Oliver Kay of the Times wrote a piece today that talks of the way Manchester United's run to glory this season looks to mirror the dramatic fashion that Sir Matt Busby's Manchester United teams had years ago.
Every successful title campaign has a defining moment. Think back to Arsenal’s Premier League triumph in 1998 and it was crowned by the sight of Tony Adams marauding forward to score a goal against Everton that typified their enlightenment under Arsène Wenger.
Go back another five years and it was Steve Bruce’s stoppage-time header for Manchester United against Sheffield Wednesday at Old Trafford. Rewind another five years to Liverpool’s class of 1988 and it came with a goal against Arsenal that had it all: a shimmying run from John Barnes, a lost cause chased by Steve McMahon and a six-yard tap-in from John Aldridge.
When the apparent formalities are completed, a single moment will emerge as the one that defined United’s eighteenth league title. It came on an April afternoon on which a patched-up defence had been torn to shreds by Aston Villa at Old Trafford, when Sir Alex Ferguson’s team, exhausted, seemed to be hemmed in against the ropes, drifting towards a third consecutive league defeat until Cristiano Ronaldo equalised and then finally, dramatically, Federico Macheda, a 17-year-old Italian making his debut as a substitute, sparked delirium with a spectacular winning goal deep in stoppage time.
It was a goal that said much about United under Ferguson and, long before that, under Sir Matt Busby: a tendency to do things the hard way, a willingness to give youth its head and, above all, a commitment to attacking football that would often overwhelm opponents in the final moments of matches.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/manchester_united/article6290151.ece
Every successful title campaign has a defining moment. Think back to Arsenal’s Premier League triumph in 1998 and it was crowned by the sight of Tony Adams marauding forward to score a goal against Everton that typified their enlightenment under Arsène Wenger.
Go back another five years and it was Steve Bruce’s stoppage-time header for Manchester United against Sheffield Wednesday at Old Trafford. Rewind another five years to Liverpool’s class of 1988 and it came with a goal against Arsenal that had it all: a shimmying run from John Barnes, a lost cause chased by Steve McMahon and a six-yard tap-in from John Aldridge.
When the apparent formalities are completed, a single moment will emerge as the one that defined United’s eighteenth league title. It came on an April afternoon on which a patched-up defence had been torn to shreds by Aston Villa at Old Trafford, when Sir Alex Ferguson’s team, exhausted, seemed to be hemmed in against the ropes, drifting towards a third consecutive league defeat until Cristiano Ronaldo equalised and then finally, dramatically, Federico Macheda, a 17-year-old Italian making his debut as a substitute, sparked delirium with a spectacular winning goal deep in stoppage time.
It was a goal that said much about United under Ferguson and, long before that, under Sir Matt Busby: a tendency to do things the hard way, a willingness to give youth its head and, above all, a commitment to attacking football that would often overwhelm opponents in the final moments of matches.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/manchester_united/article6290151.ece
No comments:
Post a Comment