Di Maria is not going to stay and completely castrate his game just to adhere to the system. That is and has been pretty obvious from about half way through last season that he wasn't going to be receptive to adaptation. I've not seen his comments on the matter so I will take your word for it.
Did Robben completely castrate his game? You saw him at the world cup.
Also after watching last season I have no idea how you can even think about saying that he is not OCD about details, it is in the OP. He wants his players above all to value retention of the ball, in essence not even try to take a risk unless they know 100% that they are going to pull it off. He has often said the players need to think about what they are doing and know why they are doing it and if they are doing that then they have already lost 50% of their creative processing speed. They are constantly playing in fear of losing the ball and by definition completely the opposite of creative and spontaneous. Regarding Barcelona and Stoke, you're illustrating my point. Of course Barcelona would adapt to the conditions of playing in England. I am saying that Van Gaal hasn't and has no intention of doing it. That has been pretty obvious and clear.
You said OCD about
every facet of the game, I said he likes his attacking four to be creative and gives them the freedom for that.
You once more use last season to judge Louis van Gaal and not Ajax, Barcelona or Bayern, the manager himself has stated last season was not his team or the way he expects his teams to play. There is a difference between the role of the creative players and the non-creative players in his system.
He doesn't mean to rationally think about what they are doing, of course you play football so you should get what he means, that's not to analyse the situation with their rational thought process but to pay total attention to what is happening so a better term is to be
aware of what they are doing, that's what he means, be aware of the spaces that are opening and closing so you know what to attack and defend, be aware of what your team mates are doing so you know where to be positioned, that means Carrick does not act unconsciously or by habit but instead sees mistakes the opposition are making to exploit, you can be aware of the situation without rationally thinking about it and it is clear from his expression that is what he means, he just uses the work 'think' like when he calls a 4-2-3-1 a 4-3-3. Louis van Gaal's explanations in the past have made it quite clear he means he wants the players to be aware of the situation and pay attention to the match instead of acting only on habit.
The point was you said 'chess match', 'tactical battle', I said Barcelona would do what Louis wants to do and dominate the match, there would be no chess match, Stoke would be on the back foot, so if Barcelona or Bayern can do it in England then Louis' methods can too succeed.
The playing group is not a bargain basement bin at the record store. You can't go sifting through players until you find one that works. He is not going to change Young/Mata and even Rooney. He's had plenty of time to do that and if that was an important aspect and one that needed immediate change in his eyes, it would have been done. Trust me.
Memphis has big boots to fill wherever he plays (ten or left forward) I was hoping that he would be slowly introduced but he looks to have a huge responsibility this year. Bringing in a young and emerging talent to the Premier League and dropping him in at the deep end is a bold move, he will have to be in sync with all his front players to have the proper impact. Good luck to him. He is definitely one of the most exciting young talents in Europe and I am looking forward to watching him play, I am definitely behind him 100% and think he was an excellent signing.
You would have said he is not going to change Schweinsteiger from failing winger into world class box to box. There is nothing wrong with using Memphis as a 10 because he fits the profile, he is clearly using Rooney as a striker nor is he trying to change Young's position and Mata is out wide because we don't have many right wingers right now but the signing of Pedro could put an end to that.
He has also great experience with young players, Ajax 95 was the youngest squad ever to win the champions league, he had a ton of teenagers in there. As he has said in the past age does not matter if the player has the maturity, he wouldn't use Memphis if he didn't think he could do it just like he wouldn't have used an 18 year old Seedorf.
People won't be dribbling past opponents. People did not dribble past opponents all of last year, people have not dribbled past opponents at all in pre-season. An ideal and large facet of forward line play that is important in our eyes as fans and armchair managers, yet completely non existent in this system. I think one of the elite managers would have corrected this by now, don't you? He has players like Nani and Di Maria.. Does this not make more sense?... Would a manager who wants his players to dribble more and focus on that as an integral part of his system, be all over them about it? Not excessively asking them to keep the ball all the time?...
Again last year, you need to start listening to the manager when he says last year isn't representative of what he wants to do, it's as if you think in the past for Ajax, Barcelona, Bayern and Netherlands the four attacking creative players were allowed to dribble but now he is going to abandon that philosophy. Young dribbled past opponents last season, he is however limited by his ability, Januzaj tried also but didn't execute well, in pre season Memphis has dribbled through the centre.
I have already said he wanted to keep Angel di Maria, he obviously liked him, regarding Nani, you just said he won't change Young or Rooney or Mata but now you think he should use Nani in his team? Most fans wanted Nani out because they don't think he is good enough.
Of course, last season is all we have to go on. My original point was that he's made absolutely zero adjustments to his philosophy to adapt to the nuances of the English game and that it may prove detrimental. We can learn a lot from Bayern but there is no credence in comparing Ajax of 95 (20 years ago) and Barcelona to United today. The football ladnscape has changed dramatically in 20 years. Simply trying to replicate those arcane systems in England will not work.
Ajax, Barcelona, Bayern and Netherlands is relevant when looking at his philosophy. The way he set those teams up contradicts your view of how Louis van Gaal wants to play. The manager has even said last season was not how he expects a Louis van Gaal team to play yet you are using it to understand his philosophy as opposed to his teams that have actually gone further along the process. This doesn't make sense, surely Ajax, Barcelona and Bayern are better to understand his system than United of last year!
Honestly, there is no point re-hashing this over and over again. He had ample chances to play Di Maria as the focal point after the injury. Di Maria is now on the verge of leaving, any inkling that Van Gaal rates him highly and wants him to use his talents for the club is just pure fantasy. It is the exact opposite.
You are now calling Louis van Gaal a liar, he dropped Angel di Maria as he did Falcao because they were poor, his number one priority was securing top four, he knows what Angel can do and that's why he wanted him at the club. Ancelotti was criticised for not dropping Bale when he was playing poor!
I don't think Louis van Gaal is lying to the fans. What do you make of the fact he wanted Robben when he first came? Is he not a risky player?
Up to and including 20 years ago. There is no point re-inventing the wheel with so little time to do it in the fast paced world of Football today. Especially at a club with one of the most iconic domestic products and European/World identities in football.
He isn't re-inventing anything, possession football existed before Louis van Gaal, he is just a proponent of that.
