The legendary Red Devils coach: The road to success

Chapter 99: Injury and Misfortune

"Manchester United struggled to play because of injuries. They were unable to play the tactical effect Ferguson had in mind, and the team's style was forced to change. They had to fight hard in consecutive games and had embarrassing results."

--Inscription

After October 1988, many veteran Red Devils fans began to see that something was not right with Manchester United. The most obvious sign was that Ferguson's starting lineup began to change constantly, with some players who should have remained the same for a long time being absent.

what reason?

Injuries are as fierce as tigers, and injuries to multiple core players are even more troublesome, and Manchester United just happened to encounter such a problem.

Fans saw that Ferguson's team lacked the momentum to win and the confidence to fight to the end. Manchester United, short of players, fell into an awkward situation. They suddenly lost the ability to win with one strike, or their defense always had loopholes after taking the lead, and it seemed that they had no chance of winning.

Manchester United has been stuck since the 6th round when they were tied by Tottenham in the final moments.

Nevertheless, the game must go on. The Red Devils played against Southampton in the 10th round of the league.

Southampton was not very strong at this time. Although they had many young talents, the team had not transformed into a strong team with balanced positions and outstanding key positions. This was also a common problem of teams that had been unable to introduce strong foreign players and had been unable to train young players for a long time.

Despite facing such an opponent, Ferguson's Red Devils also had many problems. In this game, Ferguson was missing Turner, the main goalkeeper, McGrath, the main central defender, and Robson, the core commander in the midfield. Ferguson had no choice but to send Leighton, Bruce, Mullen, Gibson, McClair, Hughes and others to the starting lineup. Manchester United had an advantage at the beginning of this game. McClair had a wonderful shot in the 7th minute of the game, which almost made the opponent's goalkeeper surrender. After entering the 20th minute, the game began to fall into a stalemate. Both sides stationed troops in the midfield and did not want to take the risk of aggressively attacking the opponent. Manchester United's midfield without Robson obviously had no ability to control the rhythm, and it was difficult to give enough support to the forwards. It was difficult to create enough opportunities for the forwards relying only on Strachan's organization.

Southampton is weaker than Manchester United and their thinking is more conservative. Manchester United still took more initiative in the confrontation and launched more attacks. In the 27th minute, Hughes received a pass outside the penalty area and turned around, got rid of the defender's close interception and shot. This shot directly to the lower left corner of the opponent's goal was very sudden. The opponent's goalkeeper reacted too slowly and fell to the ground to save the ball. It was too late. Manchester United led 1-0!

Manchester United, who broke the deadlock, then launched several offensives, but McClair and Mullen both missed the chance to score in the penalty area. Their shots were either weak, or were saved by the opponent's goalkeeper or blocked by the opponent's defender, and they were unable to expand the score. In the second half, Manchester United's offensive slowed down a bit, and Southampton was unwilling to lose and launched counterattacks frequently. In the 72nd minute of the second half, Southampton advanced from the wing, and after a cross from the bottom after a connection, Manchester United's defense made a mistake and missed the front point. Southampton striker Lipson scored in front of the goal and equalized the score.

Manchester United then faced Wimbledon to kick off the 11th round of the league.

Wimbledon just tied with Manchester United, and now they meet again, both sides want to beat their opponents. Ferguson's starting lineup has changed this time. The number one goalkeeper Turner returned from injury, Bruce and Donaghy partnered as central defenders, Mullen, Phelan, Duxbury and Strachan started in the midfield, and McClair and Hughes were the two forwards in the frontcourt. Ferguson's 442 often switched between 451 and 442 in actual combat. Hughes was completely at the front, but McClair was flexible in position and had many more responsibilities. He has been developed by Ferguson to have the dual skills of a striker and a midfielder. Depending on the situation, he returned to the midfield to help the team strengthen interception and coverage. He also actively inserted forward when the team attacked, becoming another firepower point.

In this match, both teams once again played fiercely. Ferguson's team was no longer afraid of the opponent's roughness, and had enough targeted measures against the opponent's dirty tricks. McClair and Hughes were even more fierce than the opponent's players, so the two teams deployed more offensive and defensive deployments in the fierce confrontation. The entire Manchester United team hoped that Strachan could play with delicate and fast technical characteristics and pry open the opponent's entire defense line with one point. Wimbledon hoped to use two long passes from the wing to the Manchester United penalty area and use two tall forwards and attackers inserted in the middle to rush to the top. The two teams had their own focuses, but they also made targeted deployments for the opponent's tactics. Therefore, although the game was very intense, both sides fought fiercely, and the offense and defense exchanged quickly, neither team created enough killing opportunities in front of the goal. Strachan's passing was still very threatening, but it was difficult for him to break through the opponent continuously, and it was also difficult to start early and get enough space for dribbling. Wimbledon made a lot of long passes, but the points and lines were not good, and Bruce was careful enough not to let the opponent's forwards rush over. Both sides put more effort into the midfield, but they were not able to take the initiative. Manchester United had a hard time getting into the opponent's penalty area, and they were unable to create any scoring opportunities.

The two teams ended up in a 0-0 tie, with each getting one point.

After this game, Manchester United has not won four games in the league. Although there is no defeat, a four-game winning streak is not enough for Ferguson and the fans.

Considering that Manchester United had lost to the weak team Norwich before the draw, even Ferguson himself felt a little powerless to complain about this result.

In the 12th round of the league, Manchester United played against Derby County. Derby County is recognized as a mediocre team in the football world, with mediocre strength, but even such a team, Ferguson had no way to deal with them. Ferguson deployed a lot of offensive tactics and various strong attacking moves, but Manchester United players always seemed to lack a little precision, a little tacit understanding, or a little running. In the end, despite countless shots and a lot of opportunities, they just couldn't break through the opponent's defense and had to end with a score of 0-0.

After Manchester United tied five games in a row, they met Villa in the 5th round of the league. The result was a dull battle. Ferguson's team had difficulty finding gaps in front of the opponent's relatively balanced defense, and it was difficult for crosses from the wing to have a chance to head the ball into the goal. The two forwards only had three shots in the opponent's penalty area, but none of them were threatening. Villa's offense was also very sluggish, and their tactics were also mainly based on rushing and lobs. The crosses in this game landed in very strange places and routes, and Manchester United's goal was not threatened.

And just like that, Manchester United got their sixth draw.

The embarrassment continued as Ferguson's team then faced Newcastle United to kick off the 14th round of the league.

Newcastle was not strong at that time, and its form was erratic. They almost got relegated last season. But they were also full of confidence when facing Manchester United. Their coach Loseys not only claimed before the game that he would beat "boring Manchester United", but also boasted that Manchester United's current ability was not enough to pose a threat to Newcastle. Newcastle's chairman of the board also deliberately ridiculed Ferguson for not having experience in handling Gascoigne's transfer, and "deserved" to be intercepted by Tottenham and "deserved" to be fooled by Gazza.

In the English League One, it is rare for a club chairman or head coach to directly challenge an opponent, let alone such a humiliating statement. Such a provocation naturally irritated Ferguson. But at this time, Manchester United's lineup made him very helpless, because almost half of the main lineup was missing, and the strength was greatly reduced. Not only did Robson, Strachan, McGrath, Whiteside, Anderson, Turner and other players continue to be injured and absent, but Lee Martin, Mullen and Blackmore also suffered new injuries. In the end, Ferguson could only arrange a starting lineup that could hardly be called a rotation main lineup to compete with Newcastle.

Before the game, Ferguson said: "It's not surprising that we have received all kinds of humiliation, sarcasm, doubts and criticisms, and even all kinds of insults and exaggerations. I will remember all of this. Of course, I know that all of this is because of the results of the game. So, for the sake of victory rather than for washing away humiliation, I hope you can remember this."

Manchester United's starting lineup continued to change. Bruce and Donaghy played as central defenders, Duxbury and Webber played as full-backs, McClair was surrounded by a bunch of kids playing in the midfield, and Hughes was alone at the front. Manchester United's wingers, whether defenders or forwards, played very nervously. They did not have enough training and tacit understanding, so it was difficult to play the kind of smooth wing attack tactics. At the beginning of the game, both sides entered the rhythm of killing. Ferguson hoped that the team would strengthen the confrontation and fight, but the players were unfamiliar with the positions, and the cooperation and running positions between each other were also unfamiliar. Simple tactics could not be effectively implemented in the fierce competition. Fortunately, McClair blocked in the midfield continuously, and Bruce was extremely brave in this game. Manchester United was finally able to tie the opponent and retreat unscathed.

From the 6th to the 14th game, Manchester United went 9 games without a win. Even though they only lost one game, 8 draws were hard to accept. Thinking about these opponents of Manchester United, Ferguson was angry and helpless. Although Manchester United actually only lost 2 games since the start of the season, losing to Liverpool and Norwich, a total of 9 draws and 3 wins was absolutely unacceptable to the team that was trying to grab points.

In the standings, Ferguson's team has been falling back again and again. Not only is it far behind the top two teams in the standings, but it has now fallen to 9th place.

In the 15th round of English League One, Manchester United faced Charlton.

Ferguson finally stopped suffering bad luck in this game, and the players recovered a little. Mullen, Lee Martin and Blackmore returned to the starting lineup, and Ferguson pushed McClair to the forward line. Charlton was weak, and they were conservative at the beginning, thinking about keeping a point through defense, but they quickly collapsed in the face of the Red Devils' attack, and their defense was also very poor.

Manchester United quickly took the initiative on the field. Mullen made a cross from the left to assist McClair to score a goal. Hughes took the ball with his back to the goal in the middle of the second half and shot directly into the penalty area. Manchester United finally defeated their opponent smoothly.

After beating Charlton, Manchester United had no time to relax, as they were unexpectedly defeated 16-1 by Coventry in the 0th round.

The process of losing to Coventry City seemed to be a familiar "routine", but both the process and the result made Ferguson furious. Manchester United, which was much stronger than its opponent, suppressed its opponent as soon as it came on the field, and then launched waves of attacks, always trying to move the opponent's bus or pry open the opponent's turtle shell. In the 6th minute, Mullen's long shot from outside the penalty area flew away. In the 11th minute, McClair turned and shot in the penalty area, but was blocked by the opponent's defender. In the 16th minute, Hughes headed the ball in the penalty area, but the shot was not powerful and was directly saved by the opponent's goalkeeper. In the 24th minute, McClair received Hughes' pass in the penalty area, but was poked away by the Coventry defender before shooting; in the 31st minute, Manchester United took a corner kick, Bruce did not have a good angle in the penalty area, and the ball slipped into the goal... Manchester United launched many offensives, but their attacks were ultimately unsuccessful. Manchester United striker Hughes was even more unlucky in this game. He received more than one pass in the penalty area, some accurate and some inaccurate, some with just the right timing and some with just the right timing. He also had many shots, including no less than three threatening shots and one shot directly into the blind corner of the opponent's goal, but he failed to score. McClair also had a great chance to score in the 3th minute, but unfortunately he didn't wear his shooting boots today.

Manchester United's fierce attack pushed the midfield and backfield too far forward, especially in the second half when they were constantly besieging the opponent, and the defense was a little lax. After Coventry defended tightly for more than 70 minutes, they suddenly launched a very sharp counterattack. After stealing the ball in the backfield, they made a long pass directly to the Manchester United penalty area. Forward Luston followed up at high speed and shot directly into the goal. In the end, Manchester United's fierce attack failed and had to swallow the bitter fruit of a 0-1 defeat.