Like I said, it's not perfect - it's just to illustrate how much a League winning side costs.
He bought two key players in the last summer before the title, spending £59m ... would you say we're two key first team players and a 2 or 3 squad players away from winning the league?
That's me. I wouldn't vote in a poll like this.Isn't he a Chelsea fan?
Makes sense considering your tagline.That's me. I wouldn't vote in a poll like this.
My view would be look over the rest of this month see where are over Christmas. Then decide if we give him or somebody else a war chest in January.
If with all the injuries we maintain top 4 then let him continue. If we fall too far off the pace act before the window opens.
Not an issue if we go for Giggs, of course.It's best to give the month of December to a new coach, there is plenty of games which help making decisions for January. If you give December to LVG, you keep him until the season is over.
Not an issue if we go for Giggs, of course.
Willian was purchased in the summer of 2013. He was part of the Shakhtar team in 12/13 that reached the CL knockout stages. Their group consisted of Juve and Chelsea, Juve also qualified.Hazard, Matic, Azpi, Willan, Oscar were all bought after their sixth place season.
Willian was purchased in the summer of 2013. He was part of the Shakhtar team in 12/13 that reached the CL knockout stages. Their group consisted of Juve and Chelsea, Juve also qualified.
Oh, I thought when we were winning games and playing boring football it was all about excitement?
Now we're playing better football and not winning its about results?
- Smalling:He was not already a top CB, otherwise we would not have considered to sell him to Arsenal. Smalling was too clumsy before Van Gaal, there was potential, but he was already on his way out. Van Gaal does deserve credit for giving him the confidence and it prevailed. Not to mention, his ball playing skills as a center back have gotten way better as well.
- I'll give you De Gea, but I credit him for handling the Madrid situation VERY well.
- Memphis: I can't really see you point. Memphis is coming from a Dutch League to play in a league that has twice nearly the intensity and quality. The transition is not going to be easy, but at least Van Gaal has got him playing hard as we have seen in the last two games compared to when he first got here where tracking back would have never crossed his mind. He may not look so great now but the potential he has is immense. Not to mention without Van Gaal, it is unlikely he would have come here in the first place.
- Martial goes to Van Gaal big time as well. Instead of going with a more mainstream transfer he went with a guy who most people have never heard of and it worked! The guy looks like magic out there and now we have one of our cornerstone players for the future.
- All of our players hustle out there. Even passive guys like Memphis and Mata who may not be great at winning back the ball will still work their tails off, but I see your point. Our team play is rather slow and that is something that should be worked on.
Why should someone keep their job if they're doing it terribly?
What are his achievements?So he stays then.
Terrible is what Moyes did. Don't compare game by game either, its a moronic comparison for the simpletons at RAWk to lap up.
- Never stated he was already one, but on his way to becoming one. Selling him to Arsenal were just rumors.
- It was not only in the Dutch league that Depay looked class. He was an exceptional player for the Netherlands. And more than otften put in noteworthy performance like this one And even with that argument your transition excuse goes through deaf ears because many player come through that league and settle well here. Recently Blind and Wiljilnadum still look like classy player and are doing well for themselves in this league. Even though, he might not have come here, their are other hypotheticals that would state, maybe we would have gotten a much more productive wide player, improved Januzaj development, etcetera.
- I feel it was mostly the fans who never heard of Martial. The footballing scout must have been weall aware of his ability since he went for a record fee for a teenager. The only credit he has shown to deserve is is not scuffing at his price tag and being aggressive in his pursuit.
Was he sacked at Barca and Bayern or did he himself walk from any of those jobs?
He strikes me as the kind of guy who would leave if he felt he wouldn't be able to take the team where he wants it to go. I know the comment he made regarding chemistry, but I was wondering whether there were examples of him doing this.
There were people calling for SAF's head back then too but I think the huge difference is the expectations have changed. We wont give a manager 6 years now but at the same time we can provide resources and players that should mean an above manager can be competitive within 18 months.Difficult to know what to do.
It took SAF 6 years to win the title.
I think most on here would have got rid after three years.
Walked at Barca in first stint, fired at Barca in his second, left AZ after a successful stint and fired by BayernWas he sacked at Barca and Bayern or did he himself walk from any of those jobs?
He strikes me as the kind of guy who would leave if he felt he wouldn't be able to take the team where he wants it to go. I know the comment he made regarding chemistry, but I was wondering whether there were examples of him doing this.
Those of you who are standing by him are kidding yourselves. The moment we had to chase a game our so-called great defensive organisation fell apart. Under Van Gaal we either play dire football and scratch out 1.0 wins, if we're lucky, or we capitulate as we did against Arsenal and now Wolfsburg. Would he still be in a job at any of the other giants in Europe? I think not.
I honestly did have confidence in the groundwork he was laying down last season, but this season has demonstrated he's the wrong man for the job. We're absolutely crap, and the manager looks increasingly clueless.
What are his achievements?
What are his achievements?
Excuse me! We just qualified for the Europa League. How many times did Sir Alex manage that?
I'm not a Manchester United fan. I never have been nor will I ever be. I'm a Coventry supporter. Always have been, always will be.
My son is a United fan. I take full responsibility for that. I perhaps shouldn't have taken him to Old Trafford so often when he was growing up!
Not being a United fan doesn't mean that I don't admire them. They've given me some wonderful moments down the years - '68 as a lad, for example. How proud, as a young English football fan, was I that they won the European Cup that night? It was only years later, when I was researching the 25th anniversary of the Munich air disaster for a radio documentary, that I became aware of the full significance of the night. Back then it was just enough that 'England's' Bobby Charlton had won it.
I was in Barcelona when they won it again - working for talkRadio. It was an incredible night for everybody anywhere near 'our' game. I even got a cuddle from Fergie as he boarded the bus to leave the stadium. It was a night when everybody lost control!
I was lucky enough to be in Moscow as well. Not a bad hat-trick.
There isn't a stadium I enjoyed being in more than Old Trafford. Watching it grow from the arena I worked in as a reporter on Piccadilly Radio to what it's become now was incredible. Sitting with George Best, Denis Law and Bill Foulkes as they had a title party v Blackburn, after 26 barren years, was special.
I haven't always seen eye to eye with Fergie, but what an operator he was. The best ever.
I understand a football fans' dying loyalty to their team, but doing my job means that you can have an affection for other clubs and people who work for them. I can feel for supporters as well - and right now I feel desperate for United fans. Why? I'll tell you.
Louis Van Gaal is failing your club - badly. I honestly believe that if he was the man of principle that he claims to be he would've walked away from the Old Trafford today, his head bowed in shame.
He's taking the mickey. United aren't making progress. He's spent £300m and they're going backwards. How on earth has he failed to qualify for the ko stages of the C Lge from a group that included Wolfsburg, PSV and CSKA? Ok, perhaps you don't win it, although I believe you should, but you HAVE to finish second. But fail to qualify? Unforgivable.
United's football is nothing like we've come to expect down the years. It's now 3 goal-less draws in 6. Two of the last three at home have finished 0-0. It's just awful.
What I don't get is the lack of criticism back home. This isn't about David Moyes (who did qualify for the ko stages) but if Moyes had served up this dross he would be been run out of town - and even I couldn't have defended him!
When I write these blogs I don't sit here in Qatar making things up. I speak to people. I ask questions. I listen. I can tell you few, if any, of Van Gaal's players are enjoying his reign. They're bored with the playing style and the rigidity of the training. Most people I speak to behind the scenes at Utd express surprise that the players didn't 'down tools' some many months ago. It's to their credit that they haven't.
No one fears United anymore. No one fears going to Old Trafford. I watched the rot set in at Anfield after similar years of dominance to those which United enjoyed and once it does, it's really hard to address. Liverpool have never recovered. I fear United are going the same way.
Contrast the malaise with the enthusiasm and optimism currently surrounding Valencia following Gary Neville's appointment. G Nev has been a breath of fresh air storming into that club and making people believe. 'I'm here to win trophies' he announced. Great. I believe him. In fact I suggested as much last week on Twitter and got battered because people mis-understood my phrasing. Perhaps it wasn't the best, but as regular readers of this blog know, (where more characters are allowed) I couldn't be more pleased that Gary is at last giving management a go. Phil, by the way, agreed with me on Keys&Gray on beIN Sports Friday night, that a decent result against Barcelona might be the platform to launch a challenge at the top.
Anyway. Wouldn't United fans rather have Neville at their club right now? Someone who knows the DNA? Someone who could excite and make them believe again?
I know the die-hards will jump all over me and tell me United are in the title hunt. Yes, right now they are, but does anyone seriously believe they've got the tools to win it? I don't.
I think Van Gaal is a busted flush. I gave him 18 months when he arrived expecting his arrogance to turn people off within that time. I sense it's happening. He's full of excuses week after week. The fact United aren't scoring goals is his fault. It's the playing style allied to the fact that he left himself woefully short of forward options last summer. You can't let as many forwards leave as he did and then complain that you haven't got enough. Go right back to the decision to sell Danny Welbeck. Why? And why to one of your rivals? Let him go out on loan - maybe, thereby ensuring that you get him back. That was crazy business.
The roof is crumbling at Old Trafford. Somebody has to do something soon to stop the rot. Taking about extending Van Gaal's tenure is not the answer. Replacing him is.
A little thing, when we were playing dire, unimaginative football and were struggling to score goals the positive fans explained that it was a process, that LVG built the team from the back and spent all the money on the defense. Now the same positive fans say that we are dire because our defense can't support a more adventurous approach and LVG intelligently chose to use a conservative approach.
Yesterday we started the game, with 3 potential starters out of 4 players and we were continuously under pressure, so he can't use the excuse of having to play backups.
So can we say that he butchered his own process?
Excuse me! We just qualified for the Europa League. How many times did Sir Alex manage that?
No. We were doing just fine, not great plodding along picking up points playing as we were. It wasn't pretty on the eye but it worked. Clearly.
Unfortunately even as big an ego as van Gaal can feel the pressure when he's hit from every angle, including those who should be supporting his task. So he's gradually stryed to implement what people ate screaming for.
It hasn't worked. It never worked when people did the exact same with Fergie. Oh, he should do this, buy that guy, play this formation, this line up. Seemingly everytime fans got their wish, we failed.
What do this tell us? Fans are clueless on the whole and the professionals might actually know what they are doing. Could well be that.
I'm glad we've got upstanding people like you to do our talking for us
The fact you have to ask suggests its a waste of time and like many others you will change the goalposts constantly.
Honestly don't know why anyone who isnt having a paddy even bothers. However, I will play along.
Stopped our slump,
Made us competitive,
Addresses issues in defence and midfield,
Brought something of a fear factor back to OT, teams don't come for an easy win anymore,
Integrated several young players, continuing the real United way,
Ended the period of being whipping boys for the top PL sides.
Put Liverpool back in their place after Moyes,
Watching United isn't comparable to a bad comedy these days. It may be dull at times but dull over embarrassing and shameful any day of the week.
If he is that affected by outside pressure than he is probably not cut out for this.
Well isn't that just wonderful; we've progressed from embarrassing and shameful to dull. We're well on our way to completing our metamorphosis into an engorged slug.
I doubt he was but things have gotten ridiculous. There's clearly an agenda against him. I doubt he changed it because he felt forced, but more as a point. One that's been missed since Leicester handed us our asses last season.
Its sad though. And people want Pep. He couldn't handle far less pressure than this. I don't think many could. Half of its not even justified, it's just for the sake of it.
The press are known to be a lot tougher in Spain and Germany.
