Louis van Gaal: "I am - or maybe was - a very successful manager."

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Van Gaal also held his regular post-match press conference and these were the key comments:

"What you have seen today is what a lack of confidence can do. It was not good enough and it was our first defeat at Old Trafford [this season] and that makes it remarkable. It is also confirmation that we are in a very bad period which we have to come out of. This is difficult or we would have done that today.

"You have to win against Norwich City, you have to win every home match. The problem is how we come out of this bad period. That can be done when we stick together, not just the players, manager and staff but the fans - that is very important. Everything I say about the defeat is one word too much because the expectation is that we beat Norwich and we didn’t do that.

"To show your professional attitude is the only way you can get our confidence back. Of course we have to evaluate what we have done today and how we have prepared for this match and so on. Tomorrow we shall do that as staff, as a team, to make it better for Stoke City in the next game, then the same for two days later against Chelsea. I am always evaluating myself because that is an aspect of my philosophy. In the 25 years of management I evaluate myself every day. I am not the same coach of 25 years ago and I always evaluate. This is why I am, or maybe I now have to say was, a very successful manager.

"Yes I worry about my job because I know that belief in a manager is very important and when you lose the games, the belief in the manager will decrease. That is happening now. I cannot close my eyes to that."

Post Match:

"We were not good enough to win; that is a fact, we have lost. The fans are expecting that we win and we expect the same. We have never lost this season at home and we are in a bad period and you can see what (a lack of) confidence is doing to my players. We have to stick together now and come out of this bad period, but you have seen this is not so easy.

"I have to say I like the attitude of the fans because, after the 2-0 scoreline, they stood behind the players and they were supporting the team, which is the most important thing and I was pleased with that. Of course they were disappointed and are yelling after this defeat, but we are just as frustrated that we haven't won this game.

"We had two big chances (after the Martial goal): the fantastic cross from Ashley Young, which we have to score, and also the Smalling chance. We created the chances but we didn't finish them and I have said that for a long time.

"It is possible to turn this (bad form) around because of the many matches we have coming up, but it is difficult. We have to show our professional attitude and to come out of this very bad period."
 
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hmmm. The writing could be on the wall. 1/6 on for the sack too.
 
"We had two big chances (after the Martial goal): the fantastic cross from Ashley Young, which we have to score, and also the Smalling chance. We created the chances but we didn't finish them and I have said that for a long time.
We had 2 chances after the Goal so should have won the match? Again with the having to score every chance you create. Not even Messi or Ronaldo does that.
 
We had 2 chances after the Goal so should have won the match? Again with the having to score every chance you create. Not even Messi or Ronaldo does that.

My only issue with what he said. Everything else is quite good considering the circumstances.
 
I have very little sympathy for him but I still feel a little sad reading that. He's a down old man at the end of his career.
 
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I feel sorry for him. He should resign and leave with some dignity. I would hate for him to be sacked in his last job as manager.
 
I'd say he might have got a shock this week at the brutality of Chelsea sacking the coach who'd just won them the league.
 
I think at board level, they were perfectly happy having him stay on despite our rubbish football so long as we were getting results.

Getting booted out of the champions league group stages in our group by itself was embarrassing, but the results haven't been good enough for a while now.
 
Still banging on about missed chances is he? He actually expects us to score from every single shot doesn't he?

Utterly clueless. Oh and he's right about one thing, he was a successful manager. He isn't any more. He's terrible.
 
At least he's staying professional in regards to talking in the tense of a unit and not trying to absolve himself by pointing fingers.
 
We had 2 chances after the Goal so should have won the match? Again with the having to score every chance you create. Not even Messi or Ronaldo does that.

exactly, yet ignoring that the other team had chances they could have scored themselves

it's just too precise. creating 3 chances and trying to win from that, or create sh!tloads like we used to...
 
I think at board level, they were perfectly happy having him stay on despite our rubbish football so long as we were getting results.

Getting booted out of the champions league group stages in our group by itself was embarrassing, but the results haven't been good enough for a while now.

the poor football, the 0-0 home games, the league cup loss to Boro, the champions league poor campaign, Bournemouth away, now today, losing at home to a bottom 3 team.

That has to be rock bottom surely.
 
I do feel slightly sorry for him. He realises that perhaps the game has progressed and he hasn't got what it takes anymore to manage a top club. I think Van Gaal will retire before January if results continue. He won't want to be sacked from his last job ever and resigning will allow him to maintain a good relationship with the United fans and keep his reputation in tact.
 
I do feel sorry for him. It must be killing him inside that he will be seen as a failure at this club. He will not get a third season regardless of what happens right now, and he's very likely to be ending his spell here without any trophies.
 
He was.

2 la ligas
A couple of medals from the Dutch league
Bundesliga and German cup
And a UCL.

Decent career, but he's times up. He's not been a success in England, but that shouldnt diminish from his career. Ian Rush failed in Italy for example (strange comparison I know), but this things happen in football.
 
Aside from expecting too high a conversion rate from our strikers (as per usual) those are all fair comments really.
 
exactly, yet ignoring that the other team had chances they could have scored themselves

it's just too precise. creating 3 chances and trying to win from that, or create sh!tloads like we used to...

I wouldn't even have too much of an issue with that, if that's what we actually did. But he always seems to turn 1 or 2 near chances into 3 or 4 absolute clear cut sitters by the time the post match interview comes around. If we actually were missing 3 or 4 obvious chances a game I could maybe understand his thinking, but we create literally sod all, week in, week out.
 
the poor football, the 0-0 home games, the league cup loss to Boro, the champions league poor campaign, Bournemouth away, now today, losing at home to a bottom 3 team.

That has to be rock bottom surely.

Its getting to that point with Moyes, where he had basically failed at every reasonable target set for the season, and it become a bit of a mercy killing. Obviously we "could" still win the league, but we've crashed and burnt out of every cup competition at the first hurdle and even at a slightly improved current pace, we wont get top 4. Spurs are miles better than us and Leicester arent going away.
 
We had 2 chances after the Goal so should have won the match?
No, we should have won the match, so you have to score those chances when you're a goal down.

Again with the having to score every chance you create. Not even Messi or Ronaldo does that.
"We were not good enough to win; that is a fact, we have lost."
 
He was.

2 la ligas
A couple of medals from the Dutch league
Bundesliga and German cup
And a UCL.

Decent career, but he's times up. He's not been a success in England, but that shouldnt diminish from his career. Ian Rush failed in Italy for example (strange comparison I know), but this things happen in football.

ffs.
 
Even if he is 'sacked', the club will position it as mutual consent or that he resigned. And that's how it should be.

If the club approach him and tell him he has lost their confidence, I'm sure he would immediately resign anyway.

I have nothing against LVG, I actually like him and can also visibly see and understand his strategy - I blame the players for the 2 recent defeats to essentially relegation fodder teams - our finishing has been a disgrace and the players should be ashamed - not quite sure how anyone can blame LVG for any of this.
 
Pretty fair comments from a decent man. It's just not working out for him unfortunately.
 
Its getting to that point with Moyes, where he had basically failed at every reasonable target set for the season, and it become a bit of a mercy killing. Obviously we "could" still win the league, but we've crashed and burnt out of every cup competition at the first hurdle and even at a slightly improved current pace, we wont get top 4. Spurs are miles better than us and Leicester arent going away.

miles better than we're showing maybe, don't think they're better than us as such.

I don't think under Van Gaal we'll catch Leicester. They're 9 points ahead and have just got through us (ahem), Chelsea and Everton away! This was meant to be a week we closed the gap.

Instead, it's all now changed to top 4 or bust again
 
I've nothing against LvG and I'm not going to say a bad word about him.
He's a man of class, dignity and has great football knowledge and was one of the best coaches of modern football.

However, for whatever reason, it's not working and sometimes you just have to say, "OK we tried, it hasn't worked. Thanks"
That's OK...I understand that. It happens. However, United need to be very careful here with the next appointment. Another wrong one and we're just a revolving door like Real Madrid

He hasn't acted the arse like Moyes for what it's worth and he gave us all hope when he got the job. Also, players like Rooney need fecking off. The "effort" some of the players are putting in is shambolic. Phil Jones is the luckiest guy on the planet
 
I feel very bad for him. I like him a lot, but it's not working out and I really think the best thing is for him to resign and leave with his dignity in tact. It's a shame, but it's brutal in football - what can you do?
I would still have liked him to do some work behind the scenes for us - believe that's what he'd be very good at.

Anyway, Louis should go on and enjoy his retirement now and get away from our crazy club.
 
Pretty fair comments from a decent man. It's just not working out for him unfortunately.

wasn't the first and won't be the last to underestimate both our attacking traditions, and the Premier league as a whole
 
Even if he is 'sacked', the club will position it as mutual consent or that he resigned. And that's how it should be.

If the club approach him and tell him he has lost their confidence, I'm sure he would immediately resign anyway.

I have nothing against LVG, I actually like him and can also visibly see and understand his strategy - I blame the players for the 2 recent defeats to essentially relegation fodder teams - our finishing has been a disgrace and the players should be ashamed - not quite sure how anyone can blame LVG for any of this.

Because we're terrible set-up and made to play football that doesn't lead to chance creation, all whilst not having the players who can actually be relied upon to score goals with any sort of regularity.
 
I feel sorry for him. He should resign and leave with some dignity. I would hate for him to be sacked in his last job as manager.
This.

Then again, he's got a big ego and will instead likely go down swinging.
 
Aside from expecting too high a conversion rate from our strikers (as per usual) those are all fair comments really.
I don t think so. The lack of an attacker for the young cross was professional negligence from Rooney, Martial and Depay.
 
I've nothing against LvG and I'm not going to say a bad word about him.
He's a man of class, dignity and has great football knowledge and was one of the best coaches of modern football.

However, for whatever reason, it's not working and sometimes you just have to say, "OK we tried, it hasn't worked. Thanks"

He hasn't acted the arse like Moyes for what it's worth and he gave us all hope when he got the job.
Well said Rossi. I'm gutted it didn't work out for him but such is life...
 
We had 2 chances after the Goal so should have won the match? Again with the having to score every chance you create. Not even Messi or Ronaldo does that.
That's something I find absolutely baffling. He's an experienced manager and should have know for decades that even the very best attacking teams hardly have a better conversion rate than about 7 shots per goal (all shots including blocked ones).
 
Yes he was bad but somehow people have this notion that if he is sacked, the next guy will just need to press a button to have us play how the fans want.

Same thing happened after Moyes need sacked and here we are.