[Poll] Will MUFC win the Premier League under Van Gaal?

[Pogue Mahone]

Been interesting the way the mood on here waxes and wanes over time. This time last year we were all feeling incredibly bullish, after a great Fletcher-inspired team performance against Madrid and creditable results against Liverpool and Barca. Over the course of the season, we ended up in a situation where (IMO) a majority of caftards had serious doubts about the manager, before regaining our belief again when we had that decent run of games against Spurs, Liverpool, City etc. with a few doubts creeping back in after the underwhelming finish to the season.

There seems to be a bit of a wave of optimism building right now. This is mainly down to some really good signings but I also think it's just the way fans of all clubs allow themselves to get a bit giddy about the forthcoming season. I only just watched the second pre-season game last night and have to admit, it wasn't much fun. Different players on the pitch but very similar to a lot of the more sterile and tedious games we had to watch last season. Relentless possession football undermined by sluggishness going forward and persistent vulnerability in defence. Against a team we should have been absolutely smashing. This attracted very little criticism because we are all much more willing we are to be patient due to the optimism mentioned above.

Obviously, pre-season means feck all and the fact we looked so good last August, then awful in September means there's a good chance we'll see a complete reversal this season.

So, cards on the table. Do you really believe in Van Gaal? Is he the man to get us finishing ahead of the oil billions at City/Chelsea and an Arsenal team that is finally splashing the cash? Will it happen within the 2 to 3 years he will likely to be given as a timeframe?

If a passing mod could turn this into a poll would be much appreciated. Maybe also include a question about whether or not he will win the CL?

Meanwhile, a yes/no will have to do. Dunno if I got out of the wrong side of bed this morning but, right now, I don't see it happening. So it's a "no" from me.

 

[Ducklegs]

No, squad was too broken when he took over.
He will build a solid base for someone else though.

 

[RedStarUnited]

We have to now, We have the players.

He really didn't have the players last year. We lost a lot of players to injury and hadn't finished buying yet.

 

[Classical Mechanic]

I'd say no too, just a hunch that I have. I see the Van Gaal reign ending badly.

 

[Gopher Brown]

Been interesting the way the mood on here waxes and wanes over time. This time last year we were all feeling incredibly bullish, after a great Fletcher-inspired team performance against Madrid and creditable results against Liverpool and Barca. Over the course of the season, we ended up in a situation where (IMO) a majority of caftards had serious doubts about the manager, before regaining our belief again when we had that decent run of games against Spurs, Liverpool, City etc. with a few doubts creeping back in after the underwhelming finish to the season.

There seems to be a bit of a wave of optimism building right now. This is mainly down to some really good signings but I also think it's just the way fans of all clubs allow themselves to get a bit giddy about the forthcoming season. I only just watched the second pre-season game last night and have to admit, it wasn't much fun. Different players on the pitch but very similar to a lot of the more sterile and tedious games we had to watch last season. Relentless possession football undermined by sluggishness going forward and persistent vulnerability in defence. Against a team we should have been absolutely smashing. This attracted very little criticism because we are all much more willing we are to be patient due to the optimism mentioned above.

Obviously, pre-season means feck all and the fact we looked so good last August, then awful in September means there's a good chance we'll see a complete reversal this season.

So, cards on the table. Do you really believe in Van Gaal? Is he the man to get us finishing ahead of the oil billions at City/Chelsea and an Arsenal team that is finally splashing the cash? Will it happen within the 2 to 3 years he will likely to be given as a timeframe?

If a passing mod could turn this into a poll would be much appreciated. Maybe also include a question about whether or not he will win the CL?

Meanwhile, a yes/no will have to do. Dunno if I got out of the wrong side of bed this morning but, right now, I don't see it happening. So it's a "no" from me.

The last season we played good football consistently was probably 06/07. We've won trophies playing unattractive football since then.

A lot of factors need to align to win the title, but I think we'll make a serious go of it this season. If we are within a point or two in April next year then we'll see. Ultimately, I never expect us to win anything, but history has always shown that we manage it. In short, yes.

 

[Cooksen]

It depends on if we can break down the crapper teams and smash them off the park.

 

[crossy1686]

Van Gaal has had everything his own way since he arrived. He can't say he hasn't been backed 100% so if he doesn't win the league or we falter badly this season he's going to be shown the door rather hastily.

 

[Green_Red]

I think he will win the league under van Gaal, whether its this year or not though is another matter. I think with the squad we're building I wouldn't be surprised to see us do pretty well in the CL too, I don't think that the semi's are out of our reach.

 

[Trigg]

He'll have to stay longer than the 3 years he originally signed for as I don't see us winning this season or the next.

 

[Kaos]

I think he will, but then he'll retire after winning it once to see off his legacy on a positive note. Could be this year, could be in a couple.

I just hope he doesn't shoehorn us with building only for the short term, the next guy should have a solid foundation. Don't want another Moyes debacle.

 

[Varun]

We will challenge for it this year but can't really comment on whether we will win. Might fall just short as I think we'll end up with 6 or so new players in the starting 11 which is way too much.

We should be much better placed next year and will win it I reckon.

 

[stepic]

it's possible next season, although that will depend on clear progress this season obviously. if we can get a centreback and whoever the keeper is settles sufficiently, next year will just be about consolidating the attack.

 

[OnlyTwoDaSilvas]

It's likely that we will have spent close to, if not in excess of, £300m by the end of this window since LvG took the job. If one of our rivals spent £300m in 2 years, I'd fully be expecting them to be winning things, so United are no different. I think Van Gaal simply has to win the league this season or next. With one or two more quality buys, I think we can do it this season. We have strengthened the midfield to a point where on paper, I believe we have the strongest midfield, and the midfield with the most depth. A centre back and a forward, and we are in very good shape. If we can get that before the Spurs game, then we have no excuse.

With his age and his talk of retirement already (and him saying this is his last job) I don't think he will extend beyond the 3 years, so he has to do it in the next two years.

 

[matt23]

It depends on if we can break down the crapper teams and smash them off the park.

Pretty much. I'm reasonably confident for the bigger games but we dropped so many points in games we dominated last season.

 

[FromTheBench]

We should be competing for the title atleast this season, or LVG should be on sackwatch.

I mean you cannot keep recycling players each year spending 150 million and then getting the excuse of rebuilding each season.

It's not like we had a squad which should have finished 7th before he took over and a so called World class manager should be significantly improving on a so called ordinary Moyes straightaway by a significant margin with what he has and on top of that after spending 150 million or 100 million 2 years in a row, not competing for the title would be a total faliure.

 

[Crustanoid]

After a recent drought of new signings I've started to get pessimistic again.

No

 

[stevoc]

All i know is my guts says maybe.

Seriously though we should be competing for it now with the squad we will have by the start of the season, after that who knows.

 

[Ballache]

Not this coming season but 2016-2017. I just feel we've had too many changes in the squad (albeit necessary ones).

 

[Question234]

don't see it.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

I'm a strong maybe

 

[francobaresi]

If we can get a Reus, a Ronaldo, a Bale, a Muller, a Hazard, a Silva, someone of that calibre, yes

If not, no

 

[FromTheBench]

Maureen came to Chelsea in a squad that just about finished 4th under FSW the previous season and was said to be in transition, stablised first season and improved existing players adding a few. Then last summer he added missing ingredients and true to his word the first season won the title next. That all at a lower net cost and everybody expects them to compete atleast next season. Similar path should be followed by us.

 

[Cmz']

This season it appears to be moving further and further away especially if De Gea and Di Maria are off as we'll need to accommodate losing them and could end the summer with 8-9 new players which is just too much change to go and win the league. It depends how long he stays for, if he only has two years left then I'd expect we'll have a good chance in the 2016/17 season as hopefully going into it we'll only need the standard 3-4 players coming into a settled side but if I had to guess I'd say no unless he were here long term, however I do think that if he leaves at the end of the 2016/17 season and we make the right appointment (not Giggs) he'll have left us in a very strong position to challenge.

 

[Skills]

Probably not, the manager after him will win it on his first attempt though as long as long as we don't moyes it up.

 

[11101]

He is addressing all the problems us fans have identified over the past years. Poor midfield, no full backs, lack of a defensive leader, too much deadwood and so on.

He has also won the league with every team he has ever managed.

So yes, i think he will. I even think he will extend his contract if he doesn't win it in the next two seasons.

 

[Bubz27]

 

[The Man Himself]

There should be a poll with following options:
Yes
Yes, of course

 

[Eric'sCollar]

The moment he took the stage at the awards night, I just knew it. There is no way this guy isn't winning the league with us. It's going to be one hell of a party and he will be leading it.

 

[MoBeats]

Maybe not this year, but so long as we're pushing Chelsea for it and not as far away as we were last year we've got to be happy.

 

[Oneunited26]

If this squad gels, the midfield lives up to what we see on paper, and I mean if they live up to what they can do and we keep DDG, strengthen the defense, we have a very powerful squad maybe the strongest squad pound for pound. I do not need to write down lineups, because we know the deal. Is there a squad in the PL got what we have? if the squad gels, no. Let us not forget when we had a decent amount of players fit, we ripped apart some pretty good teams.

The heart of the midfield is pretty damn powerful. There is the worry that schneiderlin, schweinsteiger either remain on the sidelines, or in morgan's case does not really step up, our defense continues it's injury problems DDG's head is elsewhere, and depay is adjusting to life in the PL. These cases could happen, but if the new signings really step up to the plate, I see no reason why we could not win the league. Chelsea Arsenal and City do not really scare me, and we have the players that can hurt anyone

Do not forget our fixture list the way its panned out, looks very good from our perspective. We do not have a run of tough games at the start middle and at the end, so we could really have a chance to of winning the league purely out of the way the fixture list has worked out for us

 

[NextSeason]

100%.

 

[united_99]

I can't say if he will, have to see if our attack and creativity improves this season, otherwise we'll again draw or lose too many games.

However what I have to say is that considering the money spent he will be a failure at least in terms of on pitch pure result if he doesn't win it.
Obviously that doesn't mean that he won't be a success in the bigger picture or long term even without trophies as he can still be that like he was at Bayern (obviously they had the trophies, too) but he was still more appreciated after he left. Or some Bielsa like impact who despite a lack of trophies has left some legacies in his career.

 

[Ole90+3]

I think we will win it next season.

It won't be pretty. Van Gaal knows how to achieve success. He plays the odds. And the stats show that those teams that dominate possession with quality attacking players, wins games.

 

[ottosec]

I just don't see it.

Our main problem last season was that we couldn't create shit and we could rarely unlock small teams that had 10 men behind the ball. His rigid system doesn't seem to work against those teams and needs players with xfactor to unlock them, but he doesn't seem to like those players because they lose possession to often, if we sell Di Maria we basically have none of them left.

 

[francobaresi]

I just don't see it.

Our main problem last season was that we couldn't create shit and we could rarely unlock small teams that had 10 men behind the ball. His rigid system doesn't seem to work against those teams and needs players with xfactor to unlock them, but he doesn't seem to like those players because they lose possession to often, if we sell Di Maria we basically have none of them left.

Spot on

 

[Spoony]

He's got no complaints, he's been well backed by the board...I'm hoping the side will show significant improvement a few months into the season.

 

[prarek]

I think he'll win it once before he retires. Then Pep will take over.

 

[BennyBlanco]

Honest feeling deep down is... No, I think we'd have had much more of a chance if Mourinho wasn't now sitting there as an extra added roadblock.

To be honest even if that's the case I wouldn't be that worried personally, he's restructuring the teams, in terms of talent, mentality and playstyle, which we certainly needed, as long as we're progressing upwards I'm happy for the minute.

 

[Cathy Ferguson]

No, not the coming season. We have a stronger midfield but are still predictable and slow upfront. We lack a Bale or a Hazard or even a Coutinho. Someone who can beat his marker and score goals. Maybe Depay can be this player for us? Maybe Pedro?

 

[Oneunited26]

I just don't see it.

Our main problem last season was that we couldn't create shit and we could rarely unlock small teams that had 10 men behind the ball. His rigid system doesn't seem to work against those teams and needs players with xfactor to unlock them, but he doesn't seem to like those players because they lose possession to often, if we sell Di Maria we basically have none of them left.

Didnt VG buy Depay to solve that problem? the teams balance has been a bigger problem, and with no RVP and Falcao, more of our players who did well last season will play this season. I see no reason if these players gel, why they cannot go on to be a real threat