POF
Full Member
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- Sep 23, 2014
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- 3,798
Van Gaal was never going to be a success at United and another season would have made no difference other than making the job for his successor even harder.It was the same in Barcelona as well and he got to manage that team twice. However,
Theres 2 levels to Van Gaal - the boring football that's like the icing part of a cake; the part of the cake that is easily seen and judged
And then theres the tactical build up of a squad which is so clearly thought by the player and is slow that it becomes tumescent and strong eventually.
I just wish he got that 3rd year with us because I was just seeing it start to come together - the partnerships between Martial & Rashford, the Smalling & Blind's etc.
He's a proper teacher with a history of poor transfers at all his clubs. I just personally know that the people who dont get Van Gaal is not for me to talk about tactics with. The same type of fans who were crying to hire Jose after him and then complain 2 seasons after about how he shouldn't have been hired after LVG because they play 2 different types of football; then blame woodward for it. Blame the players for being crap like sanchez, Pogba etc when they were excited in the signing in the first place when they should have know that they dont fit a certain tactical philosophy.
That ruined what he was building here like he helped out at bayern & Barcelona to varying degress. I also felt his first season of Falcao and big name players wasnt all his idea but Woodward's panic towards getting back to the CL because the difference between that and season two were miles apart.
Just gutted about that one more season because it was obvious to me (as a follower of his tactics) from 5 years ago that Martial False 9 would happen competing with a player like Memphis whilst Rashford would be out wide the season after his breakthrough.
Keeping a player like Blind or Memphis would have been better than Rafeal any day of the week for me. Jose came ditched the players and the system as soon as he got here except for times when he had to use it like the Europa League final vs Ajax.
Like Giggs and Rooney said - the best tactical manager I've seen at United & him not winning things instantly doesnt change that for me.
Firstly, his tactics were the antithesis of "the United way". United were turning into the type of Arsenal team United had ridiculed for years. Possession football with no end product. It didn't even have the quality football. He had to play Fellaini as a method of breaking teams down because the football lacked any level of creativity or imagination in the final third.
Secondly, he was on a 3 year contract and was then due to retire. Say he got an extra season, coached the team further in his unorthodox methods and retired. Then what? The chances were the new manager would want to rip it up and start again no matter who it was. The defensive structure was very unorthodox (for England at least) and Jose talked of having to get the defenders to unlearn it after he took over.
Thirdly, the players couldn't stand him. "I want fast creative wingers" after he turfed them all out in his first summer in charge (to play 3-5-2 which lasted about 3 weeks), signed Memphis and played him as a number 10 and had Di Maria and played him up front.
It's well documented that his transfer record was atrocious. Diabolically bad. I realise that isn't your argument but it set the club back years.
I understand his philosophy is to make the players smarter, make them think more for themselves and be more analytical on the pitch. That's great if you're head of the academy, not first team coach. If you have to retrain every first team player how to play football it will take more than 3 years to create a successful team.
If United were going to appoint LVG it would have had to be with a long term plan to change the way the club played football. It needed a football structure that believed in that approach and would continue it for years to come under similar minded coaches and with a recruitment department to identify the right type of player (the mythical fast creative wingers who only did exactly what LVG told them to do).
Under those circumstances, it could have gone better but it was never going to lead to success.
The current approach (recreate what United had under Fergie) is hardly groundbreaking but at least the club seem united in carrying it out. It may not be a good plan but it's at least a plan. Under LVG there was no plan. Just a complete mess.