The legendary Red Devils coach: The road to success

Chapter 304 Cold October

"No one would have thought that a team that has won the championship for two consecutive years would lose a third of its nine league games. This is absolutely unacceptable for a club aiming for a third consecutive championship."

--Inscription

In the seventh round of the league, the Red Devils played away against Ispovici.

Before the game, most media believed that Manchester United would easily defeat their opponent because of the huge gap in strength between the two teams. Manchester United did have an overwhelming advantage soon after the game started. In the 11th minute, Manchester United created a great opportunity in the frontcourt. Cantona received a cross from his teammate and headed the ball hard in front of the goal, but it hit the crossbar - the Red Devils have hit the crossbar four times this season! Then Ispovici scored two goals in a row through a quick counterattack and incredibly led the defending champions.

The Red Devils launched a strong counterattack in the situation of falling behind, and once pressed the opponent to attack in the half court. After missing many opportunities, Cantona and Scholes scored successively to equalize the score. The young player Scholes is very good. He won the trust of Ferguson when the team was in trouble. He was able to score key goals in a bad situation as a substitute, and his progress was getting bigger and bigger. After the equalizer, the Red Devils relaxed and failed to defend against the opponent's counterattack at the last moment. The biggest responsibility for the loss of the goal was goalkeeper Schmeichel. He was always calm, but he turned into a big sieve and reacted slowly. When he saved the opponent's shot, he had accurately judged the shooting route, but he was very slow when he landed, and his palm caught the ball but it was still scored.

Schmeichel was careless, and the opponent's shot, which was not very threatening, turned into a goal, and then became the key to Manchester United's loss.

Schmeichel's fatal mistake and the team's inefficiency in not being able to score a goal despite the team's fierce attack ultimately led to the Red Devils losing 2-3 to their opponents.

The most trustworthy person in the Red Devils' defense made such an unacceptable and low-level mistake. No one can accept this. Schmeichel was scolded by Ferguson after the game. Ferguson said: "Schumi, is your mind still in Copenhagen? You were sleepwalking throughout the game and your performance was very bad, worse than garbage!"

Keane was so angry after the game that he later called for a team meeting. When everyone arrived, Keane went on a rampage in the dressing room, targeting Schmeichel.

Schmeichel joined the club earlier than Keane, played for Ferguson earlier, and achieved more in his career than Keane. He won the league title before Keane joined the club, and he himself was the biggest contributor to Denmark's European Cup victory. His status in the locker room was much higher than Keane's, but this time Keane just wanted to scold. The Red Devils' locker room not only considers past achievements, but also looks at the actual performance. Keane, who is hot-tempered, has been angry for a long time and has been holding back for a long time. This time he didn't intend to hold back any longer, so he directly criticized Schmeichel.

Keane seized on Schmeichel's laziness and arrogance and criticized him fiercely: "Schumi, you are such rubbish. Being so lazy during the game is fatal. You are so arrogant and made such a low-level mistake of misjudgment, which is simply shameful. Not only that, you couldn't even concentrate on the game. The ball that should have been blocked was actually let in. It's so embarrassing!"

......

This accusation was embarrassing and Schmeichel was embarrassed. Schmeichel was originally in a state of deep frustration, but after being provoked by Keane, he became furious and stared at Keane with his bull eyes, not blinking, ready to fight with Keane at any time.

Bruce and others quickly separated the two conflicting parties, and a conflict that almost led to a fight was suppressed.

Giggs said anxiously: "I watched in silence the confrontation between the two big guys, like two huge beasts preparing to fight. I don't know who to support because I didn't see the goal and didn't pay attention to the details. I don't know if I will be forced to take sides and express my views. I don't like this atmosphere. I respect Schmeichel very much, but I will not question Keane. This is also the idea of ​​almost all of us. Because his requirements have always been like this. He always wants everyone to give their all and never relax at all."

The turmoil in the dressing room reflected the hidden dangers of the Red Devils. Ferguson soon learned about the conflict and had a separate conversation with Keane and Schmeichel afterwards.

Keane emphasized in an interview many years later, "No lazy person can play for the Red Devils, and complacency is not what we need, even if he has won the European Cup, won two league titles, and made contributions to the Red Devils, that is not okay, absolutely not!"

At this time, Keane has become Manchester United's most representative captain and the Red Devils' most outstanding leader.

After losing this game, the Red Devils have lost two games in just seven league rounds, quickly falling into a passive position in the title race.

Ferguson convened a dressing room meeting for this purpose and emphasized the unity and sense of proportion among the players. He repeatedly warned the players that although the team was strong, they could not assume that the opponents had no resistance, and they could not assume that there were no opponents in the league.

There was a lot of turmoil in the Red Devils' first-team dressing room, but the youngsters who had just been promoted from the youth training camp ignored it. They were very excited now because the youth team director told them that there would be more official games to play.

At the end of September, the Red Devils played in the second group match of the Champions League, against the Turkish team Galatasaray, with whom they had a feud last season. The Red Devils were in poor form, and the two sides drew 0-0 and each got one point.

As October approached, in addition to the Premier League, the FA Cup and League Cup competitions followed one after another, and the Champions League group stage continued. Ferguson's team began a tough battle on multiple fronts.

The Red Devils have always attached great importance to the Champions League and have no intention of giving up the FA Cup. They even have their eyes on the League Cup. The goal of winning multiple titles is Ferguson's highest ideal.

Blackburn Rovers had no Champions League matches, so they also began to send substitutes to play in domestic cup competitions. Dalglish knew that his boss wanted the league title, and he also understood that his team did not have the ability to fight on multiple fronts, so he gave up the UEFA Cup, FA Cup and League Cup early on and focused on the league.

This is the thinking of many Premier League coaches. A too tight schedule will make the team lose competitiveness, and the league and cup competitions naturally conflict. Even if a strong team is strong, it cannot easily try to attack the league and the Champions League at the same time, let alone compete on three or four fronts.

The Red Devils are fighting on four fronts. In the League Cup, Ferguson began to try to use those 17 and 18-year-old young players to give them the opportunity to play against high-level opponents.

Ferguson was brave enough to send many young players to the main battlefield, and the class of 92 got the opportunity to debut one after another. Giggs has taken on the main responsibility, Butt has also played, in addition to Gary Neville and Scholes, Beckham also got a chance.

David Beckham made his debut in the League Cup. On September 1992, 9, he made his debut for the Red Devils in the League Cup (then called the Coca-Cola Cup), in which Manchester United's opponent was Brighton. Beckham wore the No. 23 jersey and played for about 14 minutes. Since then, Beckham has gone through more than two years of experience, including being loaned to lower-level leagues, and making appearances and scoring goals in the Champions League. Even more surprising is Scholes, who was sent by Ferguson to play as a striker. Not only did he play in the cup, he also got opportunities in the league. Scholes was calm and sharp, handled the ball very reasonably, and was also very timely in getting in and grabbing points. He also learned cunning lobs outside the penalty area, which brought many surprises to the Red Devils fans.

After October, the Premier League schedule is very tight, and the Red Devils need to play a game almost every 3 days. The competition in the Premier League is still very fierce. The Red Devils, Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest are in a rhythm of scrambling for points, and the points are rising alternately. On the other hand, Blackburn Rovers also began to exert their strength and closely followed the front-line opponents.

The media was not optimistic about the Red Devils' winning all the titles, but Ferguson ignored the outside noise. Ferguson himself knew that it was impossible to achieve the goal of winning all the titles, but using new players did not conflict with his goal of building a team that could be passed down. Young players appeared on the field, but the team also had veterans to support them. This was a way of bringing the old with the new, allowing the veterans in key positions to rest. On the one hand, the Red Devils fans always wanted to win more titles, and on the other hand, they were full of trust in Ferguson, and they supported whatever decision Ferguson made.

The 8th round of the league is scheduled for October 10st, and the Red Devils will face Everton at home.

In this game, the Red Devils played well in the wing attack. The two wings Lee Sharp and Kanchelskis were fast and powerful. Lee Sharp defeated the opponent's left back many times on the right and successfully crossed the ball to the end line. Kanchelskis was sensitive to the opportunity and directly scored after receiving Lee Sharp's cross, and the Red Devils led 1-0. The Red Devils, who had scored a goal, played more smoothly. Ince successfully intercepted the ball in the frontcourt and immediately passed a surgically accurate pass, cutting through Everton's entire defense. This through ball allowed Lee Sharp, who started in time, to successfully insert himself from behind and break through the opponent's defenders. He flexibly formed a single knife and easily hit a dead corner in the lower right corner, defeating the opponent's goalkeeper who came out to meet him.

With these two goals, the Red Devils easily won 2-0.

红魔四天之后在联赛杯 2比0赢了维尔港队，顺利晋级第三轮。两天之后的10月8日，红魔迎来了联赛第9轮的比赛。

The Red Devils play away against Sheffield Wednesday.

After the game started, Manchester United still had the advantage due to the strong individual strength of the players, but the players were still too impatient. Many attacks were hastily ended and no real chances were created in front of the goal. Gillespie, who rarely started, was very active, but he was confused about the rhythm of attack and retreat, and missed a very good follow-up shooting opportunity in front of the goal. During the game, Manchester United suppressed the opponent's offense, and the Red Devils' back line pressed up to the vicinity of the center circle, which was exactly what the opponent wanted with their steady defense and counterattack tactics. After a long half-court offense and defense, the opponent suddenly launched a defensive counterattack. As a result, Pallister and Bruce made mistakes in coordination, and the opponent broke through the defense line with the ball and shot into the penalty area, so they had to lose 0-1.

Less than a quarter of the league has been played, and Manchester United has already lost 3 games!

Ferguson was furious and criticized all the players at the end of the game. In an interview after the game, he said: "I can only say congratulations to Sheffield Wednesday, they won an extraordinary victory. Our performance was not good, it was a bad game."

The Times said: "Three defeats in just nine league games is a situation that Ferguson absolutely cannot accept."

After the game, Ferguson organized the coaching staff to carefully analyze countermeasures. He believed that the entire team had serious problems. The first was a lack of aggressiveness, a lack of attention to the opponent, too much arrogance, lack of commitment to the game, lack of concentration, etc. Although the team's offensive power was still strong, the forwards were still fierce, and the Red Devils' midfield was still stable, and the control and pressure capabilities were even better, the problem appeared in the most fatal defense. The gate that was once impregnable, the defense that was once as tough and solid as the Great Wall of Steel, and the goalkeeper and central defender that were once stable, all had problems one after another.

Ferguson thought this could be a major problem affecting the team. A thousand-mile dam is destroyed by an ant hole. Now the league lost to the already declining giants like Leeds United and the lower-tier opponents like Ipswich. They were all defeated by the fast attack and the goalkeeper made careless and low-level mistakes. How could this be tolerated?