Louis Van Gaal | 2015-16 Performance Thread

Van Gaal: The verdict

  • 1) Sack him now.

  • 2) Sack him at the end of the season.

  • 3) Let him see out his contract and part ways after that.

  • 4) Extend his contract.

  • Undecided (between 1 and 2).

  • Undecided (between 2 and 3).

  • Undecided (between 3 and 4, if things improve before his contract expires, extend).


Results are only viewable after voting.

Insanity

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When he started:
  • I always win a trophy in my first season at a new club
  • The goal is win the league in the second year
  • And the champions league in the third year.
18 months on:
  • Losing to Boro instead on MK Dons is a sign of progress
  • So what if we are out of the grp stages, I got you there, didn't I?
What are we waiting for? Sack the idiot.
 
Last edited:

.Rossi

ever get that feeling of déjà vu?
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Robbed from elsewhere. Since the 4-2 City game last April:

Played 21 league games.
Scored 23 league goals.
Juan Mata top scorer with 5 goals, no one else has scored more than 3.

The lowest amount is 22 goals. Shared by Newcastle, West Brom and Swansea City.

23 is same number of goals scored by Aston Villa and Sunderland.
 

LeftyBlaster

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The whole group stage performance in the CL is a large picture representation of what happens in most of our individual matches under LVG. We piss around for the most part, and then find out that we desperately need to win before failing to do so. We let the games against PSV and CSKA pass us by like we do entire halves and we got knocked out by Wolfsburg when it counted.

Feck Ancelotti. We need Pep.
 

Big Ben Foster

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Robbed from elsewhere. Since the 4-2 City game last April:

Played 21 league games.
Scored 23 league goals.
Juan Mata top scorer with 5 goals, no one else has scored more than 3.

The lowest amount is 22 goals. Shared by Newcastle, West Brom and Swansea City.

23 is same number of goals scored by Aston Villa and Sunderland.
That is shocking.
 

Striker10

"Ronaldo and trophies > Manchester United football
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Forget tonight cause we lost it in the last game to PSV. We did not deserve to go through. I like LVG but ball retention and limiting chances is only an illusion of improving defense and obviously that's led to us being crap going forwards. We've a young squad and some of these players will earn more more then they deserve. I really hope they want to improve themselves because there's a long way to go. Last two games, we've not been bad...in parts but the writing is on the wall. I agree with LVG that we might have won the league with a Ronaldo or someone of his type but that's just putting lipstick on a pig. We are so negative we've forgotten how to attack and you see stats but people know. We all watch games, wondering what planet some of these players are on. I like LVG, but i'd fire him and I still would have hired Giggs because 1) he wouldn't have stripped our squad bare and we wouldn't play in a cowardly fashion. He's been unlucky with injuries and some of the chances we're missing....the players should look at themselves in the mirror. We should never had left it so late in the league cup. We didn't deserve qualification - even though I think the defeat to PSV was down to Shaws injury - which should have been a red and a penalty
 

ZDwyr

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Robbed from elsewhere. Since the 4-2 City game last April:

Played 21 league games.
Scored 23 league goals.
Juan Mata top scorer with 5 goals, no one else has scored more than 3.

The lowest amount is 22 goals. Shared by Newcastle, West Brom and Swansea City.

23 is same number of goals scored by Aston Villa and Sunderland.
Damning stats really.
 

Ballache

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More and more people are turning against him, I've gone from fully supporting him to let him see out the season, get top 4 and replace him. All in the space of 4 months. I honestly thought it will click and we'd improve but we've actually become worse. I've gone from thinking that we would challenge (but come 3rd or 2nd) to hoping we make top 4.
 

Arytonblue

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I don't like to keep referencing 'other United fans' in such a derogatory way, it's both pointless and can come across as whiny, but I'm finding it fascinating how the narrative changes from those that fervently support Van Gaal with each disappointment, poor decision, bad performance and result. I certainly can't say for sure as there are so many people on this site and I'm rubbish at remembering names, but I'm seeing an eerie trend that followed Moyes' season with this one in terms of how people present the argument that 'it's not the manager's fault' in as many desperate ways as humanly possible. For one, we've already had the conveyor belt of 'all the players outside of DDG, Smalling and Martial are rubbish and not worthy of playing for United', with some very notable specific names, which I'm sure we all know by now, consistently brought up. It's not LVG's fault that they all suck and can't score from 5 yards out or make a simple pass, we need to spend big in [insert next transfer window]. We've seen callbacks to how 'awful' we were in Fergie's last year, how we fluked the title by 11 points and got bailed out by RVP (nevermind his scoring droughts, other players' contributions or Rooney's similar impact in 11/12) and how Fergie the wizard made a pub team league winners.

One could argue this was a somewhat relevant point in 13/14 the season after said title win, but now in late 2015? The third season since? How is us struggling to score goals (which we didn't do that season) or play a direct, consistently cohesive attacking style (which we did that season) relevant now? How does it make Van Gaal's performance look better? Because that's what it's all about isn't it? It's not about showing how wrong we are to say LVG's tactics, team selection, playing style and squad management are a detriment to us this season, it's about showing when X happened Y many years ago it shows that Z can lead to Q, and that's why we must let W continue on. You could literally swap Moyes' name in for so many of the arguments made for Van Gaal, the reason being it's all based on 'what happens next' or what we're allegedly 'building up to'. It's nowt to do with what we're actually seeing week in week out this season, consistently, every week. The state of the squad is one of my biggest complaints before the season started, but it's now simply been magnified tenfold with this current injury crisis, the complete lack of direction to how we play is the killer though, the main reason so many are turning on him, and it's fair to as well. You can point to '3 points from top', but just like some did with Moyes getting us through his CL group, it's a negligible fact that ignores the overall state of the team. Who honestly believes this standard of play and level we've shown this season will actually lead to success? Or is it based on some hope that it will eventually get better....somehow?

Now I'll be fair, I was delighted we hired Van Gaal, and despite some struggles, poor showings and inconsistencies last season I, and I'd say most United fans were happy with the final result, but it was a marginally better one, 7th to 4th, we'd gotten over all the 'trauma' of Moyes and of sacking a manager for the first time since the Neolithic Era, and in retrospect, we finished 6 points better off, with somewhat better performances, good big game results and renewed spirit in the squad. This was always going to be the season to make or break him, he'd gotten all those passes and exceptions of last season with (rightly) lowered expectations and more patience. He had to show major progress and improvement this season, he had to get us out of that CL group and the performances and play style had to improve. Put simply, he's failed on all three counts IMO. I'm not gonna rabidly call for his head, but him being replaced, be it now or the end of the season, should we not make any significant improvement, would be a correct decision for me.

Before I let this ramble between myself and I drag on, I think it's worth saying that some fans really really need to get over the fact that we're going to be sacking and hiring managers very regularly now, some still cling to the hope that we can recreate a new Fergie-styled dynasty for decades and that unrivaled patience and lowered expectations are the way to get there. Face it, United is special because of it's history, success, great players and managers, but today we are just another soulless multi-million pound machine competing with many of the same ilk, we weren't 'special' cause we stuck with Fergie and Busby for so long, we were gifted very special managers who delivered success. Sacking LVG is not the end of the world, just like it was with Moyes, we don't need to implement some vague 'blueprint' or plan in order to be successful, we need to hire a coach who can get the best out the players on the pitch, aiming towards success domestically and in Europe. That's not being spoilt or gloryhunting or whatever, it's expectations of a club that has set those standards for itself. I'd imagine, or hope, that the board and Woodward would think along these lines, Van Gaal's time here isn't set to his standards or expectations, it's him that has to meet the clubs.

TLDR; LVG sucks Fellaini's donkey ballz.
 

LeftyBlaster

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Before I let this ramble between myself and I drag on, I think it's worth saying that some fans really really need to get over the fact that we're going to be sacking and hiring managers very regularly now, some still cling to the hope that we can recreate a new Fergie-styled dynasty for decades and that unrivaled patience and lowered expectations are the way to get there. Face it, United is special because of it's history, success, great players and managers, but today we are just another soulless multi-million pound machine competing with many of the same ilk, we weren't 'special' cause we stuck with Fergie and Busby for so long, we were gifted very special managers who delivered success. Sacking LVG is not the end of the world, just like it was with Moyes, we don't need to implement some vague 'blueprint' or plan in order to be successful, we need to hire a coach who can get the best out the players on the pitch, aiming towards success domestically and in Europe. That's not being spoilt or gloryhunting or whatever, it's expectations of a club that has set those standards for itself. I'd imagine, or hope, that the board and Woodward would think along these lines, Van Gaal's time here isn't set to his standards or expectations, it's him that has to meet the clubs.

TLDR; LVG sucks Fellaini's donkey ballz.
This is truth.
 

Beachryan

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Genuine question: what has LVG achieved in his time here that a good DoF wouldn't have?

The only positives is this squad refresh. Which needn't really be his domain, as 'trainercoach'.

As far as training, coaching, tactics and putting out a football team to be good at football, he's failed miserably.
 

Ryan7

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What a shit squad he's assembled. I've said this for ages we have no squad depth whatsoever. We needed a centre back but instead we sold one and loaned another out. Instead of signing one we continue with Phil 'Sick Note' Jones. Why? Sell the gormless idiot. And we put Blind there because he's left footed. We need so much more money spent on this squad... Van Gaal has blown too much money. Get rid.
 

apotheosis

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My biggest beef is the lack of strikers and our general standard of play in the final third. Rooney is still not doing it, and Martial is still a kid. Other than that we have Depay, Mata, and possibly Herrera, who can score regularly.

While not having an actual striker on the bench is inadvisable for any team, but to not even possess any striker to have as an option off the bench is simply inexcusable in my view. Rooney, RVP, Falcao, Hernandez, Welbeck, Januzaj, Di Maria, Martial, Depay, Mata, Zaha, Wilson, Young, Lingard. All those attacking options available to LVG at different times, and yet how many of them have hit any real form for anything more than a handful of games at a time? and how many in conjunction with any other?

I can't even point to (whoever has played) anyone who could seriously claim they are regularly on the same regular wavelength with any of their partners, and certainly none who could be accused of having fashioned..... a partnership!!!! :eek:

It's quite bizarre to watch the ongoing problems we have up front, and then consider how many attacking players have repeatedly struggled to reproduce what we know they are capable of, and it has now led us to this very frustrating and sobering point in our season. Very disappointing, but looking at it overall, not really that surprising.

I was completely baffled at the decision to sell Hernandez, who is unquestionably a proven regular goalscorer and impact substitute, and i never understood how we would be somehow be better off by not having him as an option from the bench. Looking back over how our season has progressed so far, i find it very difficult to imagine that he could not have provided a few goals to turn at least a couple of games, as he has done in the past. LVG just doesn't seem to know how to inspire attacking players, even ones he himself buys. So something has to change and fast, because if we don't get fourth this season, we will have spent 250m (so far) and wasted 2 seasons, only to find ourselves right back to where we were when he took over.
 

Varun

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Top 4 is all that matters now, if he reach that he should keep his job and he will.
Strange thing to say and something we have laughed at Arsenal for years. Aiming and finishing into the top 4 every year and promptly fecking off early from the tournament once we get these. What's the sense in that?
 

RedDevil@84

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LvG Philosophy for dummies:
It is approaching 65 mins. We need to sub Mata, regardless of how he is playing.
 

RDCR07

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Can we get rid of him in the summer? Is it easier now? Get Ancelotti in if we can't get in Pep.
 

Jazz

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No need to heap anymore shit on Louis. He knows he's messed up big time. If things don't improve I'm sure he'll resign. Regardless of what people think of him, I do believe he's got honour, and will do the right thing if it's not working. He won't hang around.

Just saw a picture of our supporters pointing and shouting aggressively at him after the game - just as he's going into the tunnel - right in his face. The look on the face..... part sadness, part fright - After seeing that, any frustrations I have with him just disappeared. Negativity and anger going too far now.
 

RDCR07

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And to be quite honest, I dont want to give him another £100m odd to spend. This isn't going to change. If we are going to spend big this summer, then get in another manager first and give the money to him.
 

lem8sh

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Robbed from elsewhere. Since the 4-2 City game last April:

Played 21 league games.
Scored 23 league goals.
Juan Mata top scorer with 5 goals, no one else has scored more than 3.

The lowest amount is 22 goals. Shared by Newcastle, West Brom and Swansea City.

23 is same number of goals scored by Aston Villa and Sunderland.
Jaysus.
 

Sammyjunn

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Robbed from elsewhere. Since the 4-2 City game last April:

Played 21 league games.
Scored 23 league goals.
Juan Mata top scorer with 5 goals, no one else has scored more than 3.

The lowest amount is 22 goals. Shared by Newcastle, West Brom and Swansea City.

23 is same number of goals scored by Aston Villa and Sunderland.
Dont know how anyome can see these stats, or the chances stats etc and still make excuses about patience, him doing a good job, it's just woeful. The standards have dropped severly.
 

Sam

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He has to go. He just doesn't have a clue what he's doing anymore. If he ever did in the first place that is.

His 'philosophy' has basically come down to throwing a load of shit at the wall, and hoping something finally sticks. The formation, tactics, lineups, player positions, youth players, flavour of the month players, substitutions, loans...he's just completely making it up as he goes along. There's no continuity, or plan, and the results are a completely disjointed, overpriced, mess of a team.

Teams tend to reflect their manager, and this current team reflects LVG perfectly. A crazy, disjointed, mess...who don't seem to have a clue what their doing, or how they should be doing it.
 

Rednotdead

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Enough. Any manager at any other top club would be getting pelters but Van Gaal has had a relatively easy ride up to now because of his CV.

The fans need to get in the faces of the Glazers and wake them up.