Van Gaal

Rista

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So we would be better off if we had sold De Gea and kept Depay to play him in the middle. He "wanted" to sign Mane but he signed a bunch of other players who were mostly shite but I guess that doesn't count. He got so many things wrong that it's not even worth remembering the good things. Slow, terribly dull football with zero penetration but yeah, if we only let him sell De Gea, we would be golden.
 

kps88

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Worst thing about LVG was it looked like we very deliberately built the team and set up to play the dullest brand of football imaginable. Any spark or individual flair was drilled out of the players.

Only positive was we were hard to beat in the big games.
 

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It was under him the major rebuild that we would still be coasting on now was supposed to happen. And he mostly botched it.

People praising him for wanting to sell DDG :houllier:
 

Bojan11

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Oh noes he was right about a few things.

He also spunked a shit load on average and was the guy who signed Rojo and Darmian.
 

Ban

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Only thing he deserved better was a nicer way for him to get sacked.

We should praise him for wanting to sell DDG and wanting to sign Mane?
How yes no.
 

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Things must be grim when we have “on second thoughts” articles on Van Gaal. The appalling transfer policy ensured the post-Fergie stumble would become something a lot more enduring and painful. The football was unwatchable and ineffective (not only could we not score or even create chances, the much-lauded possession fell apart when pressed). The youth policy was basically lucky dip.

Anyone fancy a crack at a revisionist piece on Moyes? Got us through to the CL quarter finals. Almost got us to the League Cup final. Maybe if he only could have got Leighton Baines.....
 

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I agree with the sentiment. The treatment of LvG on here by brainless morons who are willing to write-off LvGs entire CV to convince themselves the likes of Mata, Herrera, Shaw, Rashford and Martial are world-class talents is embarassing

The man was a legendary coach who won almost everything the game had to offer and managed some of the greatest players ever to play the game. The fact that he couldn't take a FrankenTeam of not good enough's, never will be's and has-beens and have them dominate English football is not a reflection on him at all

BTW - you could say exactly the same about Jose. It's easier for fans to blame the manager because it deludes them that we are just "one competent manager" away from another treble and they live in this mythical Football Manager-style simulation where players abilities are ranked and defined by a spreadsheet, you can sign 15 players in a window and sell the same number, contracts are handled by the manager who offers wages using a toggle bar, tactics are moving a counter around a 2D pitch and you can "motivate" a player by clicking a mouse

I"ll go as far to say anyone who think any of our managers are to blame are actually detrimental to the long term health of the club
 

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I agree with the sentiment. The treatment of LvG on here by brainless morons who are willing to write-off LvGs entire CV to convince themselves the likes of Mata, Herrera, Shaw, Rashford and Martial are world-class talents is embarassing

The man was a legendary coach who won almost everything the game had to offer and managed some of the greatest players ever to play the game. The fact that he couldn't take a FrankenTeam of not good enough's, never will be's and has-beens and have them dominate English football is not a reflection on him at all

BTW - you could say exactly the same about Jose. It's easier for fans to blame the manager because it deludes them that we are just "one competent manager" away from another treble and they live in this mythical Football Manager-style simulation where players abilities are ranked and defined by a spreadsheet, you can sign 15 players in a window and sell the same number, contracts are handled by the manager who offers wages using a toggle bar, tactics are moving a counter around a 2D pitch and you can "motivate" a player by clicking a mouse

I"ll go as far to say anyone who think any of our managers are to blame are actually detrimental to the long term health of the club
Well he contributed to the mess by signing of no good enough players by himself. I agree only the manager isn't and wasn't a problem but he sure didn't help himself at all.
 

roonster09

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Van Gaal had some positives in his time here but that's it. It was time to go, at least should have gone 6 months before. His football especially in second season was so bad, it was so bad that we had to cheer for shot on target, forget goals.

He did well in promoting Rashford and winning FA cup but not much to remember from that period.
 

Roboc7

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Makes me laugh that when anyone tries to rewrite LVG’s tenure they always leave out the part he was converting Rooney into his midfield playmaker. I get it doesn’t fit the narrative but it can’t be ignored and shows how out of touch he was.

He did have some good ideas but how he was executing them was completely out of date. He was much better suited to international management at that stage of his career.

How his exit was handled was poor but he was going the next season anyway and it would have been a disaster if he had stayed.
 

Pogue Mahone

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I agree with the sentiment. The treatment of LvG on here by brainless morons who are willing to write-off LvGs entire CV to convince themselves the likes of Mata, Herrera, Shaw, Rashford and Martial are world-class talents is embarassing

The man was a legendary coach who won almost everything the game had to offer and managed some of the greatest players ever to play the game. The fact that he couldn't take a FrankenTeam of not good enough's, never will be's and has-beens and have them dominate English football is not a reflection on him at all

BTW - you could say exactly the same about Jose. It's easier for fans to blame the manager because it deludes them that we are just "one competent manager" away from another treble and they live in this mythical Football Manager-style simulation where players abilities are ranked and defined by a spreadsheet, you can sign 15 players in a window and sell the same number, contracts are handled by the manager who offers wages using a toggle bar, tactics are moving a counter around a 2D pitch and you can "motivate" a player by clicking a mouse

I"ll go as far to say anyone who think any of our managers are to blame are actually detrimental to the long term health of the club
This is such a bad post. For many reasons but probably most of all because - in this very season - we've seen the most concrete evidence possible that getting the right manager on board can get much better results out of the same bunch of players. How the hell can anyone watch the turnaround on Ole and conclude "meh, makes no difference who's in charge.." Absolute fecking madness.
 

roonster09

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This is such a bad post. For many reasons but probably most of all because - in this very season - we've seen the most concrete evidence possible that getting the right manager on board can get much better results out of the same bunch of players. How the hell can anyone watch the turnaround on Ole and conclude "meh, makes no difference who's in charge.." Absolute fecking madness.
Apparently manager/coach is not responsible for signings (even though Jose himself admitted he gave list of players), coaching the team into decent team or no inputs in which players to be retained.

It's scouting team, coaching team and Woodward's work. Wonder what exactly is the role of manager.
 

TRUERED89

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The only time I considered giving up my season ticket was his 2nd season. Such dire stuff.

Also unforgivable for selling Hernandez, Nani, Kagawa, Rafael, Evans, Zaha.

Apologies if I got this wrong and any of these sells were Moyes.
Those 3 would be massively useful for us now!
 

Sassy Colin

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The thing that really did for me was the last few games of the season where we should have easily made top 4. We were playing quite well at the time, but we fecked around in those games so much, we ended up outside, which ultimately led to his sacking. The West Ham game, I think, in particular, was dire.
 

TRUERED89

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This is such a bad post. For many reasons but probably most of all because - in this very season - we've seen the most concrete evidence possible that getting the right manager on board can get much better results out of the same bunch of players. How the hell can anyone watch the turnaround on Ole and conclude "meh, makes no difference who's in charge.." Absolute fecking madness.
Exactly this!
 

Kush

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I really can't believe we still have fans who stick up for van Gaal. He is a major reason as to why we are in such a mess, he did an absolutely abhorrent job of re-building the squad and wasted vast amount of money on incredibly shit players. I mean just look at this squad

And also this, in case folks had forgotten.

 

roonster09

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I really can't believe we still have fans who stick up for van Gaal. He is a major reason as to why we are in such a mess, he did an absolutely abhorrent job of re-building the squad and wasted vast amount of money on incredibly shit players. I mean just look at this squad

Not sure how you can blame that squad on Van Gaal when that was 11 that played against MK Dons in league cup and that was the squad he inherited from previous managers.

Also most of the players from that 11 played their last game that day and were sold and loaned out immediately. So he cleared out that squad in his first summer window. Not a single player he signed played in that game.
 

Green_Red

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I like his comments about De Ligt. It was a backhanded way of saying he isn't better than the defenders we have because he's struggle to get game time here. Louis van Gaals Red Army!
 

buckooo1978

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a disaster transfer wise

sold Rafael, Van Persie, Evans, Kagawa, Nani, Zaha, Michael Keane for about 25-28 million combined

bought Schneiderlein for the money recouped

Zaha, Kagawa, Keane and Rafael should all still be valuable squad members
 

Saffron

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a disaster transfer wise

sold Rafael, Van Persie, Evans, Kagawa, Nani, Zaha, Michael Keane for about 25-28 million combined

bought Schneiderlein for the money recouped

Zaha, Kagawa, Keane and Rafael should all still be valuable squad members
He also sold prime age Chicharito for 1/3 of Fellaini’s fee. Two years later Chicharito commanded a 50% higher fee after doing well in Bundesliga. Well done LVG.
 

Aloysius's Back 3

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Absolutely love the anti LVG brigade getting hurt about the late positives about Louis :drool:. We said he maybe right :angel:
 

Kaglish10

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a disaster transfer wise

sold Rafael, Van Persie, Evans, Kagawa, Nani, Zaha, Michael Keane for about 25-28 million combined

bought Schneiderlein for the money recouped

Zaha, Kagawa, Keane and Rafael should all still be valuable squad members
No way would Zaha and Keane have been valuable squad players. These were young players who needed game times to up their development and refine their games. They won't get that by sitting on the bench and I can bet if they were still here, we would all be cursing out their names everytime they play on the pitch because their development would have stalled as a result of lack of game time, considering they were still quite young whose games haven't been finessed like experienced players.

Rafael was often injury prone and hardly played for the team anyway. We are only talking about him because we didn't make an adequate recruitment. Van Persie was old and Nani didn't want to stay as a squad player.

The only player I think should have been kept was Kagawa because he was actually good despite the fact that he was mostly deployed in the central midfield, for example the Madrid pre-season match where he was terrific. Also, he was our best player against Mk Dons and it's no wonder the flood gates opened as soon as he came off due to injury. I think Van Gaal was just annoyed with the shambolic display of the whole team that played against Mk Dons hence the reason he got rid of them all.
 

dirkey

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a disaster transfer wise

sold Rafael, Van Persie, Evans, Kagawa, Nani, Zaha, Michael Keane for about 25-28 million combined

bought Schneiderlein for the money recouped

Zaha, Kagawa, Keane and Rafael should all still be valuable squad members
Kagawa is in Turkey. He should not still be a squad member. Was barely good enough to be one when he was here.
 

buckooo1978

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He also sold prime age Chicharito for 1/3 of Fellaini’s fee. Two years later Chicharito commanded a 50% higher fee after doing well in Bundesliga. Well done LVG.
ah yes I knew there was someone else

there was something Mourinho-esque about the way he dumped Hernandez.... the way he turned to look at Giggs when he missed that penalty

selling Hernandez left us with two genuine attackers that year iirc- Depay and Rooney
 

buckooo1978

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No way would Zaha and Keane have been valuable squad player. These were young players who needed game times to up their development and refine their games. They won't get that by sitting on the bench and I can bet if they were still here, we would all be cursing out their names everytime they play on the pitch because their development would have stalled as a result of lack of game time, considering they were still quite young whose games haven't been finessed like experienced players. Rafael was often injury prone and hardly played for the team anyway. We are only talking about him because we didn't make an adequate RB recruitment.

The only player I think should have been kept was Kagawa because he was actually good despite the fact that he was mostly deployed in the central midfield, for example the Madrid pre-season match where he was terrific. Also, he was our best player against Mk Dons and it's no wonder the flood gates opened as soon as he came off due to injury. I think Van Gaal was just annoyed with the shambolic display of the whole team that played against Mk Dons hence the reason he got rid of them all.
time has proved you wrong though. Zaha barely had an opportunity at United but has become a strong premier league player. Rafael is still impressing for Lyon and loved the club too. Keane was young but with the right coaching he'd be more reliable than Rojo and Jones for example.

People mention MK Dons but that was a drop in the ocean. No players bar De Gea were excellent in Van Gaals team and it's still the worst football I've seen served up by United teams. The Manager was the common denominator and I've no idea why we appointed him given his style
 

buckooo1978

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Kagawa is in Turkey. He should not still be a squad member. Was barely good enough to be one when he was here.
perhaps you are right on him but he went on to be very decent for Dortmund in the years that followed
 

Saffron

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ah yes I knew there was someone else

there was something Mourinho-esque about the way he dumped Hernandez.... the way he turned to look at Giggs when he missed that penalty

selling Hernandez left us with two genuine attackers that year iirc- Depay and Rooney



This is the guy LVG treated like he would have paid to get rid of him. Then he scored 28 in 54 in Bundesliga and is still an important player for a decent Premier League club at 31. He is also Mexico’s all time top scorer.

A 27 year old Chicharito would have been an excellent option to have.
 

Aloysius's Back 3

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Chicharito is utter rubbish & I couldn't be more happier he went.

LVG looked at Giggs due to him clearly talking about Chicharito's lack of technical ability - the absolute same way Lukaku fumbles with his first touch to frustrate the fans and quite possibly the other players in the team.
 

Hugh Jass

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Love LVG.

Ideally we went the whole management reign the wrong way.

We should have had Jose after SAF to guarantee us some success. Then go for LVG to get the next bunch of youth in and finally replace him with our own choice of manager be that home grown or as SAF had wanted - moyes.

Going from LVG to Jose was one of the worst things that I have ever seen at this club because they were so different.

Blind & Smalling looked great together & now we are still wondering about what's happening next because what one manager likes the next one does not.
This. And another 300 million spunked on a rebuild.
 

Kaglish10

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time has proved you wrong though. Zaha barely had an opportunity at United but has become a strong premier league player. Rafael is still impressing for Lyon and loved the club too. Keane was young but with the right coaching he'd be more reliable than Rojo and Jones for example.

People mention MK Dons but that was a drop in the ocean. No players bar De Gea were excellent in Van Gaals team and it's still the worst football I've seen served up by United teams. The Manager was the common denominator and I've no idea why we appointed him given his style
Excuse me, the likes of Martial, Rashford, Lingard, Blind, Smalling and Carrick were obviously horrible under Van Gaal like you said.

Even Fellaini looked good under Van Gaal as well as the injury prone Schweisteiger who formed a good partnership with Schneiderlin in the heart of our midfield which culminated in our good runs that got us to the top of league table until injury struck him before December. That was when we started having problem because Herrera couldn't form an adequate partnership with Schneiderlin in the midfield like Schweisteiger did before his injury. Herrera continued to look rubbish in a possession based midfield setup despite being a Basque player until Carrick came to the rescue after his injury lay off. The fact is Van Gaal got the best out of the average squad he had under him.

Zaha plays as a SS nowadays for a counter attacking Crystal palace team which is built around him and that's something he couldn't have had here. As a matter of fact, I still don't see him working out on the wing because he doesn't have the close control to navigate through opposition's defenders, especially while he was utilised in a possession based style. Maybe he could have worked out as a wing forward for us (regardless of his terrible finishing) however, we didn't have a creative midfielder like Pogba or de bruyne who could have constantly released him in acres of space and save him the hassle of having to combat defenders most of the time neither were the team operating a counter attacking set up which could have given him much more space to operate whenever the team would counter. Whichever ways, same happened to Depay who is of similar player and equally doing well at Lyon. Both needed game times to refine their games anyway.

As for Rafael, how many games did he play for us? Was he ever available? I have no problem with Van Gaal getting rid of him because the physio room was more of his friend while he was here. He wasn't always available.

Keane was a young player who needed game times also and there was no way he would have got enough if he had stayed.
 
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dirkey

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perhaps you are right on him but he went on to be very decent for Dortmund in the years that followed
He wasn't good enough for United. Certain players can't cut it in England or at United. He was one, in my opinion.
 

dirkey

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Honestly, when I first saw this thread, I thought it was a wind up. We should praise him for wanting to sell our best players? Jesus wept. He'd some great ideas because he wanted to sign 1 player, who no doubt would have been absolutely crap under the tumescent football he was serving up, whilst signing player after player who wasn't good enough for the club.

As someone else said, a lucky dip approach to youth policy. Throw random lads in and hope they're good enough. He was an absolutely terrible manager for United, at that point in his career. He wasn't removed fast enough.
 

Johan07

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The only time I considered giving up my season ticket was his 2nd season. Such dire stuff.

Also unforgivable for selling Hernandez, Nani, Kagawa, Rafael, Evans, Zaha.

Apologies if I got this wrong and any of these sells were Moyes.
Its unforgivable to sell 5 players whose careers just went downhill afterwards? Maybe with the exception of Zaha. One of the things LvG did best was to clear out the squad.
 

fallengt

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LvG had flaws but you could see the team was coached. We played with low tempo and couldn't break down oppo' defense other than those Louis is the type of manager United should hire.
 

Aloysius's Back 3

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Honestly, when I first saw this thread, I thought it was a wind up. We should praise him for wanting to sell our best players? Jesus wept. He'd some great ideas because he wanted to sign 1 player, who no doubt would have been absolutely crap under the tumescent football he was serving up, whilst signing player after player who wasn't good enough for the club.

As someone else said, a lucky dip approach to youth policy. Throw random lads in and hope they're good enough. He was an absolutely terrible manager for United, at that point in his career. He wasn't removed fast enough.
Absolutely nothing wrong with that. I'd be happy to see such a thing under any manager at United.
 

dirkey

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Absolutely nothing wrong with that. I'd be happy to see such a thing under any manager at United.
There absolutely is a massive amount wrong with it. It shows you basically haven't a clue what you're doing. You can't tell from training who is ready and who isn't? Putting a young player into the team when they're not ready can be a huge mistake, can set them back massively.

It shows he can't evaluate players. We can tell that from his transfer policy too.
 

buckooo1978

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Excuse me, the likes of Martial, Rashford, Lingard, Blind, Smalling and Carrick were obviously horrible under Van Gaal like you said.

Even Fellaini looked good under Van Gaal as well as the injury prone Schweisteiger who formed a good partnership with Schneiderlin in the heart of our midfield which culminated in our good runs that got us to the top of league table until injury struck him before December. That was when we started having problem because Herrera couldn't form an adequate partnership with Schneiderlin in the midfield like Schweisteiger did before his injury. Herrera continued to look rubbish in a possession based midfield setup despite being a Basque player until Carrick came to the rescue after his injury lay off. The fact is Van Gaal got the best out of the average squad he had under him.

Zaha plays as a SS nowadays for a counter attacking Crystal palace team which is built around him and that's something he couldn't have had here. As a matter of fact, I still don't see him working out on the wing because he doesn't have the close control to navigate through opposition's defenders, especially while he was utilised in a possession based style. Maybe he could have worked out as a wing forward for us (regardless of his terrible finishing) however, we didn't have a creative midfielder like Pogba or de bruyne who could have constantly released him in acres of space and save him the hassle of having to combat defenders most of the time neither were the team operating a counter attacking set up which could have given him much more space to operate whenever the team would counter. Whichever ways, same happened to Depay who is of similar player and equally doing well at Lyon. Both needed game times to refine their games anyway.

As for Rafael, how many games did he play for us? Was he ever available? I have no problem with Van Gaal getting rid of him because the physio room was more of his friend while he was here. He wasn't always available.

Keane was a young player who needed game times also and there was no way he would have got enough if he had stayed.
the bold part is silly - I didnt say they were horrible

Martial and Rashford were our brightest players but generally no players in that system excelled - if you think they did well we can just agree to disagree

we had about a month of genuinely great football in Van Gaals time at the club when we beat Spurs, City and Liverpool at Anfield.

aside of that you had a largely ineffective team in spite of his spending- he hasn't a clue how to use Di Maria and there were many games where we fashioned only a shot or two on target

as for Rafael - hes the last right back we had that had a great season albeit in Fergie's final season - hes been very decent by all accounts for Lyon whilst Valencia and Young have been very limited players.