United opened the 1998–99 season with a 3–0 loss to Arsenal in the 1998 FA Charity Shield.[86] The beating did not concern Ferguson, though he described his team's defeat by Arsenal in September 1998 as "a lot less tolerable." In December 1998, Kidd left his role as assistant to become the manager of Blackburn Rovers. Ferguson instructed Eric Harrison and Les Kershaw to find suitable replacements, "in terms of coaching ability and work ethic." Both recommended Steve McClaren, the assistant to Jim White at Derby County. McClaren was Ferguson's initial choice and appointed him in February 1999. His first game as assistant was United's 8–1 victory over Nottingham Forest.[87]
Ferguson felt United's bid to regain the Premier League began indifferently because of their commitments to other competitions. He was willing to "pay for the progress" made in the Champions League; the team finished second in their Champions League "group of death", behind Bayern Munich and ahead of Barcelona. United's win against Liverpool in the FA Cup fourth round was a portent for the remainder of the season. A goal down after three minutes, the team equalised only until the 86th minute and scored the winning goal through Solskjær in stoppage time.[88] On reflection, Ferguson said it was "a demonstration of the morale that was to be every bit as vital as rich skill in the five months that lay ahead of United."[89]
In the final weeks of the league season, Arsenal emerged as a creditable challenger to United. Both clubs were also paired together in the semi-final of the FA Cup, decided by a replay as the original game finished goalless. Keane was sent off in the second half and United conceded a penalty late into the match with the score 1–1. Dennis Bergkamp's effort was saved by Schmeichel.[90] Ferguson hoped his team "could at least take it to a penalty shoot-out," but instead the match was settled in extra time: Giggs ran the length of the pitch and evaded several Arsenal players to score the winning goal.[89] United went on to beat Newcastle United in the 1999 FA Cup Final and completed the double – a week earlier the team defeated Tottenham Hotspur to regain the Premier League.[89]
United's progression in the Champions League was promising compared to previous seasons. The team eliminated Inter Milan at the quarter-final stage and faced Juventus in the last four of the competition. A late goal scored by Giggs in the first leg earned the team a 1–1 draw, but in spite of conceding an away goal, Ferguson was adamant of United's chances of reaching the final: "... something tells me we are going to win. The nature of our club is that we torture ourselves so much that the only way to get relief is by winning over there."[91] At the Stadio delle Alpi, striker Filippo Inzaghi scored twice to put Juventus 3–1 up on aggregate.[92] Keane headed in a Beckham cross to halve the deficit, but was later shown a yellow card for a foul on Edgar Davids, which prevented him from playing in the final.[92] Yorke equalised, before Cole added a third to win the match outright.[92] Keane's performance merited praise from Ferguson:
No comments:
Post a Comment