Was Louis Van Gaal our best "coach" in the post Fergie years?

[Abraxas]

I think it is hard to judge TBH, all of the managers we have had post Fergie have been significantly hampered by players that they didn't want either being bought in or given ludicrous contracts so it has been impossible for them to fulfil their potential, woody said as much in his statement, they did not do well by the post SAF managers, in particular we have been screaming out for a decent defensive midfielder since Keane left, we had enough with Carrick and Fletcher to cope for a while but since it has been a mess.

Given more time and freedom would Moyes have succeeded?
Without poor signings, Di Maria and Sancho would Van Gaal have brought in more suitable players?
Without the scourge that is Pogba, and if he had been allowed to sign Maquire would Mourinho still be here?
Without Ronaldo unsettling things, and the unnecessary addition of Sancho would Solskjaer still have the job?

In fairness I would say out of all of the managers we have had since SAF I have enjoyed (for the main part) the time under Solskjaer the most, the style of play and jettisoning of players, and surely that is what it comes down to how much you enjoy watching your team, you can say Mourinho won a trophy, but really was it fun to watch? Van Gaal got us keeping 80+ % possession but I was interminably dull, Moyes is the unknown for me he lost the dressing room and that was it, if he had come in later not straight after SAF I think it would have been different for him, not saying he would have done better just that it is very hard to judge Moyes he was a sacrificial lamb.

I think also in fairness to Solskjaer it has to be said that Rangnick is still experiencing the same difficulties that he did, I think the club had no options but to ditch Solskjaer but that clearly hasn't resolved things, I also think that Solskjaer exceeded his capabilities and that we needed to move on so not bemoaning his sacking.

We have said many times there is a lot more needs fixing at Utd than the manager and the odd player.

I don't think it can be seriously argued that Moyes would have succeeded no matter how many concessions we would have allowed. He'd already lost himself the job in his own mind. The stuff he used to come out with and his general attitude told a sorry tale of a man completely out of his depth. We could have backed him to the hilt and kept him in place indefinitely and it wouldn't have helped that particular problem, you can only keep digging the grave from the way he seemed to approach the job as if he'd never left Goodison.

Van Gaal may have been a success with the right signings. I think his is a completely different case as he wasn't overawed and he DID get us playing to a structure. With a couple of key signings in forward areas to create that last moment it could have worked. Unfortunately for him the problem is he was a large part of the reason we didn't have said players. Cannot blame Woody etc for everything, he got some of what he wanted and some of those that were further down his list. Don't have them on a list if they can't impact the club and you can't take responsibility for them.

 

[Scottynaldinho]

Those 2015 games against Spurs, Liverpool (Juanfield), and City were probably the best football I’ve witnessed post-Fergie. Even the Chelsea game where we lost was still played well.

I fondly remember that Spurs one. It was unbelievable the way we opened them up whenever we had the ball. Also vaguely remember Wayne's "knocked out" celebration, or was that a different game?

 

[Florida Man]

I fondly remember that Spurs one. It was unbelievable the way we opened them up whenever we had the ball. Also vaguely remember Wayne's "knocked out" celebration, or was that a different game?

Same game. I wanna say it was the first goal too, and he bullied the defender along the way.

 

[DJ Jeff]

I fondly remember that Spurs one. It was unbelievable the way we opened them up whenever we had the ball. Also vaguely remember Wayne's "knocked out" celebration, or was that a different game?

Those 3-4 weeks after the Spurs game were the best time post Fergie to be a united fan. it felt like it was all going to be just fine.

 

[ManchesterManchester]

That's fair and definitely no sympathy for the board! Also bear in mind Ragnick isn't really considered a top coach, he can coach and has a good eye for younger players who can make it but it's not really his strength. I am optimistic many of the players the caf thinks are essentially Sunday league footballer who somehow got into United (Maguire, AWB etc.) will return to form and start to push for 1st team berths again now the media frenzy seems to be settling down a bit (which I think is down to Ragnick just being super open and honest in interviews which doesn't really give journos a whole lot to play with).

Yeah I hope your right mate. We really have to pray a lot of these players that we feel are lost causes can revive their careers. As you say Ralf isn’t known for his management but I think we can all see he has the right vision and expertise to guide us. Like you, I am really looking forward to an elite coach coming in (like a young Van Gaal!) who can develop our players to get us back to where we belong

 

[Tigersam]

Masterclass from Loius van Gaal at the World Cup today. I think perhaps he was badly treated at United - especially the manner of his departure just after winning the FA Cup, why did that happen, I can't remember.

 

[Plant0x84]

Masterclass from Loius van Gaal at the World Cup. I think perhaps he was badly treated at United - especially the manner of his departure just after winning the FA Cup, why did that happen, I can't remember.

It is a possibility.

 

[VP89]

Yes up to Ten Hag at least but I think it points to how atrocious our hiring is more than anything else.

 

[AlPistacho]

ETH
LVG
Mourinho
Moyes






Ole

 

[Redfrog]

He wasn’t even our best coach from Netherlands.

 

[Redfrog]

Yeah but it was the worst football by a landslide.

Something don’t add up here.

 

[BuzzKillington]

The revisionism is strong in this thread. He was a quirky character and very likeable, his football may be tolerable for short form competitions like the WC, but was utterly awful for a long slog like the prem. I have a soft spot for him as a person, but he was a terrible football manager.

 

[EtH]

He was shit.

 

[Plant0x84]

The revisionism is strong in this thread. He was a quirky character and very likeable, his football may be tolerable for short form competitions like the WC, but was utterly awful for a long slog like the prem. I have a soft spot for him as a person, but he was a terrible football manager.

Just to make a subtle distinction - he’s clearly a very good football manager but he was a terrible Manchester United manager.

 

[AshRK]

The revisionism regarding LVG is the most amusing /frustrating. The guy bored us to the death, finished 4th with no European football and finished 5th. Yes he won us the FA cup, good for us but he did a pretty ordinary job.

 

[Chief123]

Masterclass from Loius van Gaal at the World Cup today. I think perhaps he was badly treated at United - especially the manner of his departure just after winning the FA Cup, why did that happen, I can't remember.

Masterclass? It was Australia mate.

LVG was absolutely shite at Utd.

World Cup management is completely different and you can ride your luck. He came to Utd on the back of taking Netherlands to the semi-final of a World Cup. He had more of a “masterclass” before he came to Utd than he has in this World Cup playing Senegal, Ecuador, Qatar and USA.

Even Moyes would conquer that group of teams.

 

[Shark]

The revisionism regarding LVG is the most amusing /frustrating. The guy bored us to the death, finished 4th with no European football and finished 5th. Yes he won us the FA cup, good for us but he did a pretty ordinary job.

The amount of 0-0's at Old Trafford at half time must have been a record amount under him. It was bloody awful.

 

[BuzzKillington]

Just to make a subtle distinction - he’s clearly a very good football manager but he was a terrible Manchester United manager.

True and bit glib on my part, his football is eyebleeding regardless of who you support. He can be effective though and knows his onions.

 

[DutchSerb]

Probably our worst, only above Moyes for me. The team was also significantly worse in comparison to the years that would follow, but then again he also built it..

 

[Rojofiam]

ETH
LVG
Mourinho
Moyes






Ole

0 IQ

 

[AshRK]

The amount of 0-0's at Old Trafford at half time must have been a record amount under him. It was bloody awful.

Absolutely. His time here especially his second season was a disaster. It was so bad that I didn't even fully celebrate our FA cup win. Absolute dross he produced.

Is he a good manager? Of course yes

But did he do a good job for us? Absolutely NO

 

[sullydnl]

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

Not particularly relevant but still.

 

[tjb]

The revisionism regarding LVG is the most amusing /frustrating. The guy bored us to the death, finished 4th with no European football and finished 5th. Yes he won us the FA cup, good for us but he did a pretty ordinary job.

I think that is really understating it. I think he was terrible. His transfers took us years to get away from. All of them were terrible. For some reason, this doesn't get held against him enough.

You can't complain about being so poor when you signed terrible players yourself. Moyes was bad as a manager, but it was LVG that actually took us to where we ended up going. People always say the squad SAF left us with wasn't great, under a decent manager it could have gotten us into a challenger position imo. LVG came in, gutted the best parts of that squad then replaced it with rubbish then complained he wasn't treated fairly when he should have been sacked by 2015 Christmas.

 

[Tigersam]

Absolutely. His time here especially his second season was a disaster. It was so bad that I didn't even fully celebrate our FA cup win. Absolute dross he produced.

Is he a good manager? Of course yes

But did he do a good job for us? Absolutely NO

Does that suggest there is something fundementally wrong with the structure in place at Manchester United?

Was Ronaldo partly right in his Piers Morgan interview?

 

[Tigersam]

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

Not particularly relevant but still.

To be fair, I applaud that.

I loved that time someone dived and he did a Charlie Chaplin impression on the sidelines to show his displeasure.

 

[VanDeBank]

The revisionism regarding LVG is the most amusing /frustrating. The guy bored us to the death, finished 4th with no European football and finished 5th. Yes he won us the FA cup, good for us but he did a pretty ordinary job.

Couldn't agree more.

I hate these bumps too. Most international managers are has-beens or never-beens, of course he looks like a genius by comparison.

 

[Plant0x84]

True and bit glib on my part, his football is eyebleeding regardless of who you support. He can be effective though and knows his onions.

I think he’s the sort of coach that excels in certain scenarios- he done it in so many countries and leagues, his CV is amazing - but he wasn’t the right coach for us, he wasn’t suited to PL football and United wasn’t the right club for him. I hated watching our games when he was here.

 

[Chief123]

Couldn't agree more.

I hate these bumps too. Most international managers are has-beens or never-beens, of course he looks like a genius by comparison.

No disrespect to the bumper, but him being an Arsenal fan isn’t going to appreciate how bad and shite the football was under LVG unless he watched every minute of us.

You could see even the players were fed up with it at the time.

 

[Lee565]

It would have been good to have given him another season at united, he was the only one that sort of moved the club forward with trying to change the culture on the pitch and with facilities and academy.

for all we know maybe depay, martial and rashford could have benefitted from him remaining in charge and developed for the better instead mourinho not fully trusting them

 

[Shark]

Does that suggest there is something fundementally wrong with the structure in place at Manchester United?

Was Ronaldo partly right in his Piers Morgan interview?

Yes there are fundamental problems, but even Ole as much of a total car crash that we was, proved that you can put together some element of consistency with one or two good signings. In his case Bruno Fernandes. All of LVG's signings were duds, absolutely all of them and the football was never once attractive aside from when we went up against the top 6.

 

[foolsgold]

The football wasn't great, the Di Maria situation didn't help, none of that was his fault. If Angel had settled and played to potential at United I think a lot of things would have been different. the football became tumescent and dull.

 

[Andycoleno9]

Probably our worst, only above Moyes for me. The team was also significantly worse in comparison to the years that would follow, but then again he also built it..

In what world he was worse than failed Cardiff manager? Blimey

 

[sullydnl]

I think that is really understating it. I think he was terrible. His transfers took us years to get away from. All of them were terrible. For some reason, this doesn't get held against him enough.

You can't complain about being so poor when you signed terrible players yourself. Moyes was bad as a manager, but it was LVG that actually took us to where we ended up going. People always say the squad SAF left us with wasn't great, under a decent manager it could have gotten us into a challenger position imo. LVG came in, gutted the best parts of that squad then replaced it with rubbish then complained he wasn't treated fairly when he should have been sacked by 2015 Christmas.

At this point I think there's a general acceptance that we had recruitment problems that went far beyond our managers or their capacity to compensate for them, even if they also contributed to those problems. You can blame literally all of them for poor/terrible signings, from Moyes through to Ole.

The more distinct problem with LVG relative to the others was how dire his football was to watch.

 

[AshRK]

Does that suggest there is something fundementally wrong with the structure in place at Manchester United?

Was Ronaldo partly right in his Piers Morgan interview?

The structure isn't great at United and I don't think many United fans will dispute that but one cannot hide behind a structure for their crap work.

He did an awful job here and no amount of semi finals or qf with dutch will change that.

 

[AshRK]

Couldn't agree more.

I hate these bumps too. Most international managers are has-beens or never-beens, of course he looks like a genius by comparison.

One day LVG becomes the best, then one day Jose. Who knows tomorrow we will have Ole being our best manager after he wins some games somewhere in Norway. Heck people were sympathetic towards Moyes.

Truth is all the managers post SAF (not including ETH) did an underwhelming to crap job.

 

[Stack]

NO, Awful coach, most tediously dull football since Sexton. In fact he makes Sextons football lok exciting.

 

[OrcaFat]

I think that is really understating it. I think he was terrible. His transfers took us years to get away from. All of them were terrible. For some reason, this doesn't get held against him enough.

You can't complain about being so poor when you signed terrible players yourself. Moyes was bad as a manager, but it was LVG that actually took us to where we ended up going. People always say the squad SAF left us with wasn't great, under a decent manager it could have gotten us into a challenger position imo. LVG came in, gutted the best parts of that squad then replaced it with rubbish then complained he wasn't treated fairly when he should have been sacked by 2015 Christmas.

Regarding his signings, he has said that he didn’t get a single player he asked for in the time he was here.

I’ve posted this before and people responded saying he probably asked for Messi and other unattainable players and therefore the signings we made while he was here must be his fault.

I would agree that the style was a bit boring and wasn’t yielding satisfactory results. That said, I think there were people above him interfering with football decisions without the credentials to do it (a long-standing problem which all our managers had to live with).

 

[AlPistacho]

0 IQ

As opposed to being 100% blinded by emotion?

 

[SalfordRed18]

ETH
LVG
Mourinho
Moyes






Ole

Think there's tablets you can take for your short term memory.

 

[Albin Johansson]

Other than ETH, van Gaal was easily the one i enjoyed the most. Even when he had his weird outbursts he was somewhat likeable. Adding to that he could always pull a masterclass and from what I recall our performances against top 6 teams were impressive and the reason he eventually got the sack was due to us continously underperforming against midtable opponents.

After the crystal place final it was quite the bitter ending to his tenure and my opinion is that was the only manager that had that x-factor that Mourinho also shared earlier in his career but never got close to at United. Even though I am quite happy about our current situation with Ten Haag I think that an extended run with Louis would've come good.