The legendary Red Devils coach: The road to success

Chapter 315: Killing Violent Ben Again

"When faced with aggressive provocation, the best counterattack is to give him a slap in the face and then kill him completely."

--Inscription

Just a few days after signing Cole, the Red Devils met his former team in the 24th round of the Premier League, Manchester United challenged Newcastle away.

This match was also a focus of the media at the time. The media first compared the coaches of the two clubs. Keegan, a rising star in the coaching world, and Ferguson, who had already achieved brilliant success, would still attract a lot of attention. On the other hand, the media also made Cole a topic to discuss, comparing the differences between the two teams from the perspective of this newly rising killer star.

At this time, Newcastle was already a strong team in England. They made great progress under Keegan's leadership. Since last season, Newcastle has established an aggressive offensive style. Keegan hopes that the team will play fast and tough, requiring the team to be brave in attacking, constantly attacking the opponent, strengthening the control of the front court, and emphasizing rapid advancement. The team's style was very similar to that of Manchester United. In the standings, Newcastle once ranked first this season. Even though they have been overtaken by Manchester United and Blackburn Rovers so far this season, they are still at the forefront and are one of the most watched teams in the league.

In this match, Cole was unable to play due to transfer restrictions, so Ferguson sent out all the main players except him. In view of Newcastle's emphasis on offense, Ferguson and his coaching staff formulated a strategy of focusing on the midfield and suppressing the opponent from the beginning.

Manchester United started the game with a tough stance in the midfield, paying great attention to steals in the midfield and frontcourt, and soon took advantage of the opponent. In the 15th minute, Irwin dribbled the ball all the way across the center line from the right side of the backcourt. After entering the opponent's half, he was intercepted by the Newcastle midfielder. He passed the ball directly forward, and he followed the ball forward in an uncharacteristic move. Irwin's sudden run caused chaos in the opponent's defense system, but at this time the ball was still in the midfield area, and Newcastle's midfield and backcourt were not too panicked. Mark Hughes retreated to the midfield to receive the ball. He took a few steps back and turned around to pass the ball to the empty space in front again. Irwin inserted into a position parallel to the opponent's back line, turned around to receive the ball, and gently pushed the ball to Keane on the right sideline. Keane had just passed the center line at this time. With no one defending him, he adjusted his kick and made a long pass. The direction of this long pass was still on the right side, and the landing point was near the corner of the penalty area. At this time, Cantona ran quickly to the position, and the two Newcastle defenders also approached him as if they were facing a great enemy and prepared to steal the ball. In a flash, Cantona performed an incredible move. He ran directly past the ball without intending to control the ball or kick it away. When everyone thought he had made a mistake and missed the ball, Cantona turned sideways and lightly tapped the ball with his heel, knocking it into the penalty area.

This miraculous pass was even more shocking because of what happened next. When the ball was sent into the penalty area, the area was still empty, but Mark Hughes magically appeared the next second. At this time, no one from Newcastle took the initiative to plug this loophole, and none of the defenders ran over. Only the goalkeeper knew the danger and left the goal to make an extreme save. Hughes got there first and saw the opponent's goalkeeper fall to the ground to block the shot. When the distance was very close, he still chose to bravely kick the ball and calmly scored the goal.

Manchester United leads 1-0!

Hughes decisively kicked the ball into the empty goal, but the next second he was unable to stand up to celebrate, nor could he accept the congratulations of his teammates. He won the goal in the confrontation, but was injured in the knee by the opponent's goalkeeper, and his arm was completely dislocated and deformed, so he could only endure the pain on the lawn.

The team doctor and staff quickly came on the field and carried Hughes off the field on a stretcher.

As Newcastle fell behind, Keegan kept waving his hands on the sidelines, directing the players to intensify the attack. Newcastle, playing at home, naturally could not accept losing, they quickly began to intensify the pressing and launched more offensives.

In the second half of the game, Newcastle launched an attack from the left in the 53rd minute. After passing the midfield, they did not cross the ball from the bottom, but directly hoisted the ball into the penalty area. This cross did not pose much threat, because the Manchester United defenders had already taken their positions, and the opponent's forward was only one, Celington, who was in the penalty area with his back to the ball, and behind him was Pallister who was defending closely. In this case, the high ball into the penalty area would generally be cleared by the Manchester United central defender, but Pallister, while entangled with the opponent's forward, accidentally headed the ball back in front of the opponent, and then it fell to the opponent's feet. Newcastle's short forward Celington was very flexible. After stopping the ball and turning around, he took two steps forward, then shook Pallister sideways and faced the block of Manchester United goalkeeper Schmeichel. The Newcastle forward quickly shot a shot, directly penetrating Schmeichel's defense and shooting the ball into the goal between Schmeichel's legs.

Newcastle was lucky enough to score after falling behind and tied Manchester United 1-1.

Manchester United led for most of the game and sacrificed their main striker Hughes, so they naturally did not want to let Newcastle pass so easily. They launched another fierce attack in the subsequent game. Newcastle struggled to catch up from behind, and their morale became very strong. They also hoped to increase their attack and take the opportunity to bring Manchester United down.

The two sides played with sparks flying in the remaining 30 minutes. Their competition and pressing became more intense, and the scene became more and more heated. In the 62nd minute, Newcastle advanced in the middle, and midfielder James shot hard from 35 yards outside the penalty area, which scared Schmeichel into a cold sweat; Manchester United launched an offensive in the 67th minute. Irwin on the left dribbled the ball to the vicinity of the midfield, and then passed the ball to Keane. Keane and Giggs then made a two-pass-one-wall cooperation, and then inserted into the penalty area, but then Giggs's cross from the bottom landed poorly, and Cantona and Keane failed to grab the landing point. In the 73rd minute, Newcastle's frontcourt launched another crazy pressing, and continued to launch a wave of high-intensity siege. Their cooperation was very concise, and they repeatedly broke through Manchester United's defense through crosses, and also created many shooting opportunities near the penalty area, but the last shot was always a little bit short.

In the 83rd minute, Manchester United intercepted the ball from the left backcourt and quickly launched a counterattack. Giggs dribbled the ball all the way, and the opponent's defenders not only retreated, but also made effective interceptions. Giggs dribbled the ball directly to the bottom line of the penalty area and made a cross, but Cantona, who followed all the way, missed a great chance that was almost certain to win. The landing point of Giggs' cross was right in front of him. The only imperfect thing was that the landing point was too close to the goalkeeper. Newcastle rushed out to block it. Cantona had enough time to adjust, or he could have directly shot at the goal. As long as he avoided the opponent's goalkeeper and then aimed at the goal, he could score. But Cantona flew in front of the goal and stretched his foot out to shoot. This shot that was almost certain to win avoided the goalkeeper's interception, but it slipped out of the goal!

Ferguson looked up to the sky and sighed, unable to believe it.

In this way, the game ended after a very fierce battle between the two sides, and the two sides finally ended up in a 1-1 draw, each getting one point.

Manchester United will still have a tough battle in the next round. After returning to their home court, the Red Devils will have no time to rest and have to prepare for the game. Ferguson will lead the team to face Blackburn, their biggest rival in the championship war.

This is the 25th round of the league. Manchester United is 5 points behind its rival in the standings before the game, so they cannot afford to lose this game. Before the game, Blackburn manager Dalglish said in an interview, "Of course I respect Ferguson, but now it is Blackburn who is leading and we are the best team in the league. There is no doubt that Ferguson has achieved success, but this is also a thing of the past. We will defeat our rivals in this game to prove who is the leader of the league."

Ferguson was dismissive. "How can anyone think that the current points can determine everything? There will definitely be times when they will tremble in fear."

In this top battle, Cole got the chance to start. Manchester United's main striker Hughes was seriously injured in the last game and needs to rest for more than two months, almost saying goodbye to the entire season.

In this game, Ferguson fielded three forwards, Cole, McClair and Cantona, and then sent Giggs and Kanchelskis, and also put Lee Sharpe in the starting lineup... There is no doubt that Ferguson's starting lineup was intended to directly eat up the opponent through a fierce offensive.

Manchester United played fast and simple in the first half, attacking without any delay. In the 12th minute, McClair made a long pass from midfield to the opponent's penalty area. The violent central defender made a mistake in heading the ball, and the ball was directly given to Cole who was lying in ambush nearby. Cole rushed into the penalty area with the ball, faced the opponent's goalkeeper, adjusted and shot a powerful shot. When all the fans were waiting for the goal and cheering, Cole's shot actually hit the plane directly, which was really out of the mark!

A few minutes later, Manchester United's attack hit Blackburn again. Cole took the ball with his back in the opponent's penalty area, withstood the opponent's close defense, and passed the ball back to his teammate outside the penalty area. Giggs took the ball and passed it directly to the right. The opponent's defender touched this diagonal pass, but it did not change the line. McClair rushed in from the right and directly formed a single shot, but he faced the opponent's goalkeeper and his volley missed!

Manchester United missed two chances in a row, and Ferguson was furious watching from the sidelines. Blackburn also started to attack after several false alarms, but they were in a very bad state in this game, especially the crosses from several midfielders were not accurate, and there was no way to provide Shearer with any chance. Shearer was very capable, but he had no advantages in dribbling and attacking speed. Once his teammates did not assist him, he almost lost all his power.

Both sides fought fiercely in the first half, time passed quickly, and the score was still 0-0 at the end.

In the second half, Manchester United further strengthened the attack on both sides, while Blackburn wanted to make accurate passes and advance more in the middle. In the 57th minute, Manchester United intercepted the ball in the backcourt and quickly passed it to Cantona in the center circle. The King of the Theatre of Dreams dribbled the ball to the left and passed it to Giggs after attracting the opponent's defender. Giggs rushed all the way in the face of the pursuit and interception of the opponent's two defenders. When he reached the outside of the opponent's penalty area, he was intercepted by the opponent, but Giggs, who did not give up, then directly tackled the ball near the sideline in the opponent's backcourt and took the ball back. He immediately rushed into the opponent's penalty area while the opponent spread out his formation, and then passed the ball directly to the violent black box. Cantona rushed over and headed the ball into the goal when the opponent's goalkeeper came out to block it. Manchester United led Blackburn 1-0.

After taking the lead, Manchester United still did not play conservatively. They maintained a high intensity of interception in the midfield and constantly interfered with and disrupted the opponent's crosses, making Blackburn's counterattack not posing enough threat.

As the whistle sounded, Manchester United finally defeated their rival 1-0 and achieved a rare victory.

This was a crucial victory worth 6 points. The Red Devils narrowed the gap between them and the Red Devils in the standings to 2 points, less than a win.

The Times said: "Before the game, everyone thought that this game might determine the situation of the league championship. If Blackburn won, they would be 8 points ahead, and Manchester United would be further behind. It would be very difficult, even close to impossible, to catch up or even overtake their opponents. But now the suspense is back again."

After winning this game, Ferguson achieved two wins against Blackburn in the league.

Facing the provocation of Blackburn manager Dalglish before the game, Ferguson would not let him go easily after the game. "We respect Dalglish because he has won many championships with Liverpool and he is a very important figure in English football, but that's all. He has left Liverpool and all the myths need to be rewritten. He is not a high god like all of us. I want to return all his sarcasm and criticism to him through this game."

Manchester United TV asked Ferguson in an interview, "What special feelings do you have about defeating your biggest rival in the league twice?"

Ferguson's answer is intriguing. "I don't think Blackburn is our biggest rival in the league. I think we are our own biggest rival."