Opinion Under him,they always scored
Can Manchester United score? They always score.
Can Manchester United score? They always score.
Replaying videos of Manchester Uniteds injury-time comeback to beat Bayern Munich 2-1 in the 1999 Champions League final,its these words,uttered by commentator Clive Tyldesley as David Beckham lines up a corner kick with United 1-0 down and the clock showing 90 minutes and 26 seconds,that leap out at this semi-columnist.
They always score. The events that followed may have invested those words with extra significance,but even at the time,it sounded as if Tyldesley were stating a fact. United,after all,had reached the final after coming back from 3-1 down (on aggregate) against Juventus in the semis. In the fourth round of the FA Cup (which they also went on to win),they had overturned a 1-0 deficit against Liverpool with goals in the 88th minute and in injury time.
And this,of course,has been the defining feature of all the Manchester United teams nurtured by Sir Alex Ferguson. The pivotal moment in 1992-93,his very first title-winning season,was Steve Bruces injury-time header against Sheffield Wednesday. Twenty years later,in Fergusons last season in charge,his team clinched five league victories with goals in the last 10 minutes or in injury time. In between,they made countless memorable comebacks,often sealed with impossibly late goals.
Its hard to pinpoint how Ferguson influenced these results. Rarely did he make any obvious tactical changes or bark orders from the touchline. Mostly,he either chewed gum furiously in the dugout or prowled the technical area,pointing at his watch and glaring at the fourth official.
No,Fergusons influence reached deeper than merely the match in question. It reached right into the minds of his players,who either came to the club with a Fergusonian winning mentality or had it drilled into them after they arrived,and displayed itself in the football they played; urgent,positive,relentless. Attacking players defended from the front; defenders poured forward to add numbers in attack; everyone worked together.
A handful of coaches,such as Miguel Munoz and Bob Paisley,achieved a greater strike-rate of trophies than Ferguson,especially in Europe.The likes of Helenio Herrera and Rinus Michels left a greater tactical impact. But when it came to the intangibles that could meld eleven players into one team and convert defeat into victory,Ferguson stood alone.
(Karthik is a principal correspondent based in Delhi)
karthik.krishnaswamy@expressindia.com
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