Manchester United 'more boring ' under Jose Mourinho, says Louis van Gaal

[Dobbs]

And LVG got us Martial and promoted Rashford.

I would argue it was Moyes' lack of decision making and not taking advice, plus his negativity that's set us back. Even Jose is finding it difficult to some extent. It's not easy coming out of the slump that Moyes put us in. Yes, LVG didn't work out, but there's no way he was as bad as Moyes.

Also, most fans wanted us to have a clear out and LVG did it. Can hardly throw that in his face. You can only blame him for some of his signings and his crazy Rooney obsession, and rightly so.

Which was a major major issue. Yes he needed to clear a few out. The problem was we had to clear out nearly all his signings as well. Literally a waste of time.

I'm not praising Moyes, given the time and money he might have blundered as much as LvG did.

Overall point being LvG is completely nuts if he thinks his time at United was his best.

 

[SadlerMUFC]

In LVG's brief time with United he got rid of Nani, RVP, Kagawa, Chicharito, Zaha, and Welbeck and then complained that we don't have any 20 goal scorers. And while he was complaining about our lack of a 20 goal scorer he was playing Rooney (our best scorer) as a holding midfielder and DiMaria (our most creative player) as a striker. I think that pretty much sums him up. That mans an idiot...

 

[sullydnl]

If Van Gaal was just trying to have a go at Mourinho he could have simply pointed to their respective results & performances against the big sides.

Instead the architect of the most boring football I've ever seen United play opts to put forward that very same style of play as his strong point. A bizzare, irrational and nonsensical argument that, knowing LVG as we do, isn't even slightly surprising.

He's an odd, odd man.

 

[SadlerMUFC]

And LVG got us Martial and promoted Rashford.

I would argue it was Moyes' lack of decision making and not taking advice, plus his negativity that's set us back. Even Jose is finding it difficult to some extent. It's not easy coming out of the slump that Moyes put us in. Yes, LVG didn't work out, but there's no way he was as bad as Moyes.

Also, most fans wanted us to have a clear out and LVG did it. Can hardly throw that in his face. You can only blame him for some of his signings and his crazy Rooney obsession, and rightly so.

LVG indeed got us Martial, but I wouldn't be so quick to credit him for Rashford. It's not like he took a chance and played some kid out of the blue. Everyone was injured. His hand was forced to bring up someone from the reserves. It had gotten so bad that the game before Rashford was brought up Depay was our starting striker. But that's going to happen when the only strikers in the team at the time were Rooney and Falcao. LVG got rid of RVP, Welbeck and Chicharito as well as sending Wilson out on loan. So with Rooney and Falcao out he had to call up someone...

 

[Ivor Ballokov]

I've got a lot of time for Louis, he, although not necessarily his team, were always entertaining. I would imagine he probably only watches the big games we're involved in these days and there is possibly an argument we've been poorer in them than when he was in charge.

LvG having a laugh. I'll never forgive him for the disgraceful and fireable performance against Norwich at home.

That's the worst I've seen United play, Norwich didn't show up or treat it as their cup final, they were poor and we were abysmal.

 

[el3mel]

Idiotic comments from a moron. He's no different from Moyes now, maybe even worse in terms of quotes.

 

[SteveJ]

You're very optimistic!

That's exactly what I was thinking! Jose will probably put a portcullis in our penalty box.

 

[Florida Man]

I’ll go into tin foil hat territory for this. Perhaps he’s purposely bullshitting as a favor to Mourinho to light up a fire under the team and put a chip on their shoulder. So the players can take those comments and respond with a “feck off, we’ll prove you cnuts wrong.” I only say this because press auotes are not always what meets the eye...

 

[Jazz]

LVG indeed got us Martial, but I wouldn't be so quick to credit him for Rashford. It's not like he took a chance and played some kid out of the blue. Everyone was injured. His hand was forced to bring up someone from the reserves. It had gotten so bad that the game before Rashford was brought up Depay was our starting striker. But that's going to happen when the only strikers in the team at the time were Rooney and Falcao. LVG got rid of RVP, Welbeck and Chicharito as well as sending Wilson out on loan. So with Rooney and Falcao out he had to call up someone...

Re: Rashford: He absolutely deserves credit for him. This is the way LVG works, and one way he gives the academy players a chance. That's why he stressed he preferred a smaller squad. If there is an injury or injuries you will get your chance. If all those people were ahead of him, you would never have known we have a good young player there.

I would also say most managers would never have done what LVG did. He was under immense pressure at that time and we needed to win that game, and against Arsenal. Still, he played the kid. Managers don't tend to do things like that nowadays with all the pressure of winning. Most of them would have found a way to play an experienced player up top regardless and not taken a chance on a youngster.

LVG made his mistakes but you cannot discredit him for this.

 

[Jazz]

That's exactly what I was thinking! Jose will probably put a portcullis in our penalty box.

To be fair, he didn't slag Jose even if the headline will say otherwise. Doesn't seem to have much of a problem with him.. surprisingly!

 

[stevoc]

For all his faults Moyes was only here 8 month. He didn't let anybody go who didn't need to and his two signings have actually worked out ok.

LvG on the other hand was a complete disaster. His dealings in the transfer market alone set us back years. He had money and time, wasted both.

Moyes shouldn't get a free pass his time at United did serious damage to the club. While Van Gaal might have been a disaster, Moyes was an absolute catastrophe.

Though i do agree Van Gaal was atrocious in the transfer market, in and out.

 

[SteveJ]

I'll never forgive Lou(n)is for binning my favourite players in order to give World Class Wayne the entire pitch to underwhelm in.

 

[Jazz]

I'll never forgive Lou(n)is for binning my favourite players in order to give World Class Wayne the entire pitch to underwhelm in.

Poor little Stevie

 

[stevoc]

Give Moyes a second season and it probably would have got that bad.


What quote?

I definitely would have and for longer than a month i suspect.

 

[Theonas]

That's exactly what I was thinking! Jose will probably put a portcullis in our penalty box.

 

[SteveJ]

Hang on...it wasn't Louis who sold RVP, was it? Mou out. And also me.

 

[Theonas]

If LvG used the word boring, he is definitely wrong. Boring is being utterly impotent in the final third. If he meant defensive, he most definitely has a point. His United tried to take the initiative, it just was bad at it once we got around the final third of the opponents but his ideas and the way he was building the team shared a lot of similarities with clubs who can play on the front foot and control games higher up the pitch. He might complain that he couldn't execute that final step because he needed time but I think he just was not very good at the end of his career to do a complete job. Mourinho on the other hand is most definitely not even trying to produce a team that can play on the front foot. It's white flag waving from the get go even against the likes of bloody Ajax. The football is not always boring however but that has a lot to do with the individual quality he has been working with in the form of Zlatan, Pogba, Martial, Rashford and on occasions, Mkhitaryan, something which to be fair he deserves at least partial credit for.

 

[Womp]

He's talking shite, but what he said is great!

We (builders/welders/ice cream men and students) on the Red Cafe can't influence Jose any way, no matter how much we kick up a fuss on the forums about what United should and shouldn't do, Van Gaal can, so hopefully quotes like these will touch a nerve with Mourinho and influence him to not be so negative next time in big games, probably won't but if anything can, it's articles like this.

Why would a manager take advice from a less successful manager? Especially when he's currently doing a far better job at the club in question.

 

[Damien]

Another false narrative, that is only perpetuated because LVG was gash against smaller teams. So when he actually did the business against top teams it stuck in the memory.

In 15/16 LVG got 19/36 points. And this included games against Liverpool and Chelsea who were both in crisis. Both of these teams were not 'top' teams that season as they both finished mid table. If we include Leicester City in that calculation then his record gets worse as he got two draws which puts him at 21/42 points.

That's an amazing 1.5 points per game against the big boys, which is ordinary.

LVG was NOT good in big games, he lost 3-0 to Arsenal and Tottenham, was humilated in the Europa league by Liverpool. Not to mention his shambolic performances in the Champions League.

There are a lot of things to criticise LVG for, but to say LVG was not good in big games is going a bit far as overall his record was very good, with the odd blip. Going into the games against the big 6, I went from thinking the game was lost before it was played under Moyes, to thinking we could get a result with a chance under LVG.

Top of the "Big 6" mini league in both seasons and isn't that often teams get 18+ points - in fact I remember someone saying that winning home games and drawing away games against the big 6 (so 20 points total) should be enough to win the league as long as you do the business against the lower teams. 18 points is respectable but his record against the lower teams was dreadful and that (along with the many goalless draws, lack of shots, poor record in CL etc) is where the ire should be.

Van Gaal isn't a United fan. I doubt he watches many of our games except for the big games, so if he's on about purely them he might have a point but overall Jose is much better.

This season we're on track to having a "points v big 6" record like we're used to. Our points vs the rest of the table on the whole is great - with the odd blip like Huddersfield - just sucks that we're against this City side.

 

[sglowrider]

Surely LVG must have ended the conversation with a smirk or a sly wink after?

 

[marukomu]

"Instead of controlling the game by keeping the ball, the boring feckers sometimes kick it at that strange net thing at the edge of the pitch."

 

[Devil may care]

Jose is taking an absolute shoeing recently for the style of our football, but in fairness it's only in the big games, we aren't long ball coward merchants in the bulk of games, just if we play a side with talent.

 

[KGBhoy]

Say what you want about Jose, but I no longer dread match days. With LVG I didn't look forward to any games - that style of football was just awful. So slow....ugh... gives me shudders.

 

[ryansgirl]

Which was a major major issue. Yes he needed to clear a few out. The problem was we had to clear out nearly all his signings as well. Literally a waste of time.

I'm not praising Moyes, given the time and money he might have blundered as much as LvG did.

Overall point being LvG is completely nuts if he thinks his time at United was his best.

Moyes 'might have blundered.....'? Have you seen this man's record since he got sacked from United? Very predictable, I guessed how long he would last in Spain etc. He is nothing but a water treader until the tide overwhelms him. Moyes only did something at Everton and that's all he will ever do.

 

[marukomu]

Our football was always going to be boring at the beginning while he is building the squad. We were broken after Moyes and LVG and rebuilding takes time. The defence is pretty solid and I'm sure we will start to get better offensively over time. I'm happy with the way it's going.

 

[Giggs86]

Louis is a dinosaur of a dying breed who should've retired after that World Cup and should've never gotten the United job. He's only getting respect for the FA Cup and the casual steamrolling of Liverpool at Anfield but other than that don't let that door hit your ass Louie.

 

[Womp]

The football was boring as feck but we were going backwards with LVG. Top 4 first season, no CL the next - even with the large money spent. He had a good record against the top teams, yes, but the top teams are on a completely different level now. I dread to think how he'd be doing in this current season if he couldn't break into the top four in a season where Leicester City won the championship ffs.

 

[SadlerMUFC]

Re: Rashford: He absolutely deserves credit for him. This is the way LVG works, and one way he gives the academy players a chance. That's why he stressed he preferred a smaller squad. If there is an injury or injuries you will get your chance. If all those people were ahead of him, you would never have known we have a good young player there.

I would also say most managers would never have done what LVG did. He was under immense pressure at that time and we needed to win that game, and against Arsenal. Still, he played the kid. Managers don't tend to do things like that nowadays with all the pressure of winning. Most of them would have found a way to play an experienced player up top regardless and not taken a chance on a youngster.

LVG made his mistakes but you cannot discredit him for this.

Again, we had 2 strikers. That's it. And they were both hurt. And before he decided to give Rashford a call he did exactly what you said other managers would do and played an experienced player ahead of him. Rooney and Falcao were out so he played Depay as a striker. That didn't work, so we then had a game against Mitijhad (spelling?) in the Europa League where Martial was lined up to start up front and he got hurt too. So LVG had no choice but to start Rashford and he scored twice. We played Arsenal a couple days later and with everybody out and Rashford doing so well in his debut that he was forced to start in, it was a no brainer to start Rashford again. But don't think for a second that if it weren't for the injuries that Rashford still would have gotten his chance. LVG was very willing to start youngsters at FB. We saw a bunch of kids play there. But not at other positions. His hand was forced here, but he will be the first person to take credit for Rashford...

 

[Class of 63]

Re: Rashford: He absolutely deserves credit for him. This is the way LVG works, and one way he gives the academy players a chance. That's why he stressed he preferred a smaller squad. If there is an injury or injuries you will get your chance. If all those people were ahead of him, you would never have known we have a good young player there.

I would also say most managers would never have done what LVG did. He was under immense pressure at that time and we needed to win that game, and against Arsenal. Still, he played the kid. Managers don't tend to do things like that nowadays with all the pressure of winning. Most of them would have found a way to play an experienced player up top regardless and not taken a chance on a youngster.

LVG made his mistakes but you cannot discredit him for this.

This.

 

[Seij]

LvG is the last person to be criticizing somebody else for boring football.

 

[Class of 63]

Louis is a dinosaur of a dying breed who should've retired after that World Cup and should've never gotten the United job. He's only getting respect for the FA Cup and the casual steamrolling of Liverpool at Anfield but other than that don't let that door hit your ass Louie.

Yeah strange decision by Manchester United to employ the geezer who had managed to humiliate the Barcelona of International football 5-1 with probably the poorest squad ever to represent The Netherlands at a World Cup Finals, what were we thinking ?!

 

[wc18]

Don't think lvg deserves the criticism at all really.

It was nice for once to watch a United team who could pass the ball around and control the game. I mean im sorry but we could barely string a few passes together on Sunday it was quite sad. The downside was that to completely change to a pass and control heavy "philosophy" it takes a good amount of time to break down habits and learn new ones. I still maintain he was on the right track and was closer to it all coming together than most people give him credit for. We were in the top 3 best defenses in the PL if not the very best can't remember. Our record against the top teams was superb.

The only thing lacking was the goals and attacking consistency. To me this was the final part of philosophy and hardest to get right and implement. I remember those years quite clearly and although we didnt create a huge volume of chances, clear cut chances were created every game and we failed to take advantage. Our finishing was diabolical really. Not sure what went on behind the scenes in regards to the striker position but it would have been nice to get a Lukaku type player then. We took a calculated gamble on Falcao (which any manager would have done) and it didn't come off, made Di Maria a huge signing and he wasn't up for it and Rooney and RVP continued to regress. Marcus and Martial were just too raw to be the focal points yet. I was mad at first about the Welbeck sale but its looking more like it was the right move. I certainly wasnt mad about Hernandez going. I guess that would be my biggest criticism of LVG that he didn't get an established big name striker in to bang in the goals against the average teams we couldn't beat. Still think he was a fantastic coach and was kind of sad to see him go.

 

[MarchingOn]

feck this clown.

 

[Class of 63]

Don't think lvg deserves the criticism at all really.

It was nice for once to watch a United team who could pass the ball around and control the game. I mean im sorry but we could barely string a few passes together on Sunday it was quite sad. The downside was that to completely change to a pass and control heavy "philosophy" it takes a good amount of time to break down habits and learn new ones. I still maintain he was on the right track and was closer to it all coming together than most people give him credit for. We were in the top 3 best defenses in the PL if not the very best can't remember. Our record against the top teams was superb.

The only thing lacking was the goals and attacking consistency. To me this was the final part of philosophy and hardest to get right and implement. I remember those years quite clearly and although we didnt create a huge volume of chances, clear cut chances were created every game and we failed to take advantage. Our finishing was diabolical really. Not sure what went on behind the scenes in regards to the striker position but it would have been nice to get a Lukaku type player then. We took a calculated gamble on Falcao (which any manager would have done) and it didn't come off, made Di Maria a huge signing and he wasn't up for it and Rooney and RVP continued to regress. Marcus and Martial were just too raw to be the focal points yet. I was mad at first about the Welbeck sale but its looking more like it was the right move. I certainly wasnt mad about Hernandez going. I guess that would be my biggest criticism of LVG that he didn't get an established big name striker in to bang in the goals against the average teams we couldn't beat. Still think he was a fantastic coach and was kind of sad to see him go.

Great post.

 

[Giggs86]

Yeah strange decision by Manchester United to employ the geezer who had managed to humiliate the Barcelona of International football 5-1 with probably the poorest squad ever to represent The Netherlands at a World Cup Finals, what were we thinking ?!

Yes because that's how football works

According to that logic we should've replaced LvG with Iceland's manager after Euro 2016.

And by the way LvG got appointed before the WC started so his WC shenanigans had nothing to do with it.

 

[prath92]

He's talking shite, but what he said is great!

We (builders/welders/ice cream men and students) on the Red Cafe can't influence Jose any way, no matter how much we kick up a fuss on the forums about what United should and shouldn't do, Van Gaal can, so hopefully quotes like these will touch a nerve with Mourinho and influence him to not be so negative next time in big games, probably won't but if anything can, it's articles like this.

We were quite positive against spurs arsenal and in most of the game against city too. Away to anfield and Stamford Bridge were the only poor performances

 

[prath92]

Yes because that's how football works

According to that logic we should've replaced LvG with Iceland's manager after Euro 2016.

And by the way LvG got appointed before the WC started so his WC shenanigans had nothing to do with it.

If the Iceland manager has a history of success then yes he should have been appointed.

Netherlands team scored a ton of goals in the qualifiers playing excellent football so he was appointed. Makes complete sense

 

[Class of 63]

Yes because that's how football works

According to that logic we should've replaced LvG with Iceland's manager after Euro 2016.

And by the way LvG got appointed before the WC started so his WC shenanigans had nothing to do with it.

Steady on, Iceland only beat England, whereas LvG humiliated Spain who'd won the previous 3 International tournaments and were everybodies favourites to win the World Cup again.....

Shenanigans ? Was he Irish ? I'd always thought he was Dutch

 

[Giggs86]

If the Iceland manager has a history of success then yes he should have been appointed.

Netherlands team scored a ton of goals in the qualifiers playing excellent football so he was appointed. Makes complete sense

When was the last time an international successful manager was able to translate his success to club football? We did that mistake and paid for it, same as Chelsea with Scolari. The only difference is that they acknowledged their mistake and got rid after 6 months whereas we got stuck with ours for two years.

Steady on, Iceland only beat England, whereas LvG humiliated Spain who'd won the previous 3 International tournaments and were everybodies favourites to win the World Cup again.....

Shenanigans ? Was he Irish ? I'd always thought he was Dutch

A successful international campaign is in no way an indicator for success in club football. And you may say that Iceland "only" beat England, but you forget that the gulf in quality between Iceland and England is bigger than the gulf in quality between Spain and Netherlands.
And I have to admit that I enjoyed his shenanigans at that penalty shoot-out

 

[prath92]

When was the last time an international successful manager was able to translate his success to club football? We did that mistake and paid for it, same as Chelsea with Scolari. The only difference is that they acknowledged their mistake and got rid after 6 months whereas we got stuck with ours for two years.

We didn’t get rid after 6 months because he achieved his target that year of getting top 4. Simple as