The clouds are ominous over Old Trafford and the vultures are gathering to feast on the carcass of Louis van Gaal after Manchester United slumped to an embarrassing 2-1 loss to Swansea last Saturday.
In fairness, there have been signs of discontent about the performance and philosophy of the team under the manager, especially from ex-players like Paul Scholes and Gary Neville, but the loss presents another sharpened knife to thrust into the heart of the embattled gaffer who arrived in the summer with an awesome reputation preceding him.
After spending almost £150m to bring in some of the best-known names in world football, LVG went to America to win the Intercontinental Champions Cup friendly tournament and promptly raised the hopes and expectations of fans whose ego had been battered and bruised by the horror that was David Moyes’ reign last season. Suddenly, the buzz was on again and the supporters dared to dream of a long-gone trophy-filled era under Sir Alex Ferguson.
I remember that on August 5, 2014, when United won that ICC trophy, I posted a message on my Facebook wall which read: “Thanks Louis van Gaal but the bigger task is getting us back into the top four THIS SEASON!” I recall also that two weeks later, on August 18, I wrote on this page an article titled: “WHY LvG WILL SUCCEED BUT…”
For the sake of today’s discourse, let me pull an extract from that piece for you, especially if you missed the original when it came out. Enjoy it…
“Arguably the biggest ‘transfer’ of the summer so far was the appointment of Louis van Gaal as Manchester United manager. You certainly don’t need to be a United fan to understand why I have said so. To prove that he is the right man for the job, van Gaal has been making the right noises. More importantly, he’s won a trophy, albeit a friendly tournament, barely four weeks into his reign at Old Trafford.
“The signs are looking good for United and every fan should be happy. It was about this time last season that I wrote the ultimately prophetic (in its outcome) piece titled: MY FEARS FOR MOYES.
“I don’t have such fears for LvG. Infact, he’s overqualified for the job, if there’s anything like that. Having won titles in all his previous four clubs and with Holland, you know you can trust the gaffer when he talks. As a player, when LvG asks you to jump, all you ask is: how high?
“For one, van Gaal is known for brooding young blood and giving them a chance to blossom. I recall it was under his stewardship that our own Nwankwo Kanu, fresh from winning the U-17 World Cup, developed into the world class player that he became. George Finidi also became one of the world’s finest wingers while playing under van Gaal at Ajax. Already we have seen elements of this in United with James Wilson, James Reece, Tyler Blackett and Jesse Lingard all set to stake a claim on first team shirts.
“Secondly, you can trust a typical Dutch to play attractive attacking football and that’s what van Gaal has set out to do. In just five games, his team has put in 16 goals and you expect United to return to the days of free-scoring notoriety which made the team fearsome under Sir Alex Ferguson.
“Thirdly, the fact that United will not be playing in Europe should be a bonus for van Gaal. With all due respect to Liverpool, part of their phenomenal success last season was due to the fact that they were absent in Europe and had enough time to concentrate on the EPL having got knocked out in the other domestic cup competitions.
“Fourthly, the Premier League fixtures has been very kind to United this season. The first six games against Swansea, Sunderland, Burnley, Queens Park Rangers, Leicester City, and West Ham are ‘winnables’ and by the time they get to play Chelsea on October 26th, the team should be in good standing on the log.
“Don’t forget, the immediate goal is to return to the Top Four and anything less than this, even winning the FA Cup and Capital One Cup, will be a disaster financially and a body blow to the pride of the fans…”
Welcome back. Before Saturday, United seemed comfortably perched in third place but after the loss at the Liberty Stadium, they could be in fifth place by the time you’re reading this should Southampton beat Liverpool in Sunday’s late game.
Truth be told, United have not set the league alight under van Gaal. Some of the performances have been dire and I think this is due to the fact that the team is grossly imbalanced. We used to think that the epileptic performances were due to the spate of injuries which ravaged the team but we now know better.
The truth, which van Gaal may be unwilling to accept, is that some players are not just Man United ‘standard’ and a real revolution to reposition the team will start when those players are shown the exit door. The team is so imbalanced that a major surgery is required to turn things around.
Secondly, and closely related to the first, van Gaal’s coaching philosophy consists of playing in a particular way, the much-talked about 3-5-2 formation which requires a strict balance between defence and attack. However, sadly, the Dutchman doesn’t have the squad to carry through that approach over a whole season.
Especially at the back where we’ve seen some atrocious defending leading to schoolboy errors from players who are required to give elite performance always. Like a colleague said recently, United have a top-three attack, mid-table midfield and a bottom-three defence (yes, they have the fourth best defensive record – only Southampton, Chelsea and Man City have scored fewer goals – but this is down to the genius of goalkeeper David De Gea more than any other factor).
A combination of the above two factors – less quality players and strange football formation – has seen United play some insipid football which Scholes, normally taciturn, dubbed as ‘miserable’.
Hear him: “It does not give me any pleasure to say that at the moment I am struggling to watch Louis van Gaal’s team with any great enjoyment. At times, United’s football is miserable. To beat opposing teams you have to attack, and to attack you have to take risks. Too few of the players in the current team are prepared to take those risks.“
Can you fault this statement? I don’t think so.
If you add that mixture to van Gaal’s voodoo tactics of shunting players to positions other than where they are most competent, then it’s a no-brainer that fans are left pining for the good old days of Sir Alex Ferguson. Has van Gaal failed to deliver?
Certainly not! Or, better still, it’s still too early to say definitively. Afterall, he may not have gotten too many points than Moyes at this time of the season last campaign but he’s still within touching distance of the other teams ahead of him on the league table with the possible exception of Chelsea.
The problem, however, is that van Gaal is a victim of his own reputation and successes. That you have used the 3-5-2 system elsewhere to achieve success doesn’t mean it was always going to work always.
No system, no matter how fail-proof, can last forever. As a matter of fact, some of United’s best football this season had been playing when employing the 4-4-2 formation. This should tell the manager where the strength of his team lies.
Besides, having spent a fortune at the beginning of the season to assemble his team, the fans can be forgiven for expecting much more than they’re getting from LVG’s expensively-assembled superflops. And, of course, when the team fails to perform, the manager has to carry the can so therefore, van Gaal is guilty as charged.
COMMENTS