The legendary Red Devils coach: The road to success

Chapter 310 Continuous Fright

"Compared to last season's leading situation, the Red Devils did not perform well in the first half of this season. Manchester United was already in a passive position in the standings at the beginning of the league and could only catch up for a long time."

--Inscription

Manchester United were eliminated in the Champions League group stage, and their European campaign this season came to an regrettable end. Ferguson led the team back to the Premier League.

Manchester United's opponent in the 18th round of the league is Queens Park Rangers. This away game was full of twists and turns. First of all, the starting lineup surprised the Manchester United fans who traveled with the team. Ferguson sent Walsh, Gary, Scholes and Davis as the main players, and did not let Schmeichel, Cantona, Giggs, Hughes and other main players play. Manchester United fans have no confidence in the strength of this lineup. Ferguson talked with the coaching staff and expressed his considerations, that is, considering that the opponent is not strong, so he chose so many players who usually have no chance to play as the starting players. Of course, it is because many main players such as Parker and Bruce are injured, and the above players who are not injured are not playing for rotation considerations. Ferguson hopes that the Red Devils can maintain their fighting power in the next tough schedule.

Manchester United fielded a strange 451 lineup, with new players in many positions. In this lineup, Scholes and Gary were both highly expected. Gary played right back, a familiar position, but Scholes was very distressed. Because he was not playing in a familiar position, and the teammates around him were not familiar to him. He played as a striker in the youth team, but in this game he played in the midfield with Ince and Davis. Not only that, his position was attacking midfielder, behind striker McClair.

This starting lineup, which was swinging between the 433 and 442 or 451 formations, made a lot of mistakes at the beginning. The Red Devils attacked actively at the beginning. As the opponent shrank their defense, Manchester United players wanted to use attacks to directly overwhelm the opponent, but because of the appearance of new players and different positional sense and tactical requirements, there were many mistakes in the frontcourt. McClair was alone in the front and did not pose any threat. Lee Sharpe and Kanchelskis tried to break through and advance on the two sides, but they did not find teammates when they passed the ball to the middle, and it was difficult for Manchester United to grab the first point. Although the opponent Queen's Park Rangers was not strong and was very cautious in the face of the aggressive Red Devils, after carefully dealing with Manchester United, they suddenly found that the Red Devils were not too threatening. Queen's Park Rangers then launched an active attack, striving to fight with Manchester United on the field. In the 4th minute, Queen's Park Rangers successfully intercepted the ball in the midfield, and then quickly passed the ball to the right side of the frontcourt. Maddison of Queen's Park Rangers led the team to the corner of the penalty area, then dodged the position and shot. Fortunately, this long shot hit the plane. The two sides then entered a phase of alternating offense and defense. Manchester United made many errors in passing and organization, and their opponents were not much better. The two sides were a bit like a "chicken fight", and the game was cut into pieces by mistakes.

In the 7th minute, Queens Park Rangers launched another attack. They tried a simple long pass. Plzen competed for the header in the penalty area. Manchester United's Pallister headed the ball away, but Queens Park Rangers immediately grabbed the ball 15 yards outside the penalty area and tried to advance again. Ferdinand, another striker of Queens Park Rangers, withdrew from the Manchester United penalty area and turned his back to ask for the ball. Then he protected the ball in a fight with the Red Devils midfielder Ince. Then he faced Davis' defense and used a fake move to create space. He fired a powerful long shot from 6 yards outside the Manchester United penalty area. Ferdinand made a world wave. The ball flew directly to the upper right corner of Manchester United's goal. Walsh jumped out with all his strength to save the ball, but he still couldn't catch the ball.

The Red Devils fell behind 0-1 right at the start of the game.

Manchester United was suddenly hit by a super long shot. They did not lose confidence, but immediately launched a fierce attack, hoping to equalize the score as soon as possible. In the 17th minute, after Irwin dribbled the ball into the half court from the left, he made a two-on-two with his teammates on the wing, tore through the opponent's defensive barrier and rushed into the penalty area with the ball. He attracted the opponent's central defender to come up to make up for the position and made a cross in the penalty area, but the cross line was a bit too close to the goal and was punched out by the opponent's goalkeeper. Although the ball was saved by the Queens Park Rangers goalkeeper, the ball was still in the penalty area and Manchester United still had a chance. Scholes suddenly inserted in the melee and shot directly from the front. This side-swinging leg shot posture scored full marks, but his shot hit the crossbar and flew out, which was a pity. The Red Devils continued to attack fiercely. In the 31st minute, Irwin on the left accelerated and rushed forward with the ball, and then crossed after going down the bottom. This time the pass was perfectly placed, the short Scholes jumped high in the penalty area and scored with a header, the Red Devils tied with Rangers 1-1!

After the equalizer, the Red Devils' morale soared, and the attack continued to hit the opponent like a storm. Under pressure, the Queens Park Rangers' offense and defense were a bit out of touch, and there were loopholes in the backcourt. In the 37th minute, the Queens Park Rangers lost the ball in the midfield, and the Red Devils intercepted the ball and launched a quick counterattack. This time the Red Devils' attack was very concise. Ince passed the ball to Davis, and then made a subtle diagonal transition, and got rid of the opponent's midfield interception in one go. Manchester United's attack was launched in the frontcourt. Although the opponent's defense line had 5 people, their positions were very messy and not enough to stop Manchester United's rapid advancement. The Red Devils' offensive broke through the opponent's defense line with three passes and two waves. Keane followed Manchester United's offensive and inserted in time. He received Scholes' pass at the edge of the penalty area and went straight to the meeting alone. While the opponent's goalkeeper was unable to meet him, Keane took a step forward without hesitation, calmly shot the lower left corner, and easily broke through the opponent's goal.

The Red Devils reversed the lead 2-1!

After the start of the second half, the Red Devils did not adopt a defensive tactic just because they were ahead. Instead, they played steadily, continued to strengthen the midfield and continued to strengthen the effective offensive, which left the Rangers helpless. In the 53rd minute of the second half, the Red Devils got a corner kick. Irwin's cross was very fast and had a strong rotation, landing in the 8-yard area in front of the opponent's penalty area. No one in the penalty area could head the ball, and the ball bounced off the ground and flew to the back point. At this time, Scholes, the shortest player in the Red Devils, was completely unguarded in the penalty area. He flexibly flashed out of the empty space, aimed at the landing point of the ball, and headed the ball, breaking the opponent's goal again.

Scholes scored with two headers. It was really amazing that the short ginger boy used his weakest skill, headers, to break through the defense of the opponent's tall central defenders and tall goalkeeper.

When the Red Devils scored their first goal, the short Scholes jumped up from a crowd of tall and strong people and scored, leaving the home fans stunned; this time Scholes scored with a header in the penalty area, and even the Rangers coach couldn't sit still, as this kind of defense really made it difficult for him to stay tense.

After the Red Devils took a 3-1 lead, they relaxed a little and their opponents scored a goal, but in the end Ferguson's team still won with a score of 3-2.

In the 19th round of the Premier League, the Red Devils played against the hot Nottingham Forest at home.

In this game, Ferguson took another risk and continued to change the starting lineup. Because the main right back was injured, he chose Keane to play right back instead of starting Gary. Hughes and Giggs both returned to the starting lineup, while Scholes and Davis, the youth players, did not play. Butt and Gary got the opportunity to practice as substitutes in the second half.

Nottingham Forest is a strong team, but the Red Devils, who are at home, still took the initiative to attack at the beginning of the game, especially using high-speed and fast offensives to tear open the opponent's defense line, creating many opportunities. In the 11th minute of the first half, Manchester United attacked from the left, Giggs made a cross from the bottom, Cantona shot in front of the goal, but unfortunately missed the target; in the 16th minute, Keane moved to the right to attack the opponent's hinterland, and then passed the ball to Cantona who was out of the penalty area. Cantona made a wonderful cross from 8 yards outside the penalty area. Mark Hughes received this wonderful pass in the penalty area arc, turned sideways and kicked a hook shot directly. This shot was a bit like a fairy from the sky, and it was really an antelope hanging on the horns without a trace, but unfortunately this wonderful shot that made the opponent's goalkeeper surrender finally hit the crossbar!

After surviving the disaster, the Forest team stabilized their position and began to get opportunities for defensive counterattacks. After the Forest team defender intercepted the ball in the backcourt, he directly made a ground pass. This long pass magically passed the two layers of defense of the Red Devils' midfield and passed to the feet of the frontcourt teammates. Forest team striker Collymore controlled the ball and turned around, dribbling the ball horizontally to the top of the penalty area. When the Red Devils defender stepped forward to block, he directly kicked a long shot. This shot was blocked by Manchester United defender Pallister and refracted. The ball's path became a strange arc and flew directly into the bottom edge of the Red Devils' goal!

The Red Devils were in the dominant position on the field but were actually falling behind 0-1!

In the second half, the Red Devils were eager to attack, but were counterattacked by the opponent again. In a hurry, they blocked the ball out of the baseline and lost a corner kick to the opponent. The Forest team sent a short corner kick, and then the full-back passed it into the penalty area. After the Red Devils defender cleared the ball out of the penalty area, the Forest players got the ball and tried to shoot from outside the penalty area again. As a result, the Red Devils goalkeeper Walsh was not focused and was not prepared for the opponent's long-distance shot, making a serious mistake. The long shot was originally flying towards Walsh, but he slipped when he tried to save the ball. After blocking the ball, he failed to block it. The ball just deviated a little and continued to fly into the goal!

The Red Devils were actually trailing 0-2, and the situation became even worse.

The Red Devils launched a fierce counterattack after falling behind by two goals, but the opponent not only adopted a defensive strategy, but also luck. Even though the Red Devils used the corner kick tactic to assist Cantona to score a goal, many subsequent opportunities were resolved one by one. At the last moment of the game, the Red Devils sent another corner kick. In the melee, the ball fell outside the penalty area. Ince met the ball and shot hard. This shot went straight to the goal, but even though it broke through layers of defenders, it was finally cleared by the Forest defender on the goal line.

The Red Devils were ultimately unable to recover and lost this crucial match 1-2.

The Times commented scathingly after the game, "Is this our defending champion? The league leader who claims to be going for the treble? Manchester United played completely out of their minds in this game."

Ferguson had no time to refute the media. He needed to quickly adjust the players' mentality and let the team rebound as soon as possible in the 20th round away game against Chelsea.

The game against the London team was full of twists and turns, and it was exciting. Chelsea was not what it is today. It was only a second-rate team in London. Its strength was not outstanding, but its style was very unique and its state was very magical. It can only be described as good and bad at times. The opponent could only open a blind box every time. In this game, the Red Devils continued to hold high the banner of attack and overwhelmed the opponent's momentum away from home. In the first half, Giggs made a cross from the left, Cantona made a feint in front of the goal, and Hughes scored with a shovel shot from the back point, and the Red Devils led 1-0.

In the second half, the Red Devils still had the upper hand. In the 62nd minute, Manchester United pushed forward in the middle. Keane and his teammates made a delicate cooperation, passing through the opponent's encirclement at high speed, and was tripped after entering the penalty area, winning a penalty for the Red Devils. Cantona easily scored the penalty, and the Red Devils led 2-0.

With a two-goal lead, the Red Devils relaxed a little, but Chelsea took the opportunity to launch a fierce attack, scoring two goals in ten minutes, quickly equalizing the score.

The situation stunned the Red Devils. How could they slip away the three points they had already obtained? !

Ferguson's face was as gloomy as water, and he waved his hands vigorously to urge the team to continue attacking.

In the following ten minutes, the Red Devils showed the foundation of a strong team. They faced difficulties, but they would not lose their composure, but actively tried to find ways to break the unfavorable situation. The Red Devils quickly stepped up their offensive. In the 67th minute, Kanchelskis made a cross from the right, and Cantona hesitated when receiving the ball in the middle of the penalty area, but the opponent kicked the ball away first; in the 71st minute, Manchester United advanced from the middle again, Keane dribbled forward, passed the opponent's two midfielders in succession, and advanced to the top of the penalty area with a dragon. At this time, the Chelsea defender fell to the ground to tackle, but the ball fell to Giggs' feet. Manchester United's left winger adjusted slightly and passed the ball, but it was blocked by the Chelsea defender again. Just when everyone thought that this attack was going to end, McClair suddenly descended from the sky, caught up with the ball and shot directly with a calm low shot, breaking the opponent's goal!

Manchester United took the lead again 3-2, and Ferguson's expression as he supervised the game on the sidelines finally relaxed.

Chelsea attacked fiercely in the final minutes of the game, but Manchester United never gave their opponents any chance.