The legendary Red Devils coach: The road to success

"Seeing Cantona mediate the conflict between Keane and the opposing players, seeing him persuade two players like a professor, it is inevitable to be surprised: is this still the guy who kicked the fans? Such Cantona makes people feel more fearful and invincible.

--Inscription

When Newcastle United were 12 points ahead of the Red Devils, the Magpies' coach Keegan was ecstatic, but on the surface he still pretended to be calm. He said very modestly that the team was only leading temporarily, but it didn't mean anything. He repeatedly stressed that Newcastle United would face more difficult games and more powerful opponents.

Just as Newcastle beat Bolton away and widened the points gap to 12 points, the Red Devils played in the third round of the FA Cup replay against the second-level Sunderland team.

Although facing a low-level opponent, Ferguson deployed five defenders, which was also because he was not confident about his defense. Ferguson still did not want to give up the FA Cup. The team's defense was weak during this period, so he had to improve the defense by adding more players, letting Bruce, Parker and Gary Neville play as central defenders. However, this arrangement made the Red Devils' structure unbalanced, and the defense was breached in the 24th minute. Sunderland's center forward Phil Gray scored the first goal, which made the Red Devils team extremely uncomfortable.

At the beginning of the second half, Ferguson immediately corrected himself and changed the awkward five-back formation back to four-back formation. Lee Sharpe replaced Parker to strengthen the attack. After 20 minutes of fierce attack, the Red Devils still could not tear open Sunderland's defense. Ferguson made another substitution, replacing Butt with Scholes. This substitution proved to be effective. The Red Devils' attack became more and more sharp. Just 7 minutes after the substitution, Phil Neville rushed to the front court and passed the ball horizontally. Scholes inserted from behind and just received the ball. Then he made a beautiful fake move to avoid the defender, took a step sideways to get out of the space, and immediately kicked a long shot. It was a powerful long shot that broke through the ten fingers of Sunderland goalkeeper Chamberlain in one fell swoop.

The Red Devils tied the score 1-1.

After the Red Devils equalized, they played more and more bravely, while Sunderland showed signs of physical exhaustion and was completely overwhelmed by the visiting Red Devils. In the 89th minute, the Red Devils once again attacked from the wing. Sharp made a cross with his left foot, and Cole headed the ball at the back post. The angle and power of this header were perfect, and it went directly into the bottom corner of the goal, 2-1!

The Red Devils completed a reversal at the last minute and successfully advanced to the next round.

Back in the Premier League, the Red Devils challenge West Ham United away.

The Red Devils not only trailed Newcastle by 12 points in the league standings, but also faced an embarrassing record of four consecutive away games without a win, including three consecutive defeats. Ferguson knew that he had to win this away game, otherwise he might completely lose the initiative in the championship. Ferguson said: "We have made enough mistakes this season, and the three consecutive defeats we just experienced are the biggest problem. If we still want to fight for the championship, then we must win the next tough battle!"

The Red Devils started to attack fiercely at the beginning of the game, and Giggs performed extremely well in this game. He received a pass from his teammate Keane near the midline, used an incredible back-heel kick to separate the ball from the player, and directly passed the opponent's confused Dicks, and then rushed along the right side. Giggs continued to suppress the chasing opponents while dribbling the ball. His performance was not over yet. Before going to the bottom line, he pushed right and walked left, separated the ball from the player, and then used his speed to pass the opponent, which made the opponent's defenders hate him, but they could not do anything about him. Unlike Beckham who made a cross from the right, Giggs chose to cut inside and broke into the corner of the penalty area. Here he and Cole made a wonderful two-pass play. After Cole attracted the opponent's defender and passed the ball to the open space, Giggs made a direct push pass to the front of the goal. Lee Sharpe rushed to the front of the goal at high speed but failed to grab the ball. However, this feint happened to provide a cover for his teammates. Cantona was waiting at the back post and calmly shot the ball into the net with his left foot at a small angle.

The Red Devils were leading 1-0 just eight minutes into the game.

After losing the ball, West Ham United launched a crazy counterattack, and the Red Devils' defense was under great pressure. However, this time the Red Devils' defense did not fail again. Although Bruce, Gary Neville, Cole and Lee Sharpe all received yellow cards, and Butt was even sent off with a red card before the end of the game, the Red Devils finally relied on their strong defense to retain the victory.

The Red Devils won the first game of five consecutive away games with difficulty. Ferguson said after the game, "We played very well and should have scored 3 or 4 goals early. Our attacking line created many opportunities, but unfortunately we were not able to expand the score. In the second half, we lost the ball a little too much and the defensive pressure was also very high, but the players proved their ability."

When asked by Sky about the title prospects, Ferguson said: "Of course we still have hope, great hope. You will of course think that the championship depends on Newcastle's performance, and that's true. They will have many difficult away games, and so will we. I think the situation will become clearer after the league enters March. If you want to compete for the championship, you must deal with every game you play. Every opponent will be difficult to deal with. We still have some experience in dealing with these difficulties, but not every team has experience in winning the championship. Who knows if something interesting will happen? "

The media also noticed that Cantona, who is always hot-tempered, actually intervened when Keane and Dicks clashed. They couldn't even believe that this was what Cantona did. "What happened to the Red Devils? Why did Cantona become the one who persuaded and comforted them? This is really surprising!"

Ferguson smiled but did not answer. "I won't give you the answer. Maybe you need to dig it out yourself."

The media was even more surprised when they found the video of Cantona's game after his return. After Cantona's comeback, he was attacked and humiliated by his opponents on and off the court many times, encountered all kinds of rough, secret and malicious violations, and was injured more than once, but Cantona accepted it calmly without any trace of the rebellious attitude he had in the past.

The change was surprising, but both Ferguson and Cantona took it in stride.

Under the subtle influence of Cantona, the entire Red Devils are actually undergoing some changes. The team has maintained its passion and dominance, but has also begun to concentrate and calm down. This change has made the whole team united, better able to eliminate interference and move towards the only goal.

The Red Devils then played away against Reading of the second division at the end of January in the fourth round of the FA Cup. The Red Devils showed their strong strength in the away game. In the first half, Giggs successfully counterattacked in front of the opponent's penalty area. Sharp's shot was saved, and Giggs followed up in time to score. In the second half, Paul Parker, who came on as a substitute, shot directly in front of the opponent's penalty area in a counterattack. This was his last goal for the Red Devils. At the last moment, Cantona easily scored, and the Red Devils won 1-3 away.

The Red Devils won the game without any pressure, Cantona performed extremely well and was named the best player of the game. What was surprising again was that Cantona still controlled his temper very well, he even picked up a banana thrown at him by the home fans during the game and "humorously" returned it to the home fans.

The "biggest" test for Cantona was on February 1996, 2, when he went to Selhurst Park with the Red Devils. The match was not against Crystal Palace, the original owner of the stadium, but Wimbledon, which had rented the stadium for a long time. In this stadium 3 days ago, Cantona was sent off in the match between the Red Devils and Crystal Palace, and was suspended for a long time for kicking a fan. The Red Devils eventually lost the league championship.

Returning to the old place, Cantona directly refused the pre-match interview and calmly waited for the game to start. Ferguson had only one requirement for this game, that is, victory. Facing the Wimbledon team, the Red Devils had a complete advantage in strength, but not long after the game started, the Red Devils encountered problems. The old captain Bruce was injured and could not continue the game. Ferguson had to replace Beckham and let Keane retreat to play as a central defender and form a partner with Gary Neville.

Even without the captain, the Red Devils kept pressing the opponent and created many shooting opportunities. In the 44th minute of the first half, the Red Devils' corner kick caused chaos in the opponent. Irwin made a cross and Cole headed the ball into the goal from the crowd, and the Red Devils led 1-0. Then Beckham's free kick hit the crossbar, and the opponent's central defender Perry made a mistake under Keane's pressure and headed the ball into his own goal, and the Red Devils led 2-0!

Wimbledon, who were behind, started to attack fiercely in the second half, and the two teams entered the offensive mode. Gayle scored a goal for the Crazy Gang, and Beckham assisted Cantona in the second half, changing the score to 3-1!

After scoring the goal, Cantona rushed to the stands and the security guards rushed over. They were obviously frightened by Cantona's behavior. Cantona did not bother the home team fans, but ran to the away team's stands and hugged the Red Devils fans who came with the team to cheer for him.

Cantona unexpectedly said goodbye to the guy who kicked the fans in such a special way.

Wimbledon fell behind by two goals again and then pulled one back, but Cantona scored twice to help the Red Devils win the game 2-4.

The media praised the young players of the Red Devils after the game: "The Red Devils played with vigor and passion. This team focuses on training its own young players, but few experts give due praise to their approach. Sometimes some critics criticize this strongly, believing that the Red Devils will achieve nothing by relying on youth training. We now see that these young people play very well. People like Gary Neville are really daring, very dedicated and extremely brave. He used tackles to resolve several attacks from the opponent, and he ran very actively, which also helped a lot in the offense. Gary has absolute loyalty to this team and a close relationship with his teammates. He is the foundation of the new generation of Red Devils. As long as the Red Devils continue to carry forward these advantages of attaching importance to youth training, they will become a great team sooner or later."

"Of course we can't forget Beckham, the young man who just won a chance to play in the first team this year. His passes, his free kicks and his running are all surprising. He is improving every day and he shines every time he plays. We believe he will succeed here."

"Giggs and Scholes have become stars. Their performances make every Manchester United fan scream and make every fan extremely excited. They are also the fruits of the Manchester United youth training and have become stars among this generation of young players. From these players we can see that Ferguson and his team have put in countless efforts. The team they have built is full of hope."

Ferguson praised Cantona individually after the game: "I am happy for him, this is his night. This game is of great significance. It is a crucial three points for our team. For Cantona, it is not just two goals, not just the man of the game, this game also means that his emotions are released. Here, he enjoys the joy of football with the fans who love him. He has found the meaning of this sport and his own unique value. I am very happy to see him become a hero on the court and the leader of the Red Devils."

Cantona is indeed not as direct and hot-tempered as before. After his return, he shouldered more responsibilities and more pressure. He is no longer as unruly and rude as before. When facing malice, he chose to fight back with goals, respond with better performances, and vent with victories.

This is a new Cantona, a stronger Cantona.