Opposition fans view - Louis van Gaal

Spiersey

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Personally I thought Van Gaal had been overrated in recent years. The holland achievement wasn't as good as many said. Asides from the Spain game they were never that impressive. Should have lost to Mexico and needed pens to edge past Costa Rica.
The style of play is what is killing him right now though.
 

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I think you should get rid. Even with your injuries, you should be doing far better. If it wasn't for teams around you ducking up at times as well - and de gea saving you - you'd be much further down the league. Can't believe his press conference where he said you're mediocre now. feck that shit - you're Man Utd.
 

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Moyes got gradually worse, his first few months weren't too comically disastrous.
We'd have probably been in relegation form with half our squad refusing to play most weeks if he'd still been in the job a year and a half.
Well, what's LVG doing right now if not getting gradually worse himself?

In years gone by, I've tuned in to watch United whenever possible, especially in Europe. Sure, I might not have wanted you guys to win, but you often put on a pretty good show... Now? I'd rather watch a plant grow in real time. It's like tuning in to a suicide channel for sports fans.
 

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Well, what's LVG doing right now if not getting gradually worse himself?

In years gone by, I've tuned in to watch United whenever possible, especially in Europe. Sure, I might not have wanted you guys to win, but you often put on a pretty good show... Now? I'd rather watch a plant grow in real time. It's like tuning in to a suicide channel for sports fans.
:lol: That's accurate.
 

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We should remember he was about to join Spurs before Woodward convinced him to come to Old Trafford.

From what we have seen perhaps that is LVG's level at this stage of his career. Else, we would have stolen him from joining one of the other top Champions League teams?
 

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Well, what's LVG doing right now if not getting gradually worse himself?

In years gone by, I've tuned in to watch United whenever possible, especially in Europe. Sure, I might not have wanted you guys to win, but you often put on a pretty good show... Now? I'd rather watch a plant grow in real time. It's like tuning in to a suicide channel for sports fans.
I find a slight amusement in how shit we are now becuase of how much opposition fans hate watching our shit football (and we are on TV all the time so its unavoidable)
 

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There was always a feeling, since he was appointed, among other club supporters I've spoken to that van Gaal was the wrong choice to replace Moyes in the first place. A lot of this was based on the reputation he's garnered among ex-Netherlands players and coaches as being a stubborn, past it coach with little or no new ideas
Can you expand on that? The first criticisms I'd have placed on him would be questionable man-management and that stubbornness. But that final comment sounds like a typical benefit-of-hindsight view rather than anything grounded in concrete evidence.
 

Tommy

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I find a slight amusement in how shit we are now becuase of how much opposition fans hate watching our shit football (and we are on TV all the time so its unavoidable)
I'd honestly rather watch us under Dalglish lump balls up to Carroll :D
 

sullydnl

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With some fact thrown in for good measure. But really, what else am I going to do but speculate? You really don't think Moyes would've found four points with an extra year in the job, an easier fixture list, and £200m in transfers?

I don't think it's an outrageous statement, honestly.
Moyes had lost the dressing room long before he left though whereas LVG hasn't (up to now at least). If Moyes had stayed he'd have had a bigger challenge from that point than LVG faced when he arrived so I can't imagine he'd have even got us to this point. Things had gone too far for him to turn it around like that, even with extra time and money.
 

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With some fact thrown in for good measure. But really, what else am I going to do but speculate? You really don't think Moyes would've found four points with an extra year in the job, an easier fixture list, and £200m in transfers?

I don't think it's an outrageous statement, honestly.
The money aspect doesn't come into it in the case of Moyes owing to the horrible way he conducted his two transfer windows - he wasn't denied money, in fact he was allowed to spend £4m more than a player's release clause, and then break the club transfer record in January. He either failed to use United's resources or didn't know how to. For example he bought Fellaini - a player he obviously knew very well and knew that his best position was an attacking one, but he insisted on playing him in central-midfield, often in more of a DM role. I give him credit for identifying central-midfield as a weak area, but buying one of his old players and playing him out of position to try to fill that gap does rather ruin that credit :lol:

Time is a more interesting thought, but Moyes was officially sacked due to his failure to meet the minimum terms of his contract, which LVG successfully managed to meet - so one could argue that LVG earned this second year, while Moyes earned himself the sack. If LVG takes us to 5th or worse this season but isn't sacked, then maybe the time aspect can be better discussed in regard to Moyes.
 

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. Now? I'd rather watch a plant grow in real time. It's like tuning in to a suicide channel for sports fans.
Ah man that's the one of the best lines I've seen on here in a while :lol:
 

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He was a 50/50 signing for United. His whole career was very hot and cold with either a lot of success or a lot of underachieving and even disaster. I do think his last big success and truly world class years were in the 90's however I also thought he laid down a lot of the work at Bayern for Heynckes and Pep to take to another level. For that reason I thought and still think he will do United good long term, even if he wont be the man to reap what he sowed.
 

Oo0AahCantona

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There is a massive amount of bias placed on his qualities as a manager simply because he was appointed in the first place.

When moyes was sacked and we discussed on the Cafe who we wanted for replacements, He was barely, if at all mentioned, with preference given to klopp, Carlo, Jose, Conte, and Pep.

and what made matters worse was how visible he was due to Hollands world cup "success".

It's just been another disappointing appointment in all honesty, and other than a small run after christmas last year, we havent looked like a very good team.
 

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We should remember he was about to join Spurs before Woodward convinced him to come to Old Trafford.

From what we have seen perhaps that is LVG's level at this stage of his career. Else, we would have stolen him from joining one of the other top Champions League teams?
The drastic change on opinions from when he was linked to Spurs and then to United on here was insane.
 

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Moyes had lost the dressing room long before he left though whereas LVG hasn't (up to now at least). If Moyes had stayed he'd have had a bigger challenge from that point than LVG faced when he arrived so I can't imagine he'd have even got us to this point. Things had gone too far for him to turn it around like that, even with extra time and money.
if Carrick and Rooney had to march to him start of the season saying morale was low, and that's before this seasons events have happened, you can be sure there are players who couldn't care less if he went tomorrow.
 

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He was a 50/50 signing for United. His whole career was very hot and cold with either a lot of success or a lot of underachieving and even disaster. I do think his last big success and truly world class years were in the 90's however I also thought he laid down a lot of the work at Bayern for Heynckes and Pep to take to another level. For that reason I thought and still think he will do United good long term, even if he wont be the man to reap what he sowed.
I'm happy with the group of players he's brought in:

Herrera
Shaw
Schneiderlin
Blind
Martial

The likes of Memphis & Darmian will also hopefully come good after their teething problems - though I'm not as confident. But it's just painfully obvious, he's incapable of getting the best out of them.
 

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Personally I thought Van Gaal had been overrated in recent years. The holland achievement wasn't as good as many said. Asides from the Spain game they were never that impressive. Should have lost to Mexico and needed pens to edge past Costa Rica.
The style of play is what is killing him right now though.
Spot on and they were exactly my thoughts. I also never felt that his football in Munich was particularly engaging they had a short period in the second half of his first season where they played some good football but that was about it, the rest of what he served up was pretty stale possession football with a lot of backwards and sideways passes and little power in attack. He also didn't really do too well in the transfer market and went into his second season refusing to bolster his squad which came back to bite him in the ass as well.

The biggest positive for me was always that he trusted in young players and gave a lot of talents their breakthrough debuts in the teams he managed.
 

Sylar

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My german friend on facebook and the two messages he sent back in August 2014:
"van Gaal will ruin Man Utd"
When asked why:
"He left every club in pieces. I think he's a genius with his football knowledge and eye for young players but all his teams are afraid of him after a while"

I was a little worried when he said that and had hope after our end of season last year and of course really early signings (darmian, basty, Morgan, Memphis) all came before pre-season. then we didnt sign anybody until Martial and kept losing players without replacing them.

His football has been uninspiring this year especially since he found something that worked (stumbled upon it) and hasnt gone back to anything close to it since.
 

caid

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Well, what's LVG doing right now if not getting gradually worse himself?

In years gone by, I've tuned in to watch United whenever possible, especially in Europe. Sure, I might not have wanted you guys to win, but you often put on a pretty good show... Now? I'd rather watch a plant grow in real time. It's like tuning in to a suicide channel for sports fans.
I dont think he is getting worse. Hes just not getting better either.
Our injuries are getting worse.
Our attacking players confidence is getting worse.

I dont know,
a part of me just thinks he's having a few tough games, as all managers do,
and we'll be back on track and getting gradually better again in a few weeks time
Hes not as good as Guardiola or that tier of manager, but i dont think he's that far off either.
The current mood around him is just a bit over dramatic.

As for the long term worth of having hired him,
I think it'll be largely worthwhile tbh.
Our defence looks pretty good, theres good young talent in or around the first team.
Probably still need more midfielders but were in a better position than a couple of years back still.
Hes improved a lot of players and given a lot of them debuts and chances (presume mcnair and lingard adore him)

Moyes burned his bridges a lot faster and didn't seem to build anything to recommend him.
He gave januzaj his debut, thats about it.
 

Ryan7

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We should remember he was about to join Spurs before Woodward convinced him to come to Old Trafford.

From what we have seen perhaps that is LVG's level at this stage of his career. Else, we would have stolen him from joining one of the other top Champions League teams?
I don't think so myself. He said he only wanted to manage in England. Add to that what other Champions League team needed a new manager in the summer of 2014? Off the top of my head Juventus are the only ones, provided you're talking about big teams of course.
 

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Would like to read the opinions of Bayern Munich and Barcelona supporters, because our situation right now is similar (in part) to what happened at those two clubs. Particularly his second season at Bayern, and his second stint at Barcelona - and the effect him leaving had on the morale/ performances of the team, and in terms of European qualification (which might be in jeopardy if this keeps up - maybe it's a kneejerk reaction but it's not a possibility we can discount any more given our form over the past month or so). Largely because Wolfsburg/ Bournemouth in conjunction has proven to be a watershed moment for a lot of supporters, with a significant portion of our fanbase now divided between - a) Letting Louis go at the end of the season; and b) Letting him go if results don't pick up pronto (the next month so so?), and replacing him with someone just before the winter transfer window expires (don't know who that might be but Ancelotti is a popular choice - though that might rule out Pep from taking over in the summer/ 2017 unless Carlo is a stopgap - and I don't suppose he will take over a short term bandage appointment FWIW). Just fan opinion mind, not something the club might consider realistically speaking.
Sorry, I can't give you a Barcelona perspective as he left the cub for a second time a couple of months after I turned 8. I felt last season he did a decent enough gettung United back into the top four which was so crucial last season and in some games United played some pretty good football. They didn't do it on a consistent basis. I expected United to play better football this season after he'd had a full season at the club, had the chance to get rid of who he wanted to and bring in who he wanted. So far United's football hasn't sufficiently improved and the results are going backwards. It's all pointing to United needing part ways at some point either during the season or the end of the season.
 

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When United got Van Gaal in I was annoyed because of 2 reasons mainly:

1. I cant stand him as a person. That arrogance just annoys the shit out of me. Plus theres the whole Belgium<>Dutch thing that certainly didnt help either.
2. I thought he would be a good fit. I thought his arrogance would go well with a club like United that I expect to play with a certain arrogance. That divine right to win games. Unfortunately for United its only his talk thats arrogant as the play has been utter cowardly.

I watch a lot of PL games and United used to be very high on my priority list but right now you rank near the bottom where any team managed by fat Sam resides.

Oh and im also one of the 21 in that poll, do make that 10 in 21.
 

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In my opinion United should get rid of him.His Barcelona 20 years ago was so boring like this United,besides has been eliminated in a very easy C.L group,a big failure.They look like a sad squad.The players need fresh air.
Veteran manager with good eye for young talents,he improved the defence and probably his opinion was decisive to buy Depay and Martial.
There are plenty of young talented managers to continue rebuilding the team.
I wonder if some players are overrated or are not good enough for United or is the manager who is not able to get the best version of them.
 

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With some fact thrown in for good measure. But really, what else am I going to do but speculate? You really don't think Moyes would've found four points with an extra year in the job, an easier fixture list, and £200m in transfers?

I don't think it's an outrageous statement, honestly.
He'd lost the dressing room & the fans, I can't think of any manager who has turned around such a situation. Once the players (for good reason) turn on a manager there's usually only 1 way it's going to end.
So saying yeah but give him an extra yeah & another window of signing some some players when want to join a failing club with a disrupted dressing room, doesn't really point to him being anymore successful.
 

NK86

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I think you should get rid. Even with your injuries, you should be doing far better. If it wasn't for teams around you ducking up at times as well - and de gea saving you - you'd be much further down the league. Can't believe his press conference where he said you're mediocre now. feck that shit - you're Man Utd.
He said that yesterday? That is right up there with Moyes telling we aspire to be like Pool or City. Time to get his fat arse out of the gates.
 

Rooney in Paris

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Honestly have not seen much of an improvement on what Moyes did and considering the context, he really is lucky to be in a job. If the football was better you'd be a bit more forgiving but watching United play nowadays more often than not you quickly lose interest in the game. His faith in Rooney was ridiculous, any general football fan could have told you going into the season with your striking options, given the money available, was criminal.
This is an incredibly blinkered view. Anyone can see that there has been a huge improvement since the Moyes era, both of the squad (with a lot of the dross cut loose) and especially in the play. Now I know everyone hates the style we're currently playing, and I'm not a fan of it either, but at least there is a vision which the manager has been competent enough to implement. People have short memories if they don't think that's an improvement on Moyes who had absolutely no idea what he wanted to do with the team.

Also, I'm not quite sure what type of success Van Gaal will have here (and it's incredibly kneejerk to create this thread following a result where we had mainly teenagers playing), but I'm absolutely positive his legacy here will be huge with the foundations he's laid down, the players he's brought in and those he's promoted from the Academy.

I think a big problem is that in football, a lot of people focus on the short term and have a problem looking at the big picture, but I very much agree with what Van Gaal says when he talks about a process, because I do believe that this is the case and that what he is building currently will be very useful for us in the future, even though he may not be the one to reap the benefits.
 

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I think you should get rid. Even with your injuries, you should be doing far better. If it wasn't for teams around you ducking up at times as well - and de gea saving you - you'd be much further down the league. Can't believe his press conference where he said you're mediocre now. feck that shit - you're Man Utd.
Have you seen our injuries? We had 2 fullbacks on each flank all 4 of whom are injured, 3 of whom appear long term and the fourth Unknown. We are playing with a 4th choice CB. Do you think Arsenal will be the same if koscielny Gabriel Monreal Gibbs bellerin and debuchy are all injured?
 

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Frankly, I wouldn't want Arsenal, City or Chelsea sacking Wenger, Pellegrini and mourinho respectively as well.
 

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I don't like the guy. I think he's exactly the kind of coach/teacher/boss I would hate to have.

His methods seem outdated, I think there's no masterplan behind his philosophy and he's unable to set up a proper possession game.
 

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This is an incredibly blinkered view. Anyone can see that there has been a huge improvement since the Moyes era, both of the squad (with a lot of the dross cut loose) and especially in the play. Now I know everyone hates the style we're currently playing, and I'm not a fan of it either, but at least there is a vision which the manager has been competent enough to implement. People have short memories if they don't think that's an improvement on Moyes who had absolutely no idea what he wanted to do with the team.
While it's true that Moyes had no real idea what he wanted to do with the team, it looked to me as if he was caught inbetween carrying on what Ferguson did (as everyone expected) and something he wanted to do.

Van Gaal took over with no expectations like that. He could shape the team in any way he wanted to without any criticism and he faced extremely low expectations for a club that won the title only 12 months before and spent so much money. Yet there was no clear longterm vision. He brought in a big number of forwards and got rid of wingers to play a 3-5-2ish formation that wasn't suited to the squad or the league. He started changing it randomly until through injuries he accidently stumbled onto something that worked well for a few weeks. But instead of building on it, another totally random transfer window happened with no clear plan how to play. He doesn't know how to use most of his signings, doesn't understand their strengths or the roles they're best used in until he tried and tested them almost everywhere.

It's been 18months of trial and error, we've seen counterattacking set-ups, possession based set-ups, kick and rush. Everything worked a few times, but all of it also failed more often than it should. I really don't get why he gets praise for having a clear plan. If he didn't talk such a pretty game with his totally empty philosophy mumbo-jumbo, I doubt many would see a clear plan.

Really, forget everything he said and just look at the games and the decisions in the transfer-market without using a single comment of his and then try to fit it all in one plan, one great idea that he worked towards from the moment he took over. Do you really see it? Because I don't, not one bit.
 
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VanGaalEra

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With some fact thrown in for good measure. But really, what else am I going to do but speculate? You really don't think Moyes would've found four points with an extra year in the job, an easier fixture list, and £200m in transfers?

I don't think it's an outrageous statement, honestly.
How do you get an easier fixture list after 16 games? You've bloody played 16 out of the 19 teams you're going to play.
 

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While it's true that Moyes had no real idea what he wanted to do with the team, it looked to me as if he was caught inbetween carrying on what Ferguson did (as everyone expected) and something he wanted to do.

Van Gaal took over with no expectations like that. He could shape the team in any way he wanted to without any criticism and he faced extremely low expectations for a club that won the title only 12 months before and spent so much money. Yet there was no clear longterm vision. He brought in a big number of forwards and got rid of wingers to play a 3-5-2ish formation that wasn't suited to the squad or the league. He started changing it randomly until through injuries he accidently stumbled onto something that worked well for a few weeks. But instead of building on it, another totally random transfer window happened with no clear plan how to play. He doesn't know how to use most of his signings, doesn't understand their strengths or the roles they're best used in until he tried and tested them almost everywhere.

It's been 18months of trial and error, we've seen counterattacking set-ups, possession based set-ups, kick and rush. Everything worked a few times, but all of it also failed more often than it should. I really don't get why he gets praise for having a clear plan. If he didn't talk such a pretty game with his totally empty philosophy mumbo-jumbo, I doubt many would see a clear plan.

Really, forget everything he said and just look at the games and the decisions in the transfer-market without using a single comment of his and then try to fit it all in one plan, one great idea that he worked towards from the moment he took over. Do you really see it? Because I don't, not one bit.
This, I don't see any plan and I'm still trying to understand his transfer strategy. He stumbled on a 4-3-3 and instead of keeping it and reinforcing it, he definitely got rid of it.
 

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While it's true that Moyes had no real idea what he wanted to do with the team, it looked to me as if he was caught inbetween carrying on what Ferguson did (as everyone expected) and something he wanted to do.

Van Gaal took over with no expectations like that. He could shape the team in any way he wanted to without any criticism and he faced extremely low expectations for a club that won the title only 12 months before and spent so much money. Yet there was no clear longterm vision. He brought in a big number of forwards and got rid of wingers to play a 3-5-2ish formation that wasn't suited to the squad or the league. He started changing it randomly until through injuries he accidently stumbled onto something that worked well for a few weeks. But instead of building on it, another totally random transfer window happened with no clear plan how to play. He doesn't know how to use most of his signings, doesn't understand their strengths or the roles they're best used in until he tried and tested them almost everywhere.

It's been 18months of trial and error, we've seen counterattacking set-ups, possession based set-ups, kick and rush. Everything worked a few times, but all of it also failed more often than it should. I really don't get why he gets praise for having a clear plan. If he didn't talk such a pretty game with his totally empty philosophy mumbo-jumbo, I doubt many would see a clear plan.

Really, forget everything he said and just look at the games and the decisions in the transfer-market without using a single comment of his and then try to fit it all in one plan, one great idea that he worked towards from the moment he took over. Do you really see it? Because I don't, not one bit.

He's philosophy changed against Bournemouth. Long balls to Fellaini - a new style?
 

Pyroblazer

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Yeah, how dare he say that Moyes could get 4 points more with an extra 12 months and £200m!
Football doesn't work like that, that's why point comparisons and stats are nice, but football isn't maths. And people underestimate the mental side of the thing, which is very important. That's why Chelsea is in a relegation battle and people think we couldn't get worse than 7th under Moyes? I doubt it. City spent 200 million and while their individual class is better with guys like De Bruyne, Sterling and Otamendi, they are still the same Pellegrini-team, which will do feck all in Europe and will only win the title in an underwhelming "best of a bad punch"-way.

van Gaal did things good, the overhaul was needed, we needed tough decisions, lot of signings and removal of deadwood. We also needed a change in style and of course van Gaal is not able to make us perform in a good way, but I still think he improved the technical understanding of the team. Even under Fergie we were never able to control games in his last years. Van Gaal is just not able to do something with it. He did a good job with Step 1 and is now failing to do Step 2, to settle the team, get good games out of it and develope into a promising direction. If van Gaal can't do that, we need to replace him with a manager who can do it. But Moyes was never able to do that first step anyway and money wouldn't have changed that. He had money, but he failed to do anything noteworthy with it, at the end he wasn't able to identify targets, rejected good players because he didn't know them and wasn't even able to get his Everton pair or at least only one half for much more than his release clause. He was just too weak to be in a position for such a big change and couldn't make tough decisions.

At the end we need 1,2 quality signings in attack even under our new manager and I think it could be a huge difference for us and also improve us much under van Gaal, but he still doesn't look like the guy who will get the maximum out of it with his tactics and playstyle. But I don't think comparisons with Moyes are fair or that we should just mark his time here as a complete disaster. The "What has he still to offer."-topic is probably spot on, he did his thing, but can't make the next step with us and if we are just waiting and hoping for him to still do it, things will get worse.