Van Gaal

[Green_Red]

Yeah what a friggin nightmare, watching two years where everybody, even Mike Smalling, looked calm and composed in possession and regularly passed to somebody in the same colour shirt, and not this hot potato nonsense we've had to put up with since LvG was sacked.

Yea I loved watching us pass the ball around the opposition box with no end product. It was great watching one of the best strikers we've ever had get deployed in a midfield position. Not to mention the unbelievable signings we made. Quality!

He literally won half the games he managed. Well done Louis. 4th in his first season, 5th in his second. Glory days!

 

[Steven-UK]

Van Gaal, the Manchester United Manager that created more empty seats for games at Old Trafford than I have seen before, or since. By far the worse football I have seen at OT in over a decade as a ST holder (although we are reaching similar lows currently).

Me and my lad used to sit there at the end of the game wondering how many more lies the bloke on the tannoy would state that week, regarding attendance figures, which were so obviously false.

 

[Sylar]

This is really funny!

Herrera played in all of the 3 matches (Stoke city, Chelsea, Norwich) we had in December and looked terrible in them all. It was only the Bournemouth and Westham games he didn't play because he had a knock. Even in January, we could only win two out of the four matches he played and we all looked awful in all of them, including the matches we luckily won. It's even ridiculous to have thought Herrera had a good season during that period whereas he was mostly horrible. Take for example, the large margin win against Stoke city in February, happened without Herrera whereas the previous match that had Herrera against Stoke got us whooped! In fact by February, he was back to his bench role or moved to the AM role in the place of the injured Rooney.

Anyone saying Herrera wasn't terrible under Van Gaal didn't watch us play or has an agenda. I can't even forget his two horrible matches against Westham and was carried off the pitch by Noble in one of them.

The last EPL match Schweisteiger played in, was the draw against Westham. He scored in the previous game against Leicester by the way. After his injury, we looked terrible and couldn't control the midfield! That's a fact!

I can't with some people here.

Yeah great, but my point is Herrera didnt start which skews things (if youre talking about being involved)

Also Your points of defending LVG have included that he was 'forced to play Herrera by the board' and that 'Herrera wasnt good enough'. But lets look at the games.
Vs Norwich, he came on when we were 2 nil down and lost 2-1. So positive impact? (or does points like that only work when you want to defend LVG)?
vs Stoke - he started and we lost
vs Chelsea - he started and we drew.

So at which point there was it that Herrera lost us the league cos he couldnt replace Basty? I mean your point about losing to Stoke with Herrera and winning without, is negated by the fact that we beat Norwich with Herrera but got whooped at home without him (and closed the scoreline with him coming on).


Now lets look at whole of December with the Prem games:
Herrera and Basty both started vs Chelsea - draw
Herrera stated vs Stoke - loss
Neither started vs Norwich - loss
Neither stated vs Bournemouth - loss
Basty started vs West Ham - draw

So based on your points, you would essentially be saying we lost the league due to the loss to Stoke? Is that right?

Fact is LVG was a manager who really didnt know what he wanted to do hence changing formations / tactics all the time. And changing personnel even though he greenlit most of the signings at the time. Our season didnt collapse because Basty got injured. We failed to navigate a CL group with Moscow, PSV and Wolfburg. And that was with Basty playing every single game.

 

[Kaglish10]

Mane actually rejected us after speaking to LVG so I dont see what credit there is for him there, he obviously didn’t convince Mane it was right move, which happens but don’t see why dwelling on it.

LVG spent significant sums of money but they were poor signings or he didn’t know how to use them. Board and him are at fault on that, I don’t get this logic of saying how poor the squad was as if LVG was nothing to do with it.

Nolito comment also doesn’t make sense, he cost about 13-14m we bought at least half a dozen players under LVG that were about double that or more, he wasn’t shopping in the bargain bin.

The point about Bastian is fiction you have no idea (neither do I) about what the board did or didn’t do. My original point remains you cant absolve LVG for having to play sluggish midfielders when he recruited one and converted another.

He probably wasn’t concerned by that but it doesn’t fit the idea of what people like to pretend he was trying to establish.

He did well with Holland in what is a simple and outdated coaching/managerial environment. Southgate and Coleman have shown if you keep it simple and make most of your talented players you can be successful. Worth remembering as well that LVG failed to qualify for the World Cup with a very talented Dutch squad.

Football evolves and in this era LVG was undoubtedly behind the curve, there’s a difference between partial influence and being at the forefront.

This was after Mane went to Liverpool in the next summer. We offered 20mil which was rejected prior to that and was rejected by Southampton. Liverpool wasn't in for him then and Mane didn't say he didn't want to come here however I don't know if we went back for him after Van Gaal had left and he eventually chose Liverpool over us and I don't begrudge him for doing that because we made a mess of it while we had our chances.

Also, how much were the cost of Darmain, Rojo, Blind, Schweisteiger? How were they different from Nolito, Douglas Luiz, Bravo, Moreno etc that were all signed by Pep? Or Danilo that came in at 30mil under Pep? All of them were a miss! Most of Pep's signings that became an instant hit weren't below 50mil. 50mil was the bench mark for Pep whereas we had Van Gaal taking punts on Schweisteiger, Blind, Rojo, Darmain etc.

Martial, Depay and Schneiderlin were the only big money signings made by Van Gaal and even at that, none reached the 50mil benchmark of Pep except Martial.

We already recouped most of the fees of Di Maria who left us as quickly as he came. I don't think he was even a Van Gaal's signing because Van Gaal doesn't sign those kind of players. The boards signed Herrera and Shaw.

I don't think Van Gaal spent as much as Mourinho while he was here.

 

[Kaglish10]

Yeah great, but my point is Herrera didnt start which skews things (if youre talking about being involved)

Also Your points of defending LVG have included that he was 'forced to play Herrera by the board' and that 'Herrera wasnt good enough'. But lets look at the games.
Vs Norwich, he came on when we were 2 nil down and lost 2-1. So positive impact? (or does points like that only work when you want to defend LVG)?
vs Stoke - he started and we lost
vs Chelsea - he started and we drew.

So at which point there was it that Herrera lost us the league cos he couldnt replace Basty? I mean your point about losing to Stoke with Herrera and winning without, is negated by the fact that we beat Norwich with Herrera but got whooped at home without him (and closed the scoreline with him coming on).


Now lets look at whole of December with the Prem games:
Herrera and Basty both started vs Chelsea - draw
Herrera stated vs Stoke - loss
Neither started vs Norwich - loss
Neither stated vs Bournemouth - loss
Basty started vs West Ham - draw

So based on your points, you would essentially be saying we lost the league due to the loss to Stoke? Is that right?

Fact is LVG was a manager who really didnt know what he wanted to do hence changing formations / tactics all the time. And changing personnel even though he greenlit most of the signings at the time. Our season didnt collapse because Basty got injured. We failed to navigate a CL group with Moscow, PSV and Wolfburg. And that was with Basty playing every single game.

Herrera looked awful in the match we played with him either in December or January. That's the cold fact and even your stats attested to it.

After Schweisteiger's injury, we became awful and Herrera couldn't offer anything meaningful most of the time. We would have clinched top four if Fellaini hadn't been out against Westham and Herrera didn't play in his place.

 

[flappyjay]

Rooney came back from his injury and Van Gaal had to find a role for him, considering Rashford already claimed the central striker role.

Funny enough when Fellaini was out due his card accumulation and Herrera was brought back into the team, he was horrible and couldn't be bothered during our top 4 run in. If Fellaini wasn't out, we would have clinched a top four finish.

You mixed up the seasons, we had a great spring in lvg's 1st season with carrick,herrera and fellaini as the midfield trio, it only changed when Carrick got injured and we then tried herrera then Blind as the dlp. The schweinsteiger signing was exciting because we thought we would have carrick and Bastian rotating as the dlp and we would continue the last seasons system. Instead we changed to a double pivot the following season, in a way LVG was the architect of his downfall. He had a good system and turned his back on it

 

[Roboc7]

This was after Mane went to Liverpool in the next summer. We offered 20mil which was rejected prior to that and was rejected by Southampton. Liverpool wasn't in for him then and Mane didn't say he didn't want to come here however I don't know if we went back for him after Van Gaal had left and he eventually chose Liverpool over us and I don't begrudge him for doing that because we made a mess of it while we had our chances.

Also, how much were the cost of Darmain, Rojo, Blind, Schweisteiger? How were they different from Nolito, Douglas Luiz, Bravo, Moreno etc that were all signed by Pep? Or Danilo that came in at 30mil under Pep? All of them were a miss! Most of Pep's signings that became an instant hit weren't below 50mil. 50mil was the bench mark for Pep whereas we had Van Gaal taking punts on Schweisteiger, Blind, Rojo, Darmain etc.

Martial, Depay and Schneiderlin were the only big money signings made by Van Gaal and even at that, none reached the 50mil benchmark of Pep except Martial.

We already recouped most of the fees of Di Maria who left us as quickly as he came. I don't think he was even a Van Gaal's signing because Van Gaal doesn't sign those kind of players. The boards signed Herrera and Shaw.

I don't think Van Gaal spent as much as Mourinho while he was here.

Again that’s pure fiction over Mane, he said he turned as down after talks so it’s not the board’s fault, he didn’t want to sign for us.

Pep wasn’t at City when LVG was here so your not making any sense, when you look at what was being spent when LVG was here it’s clear his signings weren’t cheap.

Prices have been going up and up since then, But we were spending big fees at that time under LVG so it’s just making excuses.

 

[Sylar]

Herrera looked awful in the match we played with him either in December or January. That's the cold fact and even your stats attested to it.

After Schweisteiger's injury, we became awful and Herrera couldn't offer anything meaningful most of the time. We would have clinched top four if Fellaini hadn't been out against Westham and Herrera didn't play in his place.

So we lost the title cos Basty was out and Herrera replaced him for one match in December
And we lost top four because Herrera played in a match over Fellaini in one match towards the end of the season.

Is that right? All your opinions are cold fact now, too funny.

So why did we get knocked out the CL when Basty played (started all six matches)? How come we only scored 7 goals in 6 matches?

How come we won the FA Cup where Basty only started in one round (3rd round) but Herrera played in every round bar one? That fact is still a bit warm right now

 

[Kaglish10]

Again that’s pure fiction over Mane, he said he turned as down after talks so it’s not the board’s fault, he didn’t want to sign for us.

Pep wasn’t at City when LVG was here so your not making any sense, when you look at what was being spent when LVG was here it’s clear his signings weren’t cheap.

Prices have been going up and up since then, But we were spending big fees at that time under LVG so it’s just making excuses.

Mane didn't come out with such statement in the year we went for him hence it's you who's reading into such statement. He didn't even say he turned us down after Van Gaal called him. He said he felt it right that he was at Liverpool. How does that equates to turning us down? You're the one adding fiction into what it's not.. Liverpool came for him in the following season and he felt happy with them and said it was the right club and right moment for him. At least liverpool showed the intention of wanting him and valued him whereas we could only offers pittance.

Also, nothing has gone up at the time Pep was signed by City. Stones was signed for a ridiculous 50mil by him. Likewise Sane. That was just in 2016, the year after we offered 20mil euros for Mane.

It was PSG who made the market go up after bidding for Neymar and Mbappe with ridiculous amount of money and Dortmund felt they had to get their own share of Neymar's fee from Barca when they came in for Dembele.

At the time Mourinho came and splashed money on Bailly, Pogba and Mikhitaryan, nothing was wrong with the market. This is all lame.

 

[Andersons Dietician]

It’s intresting that if you read the article Pogue put up the other day about modern football and the reactions to everyone going on about that is how we should play, but when we were building towards it every one was up in arms about possesion football and complaint about boredom from an incomplete team that was quite young and inexperienced learning what they were supposed to be doing.

I mean LVG after pretty much every match and even before kept getting on at them for the lack of tempo and rhythm and here we are 3 years later with people questioning why we didn’t start a proper plan to modernise our style of football when all they did was complain when we started doing just that.

 

[Kaglish10]

So we lost the title cos Basty was out and Herrera replaced him for one match in December
And we lost top four because Herrera played in a match over Fellaini in one match towards the end of the season.

Is that right? All your opinions are cold fact now, too funny.

So why did we get knocked out the CL when Basty played (started all six matches)? How come we only scored 7 goals in 6 matches?

How come we won the FA Cup where Basty only started in one round (3rd round) but Herrera played in every round bar one? That fact is still a bit warm right now

I didn't say we would have won the title with Schweisteiger but we wouldn't have been further down and have to scrap for a top four finish, if he wasn't out.

Also, Schweinsteiger was an ageing player who shouldn't be expected to turn up in every matches and should be rested. Xavi was always given plenty of rest during his last years at Barca however we had no alternative to Schweisteiger because other midfielders were rubbish except Carrick who's similar and needed a rest also.

The absence of Fellaini and the inclusion of Herrera in the game against Westham was the final nail to our top 4 finish.

 

[Roboc7]

Mane didn't come out with such statement in the year we went for him hence it's you who's reading into such statement. He didn't even say he turned us down after Van Gaal called him. He said he felt it right that he was at Liverpool. How does that equates to turning us down? You're the one adding fiction into what it's not.. Liverpool came for him in the following season and he felt happy with them and said it was the right club and right moment for him. At least liverpool showed the intention of wanting him and valued him whereas we could only offers pittance.

Also, nothing has gone up at the time Pep was signed by City. Stones was signed for a ridiculous 50mil by him. Likewise Sane. That was just in 2016, the year after we offered 20mil euros for Mane.

It was PSG who made the market go up after bidding for Neymar and Mbappe with ridiculous amount of money and Dortmund felt they had to get their own share of Neymar's fee from Barca when they came in for Dembele.

At the time Mourinho came and splashed money on Bailly, Pogba and Mikhitaryan, nothing was wrong with the market. This is all lame.

Mane said he spoke to LVG and we were the wrong team that’s a fact, your theory on our transfer activity is lame fiction there’s not much else to say about that. I get it Mane is doing well so it’s desperation to link him to LVG because of his poor signings.

Like I said Pep wasn’t manager at same time as LVG, what were the managers at same time spending, what did the league winners spend in comparison. LVG wasn’t the poor relation and was outspending most that is the reality.

The fascination with comparing transfers to Pep is either because you don’t know when he took over at City or to avoid the truth.

 

[Morpheus 7]

The revisionism of Van Gaal is hilarious. I honestly think some suffer from amnesia in here at times. He played the most negative, soul destroying, robotic football I've ever seen at United.
He argubaly set as back more than Moyes did. Moyes was completely out of his depth and signed Fellaini and Mata. Van Gaal give us Martial, Romero and and luckily got Rashford. If it wasn't for a scary number of injuries Rashford wouldn't have got his chance. Rojo, Romero, Shaw, Darmian, Schneriderlin, Schweinsteiger, Di Maria, Falcao, Blind, Herrera, Depay and Valdez hardly worked out. The most scatter gun approach to players you will ever see. Between duds like Rojo, Darmian and Schneirderlin to mercenaries like Di Maria and maybe Falcao. Obviously not everyone is going to work out but clear poor planning and direction. The effects of that poor rebuild is seen in this side today. It's important to note how close De Gea was to going in that regime.

Moyes was a disaster and not able for the job. Mourihno's heart wasn't in it and fought with his own shadow and fractured that dressing room. Lvg wasted an absolute fortune at a critical time, played maybe the worst football. Ole is in to try and clean up the mess of the lot of them. It's about getting new players and a strong mentality back. The confidence is absolutely shot with players not good enough, not wanting to be here and not doing enough. Ed Woodward definitely played a part to but Lvg was probably the worst timing of any manager. A rebuild under Jose wouldn't have been half as bad. People need to forget the record against the top 4 and remember the record against everyone else, the shite football, the embarrassment in Europe. Feck Lvg, funny interviews that's we brought. Chatting about bringing Mane in, nobody worth chatting about would have came to us the way we were playing. It was like watching the end of the Jose days hungover. There is no rewriting history, won the FA cup with fortunate draws throughout.

 

[Kaglish10]

Mane said he spoke to LVG and we were the wrong team that’s a fact, your theory on our transfer activity is lame fiction there’s not much else to say about that. I get it Mane is doing well so it’s desperation to link him to LVG because of his poor signings.

Like I said Pep wasn’t manager at same time as LVG, what were the managers at same time spending, what did the league winners spend in comparison. LVG wasn’t the poor relation and was outspending most that is the reality.

The fascination with comparing transfers to Pep is either because you don’t know when he took over at City or to avoid the truth.

Mane didn't say he turned us down. That's the fact! He said he was happy with Liverpool and it was the right club and right moment for him. If we had signed him, he would have made a similar statement. Until you have showed me where he said he turned us down, this is really lame!

Also, I need to remind you that Blind, Darmain, Rojo's fees didn't even exceed the money Mourinho paid for Andre Schurlee. Not just that, the likes of Abdulrahman Baba, loic Remy, Zouma came in for a similar amount and no one gave Mourinho grieve on that. That's not to talk of the likes of Kennedy. The market skyrocketed indeed!

Mourinho has made worst signing than Van Gaal and many kept on saying they were punts but when it comes to Van Gaal, they were no longer punts. Really?

 

[Roboc7]

Mane didn't say he turned us down. That's the fact! He said he was happy with Liverpool and it was the right club and right moment for him. If we had signed him, he would have made a similar statement. Until you have showed me where he said he turned us down, this is really lame!

Also, I need to remind you that Blind, Darmain, Rojo's fees didn't even exceed the money Mourinho paid for Andre Schurlee. Not just that, the likes of Abdulrahman Baba, loic Remy, Zouma came in for a similar amount and no one gave Mourinho grieve on that. That's not to talk of the likes of Kennedy. The market skyrocketed indeed!

Mourinho has made worst signing than Van Gaal and many kept on saying they were punts but when it comes to Van Gaal, they were no longer punts. Really?

Google Mane and LVG he literally says he spoke to LVG and didn’t want to join us, not our board offered pittance which is your version and based on fiction or speculation at best. Like I say it’s just desperation to find something to credit LVG for. For all you know the board wanted him and LVG messed it up.

Maybe remind yourself that Mourinho won the league before it all went wrong so that’s probably why and that Pep wasn’t manager of City until 2016.

Move goalposts all you want but your just shooting yourself in the foot constantly and making no sense at all.

How much did the other teams that finished above us spend in 2015?. I assume numerous players for 50m that poor old LVG couldn’t compete with. He was taking punts after all.

 

[Leftback99]

The revisionism of Van Gaal is hilarious. I honestly think some suffer from amnesia in here at times. He played the most negative, soul destroying, robotic football I've ever seen at United.
He argubaly set as back more than Moyes did. Moyes was completely out of his depth and signed Fellaini and Mata. Van Gaal give us Martial, Romero and and luckily got Rashford. If it wasn't for a scary number of injuries Rashford wouldn't have got his chance. Rojo, Romero, Shaw, Darmian, Schneriderlin, Schweinsteiger, Di Maria, Falcao, Blind, Herrera, Depay and Valdez hardly worked out. The most scatter gun approach to players you will ever see. Between duds like Rojo, Darmian and Schneirderlin to mercenaries like Di Maria and maybe Falcao. Obviously not everyone is going to work out but clear poor planning and direction. The effects of that poor rebuild is seen in this side today. It's important to note how close De Gea was to going in that regime.

Moyes was a disaster and not able for the job. Mourihno's heart wasn't in it and fought with his own shadow and fractured that dressing room. Lvg wasted an absolute fortune at a critical time, played maybe the worst football. Ole is in to try and clean up the mess of the lot of them. It's about getting new players and a strong mentality back. The confidence is absolutely shot with players not good enough, not wanting to be here and not doing enough. Ed Woodward definitely played a part to but Lvg was probably the worst timing of any manager. A rebuild under Jose wouldn't have been half as bad. People need to forget the record against the top 4 and remember the record against everyone else, the shite football, the embarrassment in Europe. Feck Lvg, funny interviews that's we brought. Chatting about bringing Mane in, nobody worth chatting about would have came to us the way we were playing. It was like watching the end of the Jose days hungover. There is no rewriting history, won the FA cup with fortunate draws throughout.

Completely agree. He spent a fortune on dross at a time when we still had a significant financial advantage over the rest of the league. It's completely diminished now with teams like Everton, West Ham, Leicester, even Fulham capable of spending £100m+.

You could reverse every transfer that happened in/out on his watch and we'd arguably have a better squad still and £300m to spend.

 

[Kaglish10]

Google Mane and LVG he literally says he spoke to LVG and didn’t want to join us, not our board offered pittance which is your version and based on fiction or speculation at best. Like I say it’s just desperation to find something to credit LVG for. For all you know the board wanted him and LVG messed it up.

Maybe remind yourself that Mourinho won the league before it all went wrong so that’s probably why and that Pep wasn’t manager of City until 2016.

Move goalposts all you want but your just shooting yourself in the foot constantly and making no sense at all.

How much did the other teams that finished above us spend in 2015?. I assume numerous players for 50m that poor old LVG couldn’t compete with. He was taking punts after all.

You have got nothing to say. The likes of Costa, Matic, Fabregas, Willian, Pedro didn't come cheap. That's not to even mention the fact that Chelsea already had a world-class player in Hazard who actually dragged Chelsea to the the title, especially after Costa's goals dried up.

The point is the likes of Felipe Luis, Abdulrahman Baba, Loic Remy, Andre Schurlee, Zouma, Kennedy weren't used as a stick to beat Mourinho because they were regarded as punts unlike Matic, Fabregas, Willian Pedro, Costa, Cuadradro who didn't come cheap. When you want quality players, you don't offer pittance. That was why Southampton rejected our pittance offer for Mane. The likes of Darmain Rojo, blind, Schweisteiger all came in at a pittance offer.

You haven't showed me where Mane said he was the one who rejected us and not his club, Southampton.

 

[Roboc7]

You have got nothing to say. The likes of Costa, Matic, Fabregas, Willian, Pedro didn't come cheap. That's not to even mention the fact that Chelsea already had a world-class player in Hazard who actually dragged Chelsea to the the title, especially after Costa's goals dried up.

The point is the likes of Felipe Luis, Abdulrahman Baba, Loic Remy, Andre Schurlee, Zouma, Kennedy weren't used as a stick to beat Mourinho because they were regarded as punts unlike Matic, Fabregas, Willian Pedro, Costa, Cuadradro who didn't come cheap. When you want quality players, you don't offer pittance. That was why Southampton rejected our pittance offer for Mane. The likes of Darmain Rojo, blind, Schweisteiger all came in at a pittance offer.

You haven't showed me where Mane said he was the one who rejected us and not his club, Southampton.

Really odd response, you just move goalposts to try and make point despite being factually incorrect. Don’t even know Pep and LVG didn’t overlap. Also conveniently ignore any good signing made or that LVG was outspending most teams. I get it gloss over that because it’s true and doesn’t support your nonsense.

Told you where it is, it’s common knowledge, show me where we submitted an official bid that was rejected. Show me where it confirms who LVG signed and who the board signed instead of picking and choosing according to your preference. If Di Maria has been a success would you have been crediting Woodward or LVG? Think know the answer to that.

No they weren’t used as a stick because he won the league, it’s not that difficult. You literally have nothing to say other than other bad signings have been made by other teams and best defence of LVG is a player he didn’t even sign, it’s just got too comical now.

You only undermine yourself by trying to defend his transfer record at Utd, it was bad that’s it, end of. He spent fortunes, he wasted it, it’s just really odd to try and say otherwise, can happen to any manager.

 

[Kaglish10]

Really odd response, you just move goalposts to try and make point despite being factually incorrect. Don’t even know Pep and LVG didn’t overlap. Also conveniently ignore any good signing made or that LVG was outspending most teams. I get it gloss over that because it’s true and doesn’t support your nonsense.

Told you where it is, it’s common knowledge, show me where we submitted an official bid that was rejected. Show me where it confirms who LVG signed and who the board signed instead of picking and choosing according to your preference. If Di Maria has been a success would you have been crediting Woodward or LVG? Think know the answer to that.

No they weren’t used as a stick because he won the league, it’s not that difficult. You literally have nothing to say other than other bad signings have been made by other teams and best defence of LVG is a player he didn’t even sign, it’s just got too comical now.

You only undermine yourself by trying to defend his transfer record at Utd, it was bad that’s it, end of. He spent fortunes, he wasted it, it’s just really odd to try and say otherwise, can happen to any manager.

Point is many coaches do take punts on players and this could be hit or miss. Pep, Mourinho all did that but no one had problem with that but with Van Gaal, it was considered a crime!

That aside, I only said Di Maria didn't look like his kind of signing. I didn't emphatically say he didn't sign him. Moreover, we already recouped most of the fees spent on di Maria who didn't want to come here in the first place. It was a clear fact that the board signed Herrera and Shaw because Van Gaal was still at the world cup at the time both players were brought in. Moreover, Herrera was almost signed under Moyes until the last minutes.

We bidded for Mane but was rejected by Southampton. Another source apart from skysports said it was 20mil euros we submitted. https://www.skysports.com/football/...er-united-considering-southamptons-sadio-mane

The point is, if you calculate the cost of Val Gaal's signings and subtract Di Maria's PSG fees from it, the total cost wasn't even up to what Mourinho spent while he was here. That's the cold truth.

 

[Kaglish10]

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/aug/19/manchester-united-bid-sadio-mane-southampton

Here was another which points to the board wanting Pedro but Van Gaal ruled against it and wanted Mane instead. Another was Renato Sanches which Van Gaal also stopped. It was a fact that the board made a lot of signings but Van Gaal started making a proactive move against them in his second season with us. It's no wonder they didn't move heaven and earth to land Mane for Van Gaal because they didn't fancy him.

If it weren't for Van Gaal, Pedro and Renato Sanches would all be here today. He wouldn't have signed Alexis Sanchez if he was here.

 

[Class of 63]

Yea I loved watching us pass the ball around the opposition box with no end product. It was great watching one of the best strikers we've ever had get deployed in a midfield position. Not to mention the unbelievable signings we made. Quality!

He literally won half the games he managed. Well done Louis. 4th in his first season, 5th in his second. Glory days!

LvG had no option, he had to play Rooney when he was fit(or fit by Rooney's standards anyway), that was made abundantly clear when he took the gig, you don't really think when he said "my Captain always plays" or whatever it was, it was LvG bulling Rooney up do you, as in we're lucky to have him?

LvG rightly though him cluttering up the midfield being bang average was better for the team than him being upfront being shite.

This is a player who when supposedly playing as a centre-forward earlier in his United career spent 85% of games cluttering up the midfield anyway leaving the team with no out-ball, listen to SAF talking about it ffs, the lad had no tactical discipline and still played like he was in the playground, but the way some go on you'd think LvG had tried to convert Chris Smalling into a flying left-winger, or Juan Mata into a goalkeeper, and not playing a player whose best days were well behind him in a position(on the pitch)where heatmaps would prove if they were available he'd spent most of his actual United career there.

 

[Sylar]

Its too funny. So LVG wanted Mane, but Mane didnt want United / LVG. I mean you dont even have to search for the Mane quote on google, its on page 10 at the top posted by @Dwazza Gunnar Solskjær regarding him thinking United (under LVG) wasnt the right move.

Regarding Di Maria, LVG name dropped him before we signed him. A quick search shows he wanted a player like him (or even him):
https://www.skysports.com/football/...ngel-di-maria-as-he-hints-at-signing-a-winger

But if were talking about players LVG wanted (which I have mentioned before), we would have ended up with Ighalo in January (meaning more likely than not Rashford wouldnt have come through).

I mean, if we are going to look at things under LVGs reign, we need to look at it with the same perspective across all aspects. If we are saying his players were too slow / immobile, then the majority were his signings.
If we are giving him credit for having a small squad so he could use youth, then at the same time you cant say its his fault he had to rely on an old striker in midfield (or using RVP and Rooney in midfield and Fellaini in attack in one game). He could have used youth afterall if we had injuries.

If we are going to hail any of his signings, then we need to discuss all the other players that came under his reign (of course, I see the pattern of successful signings being his, bad signings being the board)

If we are giving him credit for winning the fa cup, then we have to say its also his fault for being trash in the CL, trash in the Europa League and coming fifth in the league in his second season.
If its all the players fault for our crap campaigns, then its solely on the players that the FA cup was won (as it was moments of magic in the semi final (martial), quarter final (rashford) and final (rooney and then lingard).

And what absolute BS that "LvG had no option, he had to play Rooney when he was fit" - this wasnt a contractual issue, this was by choice of LVG. Otherwise if it was contractual, then Jose would have suffererd the same issue and not ended up benching Rooney after he started having absolute stinkers (and couldnt mask it with goals)

but the way some go on you'd think LvG had tried to convert Chris Smalling into a flying left-winger, or Juan Mata into a goalkeeper

This is a manager who had:
-Young as a striker
-RVP as a midfielder
-Rooney as a midfielder
-Fellaini as a striker
-Rashford as a Right Winger/RB after he broke into the team and was scoring playing up top (criminal how he was used away vs Liverpool in the Europa League)
-Martial as left winger after Rooney came back from injury (and martial started his career scoring goals from up top striker position)
-Blind as LB, DM, and CB
-Memphis as Left winger and then number 10

actually, here:
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/apr/12/manchester-united-louis-van-gaal-positions

A quick search shows how much he tinkered. For a man who "knew how he wanted to play" he sure did tinker a lot.

I give him credit only for those things he deserves credit for. But trying to make excuses for all his other failures is just laughable. He did more bad than good for Manchester United. His time here was a failure and he deserved to be sacked (he lucky he got as much time as he did)

 

[thejtrain]

I forgot exactly how bad we were under him, but I recall losing interest in watching our games completely, so it must have been soul-crushingly poor.

That said, of all the bad times we have been thru since Fergie, I would prefer to be in the aftermath of his sacking. At least we were solid coming up against top teams. We could, you know, pass amongst ourselves without any purpose, but pass, something we are barely capable of nowadays. So that's one less problem under/immediately after him. Personally, if you can't even possess the ball 40% of the time, you're quite simply a mid table team or less and/or a coward, no matter how rich you are.

 

[Roboc7]

Point is many coaches do take punts on players and this could be hit or miss. Pep, Mourinho all did that but no one had problem with that but with Van Gaal, it was considered a crime!

That aside, I only said Di Maria didn't look like his kind of signing. I didn't emphatically say he didn't sign him. Moreover, we already recouped most of the fees spent on di Maria who didn't want to come here in the first place. It was a clear fact that the board signed Herrera and Shaw because Van Gaal was still at the world cup at the time both players were brought in. Moreover, Herrera was almost signed under Moyes until the last minutes.

We bidded for Mane but was rejected by Southampton. Another source apart from skysports said it was 20mil euros we submitted. https://www.skysports.com/football/...er-united-considering-southamptons-sadio-mane

The point is, if you calculate the cost of Val Gaal's signings and subtract Di Maria's PSG fees from it, the total cost wasn't even up to what Mourinho spent while he was here. That's the cold truth.

So your basing your fact that our board messed up the Mane transfer on Sky Sources, come on at least do something original, that was just too predictable. LVG also mentioned Di Maria as type of player he wanted but somehow that’s nothing to do with him.

Why are you ignoring all the other clubs, they were all spending 50m on players right?. Their spending was more than LVG’s obviously?.

Just admit it the transfers were bad, no maths, no excuses, just the reality. You’ll feel better and can try and find a positive elsewhere.

 

[Roboc7]

Its too funny. So LVG wanted Mane, but Mane didnt want United / LVG. I mean you dont even have to search for the Mane quote on google, its on page 10 at the top posted by @Dwazza Gunnar Solskjær regarding him thinking United (under LVG) wasnt the right move.

Regarding Di Maria, LVG name dropped him before we signed him. A quick search shows he wanted a player like him (or even him):
https://www.skysports.com/football/...ngel-di-maria-as-he-hints-at-signing-a-winger

But if were talking about players LVG wanted (which I have mentioned before), we would have ended up with Ighalo in January (meaning more likely than not Rashford wouldnt have come through).

I mean, if we are going to look at things under LVGs reign, we need to look at it with the same perspective across all aspects. If we are saying his players were too slow / immobile, then the majority were his signings.
If we are giving him credit for having a small squad so he could use youth, then at the same time you cant say its his fault he had to rely on an old striker in midfield (or using RVP and Rooney in midfield and Fellaini in attack in one game). He could have used youth afterall if we had injuries.

If we are going to hail any of his signings, then we need to discuss all the other players that came under his reign (of course, I see the pattern of successful signings being his, bad signings being the board)

If we are giving him credit for winning the fa cup, then we have to say its also his fault for being trash in the CL, trash in the Europa League and coming fifth in the league in his second season.
If its all the players fault for our crap campaigns, then its solely on the players that the FA cup was won (as it was moments of magic in the semi final (martial), quarter final (rashford) and final (rooney and then lingard).

And what absolute BS that "LvG had no option, he had to play Rooney when he was fit" - this wasnt a contractual issue, this was by choice of LVG. Otherwise if it was contractual, then Jose would have suffererd the same issue and not ended up benching Rooney after he started having absolute stinkers (and couldnt mask it with goals)



This is a manager who had:
-Young as a striker
-RVP as a midfielder
-Rooney as a midfielder
-Fellaini as a striker
-Rashford as a Right Winger/RB after he broke into the team and was scoring playing up top (criminal how he was used away vs Liverpool in the Europa League)
-Martial as left winger after Rooney came back from injury (and martial started his career scoring goals from up top striker position)
-Blind as LB, DM, and CB
-Memphis as Left winger and then number 10

actually, here:
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/apr/12/manchester-united-louis-van-gaal-positions

A quick search shows how much he tinkered. For a man who "knew how he wanted to play" he sure did tinker a lot.

I give him credit only for those things he deserves credit for. But trying to make excuses for all his other failures is just laughable. He did more bad than good for Manchester United. His time here was a failure and he deserved to be sacked (he lucky he got as much time as he did)

Your not doing it right, speculation linking as to Igalo is wrong because he’s rubbish.

Speculation linking us to to Mane is right because he’s good. Mane saying he didn’t want to sign is rubbish, Sky Sources saying we failed is true because we don’t like the board but LVG was great.

Di Maria was a failure so board signed him, LVG didn’t want him even though he pretty much said he did. Because there is so much speculation you can make up anything you want and end result is LVG was right.

Good point about the Rooney contract I remember loads of people were convinced LVG only played him because of a contractual obligation.

 

[Class of 63]

And what absolute BS that "LvG had no option, he had to play Rooney when he was fit" - this wasnt a contractual issue, this was by choice of LVG. Otherwise if it was contractual, then Jose would have suffererd the same issue and not ended up benching Rooney after he started having absolute stinkers (and couldnt mask it with goals)

Not BS at all, how long do you think LvG would have lasted if he'd dumped Rooney on the bench earning £250,000 a week whether we were winning or not?

Mourinho was able to but it was two years later and by then even Wayne's parents would have told you he was finished at the top level so easier to do.


This is a manager who had:
-Young as a striker Young had played as a centre-forward for the Reserves a few days earlier and was outstanding, it was worth a try
-RVP as a midfielder
-Rooney as a midfielder see my previous posts/look at videos of Rooney in his pomp
-Fellaini as a striker I'm sure David Moyes had tried that with some success previously
-Rashford as a Right Winger/RB after he broke into the team and was scoring playing up top (criminal how he was used away vs Liverpool in the Europa League)Rashford spent most of his time in the underage teams on the right.
-Martial as left winger after Rooney came back from injury (and martial started his career scoring goals from up top striker position) Check out where he played when he was at Monaco
-Blind as LB, DM, and CB All positions he'd played at Ajax
-Memphis as Left winger and then number 10 Again positions he'd played previously for PSV and Holland youth sides.

actually, here:
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/apr/12/manchester-united-louis-van-gaal-positions

A quick search shows how much he tinkered. For a man who "knew how he wanted to play" he sure did tinker a lot.

I give him credit only for those things he deserves credit for. But trying to make excuses for all his other failures is just laughable. He did more bad than good for Manchester United. His time here was a failure and he deserved to be sacked (he lucky he got as much time as he did)

 

[Kaglish10]

So your basing your fact that our board messed up the Mane transfer on Sky Sources, come on at least do something original, that was just too predictable. LVG also mentioned Di Maria as type of player he wanted but somehow that’s nothing to do with him.

Why are you ignoring all the other clubs, they were all spending 50m on players right?. Their spending was more than LVG’s obviously?.

Just admit it the transfers were bad, no maths, no excuses, just the reality. You’ll feel better and can try and find a positive elsewhere.

I think I have to be repeating myself for you to get it. The only players I said Van Gaal didn't sign without mincing words were Herrera and Shaw. However I said I doubt if he had signed di Maria because he wasn't Van Gaal's kind of signing but you keep moving around the same point. Thinking about it, he could have thought he was a getting a professional player from Madrid like he did with Robben while he was at Bayern but di Maria was a nut job.

When Van Gaal came here, we needed a winger, striker but Rooney was unmovable, a creative midfielder, a left back and a defensive midfielder. The board brought in Herrera and Shaw while Van Gaal was still at the world cup. What did you expect him to have done?

Let's say he brought in di Maria, di Maria left in the following year and most of his fees was already recouped and that means we needed another winger to replace him, hence the move for Pedro but Van Gaal didn't want him but wanted Mane. The board couldn't come to agreement with the Saints, after offering a pittance for him because they didn't fancy him and didn't feel he was marketable. As the religious person Mane is, he's likely to say God didn't make the move happened because it wasn't the right moment for him and God had something better in view for him. However, Mane didn't say he rejected us. At no time did he reject us but his club did. Van Gaal had to eventually fall back on Depay.

That leaves out the midfield and the striker role. Martial was brought in for the striker role and as an understudy to Rooney and also, an option to have on the wing, the defensive midfield was filled in by Schneiderlin. That leaves out the playmaking midfield role but the board already signed Herrera and expected Van Gaal to use him but Herrera was mostly terrible. What did you expect Van Gaal to do when he saw that Schweisteiger was available at a cheap price and a 3yr 150k contracts? Of course, he would swoop in for him. He wanted a LCB central defender like Ramos and that was why he took punt on Rojo who was also an option for the left back role. In the end, another punt of his, Blind had to play the LCB central defence role for us.

So tell me what Van Gaal did wrong? If the board had signed Mane that season, we would have got more points regardless of our sluggish ageing lethargic midfield.

All the fees spent by Van Gaal didn't even amount to that of Mourinho.

 

[Roboc7]

I think I have to be repeating myself for you to get it. The only players I said Van Gaal didn't sign without mincing words were Herrera and Shaw. However I said I doubt if he had signed di Maria because he wasn't Van Gaal's kind of signing but you keep moving around the same point. Thinking about it, he could have thought he was a getting a professional player from Madrid like he did with Robben while he was at Bayern but di Maria was a nut job.

When Van Gaal came here, we needed a winger, striker but Rooney was unmovable, a creative midfielder, a left back and a defensive midfielder. The board brought in Herrera and Shaw while Van Gaal was still at the world cup. What did you expect him to have done?

Let's say he brought in di Maria, di Maria left in the following year and most of his fees was already recouped and that means we needed another winger to replace him, hence the move for Pedro but Van Gaal didn't want him but wanted Mane. The board couldn't come to agreement with the Saints, after offering a pittance for him because they didn't fancy him and didn't feel he was marketable. As the religious person Mane is, he's likely to say God didn't make the move happened because it wasn't the right moment for him and God had something better in view for him. However, Mane didn't say he rejected us. At no time did he reject us but his club did. Van Gaal had to eventually fall back on Depay.

That leaves out the midfield and the striker role. Martial was brought in for the striker role and as an understudy to Rooney and also, an option to have on the wing, the defensive midfield was filled in by Schneiderlin. That leaves out the playmaking midfield role but the board already signed Herrera and expected Van Gaal to use him but Herrera was mostly terrible. What did you expect Van Gaal to do when he saw that Schweisteiger was available at a cheap price and a 3yr 150k contracts? Of course, he would swoop in for him. He wanted a LCB central defender like Ramos and that was why he took punt on Rojo who was also an option for the left back role. In the end, another punt of his, Blind had to play the LCB central defence role for us.

So tell me what Van Gaal did wrong? If the board had signed Mane that season, we would have got more points regardless of our sluggish ageing lethargic midfield.

All the fees spent by Van Gaal didn't even amount to that of Mourinho.

Mane literally said he turned us down, I don’t know what else to say. You can repeat fiction as fact and excuses that don’t make sense all day but it doesn’t make it real.

What did LVG do wrong? What was LVG expected to do because Bastian was available? Sky sources!. I mean come on this is farcical.

 

[Kaglish10]

Mane literally said he turned us down, I don’t know what else to say. You can repeat fiction as fact and excuses that don’t make sense all day but it doesn’t make it real.

What did LVG do wrong? What was LVG expected to do because Bastian was available? Sky sources!. I mean come on this is farcical.

He didn't say that. As simple as ABC. Either you show me where he said he turned us down or just forget the discussion.

No different from going to a market to price a product and the seller couldn't agree to a price with me but eventually I got a similar product and had to big it up as the better one. That doesn't negate the fact that if the first seller had agreed to my price, I would have had the product and big it up as well.

Mane was the buyer, the product was the big clubs he wanted a move to while the seller were the boards at Manutd and Liverpool.

 

[Roboc7]

He didn't say that. As simple as ABC. Either you show me where he said he turned us down or just forget the discussion.

No different from going to a market to price a product and the seller couldn't agree to a price with me but eventually I got a similar product and had to big it up as the better one. That doesn't negate the fact that if the first seller had agreed to my price, I would have had the product and big it up as well.

Mane was the buyer, the product was the big clubs he wanted a move to while the seller were the boards at Manutd and Liverpool.

Enjoy, he spoke with LVG and didn’t want to join. Still loving the whole what could LVG do when he heard Bastian was available, brilliant.

https://www.football365.com/news/liverpool-mane-reveals-why-he-rejected-man-united-despite-lvg-talks

 

[Kaglish10]

Enjoy, he spoke with LVG and didn’t want to join. Still loving the whole what could LVG do when he heard Bastian was available, brilliant.

https://www.football365.com/news/liverpool-mane-reveals-why-he-rejected-man-united-despite-lvg-talks

Whatever the catching headlines say, the contents says otherwise. He didn't say he rejected us. He said Liverpool felt right than Manutd approach which didn't materialise but he didn't say he rejected us. It's a thing a player would say if he didn't get a move to the club that first approached him.

 

[Kaglish10]

Enjoy, he spoke with LVG and didn’t want to join. Still loving the whole what could LVG do when he heard Bastian was available, brilliant.

https://www.football365.com/news/liverpool-mane-reveals-why-he-rejected-man-united-despite-lvg-talks

Whatever the catching headlines say, the contents says otherwise. He didn't say he rejected us. He said Liverpool felt right than Manutd approach which didn't materialise but he didn't say he rejected us. It's a thing a player would say if he didn't get a move to the club that first approached him.

 

[Roboc7]

Whatever the catching headlines say, the contents says otherwise. He didn't say he rejected us. He said Liverpool felt right than Manutd approach which didn't materialise but he didn't say he rejected us. It's a thing a player would say if he didn't get a move to the club that first approached him.

Ok then, I know Mane saying it directly isn’t as good as if Sky Sources said a friend of his heard him say it but it is pretty clear he had chance, spoke to LVG and didn’t want to join. If he didn’t want to join why would we then go and agree the deal.

 

[Green_Red]

LvG had no option, he had to play Rooney when he was fit(or fit by Rooney's standards anyway), that was made abundantly clear when he took the gig, you don't really think when he said "my Captain always plays" or whatever it was, it was LvG bulling Rooney up do you, as in we're lucky to have him?

LvG rightly though him cluttering up the midfield being bang average was better for the team than him being upfront being shite.

This is a player who when supposedly playing as a centre-forward earlier in his United career spent 85% of games cluttering up the midfield anyway leaving the team with no out-ball, listen to SAF talking about it ffs, the lad had no tactical discipline and still played like he was in the playground, but the way some go on you'd think LvG had tried to convert Chris Smalling into a flying left-winger, or Juan Mata into a goalkeeper, and not playing a player whose best days were well behind him in a position(on the pitch)where heatmaps would prove if they were available he'd spent most of his actual United career there.

Why focus on one line and ignore the fact that he just about managed to win just over half of the games he managed. Surely his signings should have addressed those issues. Either way, saying he was good is bullshit revisionism. He wasn't good enough.

 

[Class of 63]

Enjoy, he spoke with LVG and didn’t want to join. Still loving the whole what could LVG do when he heard Bastian was available, brilliant.

https://www.football365.com/news/liverpool-mane-reveals-why-he-rejected-man-united-despite-lvg-talks

Wasn't that interview done after he'd joined Liverpool?

He was hardly gonna say he'd have preferred to join United but i'm slumming it at Liverpool instead was he?

 

[Roboc7]

Wasn't that interview done after he'd joined Liverpool?

He was hardly gonna say he'd have preferred to join United but i'm slumming it at Liverpool instead was he?

Until we’re in the rooms or on the phone calls none of us know exactly what happens. He said spoke to LVG and didn’t want to join, reasonable enough the part about holding out for Liverpool is playing to crowd possibly.

That’s a much better source of information than sky sources close to a transfer window saying Utd had made a bid with no follow up. No doubt Skybet did some good business that day on Mane to Utd bets.

 

[Class of 63]

Why focus on one line and ignore the fact that he just about managed to win just over half of the games he managed. Surely his signings should have addressed those issues. Either way, saying he was good is bullshit revisionism. He wasn't good enough.

Because you were criticising LvG for playing Rooney in midfield, which funnily enough is a position he'd always said he fancied(when it suited).

Where was LvG supposed to play him? And don't say as a striker or no.10 because that's just laughable.

 

[Green_Red]

Because you were criticising LvG for playing Rooney in midfield, which funnily enough is a position he'd always said he fancied(when it suited).

Where was LvG supposed to play him? And don't say as a striker or no.10 because that's just laughable.

LvG only managed a win rate of 52%. Why is there even a thread about him.

 

[Class of 63]

LvG only managed a win rate of 52%. Why is there even a thread about him.

Aloysius Paulus Maria van Gaal and his exploits at United are always thread worthy

 

[fps]

Whatever happens at Man Utd in the coming years, there is one guarantee.

It will never involve football as boring as what was served up under Van Gaal.