I am amazed at the amount of bile directed
at Louis Van Gaal by Manchester United fans and its legends especially those
paragon of virtue – Gary Neville in his previous role as resident football
expert at Sky Sports, Rio Ferdinand and Paul Scholes.
I can bet Mr. Neville is now deservedly
regretting some of the opinions he held about LvG. How is that humble pie Gary?
Goes down well with some Talk is cheap beer you know.
I’m sure Paul Scholes will now never make
the same mistake as Gary despite repeated attempts by Oldham to get him to manage
them. As for Rio, he can talk cant he. He was so good as a player and his
career finished on a wonderful high at QPR.
Isn’t it amazing that it is now accepted
wisdom that fans and players turn pundits are considered suitable judges when
it comes to evaluating coaches and managers?
Great. That 10 year career you spent in the top flight taking
instructions, been told what to do, understanding your patch on the field,
having a reputation as ‘thicko’ all of a sudden means you know it all. Great.
But I am sorry I disagree. Fans and e
players are not and have no qualification to do so whatsoever. Often their
cheap opinions are targeted at the wrong person. In Manchester United’s case,
the wrong person is LvG and all the opprobrium should be directed at Ed
Woodward.
Louis Van Gaal is no Zinedine Zidane or
Teddy Sheringham. Distinguished players in their time who are making their way
in the game as managers. LvG comes with a coaching pedigree that started with
his first full managerial appointment in 1991. For those with dodgy maths,
that’s 25 years ago. He has since coached topsides of comparative pedigree to
Manchester United – Barcelona, Bayern Munich & Ajax Amsterdam.
He is no novice and comes with a fully
formed football philosophy that is possession based and builds its team to
ensure they are difficult to break down.
In his last managerial post before Man U, the Dutch purists embodied by
Johan Cruyff were bitterly against LvG. He didn’t give a monkey’s and it is
fair to say LvG & his Dutch side over performed at the last World Cup.
In addition, LvG comes with a fully
developed headmaster type personality. It didn’t start today. That’s him and he
is not changing it for anybody. Not even United.
Realizing all of these and wanting to
manage a club side again, LvG. was in well-advanced discussions with Tottenham
Hotspurs of Middlesex only for Manchester United to hijack those talks and
appoint LvG. What exactly do you expect when you appoint the Coach of Spurs? Now
you are coveting the guy that was appointed instead.
I hope discerning, genuine and right thinking
Man U fans can see that the real issues are as follows:
Someone / some people at Board level
decided / agreed that Sir Alex Ferguson and David Gill should retire at the
same time. Where was the succession planning at Board and football management
level?
Some people at Board level decided that
David Moyes should be the new long-term manager of Manchester United
Some people at Board level could not sign
the players that David Moyes wanted at the start of his first season
Some people at Board level ended up paying
£4m more for Marouane Fellaini than Everton initially wanted for him
Some people at Board level were horrible
with the handling of the David Moyes sacking and didn’t have the decency to
inform the man before briefing the media
Some people at Board level noticed all of
LvG’s pedigree and still appointed him as manager and don’t have the guts to
come out and say that they are comfortable with LvG’s handling of the team as
long as results are delivered
Going by the recent comments by Ed Woodward
on the last investors call, Some people at Board level were obviously comfortable
with the way LvG uprooted many fan favorites and local boys from Old Trafford
as the club’s focus is now on World Class or near world class players.
Instead of fans to direct their ire and
bile at the board and specifically at Ed Woodward, the focus has very much been
on Louis Van Gaal. Once you get your
wish with LvG’s sacking, just watch out after the new manager has been
appointed because I consider United’s issues are institutional i.e. with the
current board / Ed Woodward and not necessarily with the manager.
Yes football results are LvG’s
responsibility but results are inevitable outcomes of many behind the scene
issues, club management is one of these. Is it a coincidence that the newspapers
carried a story about player unhappiness at the looming appointment of Jose
Mourinho and United all of a sudden revert back to a type that we have not seen
for a few weeks.
Yes LvG has been perhaps deservedly beaten
with the ‘he spent £250m stick’. What does £250m even get you nowadays? Another
football philosopher by name Brendan Rodgers spent nearly £300m in his time at Liverpool
and won the square root of bugger all. That’s £50m than Louie Van Gaal Army.
Yes Liverpool got top 4 one season and are now comfortably ensconced in mid table
obscurity. Despite nearly winning the bloody thing. LVG has outperformed Liverpool despite the
extra money spent by Brendan Rodgers. I wonder if those shouting obscene abuse
at LvG will like to swap places with Liverpool FC right now.
Or take a look at Manchester City squad,
£130m+ for De Bruyne, Sterling, Otamendi and Mangala. In my opinion, young Tony
Martial has outperformed that lot. None of the United’s defensive signings are
as awful as anything Otamendi and Mangala conspire to serve up.
Stop beating LvG on the head with the
spending as players are somewhat overpriced and in this spending plenty to get
rubbish race, United are not exceptional or unique.
Finally I think the problem of the current
squad is in attack and not in the overall squad. Interestingly LvG has said the
same thing in one of his press conferences recently. For a bit of background,
you can read a quick comparison of the last title winning United squad and the
current crop here . The writer is of the opinion that the forward options were
better in Sir Alex’ last squad.
In that last title win for United, that squad
conceded 43 goals in 38 matches, an average of 1.13 per match and was the joint
5th best defence that season. The current lot have conceded 24 goals
in 26 matches, a better average at 0.923 and they are currently joint 3rd
alongside Southampton but behind Tottenham and Arsenal who have played one game
less than United.
In my opinion the problems are upfront and
the solution is not obvious. United signed two of the best up and coming
striking talents last season. None of the beastly recognized / world class
forwards moved in the last 2 transfer seasons. I can just imagine the uproar at
the start of the season if LvG had presented Jamie Vardy as his top striking
acquisition. H would have been absolutely slaughtered.
Really I implore United fans to be a bit
more grown up and matured by turning the narrative away from LvG. He has
delivered what it says on the tin. Any other issues are perhaps due to your
expectations mismatch with the product.
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