From The Vault: The separation of Cole and Yorke
It’s the 21st of April 1999, the semi-finals of the Champions League and your torn between either watching Juventus against Manchester United, two of the best European teams at that moment in time. Or Dynamo Kyiv versus Bayern Munich, an upcoming Ukrainian side managed by the great Valeriy Lobanovskyi and a Bayern side seeking their 4th title after three consecutive titles in the 1970s.
Well, you had to choose cause this was the last season that both semi-finals were played at the same time. Fear nothing though, both were two mouthwatering ties.
The one we have on our plate is the one in Turin. That night in Turin. No, not that one when Paul Gascoigne got his 2nd yellow and England went out on penalties. It’s another night for a different English side.
The first leg at Old Trafford ended in a 1–1 draw as Ryan Giggs equalized in injury time. A scoreline that probably should have been a bigger one in favor of Juventus. To make things worse Manchester United hadn’t won on Italian soil before.
Juventus, managed by Carlo Ancelotti, started in a 4–4–1–1 shape with Angelo Di Livio and Antonie Conte out wide in theory to defend against United’s wing play. For United it was the regular 4–4–2 with Paul Scholes saved on the bench as a booking would see him miss the final — he eventually did.
Juventus’ left hand side of Gianluca Pessotto and Di Livio was flexible enough to see them both regularly interchanging positions while defending and attacking as a single unit. This caused David Beckham and Gary Neville problems early on. Problems that resulted in a brace for Filippo Inzaghi only 11 minutes in.
The tie now was in the Italians’ hands. Manchester United needed two away goals to make it through. Goals that usually came from Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke who topped Manchester United’s goal scoring charts that season with 24 and 29 goals respectively.
Rather than positioning themselves closer to each other to combine like they did in that goal against Barcelona in the group stage, the duo were trying to move away from each other to put the other striker in a 1 v 1 scenario against the Juve defence in a larger area of the field. Not only that, their movements to the channels presented them as a passing option against Juve’s defensive plan of neutralizing the wing area.
In the build up to the corner of the first goal there were two occasions that helped Manchester United in terms of ball progression. Yorke’s presence here provides Neville with an option behind Di Livio.
Then once the ball was moved to the other side Conte and Alessandro Birindelli were breathing down Denis Irwin and Jesper Blomqvist’s necks. Cole dropped to present himself as a progressive passing option.
Irwin found Cole and from this situation Cole got the corner through which Manchester United equalized from a Roy Keane header. This goal brought them back into the game but it’s important to notice how by Cole’s movements he didn’t only present a passing option, he also dragged Ciro Ferrara out of position leaving the center of the box for a Mark Iuliano vs Yorke duel. A 1 v 1 in the same area that would previously have had a 2 v 2.
It’s clearer here, as the ball is played forward Yorke drops to the left channel dragging Ferrara with him and leaving Cole against Iuliano in a 1 v 1 in the center.
Yorke flicks the ball for Cole and that’s when the 1 v 1 Cole had benefits the attack. Ferrara doesn’t want the situation to be a 1 v 1 so he opts to drop next to Iuliano making it a 2 v 1 but leaving Yorke completely free. Yorke has space to shoot, but his shot goes wide.
The positioning of Cole and Yorke was peculiar. One would drop to the channel as the other would attack the center, seeking the 1 v 1. A long ball from Neville was headed down by Beckham and as that was happening Iuliano was retreating to return to his central positioning alongside Ferrara. Meanwhile, Cole was deep in the right channel.
Cole’s positioning in the channel allowed him to collect Beckham’s header easily. Now the separation comes into play. Cole had time on the ball because Pessotto was battling Beckham for the header. Pessotto has to close down Cole, this results in Iuliano having to pick up Beckham who is on the edge of the box. The domino effect leaves Yorke in a 1 v 1 against Ferrara within a huge area of space that is the penalty box.
Cole’s cross found Yorke and he made 2–2 putting Manchester United ahead on away goals. The idea of the 1 v 1 in the box allowed Manchester United to cross the ball into a less congested box.
Sometimes the positioning in the channels was a lucky opportunity for Cole and Yorke as the Juventus central defenders were always retreating to their central positions to deny any 1 v 1. Ferrara here is returning back in case Birindelli loses the aerial duel against Blomqvist.
This leaves Iuliano against Yorke. The defender misses the ball and Yorke then manages to hit the far post.
In the flash interviews at half time Ferguson praised the work of Yorke and Cole. “I think what we are witnessing is their (Juventus’) back four are very nervous. Our front players have been marvelous.”
They were and Ancelotti had to interfere. He subbed Iuliano and brought on Paolo Montero as well as switching to a 4–3–1–2 with Nicola Amoruso replacing Birindelli — Di Livio dropped to right back.
It only made things worse on the wings as Pessotto and Di Livio didn’t have a regular partner do defend against Manchester United’s wing-duos. It was Groundhog day. Long ball to Yorke who dropped to the right channel dragging Montero with him. Cole in a 1 v 1 centrally in acres of space against Ferrara. Adding to that is a free Beckham out on the right with Pessotto out of position.
Beckham collected Yorke’s flick and the space both Beckham and Cole had was frightening. Ferrara was in between and Di Livio was trying to catch Cole. Luckily for both, Cole’s first touch failed him after a Beckham cross.
The last chance using the same pattern saw Neville making it even worse for Montero. The Uruguayan defender had to cover for Pessotto and track Neville’s run, leaving Yorke free in the right channel.
Ferrara didn’t know whether to stick with Cole predicting a cross from Neville or go to Yorke predicting a cutback. Montero was already out of the equation by then.
Neville played the cutback and it was now a 1 v 1 in addition to the option of playing in Cole. Yorke chose to play his partner but the English striker’s right foot shot wasn’t good enough.
Cole eventually scored the third after Yorke bamboozled the Juventus defence. It was Manchester United’s first win on Italian soil and against none other than their European rivals Juventus.
“ I thought the first 45 mins were the best of my time as a manger. I thought we were absolutely magnificent.” Ferguson said after the game. It wasn’t only a win over Juventus. The win meant that Manchester United were through to the final of the Champions League for the first time since 1968.
In his book The Mixer, Michael Cox explains how in the late 1990s Manchester United became tactically more intelligent than any other Premier League side, primarily because Ferguson was learning lessons from his European experiences. Perhaps now the student was the one who’s giving out the lessons.
