Sir Alex Ferguson’s 1999 Manchester United Treble Winners Tactics Explained. In 1998/1999, Manchester United became the first English team to win a continental treble - and they remain the only team to have achieved this feat. How did they do it?
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The treble in 1998/1999 probably remains Sir Alex Ferguson’s greatest achievement as Manchester United manager. The Scottish genius crafted a team that was technically sublime and worked incredibly hard. Lead by the famous class of 92 - the likes of David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville - Ferguson’s treble winners set-up in a 4-4-2 that would often look more like a 4-4-1-1 and revert to a compact 4-4-2 out of possession. United were aggressive in all areas of the pitch, constantly looking to win possession.
In attack, United’s shape would transition to either a 3-4-3 or a 3-3-4 depending on the flank they were attacking down. Their main method of chance creation came from wing-play and David Beckham - deployed by Ferguson as a wide-playmaker - was key to this. Manchester United’s depth of forwards and therefore ability to either play to feet or aerially was also really important.
In terms of personnel, Peter Schmeichel’s aggressive distribution out to Man Utd’s full-backs - usually Dennis Irwin and Gary Neville - was a defining tactical feature of Manchester United’s treble winners. The full backs were not only key in starting attacks but also their positioning affected the attacking shape and thus were important in retaining balance. In terms of central defence, United’s go-to pairing was Jaap Stam and Ronny Johnson. The two formed a classic stopper cover partnership, with Stam as the stopper and Johnson on the cover. Stam was the perfect stopper, he was tactically intelligent which meant he wouldn’t go careering after the ball but instead would identify the danger and move to deal with it whilst Johnson would support and look to either clean up after Stam or intercept.
Another defining feature of Man Utd’s 1998/1999 team was the way Ferguson used his wide talent. On the right, David Beckham was deployed as a wide-playmaker - often looking to drift inwards and deliver one of those trademark whipped crosses , whilst Gary Neville keeps himself available on the overlap. On the opposite flank, Ryan Giggs was much more of a traditional winger who’d look to beat his man with pace and trickery. Centrally, Roy Keane was arguably the best ball-winning midfielder in world football at the time and Paul Scholes remains England’s greatest ever central midfielder.
Manchester United had an embarrassment of riches in terms of strikers in 1998/1999 , Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke were very much the first choice strikers - but famously Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer were reliable options off the bench.
Arguably what was most impressive about Manchester United’s treble win so impressive was the quality of opposition that they were up against. Domestically, they had to compete with a historic Arsenal side that was lead by the great Arsene Wenger and featured world class talent like Patrick Vieira and Dennis Bergkamp - and still came out on top in both the Premier League and of course that famous FA Cup run. In the European Cup, Man Utd had to overcome Bayern Munich on two separate occasions and beat Barcelona.
Was the 1999 side Sir Alex Ferguson’s greatest at Manchester United?
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