Louis van Gaal | Manchester United manager

Status
Not open for further replies.
He's managed a side which has dropped 17 points from 30. He holds a high level of responsibility and needs to sort it out ASAP.

That being said, our centre backs just tend to be absolutely brainless away from home and today Chris Smalling all but handed City the win on the plate.
 
Randall Flagg said:
Worst league start since 86

Most money we have ever spent

Easiest set of opening fixtures I can recall

These are the facts but I was very happy with the performance today not that it counts for much
Click to expand...

Indeed, only positive I'm clinging to is that LVG has a style that if he turns us around is actually entertaining.
 
Believe it or not that was the best we have played in a derby for about 5 years. We looked the better team at times despite having ten men.

If you can look past the results its clear we are improving and getting stronger. He was never going to be able to change our lack of character as a team overnight however.
 
Santos J said:
How long can we keep saying at least we're performing better than last season without needing something tangible in terms of results to back it up though?
Click to expand...
Whenever we actually go a few games without having to change our back four completely. If you can't see the positive trend in our game since LvG took over, I don't know what to tell you.
 
The league table doesn't lie. With a quarter of it gone we're 9th. If we're to make any impression at all we need to get things going soon and regularly. We can't afford to become a "what's this week's excuse then?" team.
 
KM said:
If anyone can't see a difference between last season and this season, then they should give up on football. Last season away to City, we gave our most spineless performance, this season we outplayed them for last twenty minutes with a patched up defense and 10 men.
Click to expand...
City have enough problems of their own, to be honest. More so than last year.
But, we have improved in style and confidence in spells - definitely. But then, I'd hope so with the players we've signed/replaced.

I wasn't that impressed with the last 20 minutes today personally.
 
Last edited:
How can anybody be moaning after today? Is it van Gaal's fault that Smalling was a complete idiot? Look at the performance we put in, with ten men, players lacking match fitness, and out of position.
 
Mockney said:
Anyone looking to blame LVG after that has obviously been itching to do it for weeks.
Click to expand...

I haven't, I bloody love him and want him to succeed.

As soon as I saw Rooney in CM I knew we'd lose. You can't do that against top teams, man.

The amount of possession gifted away, and subsequent City attacks that came directly from that one decision was massive.

People are blinded because Rooney's a class player, thus he can do a job anywhere on the pitch - but he isn't a midfielder, and we had two midfielders sat on the bench.
 
I'm not sure why criticism of LVG is so derided on here. Sure United are better to watch than last season but results wise they haven't improved. He's spent absurd amounts of cash to not improve results. The least you'd expect is decent football but that mainly seems to come from Di Maria driving at teams. Obviously injuries play a part but he has been poor so far in my opinion.
 
Wowi said:
Whenever we actually go a few games without having to change our back four completely. If you can't see the positive trend in our game since LvG took over, I don't know what to tell you.
Click to expand...

I said "how long can we keep saying we're better" so I can obviously see the positive trend, but if results don't improve eventually then it isn't gonna count for much.
 
Randall Flagg said:
Worst league start since 86

Most money we have ever spent

Easiest set of opening fixtures I can recall

These are the facts but I was very happy with the performance today not that it counts for much
Click to expand...
Its posts like this that annoy me, you only focus on the bad but refuse to look at where we're heading. Anyone who doesnt think we've improved on last season needs their head checked, i agree 13 points from 10 games is shocking but when you weigh in all the factors - new players, new manager, new formations, injuries. How can you really be that supprised?

If after all that you saw no glimices of improvement then i would be worried. But now is just too early
 
OneUnited24 said:
Its posts like this that annoy me, you only focus on the bad but refuse to look at where we're heading. Anyone who doesnt think we've improved on last season needs their head checked, i agree 13 points from 10 games is shocking but when you weigh in all the factors - new players, new manager, new formations, injuries. How can you really be that supprised?

If after all that you saw no glimices of improvement then i would be worried. But now is just too early
Click to expand...
Read the last line of my post you twat
 
Ballache said:
We will easily finish in the top 4. If people can't see the vast difference in the way we play compared to last season then they shouldn't be watching football. I'm suddenly very confident again.
Click to expand...

Same. We are a much better side this year - both in terms of players, manager, tactics etc. The results will follow once we're back at full strength and the players become increasingly settled into the system.
 
We need points on the board soon. Performances are improved on last season.

Games up to Xmas.

Palace Home
Arsenal Away
Hull Home
Stoke Home
Southampton Away
Liverpool Home
Villa Away



Only Arsenals average form and Liverpool's collapse from last season have us still in the hunt for top 4.
 
Yeah our points total has been shocking, but once you move away from all the defensive injuries, three at the back and lack of new signings, our underlying performances have been pretty good.

I'm pretty confident going forward that we'll make top 4. We're showing more bollocks, more belief and once we have a settled back four, I think our defence will improve massively.
 
Woodenlung said:
Moyes took a title winning side and brought them to 7th. The spine of the side was dismantled before LVG came in and now he has to reconstruct a side of new signings, young players and senior players with little confidence into a team that can take on all comers. The start hasn't been good but he shouldn't be directly compared to Moyes. It's a different set of circumstances.
Click to expand...

That's a lazy oft used excuse on here. When you consider the amount of change in the line up who exactly are you referring to?

Rooney and Rvp were fine last season as was De Gea and Januzaj.
Rafael, Jones and Smalling are the only players you could throw into this category.
 
We need to sign two or three defenders that can play more than one game without getting injured. Clear the wage bill by getting shut of Smalling, Evans, Valencia and Fletcher.
 
Santos J said:
I said "how long can we keep saying we're better" so I can obviously see the positive trend, but if results don't improve eventually then it isn't gonna count for much.
Click to expand...
If we keep improving and catch a break regarding defensive injuries (or injuries in general even), the results will start going our way.
 
It's going in the right direction. It's only bloody 10 games for crying out loud. Last year was rugger less, this isn't. Signing a couple of defenders, and we'll be as good as anyone.
 
Can't be helped when Evans, Smalling and Jones are letting him down with silly suspensions and regular injuries. Poor guy has to keep chopping and changing.
 
I honestly don't care about our league positions at the moment, this is a rebuilding job done right, i can clearly see a top team in the making, we're constantly improving, just look at the lack of character earlier in the season and against chelsea and city. There's belief in this team, we're playing much better than at any point i've seen us last season, injuries and silly mistakes are costing us but time will take care of that.
 
I think the only thing LVG got wrong was the high defensive line. It just doesn't seem to suit us and clearly with our defensive frailties should we be gambling? Its not like we have a super charged midfield/frontline that can close them well. We don't. It puts a lot of pressure on the defence to recover or hold for offside...especially when you play against the likes of aguero.

Other than that, our entire gameplan undone by moments of stupidity from Chris Smalling. Absolutely shameful performance from him in such a big match. Amateurish and im sure this would be after he had been warned the entire week to keep his emotions in check and to play with intelligence.

I feel sorry for LVG really. Its one step forwards and two steps back because we always have somebody making a major individual error. This is the third (?) red card in what is now 9 matches? Disgraceful.
 
We're improved from last season no doubt and our second wind towards the end was definitely good to see even if it came to nothing. Still though I think there are some decisions you can question and some issues you can wonder why they're still problems now and certainly that they don't look close to being resolved. I still think if he can get the right players consistently fit it will come together, whether that will come to late in the season is another matter.
 
We're in good hands and moving in the right direction, even if the results don't look at right now. What he's had to work with at the back has been pure muck, he'll be looking to fix that in January.
 
ISSYNAZAR said:
He's managed a side which has dropped 17 points from 30. He holds a high level of responsibility and needs to sort it out ASAP.
Click to expand...
He's been sorting things out for 3 months, there is just a lot to sort out, including an outdated style of play and the problem of two CB's leaving at once and general lack of quality in defense.

His mistake today was that he subbed Van Persie instead of Di Maria. DiMaria had another offday and his corners and free kicks were terrible, he waisted about 4 in the last 10 minutes. Let Van Persie take them and they might find Fellaini for example and there's a chance.
 
stubie said:
Can't be helped when Evans, Smalling and Jones are letting him down with silly suspensions and regular injuries. Poor guy has to keep chopping and changing.
Click to expand...

It is his fault not buying another defender. Even the most casual fan would have told you that we needed a central defender as those 3 are highly unreliable.
 
One thing: Where's the diamond gone? That formation brought out the best in our best players. City's middle was really weak today, too. Oh well.
 
Can't be held accountable for today's performance. The players need to take all blame for that woeful first half display of which Rooney and Januzaj were very poor, Valencia Fellaini and Shaw all made positional errors and as for Smalling, Christ. Better second half performance with each passing minute.

I was disappointed with the selection of Januzaj again. For me he's failed to show why he deserves a starting place so far. Simply put, we cannot afford to carry a passenger and have blind faith in a kid to produce a miracle against all the facts suggesting it won't happen when points are vital. The experience and energy of Mata or Herrera would have served us much better. Respect to his balls for doing it though. Moyes was scared to dream.
 
Santos J said:
How long can we keep saying at least we're performing better than last season without needing something tangible in terms of results to back it up though?
Click to expand...
I like VG, but the only thing better then last seaon is that we shipped out some deadwood and got some fresh players in. Thers nothing to say the team is any better otherwise, and it's cringeworthy when people here reach for posession stats to show how everything is better now. The resuits are worse. The position given the easy set of fixtures is awful.

But the squad was so crap, that maybe it's just asking too much to have fixed it in one summer I guess. I'm hoping VG is dynamic enough to do something about RB and CB in January, even though that's a hard time to do deals.
 
we looked much better, and we are constantly progressing. Despite all the cards stacked against us, we continue to march on. The negativity on this forum is sensational. If you can't see our positive transition over the past few months than you should take a break from football. We are getting better.
 
Nothing I've seen of Van Gaal so far has worried me or makes me doubt he's the right man. Injuries are getting ridiculous and individuals are making decisions that are beyond stupid. He spoke about not conceding corners against Chelsea but we kept doing it, he spoke about not going down to 10 men in this game but we did. Players are letting him down.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.