The legendary Red Devils coach: The road to success

Chapter 324 Falling Twice in the Same Place

"Once again, the Red Devils lost points to the same opponent, which ultimately led to the loss of the league title. The name of this team is West Ham United."

--Inscription

The league has come to the final announcement, and everything will come to light.

Before the last round, Blackburn beat their rival Newcastle United 1-0 at home, extending their points advantage to 5 points, and two days later the Red Devils beat Southampton 2-1, narrowing the gap again.

Blackburn Rovers now ranks first with 89 points, and Manchester United ranks second with 87 points. Blackburn Rovers will win the league title if they beat Liverpool in the last round, while Manchester United will win the league title if they win while their opponent loses. Under the tie rule, Manchester United has the advantage of goal difference and head-to-head record - Manchester United has 49 goal difference, while Blackburn Rovers only has 42. Manchester United has also defeated its opponent twice in the league.

Blackburn's players were full of confidence, and they were elated after defeating Newcastle United. "We will win the championship, Liverpool is not our opponent!" The arrogant Fowler made a declaration to win the championship.

Coach Dalglish remained cautious in the face of his old club. He warned the team before the game, "Liverpool just beat the Red Devils. They are so strong that we should not underestimate them. We must be careful."

The day the champion was decided was Sunday, May 1995, 5.

Liverpool fans held up banners at Anfield to welcome their former king Dalglish, and Liverpool was determined to use a victory to show Fowler what it meant to be a great team. Although Blackburn had a dream start shortly after the game began, with Shearer scoring to help the visiting team take the lead, Liverpool was not discouraged and continued to maintain strong pressure and launched a wave of offensives.

At West Ham United's Upton Park, the Red Devils were hit hard. West Ham United had a strong momentum to start the game. The Hammers, who always played in a rough style, had a special hatred for the Red Devils this season, that is, the hatred of Ince being taken away. West Ham United attacked at the beginning, and their fierce interception in the middle and front field put the Red Devils in a passive position. In the 30th minute, West Ham United made a cross from the left, and Hughes volleyed into the dead corner in the lower right corner of the Red Devils' goal, and West Ham took the lead 1-0.

If the two games end with this score, Blackburn will beat the Red Devils by 5 points to win the championship.

Ferguson was unusually calm at halftime. He said: "Liverpool are losing, and we are losing too. But there are still 45 minutes in the game and anything can happen. We need more momentum and more fighting spirit, but I didn't see that kind of fighting spirit in this half, not at all."

Ferguson didn't get angry, but Kidd did. "Give me your courage, we have played in this kind of environment so many times, and reversed the situation so many times. It is not impossible to do it! We need to forget everything and concentrate on fighting instead of thinking about the meaningless ending!"

"Go ahead and kill them!"

At the beginning of the second half, the Red Devils launched a more fierce attack. West Ham United's physical strength declined and they had to actively shrink their defense. The Red Devils' attack became sharper and sharper. In the 54th minute, Gary Neville made a free kick from the right and McClair headed the ball into the goal from the front point in the penalty area, 1-1, and the Red Devils equalized the score!

Almost at the same time, the situation at Blackburn suddenly changed, and Barnes helped Liverpool equalize the score.

The inspired Red Devils launched wave after wave of attacks in the opponent's half. The players rushed towards the opponent's position like crazy. West Ham United retreated across the board, and the Red Devils' offensive became more and more threatening. Gary and Irwin both turned into wingers, while Ince, McClair and Scholes rushed into the opponent's penalty area desperately. The game almost became a half-court attack and defense drill. West Ham even piled 9 people in the penalty area to defend. The Red Devils used all their offensive tactics, long shots, bottom crosses, breakthroughs, two-on-ones, no-ball insertions, long shots... The defenders all became attacking players, and Pallister spent more time in the opponent's defense zone than in his own half.

Under the Red Devils' fierce attack, Scholes kicked the ball with his chest outside the penalty area and then dribbled into the opponent's penalty area, attracting the opponent's defender to move to intercept and pass the ball to Cole, who faced the opponent's goalkeeper and shot calmly. Unfortunately, this single shot less than 8 yards away from the goal, Cole's shot hit the goalkeeper directly and flew out of the baseline!

Then Gary threw the ball from the right side to the penalty area. Cole leaned against the defender at the penalty spot and kicked an imaginative hook shot, but unfortunately it was blocked by the opponent's defender. In the chaos, Scholes hooked the ball back to the penalty area, and Gary Neville shot, but was blocked by the dense crowd of opponents; Ince tried to shoot again in the chaos, but couldn't get through the opponent's crowd. In the chaos, Cole got the ball again, but unfortunately his shot was blocked by the opponent's goalkeeper again.

This was the second time Cole faced the opposing goalkeeper, but failed to score!

The Red Devils continued to attack. Gary Neville threw the ball into the penalty area. Bruce passed the ball to the front post. McClair and Mark Hughes in front of the goal shot consecutively, but they were still blocked by their opponents with their bodies.

West Ham United was hiding in the dark, and every attack by the Red Devils seemed to be able to tear them apart, but their goal was like a candle in the wind, and it never fell. West Ham goalkeeper Miklosko performed bravely. The Czech goalkeeper made many timely attacks, blocked many shots on the goal line, and resolved many single-handed attacks... He seemed to have three heads and six arms, and the whole person became a wall, a wall of sighs that made the Red Devils fans despair.

On another field, Redknapp scored the winning goal, helping Liverpool defeat the mighty Blackburn.

One of the conditions for a miracle has been met, now it depends on whether the Red Devils can win in the end!

In the remaining time, the Red Devils attacked West Ham's goal. West Ham gave their all in defense, even using their bodies to block the Red Devils' shots. The battle became more and more intense, the sensitive and fragile score, the desperate attack, the desperate defense... This game was like a life-and-death battle.

Until the referee blew the final whistle, the Red Devils still failed to achieve their goal and ultimately failed to destroy their opponent, only being able to tie the game 1-1.

In this one-sided game, the Red Devils had enough advantages, created countless shots, and had enough scoring opportunities. They should have won a crushing victory, but their shots were blocked and they missed the empty goal... The Red Devils encountered the most unsolvable bad luck this season!

The Red Devils players fought until the very end, and West Ham United also held on to the end. When the game ended, the entire West Ham United team and fans celebrated wildly, as if they had won the championship. West Ham United did not need 1 or 3 points at that time, but they worked together to crush the Red Devils' goal of winning the championship.

It’s a matter of vengeance, and for West Ham United, all the honour of fighting to the death may lie here.

After the game, Andy Cole fell into deep self-blame, and he even refused to be interviewed out of guilt. Captain Bruce simply said two sentences, "We fought to the end and gave everything, but football is like this. We didn't wait for a miracle, so we can only accept failure. We are of course the better team, but football is not about the excitement of the process, but the ending. We lost the championship, this is the result."

After the game, Ince walked towards the player tunnel with a wooden face. He heard the mockery and jeers of the home team's fans. He endured the humiliation and tried to pretend to disappear from the field calmly. It was not until he returned to the locker room that the former West Ham United player could not help but shed tears. He said, "I really want to fight with someone. This result is too painful!"

Gary's later memories were full of bitterness. "We pressed the opponent into the penalty area and attacked wildly. In the last 10 minutes, we even had three or four chances to score the winning goal. The ball flew back and forth in the opponent's small penalty area and the large penalty area, but it didn't roll into the goal! The goddess of luck didn't favor us when we needed a little luck the most. One goal can win the championship - we only need that much, but unfortunately we didn't have it."

Gary said: "The locker room was dead silent after the game. The depressing atmosphere was the most desperate I have ever experienced. As I got older, I learned how to withstand the blows, but I will never forget the excruciating pain at that time. My first championship battle ended in tragedy. On the long way home, I felt sick. "

Ferguson was deeply disappointed, but he did not rant about the players. After returning to the locker room, he said: "I can't say too much about this game. Football is like this sometimes, you give your all but get nothing. We don't believe in this, so we have to keep working hard. Only by struggling countless times and striving towards our goal can we have the chance to have the last laugh."

In addition to celebrating Blackburn's lucky title win, the next day's newspapers expressed sympathy for the Red Devils. The Times said, "You may cry for the Red Devils. This is a hero's tragedy. It is indeed a pity to see a team perform like a hero but still miss the championship."

A BBC reporter said, "Perhaps Ferguson doesn't want to be such a tragic hero, but the fighting spirit of him and the Red Devils players shocked us. They lost the championship, but they won more fans. What Ferguson's team showed has gone beyond the game, beyond the championship and football. It is the power to inspire the soul."

Manchester Evening News concluded: The Red Devils' last game of the season was like a reflection of their performance in the league. They bravely moved forward, never gave up hope, and never lost their fighting spirit. They fought to the last minute, they had countless good chances, their tenacity made people think they would score and win in the next second, their hard work made people think they would be blessed by fate, but in the end they still didn't win, didn't win the championship, this is the regret of life, but also the meaning of the next struggle.

Ferguson has never forgotten this season. On his 26th anniversary as the Red Devils coach, he selected this game as the one he wanted to change the outcome of the most. Ferguson said: "I will never let go of this game. We were so close to the championship at that time, and I had a feeling that Liverpool would not lose at home. We could control our own destiny at one point, but we didn't win despite our best efforts. We missed several chances to score, which they could have easily scored at other times. The opponent's defender Blake also had an obvious handball foul in the penalty area. It was a definite penalty, but the referee didn't give it. West Ham United played very bravely, but there were also many malicious fouls, but the referee let them go."

At the end of the league, Ferguson sent his congratulations to Dalglish. "Congratulations on leading Blackburn to win the championship. Although we played well, we got a different result. Let's look forward. Congratulations! Addendum: Devon Lodge's loss of the championship does not affect his status as a legendary racehorse, because he later won more... I am sure your father must have supported this horse. Loving horse racing is a good way of life."

It is not the first time that the Red Devils lost the championship in the last game of the league. The opponent before was also West Ham, and Leeds United won the championship. Later, Arsenal overtook them from behind. In the 2011-12 season, the same situation happened again. Ferguson's Red Devils won the game first, but Manchester City finally won the league championship with the advantage of goal difference.

In the more than 26 years that Ferguson coached the Red Devils, they had the regretful experience of being robbed of the championship by opponents many times. However, all these setbacks and failures did not ultimately defeat Ferguson's fighting spirit. Ferguson's strong mental attributes are unmatched.