It's 58%, which is the highest of any team in the Premier league. We'd be second to Barcelona (63%) in La Liga with that score. 75% is an outlier and not the norm.
Is there anyone left who wants to defend lvg now?
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) was joined by comedian Ali Woods to look back at the best and worst moments of a rollercoaster season with the annual United Hour Awards.
Has Ten Hag been sacked yet? We're not sure and we hope not, but it's looking more likely as the days pass.
Who should replace him and why is it taking so long to make a decision?
The amount of possession in itself is a useless stat, a possession team needs a lot more than the ball.
The 75% is just a reference to an other poster who said that if you have 3 times the possession you should score 3 times more.
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They're laughing at our players too, like Rooney who is a club legend, and Louis van Gaal has gotten pretty angry at their treatment of him, for some weird reason fans don't mind him being ridiculed, probably because in part they're the ones doing it.
The parked bus is the most effective strategy for small teams against the big teams, it means it's up to the big team to see if they can beat it, obviously Arsenal and City have done better than us but Leicester for most of the season haven't had to deal with it since nobody expected them to do what they did, they've been playing on the counter.
I'd expect that to change but they also have confidence and momentum with them now, a bit like Liverpool in 2013 - 14 when in the second half of the season their momentum almost took them all the way, however I don't expect Leicester to come as close as they did. In 2014 - 15 it was completely different and it wasn't only because they lost Suarez evident by their win ratio in the fair few games he missed in 2013 -14.
In 2016 - 17 Leicester probably won't be the same team unless they get to play on the counter.
Good post. Another thing is - if we go down this trajectory of hiring and firing managers so quickly. We will be like madrid - hiring mourinho, firing mourinho, hiring benitez - firing benitez & finally hiring someone like zidane or giggs.
They have the 2nd or 3rf best team in the world but have been poorly utilised due to them treating managers like toilet tissue - including after winning the CL with ancelotti.
I'm sure the anti-LVG brigade will say that some of us wanted to give Moyes time - TBH if that was true, it was down to the fact that SAF picked him first hand and people wanted to see what he saw in him.
If anyone does believe in LVG's influence on bayern & barcelona & the ancient ajax teams that helped create some of the best players of 2 generations then surely he trounces anything moyes did at everton.
Who do they think placed Wayne on the pedestal from which they're trying to displace him? Perhaps Wayne wouldn't receive quite as much criticism from fans if the media hadn't spent years boring us with the 'fact' that Rooney was the greatest thing in football, a claim often rendered silly by Wayne's declining performances. They're so bloody disingenuous...especially Custis:
So here is my question... if we lose tomorrow will that be enough to see the back of LvG?
And before you reply, do not put words in my mouth, in no way shape or form do I want to lose to Pool. I just have have to wonder if some good could come from a potentially horrible result because I am worried about how we will do at Anfield...
And before you reply, do not put words in my mouth, in no way shape or form do I want to lose to Pool. I just have have to wonder if some good could come from a potentially horrible result because I am worried about how we will do at Anfield...
Even as a pro van gaal guy - i have been disappointed in his & woodwards approach to this transfer window. They really are not showing any urgency but maybe it is as you say - not to back a dead or dying man.
I think he would be gone already if any viable options were available. They don't want Mourinho or Giggs imo.
And I want to win tm but if we lose I hope something changes.
What about another 3-3 draw?
No
Undefeated in a couple of games, and in the 4th round of the cup. We were in a much worse situation and he stayed.
Lets just hope that we win. We need to start winning games.
Pretty much this.
If he survived last month or so he'll survive anything until end of the season. If our board is stupid as they look, he'll probably stay until end of his contract here.
I can definitely see why people think it won't be after he stayed following the run of defeats in December.
I however think it might be. It may possibly depend on the manner of any defeat though. If there's one place van Gaal can't afford us to roll over and surrender, it's Anfield. The usually supportive fans will even turn on him then I feel.
That's before we even get to the bigger picture where we'll be five points behind the Champions League places approaching the end of January.
Hopefully we'll win though.
He should go regardless of a draw.
A defeat to Liverpool and top four hopes in serious jeopardy. He's already survived more than he should have but there's no way he'll survive that. It would be crueller not to sack him.
On the plus side, this will be the least bothered I'll be by a defeat to Liverpool since... forever.
On the plus side, this will be the least bothered I'll be by a defeat to Liverpool since... forever.
Don't see how a loss makes any difference. We've won 1 in our last 8 PL games, dropped from 1st to 6th in the league in over a month, knocked out of two cup competitions and went 8 games winless. I reckon we could lose 10-0 tomorrow and van Gaal will be handed an extension.
Dont think it'll be through stupidity per se, but I can see Van Gaal being here too next season.
I do think we'll probably try for the best managers in the world, and fail(like the stories coming out now of our attempts in 2013). Without much choice, we'll probably have Giggs and Van Gaal as our alternatives, and I can see why they'd prefer Van Gaal for a final season. Especially as the summer would allow tensions to cool down. A couple of signings to appease the fans and no home games to voice dissent.
Van Gaal aint walking either. Financially it would be stupid for him, and this is his last job.
I understand, but if you don't want to accept that fact, it's comforting to think that he's a bad manager and swapping him for a better one will make all the mediocrity vanish. But I think it's difficult to find a better manager, if those exist at all. I don't think the idea that Guardiola or Mourinho are better managers has much support in the facts at all. Their suitability to this specific kind of job is even more doubtful.
To me it's obvious it's not going as expected. Normally after the match at Whiteheart Lane last year, that would be the match that it clicked and it would have been continuous upward curve from there, as the players had learned the basics of the paying style. But somehow they managed to play like they unlearned it, and started dwelling on the ball and playing too slow again. Then after the good run of games in the spring, it again was a bit too slow against Chelsea, allthough they are a good defensive side, but after that they lost it completely agian and failed to finish 2nd. This season again progress has not been steady, to put it mildly, even after a couple of decent games, the FA cup match was a step back again. That's an issue, it would be nice if the squad would consistently start matches at the level they've reached already.
This probably has to do with the particulariteis of the PL and this squad, and the manager is responsible and allways the one to blame. But the question is whether this is a reason to quit the chosen path back to the top. I don't think it is, but more importantly I think it's very dangerous because United might not find another path back to the top at all. If there's no willingness to stay the distance, and quit the path at first big bad run, the question is if the club has what it takes to get back to the top.
TWO GENERATIONS AGO
And without going around in circles it could be argued really what his record/legacy is from Barca and Bayern
Tomorrow is d-day for him, lose and he's gone. Win and he can dine out for the rest of the season
And a draw?
People said the Chelsea game was 'd-day' and he drew the game, a draw that would have you think we had just trounced them 5-0 it did so much good for him. Reckon the same scenario tomorrow will reap a similar outcome.
A draw unfortunately will prolong our agony
Without going around in circles. Id rather believe xavi & co over someone or anyone who has no relation to football other than through viewing it.
I'm sure that if I looked I'd find top level players praising capello, Sven Gibran eriksen etc. does it mean I'd want them to manage united?
No
Your problem is that you can't accept the fact that LVG might not always be a success, you cling on the positives and ignore the negatives.
Agree with this. If and it's a big one, we are beat convincingly tomorrow then he could go. But Van Gaal is the master of doing just enough to keep his head above water so he will escape it IMO.
No my problem is that he has never been a success especially not the way United, bayern & barcelona cling on to success. Therefore - i am less expectant of his clear weaknesses while i am highly expectant over his strengths.
That is my problem.
This is the very reason LvG has been given so much time already, it's beacuse he has been a very successful manager elsewhere so it is logical for people to think he is bound to turn it around, when the reality that is actually staring people in the face is very different.
I don't care if he was great for Xavi, Muller, etc, those leagues are very differnt, and those clubs are not ours.
Sometimes these things happen, & LvG will still go down as great manager, but not for us, now can we just move on.
Go on then? Find a core group of players from 2 of the best teams of all time (if not, then atleast top 5 best teams) who BOTH talk about one manager that has no direct relation to them winning things.
Show me how when xavi or iniesta or robben or schweinsteiger or muller talk about a manager like van gaal whilst winning things with completely other managers.
He has been given SO much time? He has had a horrible 8 games & he has been given so much time? Wow. I think we might need to wait a bit longer for that kind of nonsense.
That's even worse because he isn't demonstrating his strength, at all. He has been wank in term of football and surprisingly adequate on the transfer market, he is doing the opposite of what he has done in his career.
For goodness sake he has been given 18 months, last season was nothing more than adequate, and he was supposed to build on that this season, the '8 games' run was coming people could see it a mile off, it wasn't by some freak set of fixtures, or injuries, it was just us showing that this is as good as we are.
If he was a young guy who could ride it out, replace the players (again), learn from his mistakes etc, then there may be some mileage in keeping him, but he is now more than half way through his contract and we are not progressing at all, so there is just no sense in keeping him any longer than we have to at this point imo.
It seems obvious to me that the players have frozen and it's hardly surprising. In some cases they are dropped or subbed following a good performances, in some cases they are dropped or subbed, following a mistake, or a failure. I think they doubt the manager's belief in them, and so are doubting themselves, unsure what to do in case it goes wrong. Absolutely impossible to function properly in those circumstances.
That's the key, if he was a young manager, I wouldn't mind the current state.
The problem for me comes in this insistence on applying one principle in every scenario. Believing in your manager or philosophy or whatever can sometimes be detrimental and counter productive indeed and the sooner you get rid the better. But that doesn't mean there aren't times it is worth sticking with. With Moyes, I was never a big supporter and thought he should have been let go 3 months before he eventually was. That doesn't mean however that every time things are not working, you terminate. It simply means that I thought Moyes was going nowhere and had no credentials to suggest he might be going somewhere.
This is definitely a valid theory to our problems at the moments. Certainly more valid than the lazy narrative nonsense about our tactics and whatnot. I never thought that man management was a strong area to LvG's management and still don't. He comes off rather clumsy and (pardon the prejudice) blunt in a very Dutch stereotype.
Jesus, having an opinion on tactics is a narrative now. A fecking narrative. I think I'll have to stop looking at this thread, it's driving me suicidal.
I believe that when you disagree with something you can call it a "lazy narrative". @Theonas I'm sorry but that part is a bit OTT you can't label it lazy, people see things and try to analyze it, it's less lazy than putting it on something you can't see like the relationship between the players and the manager.
Lvg invented narratives
Does that really make you laugh never mind anyone else?