Manchester United legend

Chapter 104 Against Arsenal

Last season, Manchester United staged a super reversal under the leadership of Ferguson. Newcastle's final defeat in the championship severely dampened Keegan's ambitions.

Finally, just in the middle of the season, Keegan decided to leave the head coaching position.

Ferguson believes that media pressure - and its impact on Kevin - is the real reason for Keegan's exit.

"The pressure on a football coach isn't just to produce winning teams and satisfy fans, but to feed the wolves of the media these days," Ferguson said.

The media, in my opinion, has become a monster, and I certainly don't think I'm getting the media coverage I deserve.I know journalists have to do their jobs, but I don't see meeting their interests as part of my job anymore.

Kevin Keegan obviously sees it differently, they protect him, they even love him.He is the king of media.But in the long run, I don't think it will do him any good in his job.

He had a harness for himself, and they used it to trap him, slowly and surely destroying his inner peace. "

Ferguson believes that Keegan paid too much attention to the media, trusted the media too much, and was eventually hurt by the pressure caused by the media.

Regarding Keegan's sudden loss of control in front of the TV cameras, Ferguson laughed, "His attack on me was purely out of emotion. At that time, the media may have left a demon in his head, which is sad. But I can understand him. I just hope he won't get too entangled. I didn't attack him."

In fact, Ferguson saw Keegan's change before the season started - he didn't even want to lead the team in the Charity Shield. This was undoubtedly caused by last year's disappointment, and he gradually showed weariness.

Ferguson said, "With Keegan, I think I have nothing but the highest respect for him."

The fierce battle in the league is in full swing, and Manchester United has encountered a strong challenge.

At the end of January, Manchester United occupied the top of the league table.

Arsenal and Liverpool, who once led for a short time, have become hot pursuit competitors, and after entering the Christmas and New Year's Devil's schedule, Newcastle and Chelsea have fallen behind.

Blackburn?Needless to say Ferguson, even Fleet Street has lost interest in such a team that has sold its star players one after another.They found a new hotspot, a new interest for fans.

In addition to the continued strength of Manchester United and Ferguson to get more attention, Wenger in London has also received great attention from the league.

Wenger brought competitive points to a team like Arsenal, brought hope of competing for the championship, and also brought fans a superstar like Bergkamp.

Not only that, the Gunners' game style has been greatly changed, and the lineup tactics have been changed drastically by the professor, but the results are better than before, and they even became one of the strong contenders for the championship.

It has to be said that at that time, journalists with the ability to foresee and analyze began to expect Wenger to challenge Ferguson's hegemony.

Although they are still optimistic about Ferguson and Manchester United in this league game in February, even though Arsenal is at home, despite Manchester United's Cantona being suspended.

It was February 1997, 2, Manchester United's expedition to Arsenal at Highbury Stadium.

In this game, Ferguson sent a new striker combination: Solskjaer and Cole.In the midfield, Jost led the offensive and defensive transition. Giggs, Beckham, and Butt all got the chance to start. Schmeichel was still in charge of the defense, and Pallister was in charge.

Arsenal, who are determined to win at home, also sent a 442 lineup. They are Bergkamp and Wright rushing forward.

The hatred between Arsenal and Manchester United also reached a state of intensification in this game.

Not only that, but there were also some extremely controversial topics before the game.

Earlier before the game, players from both sides had already jumped up the previous hatred between the two teams. Arsenal's Ian Wright was the most active. He even broke out and strongly accused Manchester United's players of being crazy, and pointed the finger at Schmeichel!
When Wright raised this topic again before the game, Schmeichel was as angry as a completely erupting volcano!
Of course, for the Arsenal club, Wenger maintained an unimaginable calm on the sidelines. He denied any allegations against Manchester United, but emphasized that his team will win.

Wright added embellishments to reporters in a statement the day before the game, explaining that he never really brought it up in a formal setting.

But Schmeichel said before the game, "I must teach Wright a lesson!" Of course, the captains of the two teams also showed a lot of murderousness and sparks in the verbal confrontation.

Cantona said, "I never thought those guys at Arsenal were good guys. The brutes who only know how to fly shovels start learning embroidery?"

And Adams said, "Manchester United play rough, domineering football, but they have never been able to play wild at Highbury!"

At the time of the game, the conflict between Ian Wright and Schmeichel quickly intensified. At the beginning of the game, Wright made a vicious double-footed shovel unnecessarily!

Wright himself was not sent off for it, and he even escaped a yellow card.

The hot-tempered Schmeichel was of course furious, and even after the game, he still insisted on asking Wright for a theory, blocking the player channel and waiting for Wright to appear, and finally the conflict broke out.

And when the two sides almost joined forces, it was the Manchester United players who pushed Schmeichel away in time to avoid the bloodshed in the channel.

Except for the provocation by Wright's vicious shovel, Schmeichel completely knocked down Wright and his teammates in the game: first, shortly after the opening of the first half, Arsenal launched a fast break in the midfield, and Wright turned offside and successfully entered the penalty area.

However, Schmeichel was calm and calm, strode out to block, and accurately judged the direction and route of the ball at the moment Wright took a shot, and threw himself sideways to block the ball.

After resisting the first wave of artillery fire from Arsenal, Manchester United launched an attack. Also on this side, Gary Neville's long pass added a fierce spin. Cole accelerated to plug in, feinted away the defender who was eager to pounce on the interception but judged the ball's placement and line.

Soon, Manchester United's midfielder intercepted the ball and launched a counterattack. The two fastest wingers in the Manchester United formation attacked on the right at the same time. First, Giggs made a fast pass to Poborski. Ya, that area is almost undefended.

Solskjaer dribbled the ball into the penalty area with ease, and after getting rid of all the defensive pressure, he shot a low and flat ball in the penalty area and hit the ball accurately into the far corner of the goal.

At this time, less than 30 minutes into the game, Manchester United had already won a two-goal advantage!
Arsenal launched multiple attacks after conceding two goals in a row, while Manchester United firmly locked the defense in the midfield area. The midfield led by Jost firmly blocked the gap around the arc of the penalty area in the dialogue with the opponent.

The arsenal, which was unable to infiltrate the middle, then developed their offensive to the side. They also played a lot of threatening offenses with a tacit organization. In the second half, they even tried a hard shot to hit the crossbar!
Not only that, Wright also scored a goal, but was signaled offside by the linesman.

In the end, Arsenal’s offense still opened up a gap on the right. Bergkamp was close to the dead corner at the bottom corner of the small penalty area. Facing the almost close-fitting defense of the Manchester United defender, he still shot a wonderful shot from a small angle and broke Schmeichel’s ten fingers.

After Arsenal pulled back a goal, the offensive became more violent.At the last moment near the end, Arsenal even besieged Manchester United's gate. The fierce offensive made Manchester United's goal jittery.

But Manchester United relied on tenacious will and close teamwork to keep the defense tight.In the end, Manchester United defeated a strong competitor 2-1 away and continued to lead the standings.

It is worth mentioning that Manchester United's new striker combination shined brilliantly. The two scored a wonderful goal each, which set the tone for the team's victory early and also got a lot of shooting opportunities throughout the game. They posed an extremely huge threat to Arsenal's defense.

In the end, their excellent performance also made the Independent exclaim, "Who needs Cantona? Who still thinks of Cantona?"

In fact, Ferguson was very angry at these arguments.Of course, it is a good thing that the new striker combination is brilliant, but Cantona is the real soul of Manchester United's attack.Of course Manchester United needs Cantona, Manchester United will always need Cantona.

Probably the only thing Manchester United don't need is much ado about nothing and meddling from journalists.In addition, Ferguson just chuckled and refused to answer questions raised by the reporters whether Wenger had threatened Ferguson enough and would become a competitor of the same level.

If you don’t have elegance, you will give people a good impression. If you don’t have art, you will win the game. If you don’t be elegant, you can win the championship. Just look at today’s Premier League, or Ferguson’s Manchester United!

(End of this chapter)