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.

ghagua

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If Hernandez was here he would struggle, that Sums up VG
Absolutely. A striker like Hernandez needs service which we hardly provide for the strikers. It would still have been nice to have him in the squad though along with a few other players.
 

VivaObertan

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Why do you want him to stay?
If you go back a month or so, a lot of people on this forum felt like we were on the cusp of becoming a great side and were potentially one top attacker and a few good performances away from doing so. Our defence was solid, we were efficient in front of goal and our results were good despite our overall play being poor.

I think that LVG's biggest (and potentially most costly) mistake was that he put so much faith in Wayne Rooney as lone striker. There was a pre-season presser where he said something like "Wayne Rooney has assured me that he will be my 20 goal striker and I trust him to produce" and to be honest, the consensus here (and amongst the majority of fans) was that although he hadn't set the world alight over the past 2-3 years, this was mainly because he was playing under a poor Moyes side and then shoe horned into a formation with RvP and Falcao.

(I should mention here that I strongly dislike Rooney and was gutted when we sold RvP to give him the #1 striker spot but I don't think anyone expected him to be THIS poor.)

Contrary to recent posts, I think his dealings in the transfer window have been largely good and again... the majority on here seemed to think the same (if he added Griezmann, Mane, Anderson, Muller or Neymar) but our recent results have blown everything out of proportion. People have actually started to talk about Angel Di Maria not being made to stay as a reason LVG should be gone! This is the guy who didn't give a shit about United and put in some of the most half-assed performances I've ever seen at OT.

He's not a bad manager and he knows how to play good football. Our record under him in the big games is fantastic and despite his reputation he's been extremely flexible in our approach. Our squad has become extremely depleted in recent weeks due to a terrible injury crisis and unfortunately we've not made our chances count in the close games. I still believe in LVG's vision for how we should be playing and recently I think some of our key players have seriously let him down: Rooney, Carrick, Mata and Depay in particular.
 

LeftyBlaster

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If you go back a month or so, a lot of people on this forum felt like we were on the cusp of becoming a great side and were potentially one top attacker and a few good performances away from doing so. Our defence was solid, we were efficient in front of goal and our results were good despite our overall play being poor.

I think that LVG's biggest (and potentially most costly) mistake was that he put so much faith in Wayne Rooney as lone striker. There was a pre-season presser where he said something like "Wayne Rooney has assured me that he will be my 20 goal striker and I trust him to produce" and to be honest, the consensus here (and amongst the majority of fans) was that although he hadn't set the world alight over the past 2-3 years, this was mainly because he was playing under a poor Moyes side and then shoe horned into a formation with RvP and Falcao.

(I should mention here that I strongly dislike Rooney and was gutted when we sold RvP to give him the #1 striker spot but I don't think anyone expected him to be THIS poor.)

Contrary to recent posts, I think his dealings in the transfer window have been largely good and again... the majority on here seemed to think the same (if he added Griezmann, Mane, Anderson, Muller or Neymar) but our recent results have blown everything out of proportion. People have actually started to talk about Angel Di Maria not being made to stay as a reason LVG should be gone! This is the guy who didn't give a shit about United and put in some of the most half-assed performances I've ever seen at OT.

He's not a bad manager and he knows how to play good football. Our record under him in the big games is fantastic and despite his reputation he's been extremely flexible in our approach. Our squad has become extremely depleted in recent weeks due to a terrible injury crisis and unfortunately we've not made our chances count in the close games. I still believe in LVG's vision for how we should be playing and recently I think some of our key players have seriously let him down: Rooney, Carrick, Mata and Depay in particular.
Sorry to disagree and burst your balloon but he has NOT been flexible in our approach nor has he shown that he knows how to get us to play good football here on a consistent basis.

To call the amount of chances and shots on goal we create abysmal is putting it politely. There has been no attempt to improve our attacking play by working on our movement and the directness and pace of passing.
 

VivaObertan

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Sorry to disagree and burst your balloon but he has NOT been flexible in our approach nor has he shown that he knows how to get us to play good football here on a consistent basis.

To call the amount of chances and shots on goal we create abysmal is putting it politely. There has been no attempt to improve our attacking play by working on our movement and the directness and pace of passing.
Don't get me wrong - I've not been enjoying our most recent games either and I agree we aren't creating enough chances in our current system but the man has played all types of football throughout his career in a variety of formations. I guess I'm just optimistic that he will be able to turn this around and in my eyes to cut ties with him now (with Guardiola at Bayern until summer) isn't going to help.

I also think that whilst Mourinho may galvanise our squad in the short term, he's too much of a risk to our brand.
 

Gazza

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The Guardian going with the story that the next two games could be crucial for LVG, lose them and he would be done. Typically Jamie Jackson guesswork or a club briefing?
 

PvsNP

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The Guardian going with the story that the next two games could be crucial for LVG, lose them and he would be done. Typically Jamie Jackson guesswork or a club briefing?
Ogden (The Independent) and Ladyman (Daily Mail) are reporting the same. Seems like a briefing to me.
 

Xaviesta

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Ogden (The Independent) and Ladyman (Daily Mail) are reporting the same. Seems like a briefing to me.
Ogden and Ladyman have both written articles about where Ryan Giggs is in all this mess United are in on the same day. It's probably all inconsequential.
 

LeftyBlaster

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Don't get me wrong - I've not been enjoying our most recent games either and I agree we aren't creating enough chances in our current system but the man has played all types of football throughout his career in a variety of formations. I guess I'm just optimistic that he will be able to turn this around and in my eyes to cut ties with him now (with Guardiola at Bayern until summer) isn't going to help.

I also think that whilst Mourinho may galvanise our squad in the short term, he's too much of a risk to our brand.
I knew you would mention formations and thats my point. Formations do not matter one tittle if the approach is the same. We could play 442, 433, 541, 4231 and the pace and the tempo and the urgency would all be the same. There would be nobody making offensive runs into channels or into space behind defenders, nobody trying to draw defenders off, nothing.
 

VivaObertan

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I knew you would mention formations and thats my point. Formations do not matter one tittle if the approach is the same. We could play 442, 433, 541, 4231 and the pace and the tempo and the urgency would all be the same. There would be nobody making offensive runs into channels or into space behind defenders, nobody trying to draw defenders off, nothing.

I think the tempo of our games is wrong but this was also the case quite often in SAFs final years too.

CSKA, Wolfsburg at home, Everton (?), Sunderland and the first half vs WHU/Norwich/Bournemouth are games where we started positively and played at a high tempo but unfortunately we didn't maintain it throughout.

I dunno... Obviously there are issues that you can attribute to being LVGs fault but surely he isn't telling people not to play quick passes or score goals.
 

Question234

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Don't get me wrong - I've not been enjoying our most recent games either and I agree we aren't creating enough chances in our current system but the man has played all types of football throughout his career in a variety of formations. I guess I'm just optimistic that he will be able to turn this around and in my eyes to cut ties with him now (with Guardiola at Bayern until summer) isn't going to help.

I also think that whilst Mourinho may galvanise our squad in the short term, he's too much of a risk to our brand.
Read the history books and you'll see the LVG carries the same risks which is why he's been fired from every managerial job outside the dutch league for relatively short stints as well.

6 winless, 3 wins out of 15 ? Confidence is shot and while injuries have played apart, we had two senior defenders and still lost to norwich at home. The domino effect has already begun, the longer he is here the worse it will get and we cannot allow loyalty to let us miss out of champs league football again.

I agree we have a great squad that is being badly mismanaged, people throw around 250mil and forget 63m of that was dimaria.
 
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Tosicsleftpeg

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If you go back a month or so, a lot of people on this forum felt like we were on the cusp of becoming a great side and were potentially one top attacker and a few good performances away from doing so. Our defence was solid, we were efficient in front of goal and our results were good despite our overall play being poor.

I think that LVG's biggest (and potentially most costly) mistake was that he put so much faith in Wayne Rooney as lone striker. There was a pre-season presser where he said something like "Wayne Rooney has assured me that he will be my 20 goal striker and I trust him to produce" and to be honest, the consensus here (and amongst the majority of fans) was that although he hadn't set the world alight over the past 2-3 years, this was mainly because he was playing under a poor Moyes side and then shoe horned into a formation with RvP and Falcao.

(I should mention here that I strongly dislike Rooney and was gutted when we sold RvP to give him the #1 striker spot but I don't think anyone expected him to be THIS poor.)

Contrary to recent posts, I think his dealings in the transfer window have been largely good and again... the majority on here seemed to think the same (if he added Griezmann, Mane, Anderson, Muller or Neymar) but our recent results have blown everything out of proportion. People have actually started to talk about Angel Di Maria not being made to stay as a reason LVG should be gone! This is the guy who didn't give a shit about United and put in some of the most half-assed performances I've ever seen at OT.

He's not a bad manager and he knows how to play good football. Our record under him in the big games is fantastic and despite his reputation he's been extremely flexible in our approach. Our squad has become extremely depleted in recent weeks due to a terrible injury crisis and unfortunately we've not made our chances count in the close games. I still believe in LVG's vision for how we should be playing and recently I think some of our key players have seriously let him down: Rooney, Carrick, Mata and Depay in particular.
I am with you mate I think very much along the same lines. The transfer dealings have been nowhere near as bad as people make out when you look at the net spend. OK we made a blunder with Di Maria but we've made a lot of very good signings as well.

The past 2 months have been awful though and the way he had us scraping points and wins means he has been walking a tightrope for a while.
 

Oneunited26

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Absolutely. A striker like Hernandez needs service which we hardly provide for the strikers. It would still have been nice to have him in the squad though along with a few other players.
One way or another we need to put that horse out of its misery, defiantly VG should not get any money, either sack him before January, or the summer one way or another he does not deserve a third year
 

VivaObertan

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I am with you mate I think very much along the same lines. The transfer dealings have been nowhere near as bad as people make out when you look at the net spend. OK we made a blunder with Di Maria but we've made a lot of very good signings as well.

The past 2 months have been awful though and the way he had us scraping points and wins means he has been walking a tightrope for a while.
Don't mention that here, you'll get multi quoted into submission like I have.

...LVG OUT! (jkz, white text etc)
 

iKeano

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I would say Utd won that game IN SPITE of Van Gaal. His unfathomable starting formation, his constant rotation of the back 3/4, his constant shifting of players positions st each 'play' in some sort of NFL style.... It all added up to players as confused as the fans.

The first half was shamboic; players more concerned with some restrictive footballing regime rather than playing with passion and a trust in their own ability. Watching Schweinsteiger and Herrera sprint wide each time De Gea got the ball (and he got the ball a LOT!).

Even in the second half, at one point Herrera was the last man back while Darmian was farthest up the pitch. The deployment of Martial on the wing was as frustrating as ever - his first foray into the box resulted in a goal.

As the current state of the team dictates, 2-1 is now a good result at home and it's the first time LVG hasn't lost to Swansea. For me, the players won that game, Van Gaal had nothing to do with it, but I fully expect his smug, arrogant post-game interviews to point wards as if he's some sort of footballing God.

This win had probably saved him until the summer, but for me, he still has no place at Utd.
 

spwd

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I would say Utd won that game IN SPITE of Van Gaal.

The first half was shamboic; players more concerned with some restrictive footballing regime rather than playing with passion and a trust in their own ability. Watching Schweinsteiger and Herrera sprint wide each time De Gea got the ball (and he got the ball a LOT!).


As the current state of the team dictates, 2-1 is now a good result at home and it's the first time LVG hasn't lost to Swansea. For me, the players won that game, Van Gaal had nothing to do with it, but I fully expect his smug, arrogant post-game interviews to point wards as if he's some sort of footballing God.

This win had probably saved him until the summer, but for me, he still has no place at Utd.
Apparently he said we were better in the first half.
 

2mufc0

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LVG has a reputation for being a tactician but why persist with one system all season even when things are not working? I can't think of one game this season where he hasn't played 4-2-3-1, it's like he doesn't know any other formation? You would think he would try to mix things up as the current formation is not working. He does appear to be one dimensional.

Also what made him abandon the 4-3-3 that we were playing so well with in the second half of last season?
 

prath92

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LVG has a reputation for being a tactician but why persist with one system all season even when things are not working? I can't think of one game this season where he hasn't played 4-2-3-1, it's like he doesn't know any other formation? You would think he would try to mix things up as the current formation is not working. He does appear to be one dimensional.

Also what made him abandon the 4-3-3 that we were playing so well with in the second half of last season?
we played a 3-4-3 vs leics, a 4-4-2 vs west brom i think and a 3-5-2 vs wtford and a 4-3-3 in another game, dont remember which
 

Pexbo

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LVG has a reputation for being a tactician but why persist with one system all season even when things are not working? I can't think of one game this season where he hasn't played 4-2-3-1, it's like he doesn't know any other formation? You would think he would try to mix things up as the current formation is not working. He does appear to be one dimensional.

Also what made him abandon the 4-3-3 that we were playing so well with in the second half of last season?
Against Swansea we played:


Rooney
Martial.... - ...Mata - Young
Herrera......
Blind - Schneiderlin - Schweinsteiger

Smalling - Jones

De Gea​
 

2mufc0

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Against Swansea we played:


Rooney
Martial.... - ...Mata - Young
Herrera......
Blind - Schneiderlin - Schweinsteiger

Smalling - Jones

De Gea​
According to this:http://www.skysports.com/football/man-utd-vs-swansea/teams/341381

I know things change during the match especially when teams park the bus but our base formation in majority of matches is shown as 4-2-3-1. We definitely are not playing in the same 4-3-3 as last season, a system where Herrera, Mata and even Fellaini thrived in.
 

Pexbo

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According to this:http://www.skysports.com/football/man-utd-vs-swansea/teams/341381

I know things change during the match especially when teams park the bus but our base formation in majority of matches is shown as 4-2-3-1. We definitely are not playing in the same 4-3-3 as last season, a system where Herrera, Mata and even Fellaini thrived in.
Well Young spent most of his time closer to their touch line than ours and we played with 3 midfielders. Blind was at least level with the midfielders and playing quite central too.


I wouldn't worry about how journalists display our lineup. It's irrelevant.