Agree.Louis van Gaal's tactics
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Agree.we did try hard for Bale....
Nothing LVG could do with tactics is going to remarkably improve our attacking play when the same players remain in the final third.
By that I mean obviously a horrendously poor Wayne Rooney stinking up the place. Mata isn't a winger unfortunately but is still a fantastic player when players link well with him. Memphis is young and clearly suffering from confidence issues at the moment.
For me, LVG's problem at the moment is his faith in certain players, not the way he's trying to make them play. He's not willing to accept that some of them are either too poor or lack discipline to play the way he wants them to.
By that I mean obviously a horrendously poor Wayne Rooney stinking up the place. Mata isn't a winger unfortunately but is still a fantastic player when players link well with him. Memphis is young and clearly suffering from confidence issues at the moment.
For me, LVG's problem at the moment is his faith in certain players, not the way he's trying to make them play. He's not willing to accept that some of them are either too poor or lack discipline to play the way he wants them to.
If it was efficient it would work, it's not working but I agree we are dire which is a horrible combination. Not only are we not efficient but we are dire to watch. Like I say I will be glad when his contract is up if we see no improvement throughout this season, and the next
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I'm just gobsmacked by the amount of people who still defend LVG! In the time he's been with the club we've not improved.
When he joined he said he needed 3 months for the players to understand his philosophy. Well 15 months in and if they do now get what he wants then my god what he wants is a bore.
People will say that Mata, Rooney and Memphis aren't playing the way the LVG wants them to? And that they perhaps aren't good enough... Who kept them though? And in the case of Memphis, LVG brought him to the club. This nonsense that he still doesn't have the players needs to stop. He's had 3 transfer windows to get it right.
The fact that we are laboured in possession is absolutely his fault. The players we have can play with tempo because they've done it in small chunks this season. But it's few and far between.
I'm actually sick of watching United and it pains me to admit that. We are worse to watch under LVG than we were under Moyes. So people can continue to defend LVG all they want. I for one don't want him at the club much longer. I'm bored of wasting 90 minutes of my life watching what's meant to be entertainment but is actually drivel. The sooner this guy leaves the better for everyone. We will not bore our way to the title and since when did it become acceptable at united to play boring football?
When he joined he said he needed 3 months for the players to understand his philosophy. Well 15 months in and if they do now get what he wants then my god what he wants is a bore.
People will say that Mata, Rooney and Memphis aren't playing the way the LVG wants them to? And that they perhaps aren't good enough... Who kept them though? And in the case of Memphis, LVG brought him to the club. This nonsense that he still doesn't have the players needs to stop. He's had 3 transfer windows to get it right.
The fact that we are laboured in possession is absolutely his fault. The players we have can play with tempo because they've done it in small chunks this season. But it's few and far between.
I'm actually sick of watching United and it pains me to admit that. We are worse to watch under LVG than we were under Moyes. So people can continue to defend LVG all they want. I for one don't want him at the club much longer. I'm bored of wasting 90 minutes of my life watching what's meant to be entertainment but is actually drivel. The sooner this guy leaves the better for everyone. We will not bore our way to the title and since when did it become acceptable at united to play boring football?
worse than Moyes? That's a laughable observation
I'm not overly fond of LvG's football either but at this rate if you sack him, United'll likely appoint Giggs who possibly your worst nightmare so in the mean time, just stick with LvG.
I think that as a team we still move the ball far too slow, counter attacks are rare and players are still choosing side passes even though a player in an advance position has made a run.
Still far better than Moyes though.
Still far better than Moyes though.
Yes I think worse than Moyes and I'm aware that's quite a statement. A match under LVG goes by and nothing of any note happens. It is slow, dull and downright boring. If we did sack him I'm not sure football wise it would get any worse under Giggs! And whilst we sit back and watch LVG manage the club we miss out on other potential managers.
Theres not a chance on earth that LVG is getting sacked anytime soon. Im afraid we just have to ride this out. Even if it is painful to watch. We have the players for it but he is holding them back due to his 'philosophy'. Personally I'm prepared to give it another year in the hope that it gets more entertaining.
Well his contract expires in 2017, and that can't come soon enough
We are clearly efficient in the most part, grinding out results against Southampton, Liverpool, Sunderland etc when not playing anything very attractive, or fast moving proves his 'efficient' method of keeping the ball works in alot of situations, it's just not what I or alot of fans want to see.
I do look at the squad and see so many good youngsters there though, and hope that once we get a manager who will try and play more attractive football that the education they got under LvG will be hugely beneficial, Bayern went from strength to strength after he left there, we could do something similar, we just need to endure this first.
LvG will get us top 4 this season, but I don't expect anything else on top of that.
Although moyes comparisons and over the top criticisms (nothing of any note happens in a lvg game? really?) make it hard to take you seriously, Tbf this is a valid concern.
Can mufc really afford to let jose, klopp, ancelotti and pep potentially end up at rival clubs while mufc stick with lvg ?
If lvg gets nothing but top 4 this year i'd be happy for pep to replace him, similar enough philosophy involving possession but a much stronger emphasis on off the ball movement, short quick passing and actual attacking football.
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I actually think we are trying to be efficient, but without really succeeding. Chelsea 2004-06 were efficient, the germans a perfect example of efficiency. We get results on a certain level but its not really effective sometimes it works, sometimes it does not, but I do not think it really works, and the way Gary neville summed it up after the Swansea game on what united currently are thinking they are something that they are not
ITT: A lot of people who can't see the wood for the trees.
What are you on about? We're certainly better than we were some time ago. Not everything worked off or is perfect, but it's not as bad as it used to be.
Could we play better? Yes. Could we play less frustrating? Surely. But are we also doing a decent job and improving? Of course. Maybe the loss against Arsenal swung the pendulum again in the other direction and everyone dislikes LVG again. But there is an improvement even though we could do better.
How someone can prefer Moyes is beyond me
Part of us being better is down to us having better players. I know, shocking.
I'm far from "LVG out camp" but i really hope we don't prolong his contract.
We are slightly better, we are harder to beat but not really a team that's improved drastically. We have improved from a 7th place team to a top 4, and for the money that's been spent, VG has been a meh
I hope we don't extend his contract, 3 years is more than enough
It's difficult for any team to play clinical football in the final third when you're pretty much playing with a man missing (Rooney).
Tactics are the least of Van Gaal's problems. The strategy works when players actually do their jobs, which unfortunately they don't consistently enough. His main issue right now is his lack of balls to drop players who are so useless with their performances (Carrick, Rooney, Memphis).
The thing with VG he's built this team, he is picking these players, and this will be the fail of VG's reign, not picking the right players at the back and upfront. We are short at the back playing wingers at fullback, blind is picked at the back at the cost of what's best for the team, same applies to Rooney. Blind is a great squad player, but he's being played week in week out, and when he's picking the wrong midfield our defence is getting ripped apart
The biggest problem we have right now is Wayne Rooney and for that I can understand why Van Gaal hasn't tried to sell him and replace him up until this last moment. This isn't something we can fairly blame Van Gaal for (I don't disagree with those who believe Van Gaal simply had faith Rooney would still be useful). We can blame him for not dropping him sooner (I'm still hoping it's eventually coming).
The rest of the team is fine for me in terms of a nice blend of youth and experience. People are really playing down just how bad Rooney is right now - it's not an exaggeration anymore, he's literally slowing us down in attack, misplacing passes and offering such lack of movement we might as well be playing with ten men.
As an example, the Liverpool game which Rooney missed unfortunately also had Fellaini up top which meant that despite domination of the match, we lacked any cutting edge in attack until Martial came on. If that match has Martial on from the start with Herrera behind him, it probably would have been over at half time.
Blind at centre back is a truly exaggerated issue. Again if players do their jobs, mark correctly and stay disciplined, he'll be fine and can offer us good passing out from the back, which no other centre back can (although Smalling does bring the ball out himself via dribbling).
How exactly do you think we are better? In what way? Bearing in my that the reason we were top was nothing to do with us and had everything to do with our rivals messing up. That's not us improving that's everyone else getting worse.
As someone had pointed out prior to the Arsenal game our return from the games we'd played have been the same as last year.
So let me get this right... Hundreds of millions of pounds spent and the same results?! And that's improvement? To beat a Southampton side who gifted us a goal at a crucial time in the game? To draw with a Newcastle side who can't buy a win? Or to scrape a narrow win over a Villa side who likewise can't buy a win. To beat one of the worst sides to grace the premier league but to do so in a mundane fashion. To score 3 goals but still play boring football.
People need to stop this LVG positive nonsense as its doing the club no good.
Everton away next weekend... A ground we always struggle at, is never easy and under LVG we don't seem to respond to defeats in the manner we used to. Followed by city who could be getting back in to the groove.
Haha. One loss and now he is worse than Moyes.
More like one win against United and the gooners are going to win the Treble.
Good post.
If we went back to this formation LvG would play Rooney as one of the two more attacking midfielders. LvG is going to play him. I'm not as critical of Rooney ad some on here but I recognise he's not in good form.
Pathetic isn't it? using car comparison we swapped Land Rover (Fergie) to a public bus (Moyes) to VV Passsat disel ( Van Gaal). Efficient yet not exciting at all.
Absolutely agree with this. Moyes had an issue where the players gave up on him, LvG does not have that problem. The squad is paper thin in some areas because LvG wanted to rebuild the squad on his own term, yet we are still not performing as we should given how much money has been spent.
I'm personally really disappointed that so many back LVG. A year ago or so I was having a conversation with a couple of United and Arsenal fans about the state of the United team and how little Arsenal were winning.
At the time I said there was no way that United or Arsenal fans would accept a manager who doesn't play attractive attacking football. Everyone agreed with me. Well here we are a year later and apparently the 2 bare years have changed our fans opinion and that's disappointing!
Things style wise are not going to improve under LVG. They haven't in the last year and they won't in the coming months. Maybe results will be good and maybe we'll be near the top but we won't do so by playing good football. And I tell you what we're about to sit back and watch our most hated rivals drastically improve and play good football in the process. Add to that the good attacking football City play and it's a pretty sad image.
People are ecstatic that we finished 4th last year and back in the champions league again, mainly because of finishing 7th under Moyes. What people seem to ignore is that Liverpool and Everton took a huge dive last year, but we just about managed to crawl over the line after spending 150 million. There was a time when i rated LvG and the brand of football his team played, but that was a long time ago.
Its not so much the excitement its just not effective, its not only dull but our dull football is not even effective to get us winning to challenge for the title, and this league title is there for the taken. Its a style of play that gets found out quiet a few times, and every time its a step forward its 3 steps back and that is what is frustrating. Gary neville sums it up, we are playing like we have won the match already at 0-0.
This sums up LVG's united
@ghagua I don't know whether the brand / style of football LVG plays is just not suited to England? Maybe it's no different at United than it is at his previous clubs but it looks laboured in England because our league is based on pace and speed? Either way it's not working and won't work.
I'm still behind LVG 100%, like what he's done and is doing to the side and I think he's laying ground works to dominate both domestically and in Europe again soon.
It's also because he made our players better and bought very well, especially this summer. We're not the best team on the planet but we're certainly better than 24 months ago
People on here did a great job before by pointing out how we got better and improved. If you can't see that, you're either holding a grudge or you just don't want to see it (especially by preferring Moyes).
For some reason people think we always played exciting football under Fergie, which obviously wasn't the case. Under Moyes, things were the worst though
Think the arse game has made everyone forget the last few weeks since martial came in pretty much. Our attacking play has been hugely improved now that we actually have a proper striker making runs, and we've been creating plenty of chances. It all went to shit against arsenal, but I think that was just an off day, because generally our overall play was coming together nicely. We were creating chances regularly for the first time in a long time, we looked good and passed it around pretty quickly and were pretty solid defensively. Hopefully the arsenal game proves to be just a little blip and we get back to how we were playing before that game right after the international break.
I want to believe you. On what basis do you say this?
We were finally getting behind defences. But still very slow going forward.
I wont put the Arsenal game as a one off. It was a major mistake, not getting the fundamentals right. I hope we get it right against Everton. Next week will be huge for many reasons.
You're playing way more exciting football than we did in van Gaal's 2nd season at the club. Maybe you should see that as a positive development?
I am still not fond of LVG and hope his stay isn't prolonged, but besides the Arsenal game, there were signs of progress imo. Our attacking play was getting better and we started to cut teams apart more. Hopefully this can continue and the Arsenal game was a blip.
The game against Everton at Goodison is a big one. We've lost 3 straight there. 3-0 last season. We need to beat them.
The game against Everton at Goodison is a big one. We've lost 3 straight there. 3-0 last season. We need to beat them.
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