took the initiative to press and strengthen the attack. Facing the Red Devils' pressing momentum, the Blues fought hard in the midfield and played steadily. In the first half, the Red Devils took the initiative, but did not create an absolute chance, especially the two wingers did not have many breakthroughs. Chelsea focused on clamping the Red Devils' advantage and firmly strangled the two wingers of the Red Devils. In addition to blocking the fast break of Giggs and Kanchelskis, the more direct way was to knock them down. Although Chelsea did not invest much manpower on the offensive end, their counterattacks were very sharp, often crossing the Red Devils midfield and directly threatening the Red Devils' central defenders and goalkeepers. Especially when the Red Devils set up the defense line, Chelsea played a series of excellent opportunities. Chelsea's counterattack was very direct. Once they almost scored an empty goal, and once Peacock's powerful shot outside the penalty area hit the crossbar and almost scored.

At halftime, Ferguson redeployed the tactics, the front line retreated, and the formation became tighter. Ferguson hoped to stabilize the situation in the midfield. Cantona retreated more in the frontcourt, increased Mark Hughes' running, and strengthened the overlapping of the two defenders Irwin and Parker. The Red Devils quickly created offensive opportunities after the start of the second half, gradually threatening the opponent's goal. In the 60th minute, Irwin decisively moved forward, received a pass from Giggs in the opponent's penalty area, and forced a breakthrough. Chelsea's Sinclair had no choice but to tackle the Red Devils defender and penalty! Cantona easily deceived the opponent's goalkeeper with the penalty kick, and the Red Devils led 1-0!

Chelsea launched a massive counterattack, and the Red Devils took advantage of the opponent's full force to counterattack frequently. In the 68th minute, Kanchelskis went to the match alone, but was squeezed down by the opponent in the penalty area. The referee awarded a penalty again despite the objections of Chelsea players. Cantona's penalty once again defeated the opponent's goalkeeper, 2-0!

Chelsea were in great morale after falling behind by two goals. In the 70th minute, they made a serious mistake in front of the penalty area. Mark Hughes easily stole the ball, rushed into the penalty area with a quick shot, and scored. The Red Devils scored another goal, 3-0!

The Red Devils finally defeated Chelsea 4-0 and won the FA Cup with a goal scored by McClair in stoppage time!

In this way, Ferguson led his team to win the first double championship in the history of the Premier League. Considering the long history, only five teams in England have won the double championship before. This honor of Ferguson is still very important.

After this game, Ferguson's Red Devils have played 64 official games throughout the season, which is also a record this season. Ferguson and his players lifted the FA Cup trophy at Wembley Stadium and celebrated with countless Red Devils fans.

The second season of the Premier League ended with Ferguson's Red Devils winning all the games. If they had played better in the League Cup, Ferguson would have won all the domestic titles.

The Red Devils did not complete the domestic sweep and did not win all the domestic championships, which was a kind of fate to some extent. Ferguson won countless glories as the coach of the Red Devils, but he did not achieve the domestic treble in a season until he retired.

From another perspective, every championship represents a great achievement. Manchester United has done well enough, and Ferguson has worked hard enough. After the Premier League entered the new century, the competition between teams became more intense, and the wealth distributed by the league also greatly exceeded the FA Cup and League Cup. The top six teams in the Premier League also have the task of participating in European competitions. Even powerful clubs like Manchester United and Arsenal cannot have a large enough team to cope with all the games.

After dominating the league, many successes may have different definitions for Ferguson. Sometimes winning fewer or no cup titles, giving other strong teams hope and goals, and maintaining a league with competitive hopes may be better than one team winning all the championships.