The legendary Red Devils coach: The road to success

Chapter 303: White Cold Current in the Pennines

"The cup competition has become the best opportunity for young people. They can show their sharpness and youth on such a stage, strive to shine and strive to become the main force in the league."

--Inscription

By September 1994, the Red Devils had a difficult month due to the impact of European competitions.

进入9月时曼联在积分榜上排名第二，第一的是4战全胜狂取12分的纽卡斯尔联队。诺丁汉森林队和曼联一样3胜1平积10分排在第三，利物浦、切尔西和热刺都是9分分列第四至第六。9月的第一场比赛是英超联赛第5轮，红魔作客埃兰路球场，挑战已经开始换代的利兹联队。

The Red Rose vs. the White Rose, the two ancient clubs under the Pennines once again faced off in a fierce focus battle. On paper, the Red Devils are far better than the White Rose, but Leeds United still has a solid foundation, and it is playing at home, which has a special advantage. Before the game, Leeds United fans cheered for the team crazily and insulted Manchester United in various ways. Although Leeds United's strength has faded, they are not completely without the ability to fight, especially when the opponent is a mortal enemy like Manchester United, they will have more fighting spirit and passion to fight. After the game started, Leeds United pressed Manchester United's midfield with all their strength, and at the beginning invested the strongest energy to snatch the initiative in the midfield from Manchester United, and quickly overwhelmed Manchester United. After winning the midfield advantage, Leeds United launched a rapid attack, and the pressure in the frontcourt began to increase continuously. Their wing advancement and crosses were like divine help, fast and accurate, concise and direct, and every attack was a great threat.

The Red Devils players were not well prepared. The away players were slow to get into the game and could not hold up in the midfield confrontation. Keane was rarely at a disadvantage in the fight with Speed. The entire midfield of Manchester United was not functioning well, and the interceptions and steals were extremely inefficient.

Leeds United attacked fiercely, and Manchester United's midfield and backcourt began to make mistakes under continuous pressure. Leeds United won a corner kick on the left in the 11th minute, and Manchester United retreated to the penalty area. However, the corner kick sent by Leeds United to the front of the penalty area caused chaos. Manchester United's players failed to clear the ball in time, allowing the ball to fly about 8 yards in front of the goal, and just in front of Leeds United's Lesos. Lesos shot directly and hit the ball into the Manchester United goal. Schmeichel and Bruce fell to the ground to block it, but it was useless.

Manchester United was trailing 0-1. Ferguson was furious on the sidelines. He yelled and criticized the players for their laziness and fatigue. The power of the "hair dryer" was really scary. Ferguson's voice was so loud that even the video recorder far away could pick it up. The cameraman even broadcast this scene directly to fans all over the world.

Ferguson's loud rebuke made the entire Red Devils team feel ashamed, and the score behind was unacceptable to them. Manchester United players quietly accelerated their pace, aroused more fighting spirit, and played more bravely.

In the 16th minute, Manchester United launched a quick attack. Ince made a one-two pass with Giggs in the middle, then dribbled the ball into the opponent's encirclement and passed it to his teammate on the right. McClair pulled the ball to the penalty area, adjusted it slightly and shot hard. The Leeds United goalkeeper was fully focused and saved the ball sideways; in the 21st minute, Manchester United made a cross from the right, and Hughes headed the ball in the penalty area, but unfortunately he didn't hit the right spot and the ball slipped out of the goal.

At the end of the first half, Manchester United was temporarily behind 0-1. Ferguson returned to the locker room and scolded Keane and Ings, and also criticized Bruce fiercely. During the halftime break, he warned everyone to quickly turn the situation around, to increase sprints in the front court, to try more rapid advancement and passing, and to minimize blind crosses.

After the second half started, the Manchester United fans who came to the away stadium to cheer kept shouting, singing the Manchester United team song, and constantly cheering their players. For Manchester United fans, falling behind is not the end of the world. Although the situation is not good, these Red Devils still firmly believe that the team can counterattack and score, and can reverse the victory.

At the beginning of the second half, Leeds United intensified their midfield pressure and launched an offensive against Manchester United. In the 49th minute, Manchester United advanced in the middle, and Ince made a powerful long shot from outside the opponent's penalty area, but the ball missed the target and went out of the goal. In the 53rd minute, Leeds United launched an offensive on the left. Veran first fought with Kanchelskis near the sideline of the center line, and then dribbled the ball directly to Manchester United's right bottom line. Veran dribbled past Manchester United's full-back Parker, then directly entered the penalty area, and after going down the bottom, he made a cross pass to the front of Manchester United's goal. At this time, there was a loophole in Manchester United's small penalty area, and the opponent's forward made a shovel shot and Manchester United fell behind 0-2.

The Red Devils then launched a crazy offensive, while Leeds United also shrank their formation after leading by two goals and switched to defense, which allowed Manchester United to completely control the situation on the field and repeatedly attack the opponent in the half. The war was raging all the way, and Manchester United began to push the firepower into the opponent's penalty area. Leeds United's defense was not panicked, and there was no direct flaw. At one point, they even let 9 players return to the penalty area, leaving the Red Devils helpless. In the 59th minute, Cantona dribbled the ball to the Leeds United half. He moved to the right before Batistuta's block, and he bypassed the opponent to move forward. Kanchelskis received the ball and made a cross, but Cantona's way forward was blocked by Batistuta and Cox, and there was no way to receive the cross, and the opportunity was destroyed by Leeds United. In the 62nd minute, Manchester United launched another offensive on the right. This time, Kanchelskis sprinted along the sideline and then made a cross near the bottom line. Hughes grabbed the position and shot directly at the goal, but still missed the target, wasting this great opportunity. In the 73rd minute, Ings received the ball in the midfield and rushed straight to the opponent's penalty area. He was intercepted by the Leeds United midfielder outside the opponent's penalty area and was knocked to the ground.

At this time the referee blew the whistle, he walked directly to the Leeds United penalty area, pointed his finger at the penalty spot, and awarded Manchester United a penalty!

The whole audience was shocked when the verdict came out.

When Ins was knocked to the ground, he thought it was just a free kick at the edge of the penalty area. He was completely stunned.

Amid the shouting of the opponent's home fans, Cantona took the penalty kick under tremendous pressure. He calmly observed the goalkeeper and then hit the ball in the opposite direction to make the score 1-2.

Cantona said after the game: "I know some Leeds United fans want me to give up the penalty, but I can't do it. The referee needs to be responsible for his actions, and my responsibility is to score this goal."

Manchester United continued to launch a fierce attack, but the forwards wasted too many opportunities. In the end, the Red Devils had difficulty breaking through the opponent's penalty area except for long shots, and most of the crosses they tried to pass into the penalty area also lost their accuracy and could not pose enough threat. Many times, the ball fell into the penalty area and was directly cleared by Leeds United players, and the attack was not threatening. The Red Devils found that frequent long shots did not work because the penalty area was crowded, and long shots would be blocked or hit high. It was also difficult to compete for the header when crossing, let alone an effective attack.

At the last moment, Ferguson asked Bruce and others to rush to the opponent's goal to compete for headers, playing the role of a center forward. At this time, there were more than 16 people fighting in the penalty area of ​​Leeds United. Everyone was exerting force in close proximity and madly fighting for position and space. In the 1 minute of stoppage time, Manchester United's last chance to kill was created. Cantona made a precise cross from the right, and Bruce rushed to the penalty area and jumped to the top 6 yards in front of the goal, but he unexpectedly headed the ball away and missed the chance to tie the score.

The referee blew the whistle and the game finally ended. The Red Devils suffered their first defeat of the season.

Ferguson said in an interview after the game: "We were too lax at the beginning and didn't take the game seriously enough. Our defensive position gave the opponent too much space and time, we lacked timely close contact, and our frontal blocking was not done well."

Ferguson emphasized Manchester United's reaction after falling behind. "I think the team played very well afterwards. After falling behind, we attacked the opponent fiercely on the offensive end and created many opportunities, but we also wasted these opportunities. The opponent was very smart and timely to let 11 people return to the penalty area to defend. This defensive contraction is indeed very effective."

After playing Leeds United, the Red Devils faced their first opponent in the Champions League, Gothenburg, on September 9. Ferguson's team played very easily in this encounter, winning 14-4 at home.

Three days later it will be the 6th round of the league, and the Red Devils will return to their home ground to face their arch-rivals Liverpool.

The Red Devils lost to their mortal enemy Leeds United in the last league game, and this game is a stalemate between the two teams, so they can't afford to lose. Before the game started, Ferguson made a simple mobilization. He said: "Defeating Liverpool is our only goal in this game. Liverpool is a good opponent and our mortal enemy. We must pay attention to them and further improve our status. They come with the belief of fighting, so of course we have to fight back!"

"Kill them!"

Liverpool continued to reorganize this season, with new players such as McManaman from the youth team taking over, Fowler becoming their main striker, and Barnes becoming a veteran. The overall strength of the team is not as good as before. But even so, Liverpool did not intend to surrender directly at the Red Devils' home ground, but instead used the strategy of a midfield stranglehold to fight the Red Devils.

This strategy obviously suited Ferguson's taste, as he was worried that his opponent would not defend. None of the main players Ferguson sent out were cowards, all of them were very tough guys. Ince naturally needed no introduction, not only was his temper still hot, but he became even more domineering because of winning the championship twice. Keane continued to develop his iron-blooded temperament in his rapid growth, and his use of strength and body in the confrontation had the effect of crushing the opponent. Kanchelskis, Cantona, McClair and other veterans were obviously also experienced, and their physical fitness was much stronger than their opponents.

Liverpool was not able to cause much trouble to the Red Devils, but their defense made low-level mistakes. In the first half, the Red Devils' pressing and interception were very fierce. Liverpool's young players were obviously not mentally prepared and soon collapsed. Kanchelskis forced the Liverpool defender to make an own goal and easily scored a goal, helping the Red Devils lead into the second half. In the second half, the Red Devils continued to dominate, controlling the situation in a proper manner and attacking vigorously. Cantona continued to perform well. He and McClair tried a subtle two-on-two combination and broke through Liverpool's two layers of defense in one fell swoop. McClair finally easily broke into the penalty area and scored, locking the score at 2-0.

After defeating Liverpool, the Red Devils started the League Cup.

This was the first leg of the second round of the League Cup, and the Red Devils were facing the lower-level Port Vale. Ferguson sent out a new lineup of goalkeeper Walsh, defenders Gary, Irwin, May and Keane; midfielders Butt, Gillespie, Beckham and McClair, and forwards Scholes and Davis. This lineup was not even the second team of Manchester United, and most of them were youth players. Ferguson's intention to train the players was obvious. At about the 60th minute of the second half, Ferguson also replaced O'Kane and Sharp to further rotate the main players for rest.

The opponent in this game was weak, and the young team of Manchester United was able to crush the opponent. Scholes shined in the game, scoring two goals with his head and feet, showing the special style of a striker, helping the Red Devils win 2-1.