Chapter 57: Suffering: Practice until You Doubt Life
"No one in any job can succeed casually, and if you want to make progress, if you want to achieve good results, you have to practice hard and put in a thousand times more effort, especially competitive sports."
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Throughout the pre-season preparations, United's Cliff base was in full swing.
At the base, which received little attention from the outside world, Ferguson asked the security guards to drive all the media out of the training ground.
United's players were sweating profusely, practicing desperately amid loud shouts from Ferguson and the assistant coaches.
Ferguson, with an iron-faced selflessness, said, "Everyone had better put aside those ideas of leisure and entertainment, and your task at this time is to practice hard." I only look at your quality and attitude, and if you do not meet my requirements, you will not have a good life. ”
As a result, the league preparation period of Manchester United players was unforgettable by Ferguson, and the players sweated all day long in order to complete the previous high-intensity training tasks. The players wanted good results, but Ferguson's demands were too daunting and left them frustrated.
The training was too hard, and that's the voice of every first-team player. McGrath openly objected, "Training is so dull and boring that it makes people doubt life." ”
Ferguson: "Objections are invalid. ”
"There are no strong reinforcements to join in the summer, and Ferguson's countermeasure is to practice hard." The words of the reporters and the ball critics had a hint of teasing in them. Manchester United did not have a blockbuster star to join, and Ferguson's meaning of leading the team to practice hard is self-evident. Ferguson deeply appreciates the unusualness of the English league, and the repeated encounters in the transfer window have made him secretly vigilant.
Of course, Ferguson is still a bit wild. Enhance the combat effectiveness of the whole team and improve the results of the new season. Only through internal mining potential, quickly improve strength. In such a preparatory period, it is better to do more than to do nothing.
For Manchester United players, it's not just about doing something more. Ferguson's training program and schedule are too torturous, too guilty, and it feels like they are going to collapse.
He did not simply ask the players to carry out physical reserves, strength training, and endurance training, not to let the players choose their own training content, but to develop a complete set of training plans for the team.
The players' previous good days have long since become fantasies. In Ferguson's training plan, the time, content, and intensity were several times that of the previous one. Ferguson was stationed at the base throughout the preparation period, getting up early every day and arriving at the training ground early, waiting for the players to arrive late.
Under the scrutiny of the tiger, all the members of Manchester United began the more than two-month journey of suffering. No player has the privilege, no reason to be lazy, sick because it's not an excuse, and lying will make Ferguson hate.
The long runway at Cliff's base is often crowded with players who were sent to the circle by Ferguson. 5 laps at a time, after running to continue to practice, this intensity of training makes the players feel that the end is coming. Ferguson and the assistant coaches also came up with an endless variety of training subjects, and the tricks were constantly renovated, making the players shout and eat.
At the end of each day's training session, the exhausted players didn't even bother to go to the bar for a drink, and all that remained on the grass was a lot of grief.
"I'm going to train tomorrow, so let's go to bed early."
"Tired of being like this, sleeping is the greatest enjoyment!"
"I don't have the strength to sneak out for a drink anymore, and it's even worse if I don't come back."
The real voice of the players made the reporters feel very strange.
United's players could only bear Ferguson's discipline in silence, and the pub owners around the base cried without tears. Looking at the almost empty storefront for two months, thinking about the pomp and circumstance that once Manchester United players packed the night court with fans, they may even have the heart to kill Ferguson.
Robson said: "The hard training made us feel like Cliff was hell. However, everyone is tossing and turning together, and shouting bitterness has no effect, only slowly adapting. "One
Strakan was resistant to such exercises, and the old fritters in the dressing room were initially unable to work. But Ferguson said, "I don't care about your mentality, we have strict standards." Training must be done with all efforts, and each item must be achieved. Everyone's project is different, and the rating also includes mental state. I only look at your state and the ability to manifest. Meet my criteria to be on the roster, the second tier is on the bench, and the rest goes to the reserves. ”
Seeing that a big guy like Robson was thrown into the reserve team by Ferguson, everyone was horrified and had to cheer up.
Those players are lucky to some extent, they played under Ferguson, the few who have been personally guided by the manager himself, and the few who have been given the opportunity to compete with the manager, to see the lucky ones who Ferguson directs training while participating in the confrontation, but unfortunately, at that time, they only have pain and complaints in their hearts.
After entering the 90s, Ferguson set up a large team of coaches, technical training, physical training, squad confrontation, tactical drills, etc. completely let go, no longer interfering in the work of full-time coaches. Since the development of modern football, it is not necessarily a good thing for the manager to personally coach various sub-sports training, but it was very common in that era.
Influenced by Ferguson, the "player coaches" of the "Mann Connection" later followed almost Ferguson's experience. Robson coached a number of premier league teams after leaving Manchester United, and the training method was basically copied from Ferguson.com. Although Strakan was initially resistant, he was also deeply influenced by Ferguson when he coached.
Strakan said, "Ferguson personally led us to training, which is one of the most valuable experiences I have had in leading the team in the future. I learned how to train a team to achieve a better standard, how to tap the potential of players from the details, how to analyze the weaknesses of the team and make up for them, how to strictly manage the stars... These are all things that I have benefited for the rest of my life. ”
Even today's Solskjaer in charge of Manchester United, Ryan Giggs in charge of Wales, and Scholes in charge of Faulham, all have the shadow of Ferguson's doing this kind of thing. These Ferguson coaches are very good in their player period, and they often hope to use personal demonstration to guide and improve the strength of the team when coaching.
Many times such attempts are not necessarily successful, and the reality has become more complicated. The football system is becoming more and more large, and when various technologies and equipment are constantly used in football training and competitions, and when the division of labor among football coaches becomes more and more detailed, it is difficult for managers to have time to intervene in specific training. They study more advanced playing styles, study the most suitable tactics for the team, study how to clamp down on opponents, study the introduction of new signings or promote youth training... Ferguson's successful experience can only be learned, and it is difficult to fully replicate success.
Even Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who is the most acclaimed, considered the most brain-wielding and intelligent, has now faced new challenges in charge of Manchester United. He also faced a difficult situation and could not completely copy Ferguson's training model.
Back to that era. With Ferguson's discipline, United gradually gave birth to something new.
There are some new signs of the tactical system and playing requirements that Ferguson has created for Manchester United. After the players were brutalized, they were tired and broken, but they were strictly tempered during the preparation period, and their bodies, muscles and endurance were strengthened, and the team as a whole had a new look. Looking up, the sweaty players showed a different look, and every player who passed through the "Ferguson Purgatory" had some kind of signs of blood boiling and strong war spirit.
Even a player like McGrath, who likes to drink and play without mistakes, trains extremely hard during the preparation period. Under the crazy training, the fitness, physical fitness, speed and endurance of the entire Manchester United team have been improved.
Ferguson has always asked for the idea of multi-game teams to cooperate with football and really start to show up in the team.
Ferguson has been practicing for a summer, which is to initially determine the main squad of Manchester United this season. The traditional 442 stand is this: goalkeeper Turner, four defenders from right to left vivi Anderson, Moore (Bruce joined after mid-season and immediately became the team's core centre-back), McGrath, Gibson, four forwards from right to left are Strakan, Brian Robson, Duxberg, Olsen, two forwards are Davenport and McLear, and Whiteside is the forward's bench.
Such a lineup still has many weaknesses for Ferguson. The first is the lack of strength of the defenders, and the entire defense line does not reassure Ferguson. In the summer, Sevibeck bought Anderson, Ferguson originally planned to replace the attacking strong and weak with a strengthened defense, using Anderson's experience and sense of supplementary defense to stabilize the defense line, but in actual combat, Manchester United's entire defense line was clumsy left and right, Anderson did not run enough, and it was difficult to meet Ferguson's requirements. Defensive problems lead to the whole body, full-backs are weak, need central defenders and more complements, and Manchester United centre-back McGrath in his heyday is no problem, but Moore's ability is enough. Manchester United centre-backs are often unable to protect themselves in the face of pressure, and they take the initiative to supplement the full-backs or plug the loopholes in the defensive line in time.
Relative to the problem of defense, Manchester United's two full-backs are relatively weak in attack, affecting the intensity of the team's firepower after overpowering the midfield, Manchester United lack of full-backs to participate in the attack, the attack becomes insufficient, the attack is difficult to maintain for a long time, let alone continue to exert pressure, until the opponent is crushed.
Not only that, but United defenders lack bench thickness in all positions. Once the main player is seriously injured, the level of the whole team will drop sharply.
Ferguson has no way to solve the problem of "drunkard" McGrath for the time being. Even if the big black man does not obey discipline, his form and strength are indispensable in the Manchester United squad. In particular, Manchester United's four defenders, Rivivi Anderson, are not able to fight, Moore is slightly weaker, Gibson is also not enough to support the entire left side, without McGrath, the defense is not a hidden danger, but a direct collapse.
Manchester United's star-studded midfielders are one of Ferguson's biggest draws. But apart from Robson and Strakan, United's other two midfielders are not super strong. Duxberg's offensive and defensive capabilities are slightly insufficient, Olsen is obviously strong and weak, and these two players are still manchester United's shortcomings.
From the perspective of Manchester United's strongest team, turner, McGrath, Robson, McLear's central axis, Manchester United has a fight against any big club in England, and it will not be too inferior to a super team. In particular, the addition of the Scottish Golden Boot has brought More Offensive Firepower and more offensive means to Manchester United.
The intense training time flew by and the season was about to start soon.
At the end of the season, some Manchester United players recalled this wave of hard work before the season and felt inspired.