Louis Van Gaal - Press Conference vs Burnley - Feb 10th

[djembatheking]

Would much rather see us playing long ball to fellaini tonight and getting 3 points than spend most of the match with Jones , Rojo and De Gea passing to each other playing possession football .

 

[Cassidy]

So is lvg. When Mou was spouting shit about a war against chelsea people were still on about him protecting the players instead of saying he spouts absolute bollocks. now lvg had a little rant people are making a far bigger deal out if it than it really is.

I agree, all great managers are egotstical nutters, including Fergie.

 

[NoLogo]

The only cringeworthy aspect is everyone acting drama queens about LVG being the man we all knew he was going into this job. He has always been an eccentric professorial type that is more than a bit pedantic. He was always going to call out Big Sam for being wrong, because he cannot resist being himself. I've been expecting him to lecture journalists all season. Remember this staged bit of LVG as a caricature of himself?

Exactly my thoughts. I'm just surprised it did take so long to happen and that non of the interviewers managed to send him over the edge earlier. Considering the football that we have been playing there were more than enough opportunities for a typical Louis.

 

[IwatUwat]

I dont mind him doing it. Thought it was funny. Him handing out the sheet, which looked ridiculously basic will be the PR ladies worst nightmare as if any of those stats are wrong, we'll get slammed.

But he'll be fine, think part of it was a bit tongue in cheek, i.e yes we played a bit but if you actually want to go into it then lets do it properly. He had valid points too.

They will go into stats etc in so much more detail than 4 sheets of A4 which prob took 5 mins to put together. People do similar things on here. Let alone for their actual jobs.

Be interesting to see his pre match vs Burnley. Lets hope the players go out and dominate the game and he can laugh it off. If we are struggling or if we play Fellaini we will get more of the same. But 3 points is the aim. Hopefully we play football decent to watch for a change, this is what he'll be focusing on. Not the 5 minute task he gave one of his stats guys to create this 4 page picture presentation.

 

[fallengt]

The only cringeworthy aspect is everyone acting drama queens about LVG being the man we all knew he was going into this job. He has always been an eccentric professorial type that is more than a bit pedantic. He was always going to call out Big Sam for being wrong, because he cannot resist being himself. I've been expecting him to lecture journalists all season. Remember this staged bit of LVG as a caricature of himself?

The best part about being cocky is when you have something to back it up. Louis currently has what? Papers and misleading stats?
Cringeworthy reaction, true that but tbh as long as United could grind 3 points week in week out, no one would give a feck if we played long balls more than any team in the league.

 

[Mister Ed]

We all watched the game, we saw what happened.

He shouldn't be defending that shit that was served up on Sunday.

He is not defending it, he is just giving Big Sam an answer to his question why people don't call Manchester United a long-ball team. LVG has given him his answer because we don't play the long ball as much as West Ham and more than half of the PL.

It is not because you play a long ball at the end of a game when 1-0 down that you are a long ball team...
Every team plays long balls but United not as many as people are claiming and he is right about it with his stats. We have more ball possession than most and you don't get that with just playing long balls even the smallest dumbest child can understand that. We play more passes than most teams and hence some of them will be long balls forwards. But people look at the last 10 minutes and counted a big number of long balls and boom we are a long ball team, nonsense. Percentage wise we still play far more short passes forward so how on earth could we be a long ball team, it is just a wrong conclusion made by many out of frustration with the effectiveness our game plan.

Our problem is not the amount of long balls/total passes, it is the amount of chances created/ball possession and also the amount of goals scored/chances created, both combined goals scored/ball possession is ridiculous at the moment. That criticism would have been justified, we are a team having huge amounts of the ball and result to do absolutely nothing with it but not calling us a long ball team. Yes we play long balls, so does Chelsea, City and any other team and it is a logic thing to do in the 80th minute when everything else has been failing for the rest of the game. If we were a long ball team, we would play Fellaini from the start and use that tactic from the last 10 minutes from the start till the end.

LVG is right about this, I don't know if it was advisable to come out with it like that in a press conference but that is LVG for you. In fact I don't mind, I think people who just come out and say x or y is the truth because I have seen it in the game and my eyes don't lie are irrational people whom it is pointless to discuss with in rational manner. If I say x or y and somebody says I don't agree with that because I have these factual statistics that prove your point of view wrong than I look at the facts and if that person is right than I adjust my point of view. That is the normal way discussions about things that can be backed up with facts should be handled. Not waving away the facts as jokes that are wrong and biased and not as good as my own eyes before even giving them a decent look. Ofcourse the stats need to be correct and the conclusions you take from them need to be correct aswell and if they aren't you can build up your counter argumentation around that. But stats if they are well made are more truthfull and less biased than the opinions of frustrated muppet fans and managers. So Van Gaal has a point backing up his argumentation with stats as it makes it more credible for rational people unfortunately football is full off irrational people whose opinion changes faster that the direction of the wind and half of the time lack the intelligence to even decently understand football facts and the conclusions you can make of them or even the idea of proper rational argumention in general.

In that respect Van Gaal might have better played along and kept silent as nothing he does will please the muppets at this moment and opposition don't want to settle discussions in a normal manner, they just wanna bring us down and make as much fun of it as possible in the process.

 

[JPRouve]

We are not a long ball team because while we use long passes, we don't use them to attack but to switch the play from one side to the other.
Yes, our game is often boring but we are a passing team, we will use more passes than our opponents and we will switch the game through passes, long passes included.

And according to Squawka our passing average length is 19m while Madrid average is 18m and Chelsea 19m.

 

[Bilbo]

In fairness to Van Gaal, he has often been the first man after our matches to state that we were shite.

I think the most disappointing thing about all of this is that, with all the talent we think we have in this squad, our best Plan B is to lump it up to a big guy up front. Whether that is down to Van Gaal or not is personal opinion. I said this frequently when Moyes was boss too, but sometimes you need the players to find a way to win matches. We don't seem to be good enough to do that at the moment.

 

[Borys]

I hope this stubborn man van Gaal will try to prove his point today and we crush them with one touch football. His ego might prove useful for once.

 

[FC Ronaldo]

I wish I remembered this part of the conference:

 

[JPRouve]

I hope this stubborn man van Gaal will try to prove his point today and we crush them with one touch football. His ego might prove useful for once.

And which one of our players are able to play that way ? They spend their time mispassing and miscontrolling the ball.

 

[Getsme]

We aren't a long ball team but we have the players to play it if things aren't going to plan. It worked against West Ham, if he didn't change things up we would most likely have lost the game.

 

[Borys]

And which one of our players are able to play that way ? They spend their time mispassing and miscontrolling the ball.

You are right. However, I don’t think they are that bad. We’ve seen glimpses of good fast football with Mata, Herrera, Blind in that team. We would be playing much more attractive football with midfielders.

 

[Mockney]

So, did he say anything else in this press conference?

 

[RedRover]

We are not a long ball team because while we use long passes, we don't use them to attack but to switch the play from one side to the other.
Yes, our game is often boring but we are a passing team, we will use more passes than our opponents and we will switch the game through passes, long passes included.

And according to Squawka our passing average length is 19m while Madrid average is 18m and Chelsea 19m.

What Van Gaal seems to be missing here is the fact that whether or not we are "technically" a long ball team when you break down copious amounts of stats, is the fact that we are rubbish to watch with little cohesion or indeed any real sort of obvious gameplan a lot of the time.

Fans aren't interested in stats - they want to see confident attacking football, especially United fans who were spoilt during the Fergie years. And I dont think that's unreasonable to be honest when other sides who spend similar amounst of money can do it.

What irks me is a man who clearly has an ego and believes in his own ability (which is of course a positive), is being so blinkered as to try and tell press fans and pundits that what they see with their own eyes isnt actually the case.

I'd like to see him be honest and tell us what he's going to do to put things right. We've progressed as a side and I'm sure he has a plan - but rather than simply banging on about a "philosophy" why not give the fans a bit more instead of having us guessing at where we're going and what type of football he wants to play while he argues with the press.

 

[Sassy Colin]

Sean Dyche says all this long ball talk is bollocks:

The jibe came from West Ham boss Sam Allardyce after the 1-1 draw between the sides on Sunday and prompted Louis van Gaal to produce a dossier of statistics at his press conference on Tuesday. Burnley visit Old Trafford on Wednesday, and Dyche will certainly not be making similar comments. The Clarets boss said: "I find it incredible, the whole thing. "I think back to my youth and a player then who was renowned was Glenn Hoddle. Was he renowned for playing five and 10-yard passes? No he wasn't. Was Ronald Koeman renowned for playing five and 10-yard passes? He was marvelled at. "I'm looking at Man Utd's team - I think they're capable of playing the ball more than five or 10 yards, and probably accurately and probably with some style. "I'm certainly not questioning whether they're a long-ball side or not. I think it's a bizarre debate."

Read more at: https://www.clubcall.com/burnley/clarets-boss-puzzled-by-long-ball-debate-1758543.html?

 

[JPRouve]

You are right. However, I don’t think they are that bad. We’ve seen glimpses of good fast football with Mata, Herrera, Blind in that team. We would be playing much more attractive football with midfielders.

A lot of people want to see us play an attractive brand of football, but this type of football is not for our players, it's an unworthy, risky type of football when your midfielders can't pass the ball consistently and when your strikers can't hit a barn door with a banjo.

Because in reality, if our strikers were goal scoring machines, Van gaal AND Moyes would have been a lot more comfortable with taking risks.

 

[Stobzilla]

So, did he say anything else in this press conference?

He bit the head off of a swan and said "feck the monarchy". Surprised this got more coverage tbh.

 

[JPRouve]

Sean Dyche says all this long ball talk is bollocks:




Read more at: https://www.clubcall.com/burnley/clarets-boss-puzzled-by-long-ball-debate-1758543.html?

He is right several weeks ago on this board, Gerrard was seen as better than the other midfielders of his generation because of his passing range, but when our players are good at it, it's embarrassing.

 

[PedroMendez]

Well yeah, he did. Which is why I wouldn't be too concerned about the boring style and all his antics. It comes with the package, doesn't mean he isn't the right choice for the transition at the moment.

He did a lot of good things in Munich, but its concerning, that he doesn't do the same things at the moment in Manchester.

Bayern:
He changed the whole structure of the team and established a new one. He introduced a (flawed) but useful tactical approach and put an end to a purely pragmatic system. This ended the flavour of the month (year) transfer strategy, because there is a much more specific profile for new players and manager. In short: He introduced a lasting system, where the following manger could work with.

United:
At the moment he is cementing the old power structure in the club and uses star players instead of focusing on a systematic approach. He wasted huge amounts of money on these new stars players and he wasnt able to turn a single youngster/talent into a top performer/starter. He also didnt find a lasting system. Sure, he obviously focuses on possession, but does he want to play with 3 or 4 in the back? Do we need new winger? Whats the shape and role of the midfield? How about the forwards? There are more open questions than answers and I dont see any long lasting plan.

 

[Borys]

A lot of people want to see us play an attractive brand of football, but this type of football is not for our players, it's an unworthy, risky type of football when your midfielders can't pass the ball consistently and when your strikers can't hit a barn door with a banjo.

Because in reality, if our strikers were goal scoring machines, Van gaal AND Moyes would have been a lot more comfortable with taking risks.

Is that your opinion or you’re implying that’s LvG’s thinking? Because I think we have a bunch of good midfielders to play quick football on the ground, we just don’t use them correctly.

 

[Mockney]

He bit the head off of a swan and said "feck the monarchy".

Good for him.

 

[JPRouve]

Is that your opinion or you’re implying that’s LvG’s thinking? Because I think we have a bunch of good midfielders to play quick football on the ground, we just don’t use them correctly.

It's my opinion and I think that a possession oriented coach will think the same.

We have a roster, who is made to create a lot of opportunities for the strikers, with risky passes, a gung ho type of football. This players will lose the ball stupidly but at the same, they will create magical moments out of nowhere.
This type of football is only effective if you transform your opportunities into goals, otherwise you end up like Dortmund.

Van gaal don't want to put himself in this situation that's why he refuses to see the opponents have the ball, he wants his team to have a ratio opportunities/goal, very high. Which means that you will have less opportunities but you will transforms them because they are supposed to be very big opportunities.
If you look our games once again, you will see that most of the time we create huge chances, even though our game is boring, but for some reason RVP and Falcao are totally useless.

 

[Ole240599]

And Ferguson did behave in a manner befitting of a Manchester United manager?

Ferguson behaved in deplorable ways many times as Manchester United manager, lets not pretend that he didn't.

Van Gaal was taking the mic, entertaining a little bit as he likes to at his press conferences. It is hardly swearing at interviewers, banning journalists on whims or cancelling player loans to avenge his son.

SAF behaved wrongly on many occasions, good observation. The difference, and this is important, is that he did so from a position of strength. His team was the best, his team played attractive football and even when he was doing things that made some of us cringe we trusted that it was part of a grand master plan that would yield even better results from the team. LVG brought himself to the level of Big Fat Sam (who we know is lying belly up somewhere laughing his leg off). Scholes was right, the comment should have been ignored. I standby my original comments.