Hiddink, Give It a Little More Effort!

Stadium of Light, Sunderland.

Ferguson stood in front of the visiting team's bench, gazing into the distance at the Manchester United players warming up on the pitch, his brows tightly furrowed.

He could not relax at all. But it was not merely because of the opponent in this match. He was also worrying about another game being played in Liverpool.

The Black Cats, Sunderland, were currently seventeenth in the Premier League, only three points clear of Newcastle in the relegation zone. They were just a step away from slipping into the drop zone, but under caretaker manager Ricky Sbragia, the team had shown a certain ability to avoid relegation. That was also why Sbragia had replaced Roy Keane.

Ferguson felt both relieved and disappointed that he had not run into his former protégé.

Roy Keane had been sacked at the beginning of December the previous year. At the time, the Black Cats were deeply mired in the relegation zone with no hope of survival, so the Board of Directors had decisively made a change, removing Roy Keane and appointing the team's assistant manager—and fellow Scotsman—Ricky Sbragia in his place.

Under the latter's leadership, Sunderland had barely managed to escape the mire of the relegation zone, but they were still far from safe. This team would definitely fight for survival.

Everyone knew that in the Premier League, the most frightening opponents were teams that would stop at nothing for their position in the table—teams fighting for the title or for a place in the Champions League qualification zone. But the most troublesome of all were teams fighting to avoid relegation.

For them, staying in the Premier League was the difference between heaven and hell.

As fellow Scotsmen, Ferguson was not unfamiliar with Sbragia. The two had just been chatting politely, but