Weren't we really lucky in many games during that season? And by lucky I mean things like de Gea winning us at least ten points in games where we were awful. If I remember well, we beat Liverpool 3-1 or something at Old Trafford even though they literally killed us, our defence was awful, but their finishing was even worse and de Gea was doing miracles on goal. We had many games like that, similar happened against Arsenal too I think. Then pur players of the season were Young and Fellaini, tells you all about the season you need to know.
Van Gaal's 2014-15 season
- Thread starter FujiVice
- Start date
It was not a horror as the 2015-16. We were pathetic in 2103-14. LvG came with new ideas and total football stuff. We were inconsistent, but had some good results to remember. We had loads of injuries as usual and many players kept playing out of positions. Some like ADM got fed up with the style of football. We made it to top 4. LvG had a rocking end of season party.
It was expected we will step up on what was being built and become a team which can supplement the possession tactics with some nice attacking talents. But overall our market and in next season was disappointing. Soon the players became disillusioned with the football that LvG wanted and he kinda started losing it. After the Xmas disaster, it became just a matter of when he was getting the sack.
It was expected we will step up on what was being built and become a team which can supplement the possession tactics with some nice attacking talents. But overall our market and in next season was disappointing. Soon the players became disillusioned with the football that LvG wanted and he kinda started losing it. After the Xmas disaster, it became just a matter of when he was getting the sack.
well doneDi Maria wasn't horrible...LVG was. Di Maria still finished near the top in assists despite being played out of position most of the time and eventually getting frozen out of the team (after the red card vs Arsenal). I still remember at one point LVG complaining because we didn't have a 20 goals scorer on the team, meanwhile he was playing Rooney as a holding midfielder, Di Maria as a striker and he sold RVP and Chicharito. He was an idiot and never should have lasted as long as he did.
And please....don't question how long I've been supporting the club. I'm 44 years old and have been playing (and still play) and following this game most of my life...
It was woeful. Wtf am I reading.
Jeez, if you're looking back at LvG and thinking it wasn't that bad, then you really know we're watching shite atm.
My main memory from that season is the Leicester game that ended 5-3 to Leicester, we played fantastically for a while, Di Maria scored a goal of absolute beauty, and I really thought we were back, then suddenly we collapsed and that feeling has never really returned.
My main memory from that season is the Leicester game that ended 5-3 to Leicester, we played fantastically for a while, Di Maria scored a goal of absolute beauty, and I really thought we were back, then suddenly we collapsed and that feeling has never really returned.
We dominated shit.
Apart from 10 games in that whole season we were just as bad as in the second. People usually disregard how pathetic those 2 seasons under LVG really were.
I think anything seemed great after the record breaker Moyes. Fans were relieved that a high profile manager was in charge of the club, there was optimism and a sht sandwich would have looked great after his short reign. The club spending again, gave people hope as in we thought we were addressing the problem, just a shame most were duds.
It was not bad for a first season under a new manager. We were looking dominant towards the end, until we could not finish in first place anymore. The team stopped trying.
The next season we started boring but we were in first place grinding out results. Then it all went to hell, the fans weren't happy and we got hit by a massive injury crisis.
After that there were also some good games, our tactics changed, we started playing more direct towards the end.
Looking back from the present that run of games against Spurs, Pool and City was the last time we looked impressive imo. And I'm thankful for LvG's trust in our youth players.
The next season we started boring but we were in first place grinding out results. Then it all went to hell, the fans weren't happy and we got hit by a massive injury crisis.
After that there were also some good games, our tactics changed, we started playing more direct towards the end.
Looking back from the present that run of games against Spurs, Pool and City was the last time we looked impressive imo. And I'm thankful for LvG's trust in our youth players.
Memorable for that spring run that was put together and the icing on the cake for Gerrard getting sent off after 90 seconds or something.
Overall, bit of a stop start season. After a dismal prior season I am sure there was a lot of mentality that needed to be rebuilt. But, it also looked as if the team was enjoying playing football again. A couple of high profile names were brought to the club and for awhile it seemed the team gelled nicely. Wish we didn't go on holiday early as the results were absolutely dire at the tail end of the season. What annoyed me more about that was it was an odd numbered year. No World Cup or Euros to play for. Players should have kept playing until the end of the season.
Overall, bit of a stop start season. After a dismal prior season I am sure there was a lot of mentality that needed to be rebuilt. But, it also looked as if the team was enjoying playing football again. A couple of high profile names were brought to the club and for awhile it seemed the team gelled nicely. Wish we didn't go on holiday early as the results were absolutely dire at the tail end of the season. What annoyed me more about that was it was an odd numbered year. No World Cup or Euros to play for. Players should have kept playing until the end of the season.
The great winning streak we had during the Spring of 2015, still remains my favorite moments since Fergie left. That really made me feel we were building up for something special, in spite of the end of season collapse.
But alas, it was just a false dawn.
The 2014-15 season was certainly good compared to the nightmarish season we had under Moysey. We improved massively especially in the big games.
But alas, it was just a false dawn.
The 2014-15 season was certainly good compared to the nightmarish season we had under Moysey. We improved massively especially in the big games.
Good memories:
It was poor, but it felt like an improvement on the Moyes season. We also showed a few glimpses of a really good team, for example against City or QPR. We made top 4, nothing more nothing less, so thats how LVG kept his job. But, the football really was dire, it makes our football under Jose look like Fergie's late 90s United in comparison. Under LVG the football was at its peak in terms of how unwatchable it was. In retrospect I would've sacked LVG then and there, you could tell he wasn't the right fit for the club with his boring style.
It was an above average season considering where we were under Moyes,but honestly,we should have done much better.After spending the kind of money that we did we should have done much better....Plus we didn't have any European football so the players effectively just had to prepare for 1 game every week.We just finished 4th without a trophy which isn't great...Mourinhos 2 seasons have been much better than 2014/2015....
The Di Maria stuff was just plain bizarre. In the end you can understand why he and a bunch of our other movement based attackers didn't want to be here, performed poorly and were binned off. Sounds like the squad as a whole just thought Van Gaal was a complete nutter and took the piss out of him. Fair enough as well, he was a total weirdo.
The start of the season was pretty poor 3 wins in our first 10 before a streaky chunk of wins kick started our season. Pretty much would agree if anyone came to me and said the players were winning games despite of the manager and not for the manager. But that is a stretch.
The start of the season was pretty poor 3 wins in our first 10 before a streaky chunk of wins kick started our season. Pretty much would agree if anyone came to me and said the players were winning games despite of the manager and not for the manager. But that is a stretch.
It was certainly a breath of fresh air after wondering if Moyes would be kept on, because the football, and honestly Moyes himself, looked out of ideas. Actually, I thought one one of our best performances that season was in a loss to Everton. However, by the of the season it was obvious we needed something more to kick on. It didn’t happen, and obviously early on the next season it became apparent - LvG and his methods had stagnated. Games with no shots on goal, pissing around back passes, and boring. Oh so boring.
And, Di Maria is a twat. Very, very few players, in fact it’s hard recall another, I’ve wanted sold off as bad as him.
And, Di Maria is a twat. Very, very few players, in fact it’s hard recall another, I’ve wanted sold off as bad as him.
Still feels strange to think that both he and Di Maria played for us.
Hot & Cold, for the most part.
I was more than happy to see the back of Moyes and i was really glad that United had chosen a foreign manager from a school of thought i admire. On top of that, LvG led a pretty much underwhelming Dutch side a penalty shootout away from a WC final and, after he joined the club, went on to have a very promising pre-season in the States. Then came the first match of the season at OT against Swansea... there are some cruel reality checks in life and this was certainly one of them. Not just the defeat but that feeling deep down that it's not going to be easy for us.
But we were also plagued with injuries and it was still early days, so we could still blame everything on Moyes i suppose (although the 4-0 at MK still gets to my nerves for some reason). I guess i felt hopeful again after the City game in which we finally showed some composure when everyone was expecting a massacre after we went down to ten men. Then we went on to win six games in a row (we've managed to do this oncly thrice in the post-SAF era) and get 22/24 points in 8 matches. It was when Carrick had come back into the side and RvP had enjoyed a short spell of good form. Mind you though, the quality of the performances was as convincing as it is now: Far from what is required of this club. It still baffles me how we got 9/9 points from Arsenal & Southampton away and Liverpool at home. But it felt good to be back to winning days for a while.
The festive period didn't do us any favours and the loss at OT against Southampton was a huge turn off followed by a late point at WHU with LvG being dragged by big Sam to a nonsensical debate about long balls and a second defeat to Swansea, this time after throwing away an early lead. When you want to play possession football and Swansea do it better than you, that's how it was like at that point. A couple of weeks later Arsenal won at OT with Welbeck scoring the winner and killed off our last chance to win any silverware.
But then we won six games in the row for the second time (out of three post-Fergie) and these wins included convincing performances like vs Spurs, City and Liverpool. This was when Fellaini had hit some form and we thought that Carrick/Herrera/Fellaini is the way to go. It all fell apart when Carrick got injured again. I still remember that game at The Bridge: It had "1-0 to Chelsea" written all over it.
Then LvG decided to sign a player that should have retired to share the holding role with a player that was close to retirement and he also added another midfielder with a poor sense of positioning to a midfield that already lacked positional discipline in order to build a side whose success would depend on how well it would absorb a philosophy that prioritizes positional discipline above everything else. Oh, he also said that Rooney will be his 20+ goal striker in the PL.
I was more than happy to see the back of Moyes and i was really glad that United had chosen a foreign manager from a school of thought i admire. On top of that, LvG led a pretty much underwhelming Dutch side a penalty shootout away from a WC final and, after he joined the club, went on to have a very promising pre-season in the States. Then came the first match of the season at OT against Swansea... there are some cruel reality checks in life and this was certainly one of them. Not just the defeat but that feeling deep down that it's not going to be easy for us.
But we were also plagued with injuries and it was still early days, so we could still blame everything on Moyes i suppose (although the 4-0 at MK still gets to my nerves for some reason). I guess i felt hopeful again after the City game in which we finally showed some composure when everyone was expecting a massacre after we went down to ten men. Then we went on to win six games in a row (we've managed to do this oncly thrice in the post-SAF era) and get 22/24 points in 8 matches. It was when Carrick had come back into the side and RvP had enjoyed a short spell of good form. Mind you though, the quality of the performances was as convincing as it is now: Far from what is required of this club. It still baffles me how we got 9/9 points from Arsenal & Southampton away and Liverpool at home. But it felt good to be back to winning days for a while.
The festive period didn't do us any favours and the loss at OT against Southampton was a huge turn off followed by a late point at WHU with LvG being dragged by big Sam to a nonsensical debate about long balls and a second defeat to Swansea, this time after throwing away an early lead. When you want to play possession football and Swansea do it better than you, that's how it was like at that point. A couple of weeks later Arsenal won at OT with Welbeck scoring the winner and killed off our last chance to win any silverware.
But then we won six games in the row for the second time (out of three post-Fergie) and these wins included convincing performances like vs Spurs, City and Liverpool. This was when Fellaini had hit some form and we thought that Carrick/Herrera/Fellaini is the way to go. It all fell apart when Carrick got injured again. I still remember that game at The Bridge: It had "1-0 to Chelsea" written all over it.
Then LvG decided to sign a player that should have retired to share the holding role with a player that was close to retirement and he also added another midfielder with a poor sense of positioning to a midfield that already lacked positional discipline in order to build a side whose success would depend on how well it would absorb a philosophy that prioritizes positional discipline above everything else. Oh, he also said that Rooney will be his 20+ goal striker in the PL.
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LVG's career was over the day Leicester put 5 past us after being comfortable in front , in fact if Falcao' s effort at 3-1 goes in instead of hitting the bar it could have been a whole different story for Louis ( and Falcao)
Cheers Mr Clattenburg ( absolute tosser)
Cheers Mr Clattenburg ( absolute tosser)
A depressing season in terms of how we played, but towards the end there was optimism that what LvG needed was another summer's transfers and training to fully impose his own style. Which turned out to be the case, unfortunately.
Philosophy, fresh cool diverting word/idea (also as an excuse) at that time, also "process" was it?
Did better than Moyes, cleared many dead woods (did well at this), some exciting players signed, good faith in youth, good games against top 4/6, and finished 4th back to CL. But onwards gradually to another mess.
Better 1st season than the next 2nd season.
Did better than Moyes, cleared many dead woods (did well at this), some exciting players signed, good faith in youth, good games against top 4/6, and finished 4th back to CL. But onwards gradually to another mess.
Better 1st season than the next 2nd season.
I truly believe that if had won that match, Di Maria would've gone on to have one of the best seasons of his life.
Before the LCFC thrashing, we were scoring a lot of goals and having him and it was carnival atmosphere.
LVG himself was repeatedly talking about attacking football and attacking is what we were doing.
Many pundits said that we were "top heavy". Ie. we will score lots of goals, but concede a lot.
Even in that LCFC game which we lost, we scored 3 goals.
After that match sadly, LVG went into his shell and the focus was on defending and Di Maria was benched, in favour of A.Young, who was strong defensively.
And that was the problem right there.
Progression had stopped. In fact, we were regressing and ultimately that's what got him fired.
Had he got 3rd in the league, say, this would represent progress and he'd probably get another year, with the expectation that he would take us to 1st or 2nd place in the league, in his 3rd year. Then hand over to Giggs, in the 4th year.
Just imagine, in an alternate reality, Giggs would now be our manager and we'd be a possession based team.
This is true by the league but as far as the LVG project the 2nd season looked far more directional and building towards an actual identity and way of playing. By the end of that season, Rashford, Lingard and Martial had begun to understand their roles and were making far more positive incisive movements.
Take in to account we went from having players like DiMaria, Falcao, RVP and replaced them with a lot of untested potential upfront. Losing so much experience obviously was on LVG and he has said he didn’t get what was promised within the window but still his fault going in to that season so deprived of the experience needed.
You know you can just bash our style of play under Mourinho without spewing nonsense regarding LvG. There was absolutely no direction whatsoever. Constantly changing formations, absolutely no idea how to play football, unable to create a single chance, unable to score goals.
No where did I mention Jose. Touch hypersensitive no? You know when people mention the Jose cultist thing, this would be a prime example. Wasn’t even thinking of him when I wrote what I did above.
There was easily a direction, and the patterns of play were obvious within the 2nd season of what LVG was trying to implement. He also had to deal with a lot of injuries which led to chopping about the formation or players but there was an all encompassing way of playing and when he had the ones mentioned on the pitch you could see what they were working on. That team certainly needed additions and to improve the tempo at what it did things at. Something LVG constantly mentioned.
Feels crazy that in certain games we had RVP, Rooney,Falcao and DiMaria all on the pitch at the same time. Imagine having that line up when all of them were at their best.
My impression of that 2nd season was that he got totally lost after the first month or so to the extent he almost gave up because he run out of ideas how to improve our attacking play. He was a dead man walking by December.
As for losing experience he had the whole back line Jose has now with the possible addition of Evans who has a good passing ability. He had Carrick, added BS to his midfield and put the icing on the cake by making Rooney captain and his main man. He had a lot of experience in that team, that wasn't the problem. In fact, you could argue that his ass was almost saved by Martial and Rashford who were rare bright spots of that uninspiring team. Probably as he didn't have enough time to suffocate them with his philosophy.
When I was speaking of experience I was just meaning in striking positions I concede there was Rooney and through out the team there was experience. Rooney however was deployed in a few positions and was supposedly beginning that change to midfielder so that’s why I didn’t really include him.
As for the others I don’t know I saw improvements as they went along and sure in some games they just didn’t have it in them and got stuck, so we saw endless loops of passing in and around the 18yarder then recycle it back and start again. There were also times when LVG pulled Rashford then told the media it was because he was straying to far from his position and playing wildly. Next game he was back you saw the improvement in Rashford and I’m sure that first game back was against City where he scored but he played within the width of the box. Lingard also improved when Jose introduced him to the position he often plays now. He was the one driving force taking the ball out of midfield and travelling with it which was something we had lacked. The improvements were there to see. Anyway it’s a game of opinions in the end, I obviously just viewed things differently.
Yeah, but Rooney as the main man in the attack was his general idea. He started to rotate Rooney in midfield even season before, but my impression was since Rooney had a solid end of his first season as a striker that he decided to rely on him upfront which was madness.
He had a plan and direction I will give him that, but the implementation was way off the mark. BS couldn't do a job he was able to do before in midfield, Rooney was finished and Depay wasn't his "Robben" type of player on the wings that he had in Netherlands and Bayern. So, it all went to absolute crap somewhere along that second season.
That is my view at least, as you say, everyone can see it differently.
I do feel that losing DiMaria would have affected the plans going in to that season massively even if the previous season was well, pretty tragic by the end of it. I would have presumed his role would have been out on the right wing, or like he played for Ancelotti at Real being the guy that took the ball out of the midfield. LVG did say he wasn’t happy with not getting someone in for the right, be that the plan he always had, or just after DiMaria left.
I do think you have a case with Rooney in that I seem to recall stories of LVG asking Rooney if he can do it, if he can lead the line. Probably madness indeed because even tho I was an ardent Rooney fan, that just wasn’t going to be his position at that point in his career.
As for his recruitment that season in hindsight it’s not been great but at the time Darmian was Italy’s fullback and playing really well for Torino. Blind was player of the season or some rubbish. Schneiderlin(someone I didn’t really rate) but was in the team of the season at Southampton. Depay was, well.... a highly touted youngster tearing up the Dutch league who had a pretty decent WC the previous year when he played for LVG.
Sweinsteiger, well I can sort of understand why he was brought in, a guy already immersed in how LVG wanted to play to hopefully pass it on and make it easier for everyone else. His physical decline even tho for me it was evident in the Bundesliga was just something he couldn’t get to grips with in this league. Although he and Carrick playing in velvet slippers and silk robes whilst smoking cigars vs Liverpool is one of my favourite recent United memories. It was just class personified.
As for Di Maria, he tried him pretty much everywhere, on the wing, through the middle like Ancelotti, heck even as a second striker once or twice. It just didn't work out and by the end of the season, he benched him. So, he had to be ready for his exit and I don't think it affected his plans in that sense.
One thing, though, hindsight is a wonderful thing. Aside from Rooney role, I was (and I'm sure many others) pretty happy with our team and signings that season. I hoped Bastian could give us at least 2 good seasons, Schneiderlin was highly rated and Depay, as you say, was a promising talent. Darmian was also seen as a solid upgrade. But, as a manager, you live and die by your decisions and the transfer window bar Martial turned out to be a disaster.
I did love that game you mentioned against Liverpool, but after that, it was mostly an agonizing experience.
Also, when we talk about our signings, it is really incredible how little value for money did we get after Ferguson, not just in that transfer window. But, that's another subject I guess.
As like Dave Sexton, god rest his soul, I’ve almost blanked out Van Gaal’s tenure.
Will never forget that Leicester game when a ten-stone Varley bullied us all afternoon.
Didn’t we only get VG on the basis of Holland having a good run in the World Cup? How lazy was that decision?
Loads of average sides have reached the later stages of the World Cup.
Will never forget that Leicester game when a ten-stone Varley bullied us all afternoon.
Didn’t we only get VG on the basis of Holland having a good run in the World Cup? How lazy was that decision?
Loads of average sides have reached the later stages of the World Cup.
That run was hugely impressive. He got the tactics and subs right every time.
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Nope, there were no world class managers available and Woodward decided to go for someone who had atleast won a few league titles in the past. On paper, LvG was the best coach he could have hired during that period.
When many coaches were available, we went for Moyes, and when we sacked him, no-one was available. Annoying timing.
Nope, he was coming here before the world cup even started.
At the time he seemed the best choice on paper, despite what turned out to be accurate warnings from some Bayern fans. That was largely down to what seemed like a limited choice on offer though
It was an average season. No European football and scraped into top 4 with no trophies. Had Van Gaal not got CL qualification he would have been sacked, which happened next season as we regressed.
Because it came after the complete and utterly humiliating Moyes season it seemed better than it actually was.
We had no European football, we were out the League cup in the 2nd round and we only reached the 1/4 finals of the FA Cup and yet we scraped into 4th playing crap football for most of the season.
We had no European football, we were out the League cup in the 2nd round and we only reached the 1/4 finals of the FA Cup and yet we scraped into 4th playing crap football for most of the season.
It was decent, no more than that. We had a good start, then Leicester crushed LVG's confidence.
I liked our little run in the spring of beating Spurs, City and Liverpool (anyone else?), thought LVG got something going, stumbled upon a good formula, but it all stopped at Everton and in the next season he scrapped everything, began from 0 and it was a horrible season.
Di Maria started brightly only to become a disastrous transfer, Falcao unfortunately never got going.
I liked our little run in the spring of beating Spurs, City and Liverpool (anyone else?), thought LVG got something going, stumbled upon a good formula, but it all stopped at Everton and in the next season he scrapped everything, began from 0 and it was a horrible season.
Di Maria started brightly only to become a disastrous transfer, Falcao unfortunately never got going.
Had 2 excellent runs and the rest was utterly woeful.