Manchester United legend

Chapter 87

The decline of Newcastle before the game actually began to appear after the New Year, but the signs were not so obvious at the beginning.

And Manchester United's pursuit also began to accelerate after the New Year, but it was only after catching up with the encounter between the two teams that everyone realized that the morale and state of the two teams had already been turned upside down.

Of course Newcastle United still looked out of reach in the New Year.And Manchester United, which has been chasing points since January, in order to win, apart from continuing to be strong on the field, Ferguson is doing everything he can.Ferguson played a big psychological game against Newcastle.

Psychological warfare?It must have been Ferguson's ferocious firepower off the pitch.Ferguson is certainly a master at anything that undercuts an opponent.

Poor Keegan was impulsive, irritable, lost his cool, overwhelmed, without self-control, and looked like a clown in front of Ferguson.

Ferguson's psychological warfare against Newcastle United was launched on three levels. On a larger scale, Ferguson's psychological warfare was in full bloom.

The league, newspapers, TV and media, various fan associations, coach associations... are all his weapons.There is only one goal, and that is to hinder Newcastle's smooth grabbing points, so that Manchester United can try their best to catch up.

The day of the decisive battle has finally come.

The first league game in March is Manchester United's away game against Newcastle United.

The match is on March 3 at Newcastle United's St James' Park.

This game became one of the most crucial games of Manchester United's season.

Whether Manchester United can gain enough initiative, and whether there is any hope of catching up to 10 points in the last 7 rounds (Newcastle leads by 4 points, but has yet to play 1 game, so the 3 points of that game should also be counted), depends on whether Ferguson and the Red Devils can beat their opponents at home!

There was no Pallister in Ferguson's team before the game, which is almost the biggest hidden danger for Manchester United-everyone knows that Newcastle is known for its ferocious firepower this season.

What is even more surprising is that Ferguson actually made major adjustments to the defense!Irvine played on the right, Bruce and Gary Neville partnered at centre-back, Philip Neville played on the left!The main substitute, David May, was actually put on the bench by Ferguson-for this reason, he even changed three positions in the back line.

Of course, the candidates in the frontcourt are not more frightened. Young people like Beckham and Scholes are still used by Ferguson as an ambush instead of directly starting.

At the beginning of the game, the two sides quickly started fighting with real knives and guns. Although Manchester United hoped to give it a go here, Manchester United still seemed very passive at the beginning, or in other words, they were very passive and embarrassed throughout the first half.

Cole had to go back to his backline to help defend, Cantona dribbled and was intercepted in his own backcourt, Joost himself passed the ball out of the sideline when he was tangling with the opponent in the midfield-these almost never happened one after another.

Jost was under a lot of pressure in the first half. Keegan's plan for Newcastle United's high-post press was once very successful. Newcastle also implemented this tactical play throughout the season, running wildly high-post press.Newcastle is a team that executes tactics very thoroughly.

But Ferguson knew that such a tactic required the player's abundant physical strength as a basis. Ferguson did not believe that Newcastle's players could run like this for a whole game, and Newcastle had been running for almost a season, so they should be tired.

Ferguson believes that as long as his team can survive the first half, Newcastle's physical fitness will decline in the second half, and then Manchester United will dominate.

Although Manchester United's lineup is already very sharp, with excellent player skills, speed and team awareness, they are still in a hurry in Newcastle's frontcourt siege, and the formation almost collapses.

Newcastle's players launched a tidal wave of attacks and siege amidst the crazy cheers of the home fans.

Manchester United's three lines have been smashed to pieces, and they may be torn apart at any time.

There are two reasons for this situation. One is the loss of Manchester United's central and frontcourt players, which caused the midfielder to lose power, which is the core reason for the very passive situation.

Even with Jost + Bart's "double midfielders" equipped with strong interception and confrontation capabilities, even if Manchester United's midfielders have Lee Sharpe and Ryan Giggs, who have both skills and speed, even if Cantona often returns to the midfield and even the backcourt to get the ball, helping the midfield to increase the ball, sorting out the running and response of the midfield teammates, Manchester United's midfield is still at a disadvantage under the siege of the opponent.

Newcastle's idea is very simple: the premise of the front line, restrict Cantona, siege Cantona, and personally harass other midfielders.This made Manchester United's offense impossible to organize at all, and they could only fight alone, relying on the players' personal abilities to attack.

This arrangement made Manchester United extremely uncomfortable. They were often snatched away by the opponent in a hurry after getting the ball with difficulty, and then counterattacked by the opponent on the spot.

Another reason is that Manchester United's defender combination in this game has huge problems in terms of position and coordination.

On a whim, Ferguson put Gary Neville and Bruce at centre-back, Philip Neville on the left, Irvine on the right, and David May on the bench.

Such a line of defense is extremely passive in the face of Beardsley, Ginola and the attack line of Asprilla and Ferdinand.

Newcastle saw Gary Neville's inexperience and clearly bullied him because of his thin body, so he launched a fierce attack on his defensive area. The area to the left of Manchester United's penalty area became the opponent's main attack direction.

So Jost had to come and help Gary Neville from time to time.Jost went to help Gary Neville, which made Newcastle's Bill Zili very active.

Poor Gary Neville was dizzy from the constant onslaught of his opponents, and suffered a lot as a temporary cameo at centre-back.

He was beaten by Ferdinand and Asprilla many times on this side. Asprilla's entanglement even made Gary Neville embarrassingly kicked empty in the penalty area without even touching the ball.

With a bit of luck for Newcastle United's striker, Ferdinand could kill the game by scoring two solo and semi solos in almost the same area.

Thanks to Schmeichel's help, he saved two shots that were almost impossible to block in succession; thanks to Bruce's desperate help to return to the defense, limiting the opponent's options for taking a calm shot.

But even though Bruce was so brave, he was played mercilessly by Ginola, and the whole defense was always crumbling.Seeing that Beardsley was very active, Ferguson had to ask Jost to ignore Gary Neville and focus on Beardsley.

Ginola was very active in this game, and Jost had no time to "take care" of him. He was fighting the old Jianghu Beards.Bart alone is no match for Ginola.

Jost brought down Ginola at the top of the penalty area when he was defending for Bart. Newcastle got a free kick in an excellent position. Jost thought Ginola was a flop, but the referee thought it was a foul by Jost.

Ginola's free kick in front of the penalty area flew towards Manchester United's goal like a missile. This free kick had already made Schmeichel raise his hands and surrender helplessly, but the ball hit the crossbar.Manchester United escaped.

Then Gary Neville kicked empty in the melee in the restricted area, and Ferdinand hit the plane 6 yards in front of the goal!
For a long time in the first half, Manchester United was a passive side, only occasionally able to send out a little counterattack.

Manchester United's attack line can only rely on Cantona's difficult control of the ball near the center circle, turning around, and then passing the ball forward to launch an attack. The threats from the two wings did not play at all. Giggs only had one pass from the bottom in the entire first half, and only one diagonally into the middle to get a shot opportunity but was also blocked. That is already a rare offensive for Manchester United.

Lee Sharp got in front of the penalty area once, but it was almost a single shot, and the combined number of shots from Cantona and Cole was a pitiful 1!
Manchester United withstood the first half with great difficulty. If it wasn't for bad luck, Newcastle United would have been able to lead 3-0 in the first half.

If you're lucky, Newcastle United can even beat Manchester United 5-0 in one half!

When Manchester United returned to the locker room, the first thing Ferguson did was spray Gary Neville: "Your performance today was a disaster."

Ferguson continued to yell at Gary, 'Asprilla beats you on the ground and beats you in the air.Ferdinand passed you without asking for instructions? !What the fuck is going on with you?If you continue to play like this in the second half, you will ruin our championship! '

After criticizing Gary Neville, Ferguson asked for a little bit during the break in the Super League. The midfielder played the ball quickly, but he couldn't blindly kick the ball.

He said, "Newcastle's pressing will be relaxed, everyone must be confident. They must be exhausted, and then it will be time for us to counterattack."

Ferguson didn't say anything else, and let the players who were still suffering like a pressure cooker relax a little bit

Fortunately, Newcastle United seemed to have a sudden problem in the second half. Their strength disappeared and their attack disappeared. "

The second half of the game started, and as expected by Ferguson, the fierce game in the first half exhausted the Newcastle players' physical energy prematurely, and they could no longer effectively block Manchester United's offense. Manchester United's offensive began to no longer rely on long balls to counterattack, but to hit the opponent's core area of ​​defense through layers of advancement.

Cantona was so powerful around the perimeter of the box that he came close to scoring for United on both passes, only to be wasted by Cole and Lee Sharpe.

And when Cole dribbled horizontally to the left at the top of the penalty area and got rid of two Newcastle players one after another, he split the ball in time. Philip Neville, who had been waiting on the left, made an overhead pass.

Although Newcastle tried their best to attack afterwards, their physical condition was indeed too poor, and they could no longer hold Manchester United to a half-court defense.

In addition to solid defense, Manchester United also found a lot of counterattack opportunities.

If Cole had been more powerful and hadn't wasted that one-shot, if Cantona had been more lucky, if Bart's sideways volley shot had been more accurate, if Philip Neville's shot from the back had been more accurate, and had hit the ball within the range of the goal frame, Manchester United would have killed the game long ago.

Ferguson also made special arrangements for Newcastle's two very creative midfielders. Jost was dedicated to marking Beardsley, while Butt was responsible for entanglement with Ginola.

This arrangement made it impossible for Newcastle's midfield penetration tactics to play, and the tactics of kicking off the penalty area on both sides and relying on the center to rush to the top were useless in front of Manchester United's tightly shrinking defense.

In this way, Manchester United won the game with difficulty.Objectively speaking, Newcastle performed better, and both teams only played well for one half, but Newcastle United's striker is indeed not as powerful as Cantona, and it is not surprising that they lost to Manchester United in the end.

Gary Neville said in an interview after the game, "We were very passive in the first half, but in the second half we took advantage of the favorable terrain on the slope.

Newcastle's stadium has a steep slope, the steepest in the league.

The first half we felt like we were stuck at the bottom of a mountain that weighed a lot, now we're at the top, it might sound weird but I feel like I've gotten taller
This second half made me feel that the spirit of Manchester United runs through the whole team.

United's victory was down to individual excellence - from Schmeichel to Bruce, who were fantastic that night, and Eric, who struck the winning goal from the ground - but also to the collective.It's unnamed but unmistakable: let's win this game.This is our moment. "

In fact, Schmeichel and Bruce were far less brilliant in the second half than in the first half. They did not receive more challenges. Only once when Schmeichel was kicked into the penalty area by the opponent, Schmeichel's effort to catch the ball back was worthy of applause.

Indeed, Manchester United did not play well in the first half, but Ferguson's tactical deployment was appropriate.

And Manchester United also seized the opportunity in the second half.After this game, the score gap between Manchester United and Newcastle became 1 point!
Another consequence of this crucial game is that the whole world understands that Newcastle's morale has been drained, and the possibility of winning the championship has been greatly reduced.

In this game involving a 6-point gap, they should have ended the first half 3-0. They should have easily taken the lead, comfortably killed their opponents, and ended the game.

But Newcastle's players just lack the ability to seal the victory.They are not good at distributing physical energy. They ran full of blood in the first half, but languished in the second half.

In addition, whether it is Keegan or the team, the adaptability is too far apart. If you fall behind, you will not be able to play, and you will lose your size.

Manchester United strictly implemented Ferguson's tactics on the basis of fighting their opponents desperately. Facing Newcastle's crazy offensive, they fought back well and took advantage of Newcastle's arrogance that they thought they could easily defeat the Red Devils.

The Red Devils are fighting to the death, they are absolutely conscientious on the field, so it is a gift from God to survive adversity.

In terms of winning itself, it means a lot.This game can be said to have determined the tone of the league since then, and even ultimately determined the ending of the season.

(End of this chapter)