Manchester United legend

Chapter 184 Cornerstone
This season, Manchester United has gained the reputation of radiating fans all over the world under the operation of the English media that is best at hype and packaging.

Fans talked about "Danish National Treasure" Schmeichel, "Black Wind Shuangsha" Cole + Yorke, "Super Tough Guy" Jost, "Glamorous" Beckham, "Left Magic Wing" Giggs, "Baby Face Killer" Solskjaer and "Bald Hero" Stam...Full of passion, Manchester United has become infinitely charming and radiant, and the influence of the team has rapidly expanded to the whole world.

The ups and downs of the schedule, unexpected results, infinitely wonderful offenses, incomparably miraculous reversals, crazy and bloody battles, and the spirit of never giving up... Manchester United's games have become repeated programs on TV media, and the wonderful performances of the Red Devils have been respected and loved by fans.

The "God-making Movement" was a success!The English media's packaging of Manchester United has reached its peak. After the summer of 1999, Manchester United has become an extremely commercially successful brand. The "Red Dynasty" began to rule the Premier League, and the team's influence has reached unprecedented levels.

Which players under Ferguson's command formed such a mighty team?What's different about those Red Devils who made great contributions back then?How did they build Manchester United's great reputation?

Let's start with the defense first.Many fans will be attracted by Manchester United's forwards and midfielders, and do not pay attention to Manchester United's defense.Has Manchester United's defense really built an iron wall?Is it the strongest line of defense in Europe?

Actually not, but this defensive line has contributed to the team on both ends of the offense and defense, and is one of the cornerstones of Manchester United's treble.Looking at defensive statistics alone, Manchester United's defense is far from being the best in Europe. Manchester United conceded 38 goals in 37 games in the entire league, far more than the 26 goals conceded last season.

Such data is not worth mentioning when Arsenal have conceded less than 38 goals in 20 games.Looking at continental Europe, Bayern Munich and Juventus are also better than Manchester United.

Even compared with the previous generation of Manchester United's Bruce + Pallister central defender combination with Irwin and Parker, Manchester United's lack of security may be related to the age of the main players. Both Schmeichel and Irvine are about to leave the team at an advanced age. Johnson and David May are not young. Only Gary Neville and Brown are young.

Not only that, Manchester United played far more games in this line of defense than other teams. They played a total of 64 official games throughout the season-if you compare the number of games alone, Manchester United played far more games in the 98-99 season than later.

Combined with the fact that Ferguson has been rotating the defense this season and has been fighting on three fronts, we can know that the performance of the defense is already good-Manchester United lost a total of 3 league games, 1 League Cup game and 1 Charity Shield game in the entire season.
Therefore, judging from the final results, Manchester United's defensive line is tough and aggressive, and it did not hold back Manchester United.

This season, Manchester United's main goalkeeper is still Schmeichel, and van der Gut is an important substitute.

Schmeichel did not renew his contract with Manchester United before the start of the season and announced his departure at the end of the season in November. Therefore, this season is his last year for Manchester United.

Out of the idea of ​​being the last post for Manchester United, and hoping to end his Red Devils career with championship glory, Schmeichel, a Danish veteran in his 30s, contributed all his efforts throughout the season.

Although Schmeichel hoped to be the captain of Manchester United at the beginning of the season, he had conflicts with Jost. He performed poorly in the Charity Shield game, causing the team to be defeated by Arsenal with 3 goals. In the league, he was defeated by Arsenal 3-0 again. However, in the middle of the season, he also made various colanders and low-level mistakes, and his reaction became slower than before. As good as it gets.

But judging from the entire season of the game, except for the occasional absence, Schmeichel still played well in many games, and there were many saves like a god possessed, helping Manchester United to turn the tide and come back to life.

Especially in key games, Schmeichel's performance was more stable, and he staged many single-handed saves against strikers.

Except for the two defeats against Arsenal at the beginning of the season, he has made no mistakes in almost all strong dialogues, and has repeatedly singled out the savior in times of crisis to save Manchester United in dire straits.

Fans will definitely remember Shearer's tricky shot against Newcastle, Bergkamp's penalty against Arsenal in the FA Cup, Davis' shot against Juventus, Owen's single-handed goal against Liverpool... Schmeichel guarded Manchester United's city like a god, shutting out the attacks launched by their killer skills!

Even though Basler scored the first goal in the Champions League final, Schmeichel did not make a mistake in the whole game. He sat in front of Manchester United and with the help of the goal frame, he tried his best to keep the Red Devils from conceding a goal, laying the conditions for the final reversal.

Not only is he excellent in goalkeeping, stable in gatekeeping, and able to coordinate and command the entire defense line, Schmeichel also has a keen vision and strong skills in commanding and launching offenses when transitioning from defense to offense.
Based on his performance throughout the season, Schmeichel is still the best goalkeeper in Europe.The Triple Crown honor he finally won has also become the best memory in his career!

Substitute goalkeeper Van der Gou has been performing steadily this season and has become a qualified member of Manchester United's chariot.

Manchester United's main central defender position is Stam and Johnson.Stam joined Manchester United at the cost of the most expensive defender in Europe, and he integrated into the Manchester United team with almost no transition, perfectly filling the vacancy left by Pallister.

Stam has performed well this season and is extremely brave and tough in the central defender position. He is the unshakable mainstay of Manchester United's defense.

Stam has a stout body and full tonnage. He also has a devilish face and a big shiny bald head. He stands out among the defenders in the Premier League and can completely hold the scene.

Not only that, Stam played stably, possessed strong immediate combat power, and was almost seamlessly connected with Manchester United's defense line. His strong momentum could control the audience, and he acted calmly at critical moments. He was often able to turn the tide and help Manchester United stabilize the final defense line.

It can be said that Stam was Ferguson's biggest effort in transforming the defense. The Dutch fully deserved the praise of Europe's No. [-] central defender and played very well throughout the season.

Bull-like body, excellent aerial ability, fierce confrontation and collision, accurate and timely positioning, calm and appropriate frontal interception, smart line judgment, strong physical fitness, these are the best qualities of a powerful central defender, almost perfectly brought together in Stam.

Stam became one of the biggest contributors to Manchester United's triple crown!Another central defender, Johnson, is relatively weaker in strength, but the Norwegian has a good sense of position, is serious and responsible in playing football, and concentrates. He will generally do his own defense conscientiously. Unlike Stam, who will get a yellow card for rough confrontation, he will not take it for granted. Occasionally make some inexplicable low-level mistakes. His stable performance is actually very important.

Although this pair is unequal in strength, they can complement each other very well, and there have been no major problems throughout the season.

Brown has also begun to gradually play more games this season, often rotating with Johansen at center back.Brown's brilliant performance has become the biggest gain in Manchester United's central defender position.

The other two role players, Borg and David May, have not played many games this season, not even as many as Brown.

On the one hand, the two players are indeed not super strong in terms of ability, that is, at the top level of the Premier League, it is really difficult to resist against a super strong team, and it is also difficult to support Manchester United's defense.

Whether it's awareness, physical fitness, or confrontation, they haven't reached the peak enough to be able to stand on their own.However, they are all hot-blooded red devils, and they all played a huge role under Ferguson's rotation system.

In the games Ferguson arranged for them to play, they also did their best, fought hard according to Ferguson's tactical arrangements, and conscientiously completed the defensive task, becoming an indispensable patchwork of the Red Devils.

Manchester United's two full-backs are Irwin and Gary Neville.Although the veteran left back Erwin is getting old, his speed has become his biggest shortcoming, his confrontation ability has deteriorated a lot, and his assist ability has also dropped to a very low level, but he can change his playing style according to his own situation, concentrate on defense, and generally fight and retreat against opponents' side attacks.

Not only that, but this season he also reduced his offense and focused on defense, helping Manchester United consolidate the defense on the left wing.The most reassuring thing about Irwin is that he has a lot of experience, defensive awareness, positional sense, blocking and defense, and he is worthy of the trust of Manchester United fans.In addition, although Erwin is old this season, he still has a lot of blood. He bravely showed his sword when it was time to fight the bayonet, and he played red against Liverpool.

To sum up this season, Irwin is still the main force of Manchester United, and he has also made great contributions to Manchester United's triple crown.

The right back is Gary Neville, who can already play his own role. The young Neville is fast, physically strong, and full of energy. He is also brave and tough in confrontation and fighting, and can even be described as iron-blooded.The young Gary is not afraid of injury, he puts up a shovel like a lumberjack, and any fast horse is just a cloud in his eyes, and there are almost no wingers who will not be brought down by him.

In addition to being strong defensively, Gary has good foot skills, has an arc crossing technique that is not lost to offensive players, and has a tacit understanding with Beckham since he was a child.

It can be seen that Gary has more impact and offensive ability than Irwin on the left, and has a lot more assists.Although sometimes it is easy to score an own goal due to rushing too hard, and it is easy to be penalized by the opponent, but Neville is worthy of Manchester United's main seat throughout the season.

The main substitutes for the two flanks at the time were Philip Neville and Brown.Philip is a very hardworking player. Although he doesn't have many opportunities to play, he is strong enough to ensure that Manchester United's defense does not make major mistakes.

An experienced goalkeeper plus three core players of the defense line, and then use 5 players to rotate and match. The defense line is mainly based on the defense line, and the defense is brave and fearless. The area defense and man-to-man defense are combined.

When switching from defense to offense, focus on quick counterattacks, strengthen the offensiveness of Gary Neville's side, and deliver shells to midfielders and forwards.

Ferguson's philosophy of bold rotations and solid defense has paid off best for a season.

The players in Manchester United's defense also got the best results through their own struggle and hard work.

(End of this chapter)