Louis Van Gaal appointed Dutch manager for the third time.

Cheimoon

Made of cheese
Scout
Joined
Jun 22, 2020
Messages
14,325
Location
Canada
Supports
no-one in particular
They have just a terrible squad
Especially in attack. Defense is strong, midfield pretty good, but in attack, all hopes are on a couple of young players (like Gakpo and Malen) developing to their potential, as Memphis can't do it alone.
 

VanDeBank

Ma’am
Joined
May 13, 2021
Messages
4,862
No, I have no particular thoughts about what Depay does off the pitch, despite being being a massive hip hop fan myself.

We’re talking about the third captain. It’s barely a talking point is it? Being a leader isn’t about being the best player, let alone when you get down to vice or third captain. They don’t even need to play all the time, it’s more about their impact on the squad. See Ashley Young at United
Maybe I'm just being suspicious because his dad is the assistant. I personally wouldn't even have given him the call up.
Memphis has definitely shown some leadership ability. I recall him handling some incident surrounding his teammate at Lyon really well.

Especially in attack. Defense is strong, midfield pretty good, but in attack, all hopes are on a couple of young players (like Gakpo and Malen) developing to their potential, as Memphis can't do it alone.
Terrible is still a stretch a though. Isn't Weghorst the 3rd topscorer in the Bundesliga behind Haaland and Lewangoalski? With Malen and De Jong on the bench that's a reasonable squad for a 2 striker system.

There's only 1 question mark in midfield alongside Wijnaldum and De Jong, which we have a few talented kids for. Dumfries is consistently among our best performers. Bijlow is a very talented GK. Our CBs are among the best in the world. That leaves only the LB position as a weak point.
 

criticalanalysis

Full Member
Joined
Apr 12, 2015
Messages
6,034
Maybe I'm just being suspicious because his dad is the assistant. I personally wouldn't even have given him the call up.
Memphis has definitely shown some leadership ability. I recall him handling some incident surrounding his teammate at Lyon really well.



Terrible is still a stretch a though. Isn't Weghorst the 3rd topscorer in the Bundesliga behind Haaland and Lewangoalski? With Malen and De Jong on the bench that's a reasonable squad for a 2 striker system.

There's only 1 question mark in midfield alongside Wijnaldum and De Jong, which we have a few talented kids for. Dumfries is consistently among our best performers. Bijlow is a very talented GK. Our CBs are among the best in the world. That leaves only the LB position as a weak point.
That should be VDB's spot if he can kickstart his Utd career :(
 

stefan92

Full Member
Joined
Feb 9, 2021
Messages
5,932
Supports
Hannover 96
Terrible is still a stretch a though. Isn't Weghorst the 3rd topscorer in the Bundesliga behind Haaland and Lewangoalski? With Malen and De Jong on the bench that's a reasonable squad for a 2 striker system.
Almost, even ahead of Haaland there was Andre Silva last season, and Kramaric scored the same amount of goals in less games, so that puts him in fifth place in the league for goals scored. If you include assists, Thomas Müller replaces Kramaric at fourth place, Weghorst is still fifth. But nonetheless 20 goals and 9 assists in 34 games is a strong performance.
 

Xaviesta

Full Member
Joined
Apr 14, 2014
Messages
11,771
Location
Camp Nou
Supports
Barcelona
I don't think his United side scored 5 in a game let alone 6. He's had a dream start in his 3rd coming as Netherlands manager.

Meanwhile he is not a fan of Formula 1.

 

Mrs Smoker

Full Member
Joined
Aug 24, 2011
Messages
25,940
Location
In garden with Maurice
Supports
Panthère du Ndé
I don't think his United side scored 5 in a game let alone 6. He's had a dream start in his 3rd coming as Netherlands manager.

Meanwhile he is not a fan of Formula 1.

Well done, Louis. F1 is only fun during rain, and they won't even let them race then.
 

Ali Dia

Full Member
Joined
May 10, 2013
Messages
14,130
Location
Souness's Super Sub/George Weahs Talented Cousin
LVG is some character. We still made a big mistake hiring him though. He probably managed to waste more money in two years than Fergie managed in 28. Fail after fail. Martial is the only one hanging on in there but to be fair I actually think he’s on the cusp of a return to form.
 

tomaldinho1

Full Member
Joined
Nov 26, 2015
Messages
17,368
I don't think his United side scored 5 in a game let alone 6. He's had a dream start in his 3rd coming as Netherlands manager.

Meanwhile he is not a fan of Formula 1.

Spot on to be fair about F1
 

ChaddyP

Full Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2011
Messages
13,852
Location
Jamaica
LVG is some character. We still made a big mistake hiring him though. He probably managed to waste more money in two years than Fergie managed in 28. Fail after fail. Martial is the only one hanging on in there but to be fair I actually think he’s on the cusp of a return to form.
Technically he signed Luke Shaw.
 

Bleu

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Jun 27, 2021
Messages
174
Supports
New England Revolution
He said nothing wrong here, the journalist is out of bounds and really got called out for being clueless. LvG will do great because he has a new star in Depay who is on absolute fire right now. I would take Depay back in a heartbeat.
 

Ole90+3

Full Member
Joined
Apr 24, 2005
Messages
5,945
Location
Paddy's Pub with the gang
LVG is some character. We still made a big mistake hiring him though. He probably managed to waste more money in two years than Fergie managed in 28. Fail after fail. Martial is the only one hanging on in there but to be fair I actually think he’s on the cusp of a return to form.
What in the world gives you that inkling?
 

Irwin99

Full Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2018
Messages
9,124
Pleased he's started well and I've always liked him as a pure old-school football coach. Agree with him on the 5-3-2. Chelsea are an obvious example but Liverpool in the 90s played a pretty suicidal attacking 3-5-2 back then. It depends how the formation is implemented; I've seen lots of negative 4-4-2 formations over the years as well.
 

Ayoba

Poster of Noncense.
Joined
Feb 2, 2021
Messages
8,258
LVG is some character. We still made a big mistake hiring him though. He probably managed to waste more money in two years than Fergie managed in 28. Fail after fail. Martial is the only one hanging on in there but to be fair I actually think he’s on the cusp of a return to form.
You'll be saying this 5 years later.
 

Chairman Steve

Full Member
Joined
May 9, 2018
Messages
6,897
I liked Louis as a person. Mad as a box of frogs and was a refreshing winner personality after Moyes’ deer in the headlights demeanor.

Shame his football particularly in his 2nd season was as dour as Moyes’ personality and he seemed to have bought in some players that really didn’t fit together. No idea if Woodward was meddling about at the time with transfers though. ADM seemed like an ego purchase for Woodward.

Him and young players and lower profile players are a good mix. Him and the marquee names really don’t mesh together. I feel he was over the hill by the time he came to us.
 

VanDeBank

Ma’am
Joined
May 13, 2021
Messages
4,862
I liked Louis as a person. Mad as a box of frogs and was a refreshing winner personality after Moyes’ deer in the headlights demeanor.

Shame his football particularly in his 2nd season was as dour as Moyes’ personality and he seemed to have bought in some players that really didn’t fit together. No idea if Woodward was meddling about at the time with transfers though. ADM seemed like an ego purchase for Woodward.

Him and young players and lower profile players are a good mix. Him and the marquee names really don’t mesh together. I feel he was over the hill by the time he came to us.
All LVG's signings. He'd just give Woody a list and he would work his way from top to bottom per position. LVG complained he rarely got his first or second choices. Maybe the early signings (Shaw and Herrera) weren't completely his (we don't really know), but he at least okay'd them. With the exception of those 2 they were all shit.
 

Abraxas

Full Member
Joined
Mar 6, 2021
Messages
6,023
I was quite impressed with that journalist for asking such a challenging question. Whether he was wrong or right in his viewpoint is pretty much irrelevant because it is interesting to a reader or watcher to see a manager respond to incisive questions.

Watching carefully managed press conferences with boring questions and stock answers isn't in the least bit interesting. Maybe it's the more direct approach of the Dutch.
 

tomaldinho1

Full Member
Joined
Nov 26, 2015
Messages
17,368
I liked Louis as a person. Mad as a box of frogs and was a refreshing winner personality after Moyes’ deer in the headlights demeanor.

Shame his football particularly in his 2nd season was as dour as Moyes’ personality and he seemed to have bought in some players that really didn’t fit together. No idea if Woodward was meddling about at the time with transfers though. ADM seemed like an ego purchase for Woodward.

Him and young players and lower profile players are a good mix. Him and the marquee names really don’t mesh together. I feel he was over the hill by the time he came to us.
ADM was LVG's choice but it really highlighted how poor our scouting team was because their recommendations were garbage (They bought Schneiderlin for example. Shaw/Herrera had been in process pre LVG). Essentially LVG (who was out of club football and hardly young) had to go off WC form and players he knew (Depay, Blind, Rojo had been great Argentina, he tried for Vlaar, Romero was his GK at AZ and it was there that he'd tried to sign ADM...about a decade before...). He's even on record saying he was 'my' choice which I guess then makes you wonder who else had a choice at that time.

I see people saying LVG was a disaster but he was scathing about the club's infra (and bear in mind he'd been out of domestic football so long) when he was here and whilst we only got an FA cup and some boring football, the longer term from him and also, to a lesser extent, Mou coming in and having such difficulty sped up our evolution in my opinion. Scouting team was completely overhauled, the transfer committee was built, the platform is there now after it's shoddy state being masked for so many years by SAF's brilliance + Gill.
 

bond19821982

Last Man Standing champion 2019/20
Joined
Oct 26, 2008
Messages
10,366
Location
Nnc
I liked Louis as a person. Mad as a box of frogs and was a refreshing winner personality after Moyes’ deer in the headlights demeanor.

Shame his football particularly in his 2nd season was as dour as Moyes’ personality and he seemed to have bought in some players that really didn’t fit together. No idea if Woodward was meddling about at the time with transfers though. ADM seemed like an ego purchase for Woodward.

Him and young players and lower profile players are a good mix. Him and the marquee names really don’t mesh together. I feel he was over the hill by the time he came to us.
Thought LVG lacked quality players to play his style with us. Possession football is so easy to play against and at times, individual quality makes a huge difference. Once you have a lead, then opposition needs to come out and play else they aren't getting the ball. Would we have done differently under Pep ? I don't think so. It would have been the exact snooze fest under Pep with the same players.
 

Van Piorsing

Lost his light sabre
Joined
Feb 10, 2006
Messages
22,525
Location
Polska
He'll provide, whether it's semi-finals or just football memes, he'll definitely provide.
 

VanDeBank

Ma’am
Joined
May 13, 2021
Messages
4,862
I was quite impressed with that journalist for asking such a challenging question. Whether he was wrong or right in his viewpoint is pretty much irrelevant because it is interesting to a reader or watcher to see a manager respond to incisive questions.

Watching carefully managed press conferences with boring questions and stock answers isn't in the least bit interesting. Maybe it's the more direct approach of the Dutch.
That "journo" is in a ton of football related media acting the pundit while showing he's clueless. He's been whining about 4-3-3 > 5-3-2 for the past 4 months, so LVG putting him in his place is nice. Others don't challenge his nonsense because he's the football guy for the most popular newspaper in the country. De Telegraaf is like The Sun.
 

Tiber

Full Member
Joined
Apr 22, 2014
Messages
10,231
Well done, Louis. F1 is only fun during rain, and they won't even let them race then.
Watching an F1 car that is parked in the back of a lorry would still be more enjoyable than LVG's style of football at United.
 

Abraxas

Full Member
Joined
Mar 6, 2021
Messages
6,023
That "journo" is in a ton of football related media talking like a pundit and always giving his opinion while showing he's clueless. He's been whining about 4-3-3 > 5-3-2 for the past 4 months, so LVG putting him in his place is welcome. Others don't challenge his nonsense because he's the football guy for the most popular newspaper in the country. De Telegraaf is like The Sun.
Sure, but it's more interesting to watch right?

If journalists don't ask challenging questions it is usually platitudes towards the opposition, injury updates and other tedious information.
 

Cheimoon

Made of cheese
Scout
Joined
Jun 22, 2020
Messages
14,325
Location
Canada
Supports
no-one in particular
Sure, but it's more interesting to watch right?

If journalists don't ask challenging questions it is usually platitudes towards the opposition, injury updates and other tedious information.
I don't know about English media, but there is definitely a lot of tactical discussion in common Dutch articles about football. As a kind of related sidenote, there is also this tradition of 4-3-3 at Ajax that everybody knows about. So maybe discussing tactics is more part of the national football culture.

Similarly, talking about physical attributes generally really isn't - which might be why Dutch sides have traditionally often been well drilled push-overs.
 

Foxbatt

New Member
Joined
Oct 21, 2013
Messages
14,297
That Ajax team he had would easily beat his United team. We simply didn't have those quality players he had. Rooney at his peak could have got it at CF but that's probably all.
 

diarm

Full Member
Joined
Jul 13, 2014
Messages
16,681
I liked Louis as a person. Mad as a box of frogs and was a refreshing winner personality after Moyes’ deer in the headlights demeanor.
I was the same. In fact, I liked everything about his time as United boss, apart from the football.

Which admittedly, was a big part.
 

GazTheLegend

Full Member
Joined
Jul 22, 2014
Messages
3,595
Love Louis van Gaal and international football is -perfect- for him, long may he continue and well done the oranje, were fantastic to watch under van Gaal the last time and seems like they are once more. Wanted him to do well but his signings didn't work out and to be fair to him our squad simple wasn't that great at the time.