United under LvG: verdict so far!

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DomesticTadpole said:
Our squad is a lot, lot better than last season, it is that they aren't being managed properly.
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Reading between the lines their over-coached, and sent out onto the field with too many instructions. Our squad consists of established proven quality they are not apprentices. Play them in their natural positions and let them express themselves. Don't over complicate.

When hardly hear top coaches talk about philosophy or balance on the same level as LvG.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Before the game started 90% of the caf were happy with the XI picked. They lost. No excuses about people being played out of position. Not today.
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I wouldn't have messed with that defence, Valencia for McNair ( yet again he had to yank him off at half time) and Smalling for the brainless Jones. I would have had Mata behind Rooney upfront. He always says players have to work their way back to fitness, eg. Rafael, but Jones and RvP just walk back in, it now looks like that has backfired as RvP is now injured again. We might not have been playing great, but a bit of continuity would have been nice in this case. Instead he changed it for the sake of it.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Before the game started 90% of the caf were happy with the XI picked. They lost. No excuses about people being played out of position. Not today.
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Yep. I've never really bought into the players-out-of-position thing. The main problem is most players aren't playing to their abilities, much less above, which you expect from a top manager. If that's happening the rest sorts itself in the main.
 
Brophs said:
Yep. I've never really bought into the players-out-of-position thing. The main problem is most players aren't playing to their abilities, much less above, which you expect from a top manager. If that's happening the rest sorts itself in the main.
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Weirdly, the whipping boys under Moyes - Young, Valencia and Fellaini - have all been playing to their abilities, if not above. None of the rest have though, I agree. Although I think Blind has been a real find. Was very good today IMO.
 
Brophs said:
Yep. I've never really bought into the players-out-of-position thing. The main problem is most players aren't playing to their abilities, much less above, which you expect from a top manager. If that's happening the rest sorts itself in the main.
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Sultan above is saying that it is rumoured they are being over-coached. Is that possible that their heads are that full of information,they are having to think too much instead of just doing what comes naturally to them.
 
Ringo 07 said:
Van Gaals priority last summer should have been an experienced world class central defender but without champions league football on offer it was very hard for him to attract a player like Hummels or Godin. It's very possible we will be faced with the same dilemma this summer with no champions league football on offer to attract the best but Van Gaal will get another summer even without champions league football and he should be able to sign a few more decent players

We are still clearly seeing the damage and effects of taking a massive risk on a tactically unqualified manager like Moyes has had and it could be a long while yet before we are fully back on track and competing for the top trophies again. I still feel Van Gaal can get the 4 top level players he needs in the summer to balance out the squad and once he does then I think we may see a much better Utd next season under Van Gaal.
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Are you really trying to say that LvG is being hampered by what happened last season? It's a poor excuse

He's got a fantastic squad to work with, one that's better than any we've had in the last few seasons. Lack of balance? How many of our teams in the last decade haven't had a few weak areas.
 
Smores said:
Are you really trying to say that LvG is being hampered by what happened last season? It's a poor excuse

He's got a fantastic squad to work with, one that's better than any we've had in the last few seasons. Lack of balance? How many of our teams in the last decade haven't had a few weak areas.
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All this balance stuff is annoying. SAF put all sorts of lineup out there and they still managed to win. Louis wouldn't have chosen half of SAF's sides as they wouldn't be balanced in his view.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Weirdly, the whipping boys under Moyes - Young, Valencia and Fellaini - have all been playing to their abilities, if not above. None of the rest have though, I agree. Although I think Blind has been a real find. Was very good today IMO.
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Young, fair enough. I'd accept that. Valencia has been a serviceable full back, but I don't think he's been anywhere near the level he's been at for us in the past. Fellaini has been much better than last season, but still nowhere near what he was at Everton. He can't even regularly get into a midfield that isn't functioning properlu. So it's more of a case of being better than the abject performances of last season, but still not that good.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
It really doesn't.

We have got some very good players but there's an element of doubt over almost all of them.

Was Mourinho right to get rid of Mata? Is Van Persie finished? Does Di Maria even want to be here? Will Falcao ever be a top player again?

It was the same last season under Moyes. People in denial about our squad. Saying Kagawa was a brilliant player. Zaha should get more games. Hernandez needs to play.

Even if you think Van Gaal isn't up to the job don't kid yourself about the size of the task he faces.
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Mata was Chelsea's best performer 2 seasons in a row. Premiership established international. Mourinho will have had his reasons. Personally I don't think his quality can be questioned. Di Maria was Madrid's best player last season. He signed the contract so obviously he wanted to be here. He keeps being played in different positions which is probably affecting his game.

Add 150 Million spent on the squad in summer another 60 Million on Mata and Fellaini on top of talent already at the club. If there is an element of doubt about the quality of our squad then that's the managements fault including to a large degree LvG.

Blaming Moyes for Zaha, Kagawa and Hernandez was just a stick to beat Moyes. They were clearly not good enough to start.
 
Sultan said:
I don't understand why many say our squad is not good enough. To be fair, most of the worst have gone or are out on loan. Managers always moan about not having enough quality or the right players. Our squad consists of some of the best players in the world in most positions. Players who have excelled at their previous clubs and at international level and have won plenty of domestic trophies.
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They aren’t crap, why many refuse to acknowledge that is beyond me. We have a fantastic squad that is capable of far more than they are currently showing, is it the managers fault? I’d have to say yes. It’s fair to say that Young has improved under him but many more have regressed.

I completely agree with you that our squad has World Class players, but looking at the way we play you could argue that they look mid-table level. I hate this theory that the players are to blame, the players have to play to the managers tactics or they will get dropped, they have to have a certain style of play, or they won’t get picked. A manager can make a massive difference to a team, both positive and negative.
 
More players have performed worse than improved under LvG who were already at the club last year.
 
Getsme said:
They aren’t crap, why many refuse to acknowledge that is beyond me. We have a fantastic squad that is capable of far more than they are currently showing, is it the managers fault? I’d have to say yes. It’s fair to say that Young has improved under him but many more have regressed.

I completely agree with you that our squad has World Class players, but looking at the way we play you could argue that they look mid-table level. I hate this theory that the players are to blame, the players have to play to the managers tactics or they will get dropped, they have to have a certain style of play, or they won’t get picked. A manager can make a massive difference to a team, both positive and negative.
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Absolutely!

Sir Alex and a lot more managers are working with lesser squads at better levels. LvG needs a change in approach. I'm sure he has it in his capacity to accept his tactics has not been working. Taking has to stop.
 
DomesticTadpole said:
That is saying something as well. He wasn't exactly great last season. You would think LvG being his manager would have given him a big boost in confidence. I am actually puzzled by this.
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He is our most frustrating player at the moment, he is offering nothing yet seems to be undroppable,
 
DomesticTadpole said:
I agree with that. We have been blinded by the improvement in Young, mainly, Fellaini to an extent and slight improvement in Valencia.
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Valencia and Young will not get the same flak this season due to them being multi-functional players as opposed to being just creative. Valencia has not pulled up any trees in the attacking half.
 
Sultan said:
Valencia and Young will not get the same flak this season due to them being multi-functional players as opposed to being just creative. Valencia has not pulled up any trees in the attacking half.
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As long as we have the good Ashley Young next season and not the Moyesified Ashley Young.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Who's playing worse this season than last? Name one player.
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Evans, Jones, Smalling, Rooney, RvP, Januzaj. I've definitely not seen any improvements from these players despite a supposedly better coach and with better players purchased in the summer.
 
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How the feck can a shit QPR team create enough chances that Austin is the 3rd highest scorer in EPL currently

Its a sad day when a team who always had so many top scorers in the EPL, currently our highest scorer is RVP in 6th place joint with berahino and cisse

Dark days are upon us :(
 
gooDevil said:
I'm tired of this crap football, personally. But that's the heart speaking, not the head. But van Gaal needs to start getting it right and keeping it that way, or there's no point keeping him.
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This!

"The important thing is the philosophy" .....So with Wayne Rooney, Herrera, Mata, Di Maria, Falcao at your disposal, the philosophy is to bang hopeless balls into Fellaini, in the hope he gets his head to them, when you're losing?

Until now, I haven't doubted LVG but, I'm starting to get really tired of what I'm watching.
The fact there are people here saying that a few decent moments today, constitutes as our best away performance this year, says a lot. Swansea were awful and yet, we done next to f**k all

The finger is hovering over the panic button right now
 
For the first time this season, I feel van Gaal getting the sack isn't inconceivable.
 
Sultan said:
Evans, Jones, Smalling, Rooney, RvP, Januzaj. I've definitely not seen any improvements from these players despite a supposedly better coach and with better players purchased in the summer.
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dannyrhinos89 said:
Januzaj
Rafael
Rooney
Rvp
Evans
Jones
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golden_blunder said:
Silly question pogue, half the squad is playing worse
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Short memories.

Janauzaj is a fair point. Although he played better mainly because he played a lot more.

Not one of the rest of those other players were any better last season than they have been under Van Gaal. Smalling and Jones have probably improved slightly, if anything.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
No. You're missing my point. The majority were fine with the team selected before kick off. That's a fact. Read the damn thread.
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Probably because it was better than what we've seen recently.

But still, Fellaini over Mata? RvP starting? Jones over Smalling? McNair at right back?

Those were the things I wasn't happy with.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Short memories.

Janauzaj is a fair point. Although he played better mainly because he played a lot more.

Not one of the rest of those other players were any better last season than they have been under Van Gaal. Smalling and Jones have probably improved slightly, if anything.
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Please, just be fair. Rooney, rvp, evans too were far better last season. Evans has been abysmal this season while he was fine last season, although Rooney and Rvp were very much injured last season, when fit they still performed at a much higher level than this season.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Short memories.

Janauzaj is a fair point. Although he played better mainly because he played a lot more.

Not one of the rest of those other players were any better last season than they have been under Van Gaal. Smalling and Jones have probably improved slightly, if anything.
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He's all but ruined Januzaj by playing him at wingback for some games I mean why in the hell would anybody ever play a good attacking player that has 0 defensive qualities at wingback, the mind boggles.

Evans was just ok last year under moyes but this year he has declined massively

Rooney has also suffered much like januzaj mainly by playing him out postion

Not even sure if Rafael is even alive LVG has totally shut him out and he's palying McNair and valencia instead at RB.

Jones and smalling are tough ones because they're never bloody fit so it's hard to judge them, IMO smalling and rojo are the strongest CB's we have a the minute. I've never really rated Jones at all to rash, clumsy and seems to be made of glass.

RVP wasn't brilliant last year but everyone thought LVG would get the best out of him and that's not happened but tbh it isn't LVG's fault, RVP is just totally finished at top level and we need to get shut immediately.
 
RvP and Evans were definitely better last season. Rooney is a tough one to judge.
 
Sammyjunn said:
Please, just be fair. Rooney, rvp, evans too were far better last season. Evans has been abysmal this season while he was fine last season, although Rooney and Rvp were very much injured last season, when fit they still performed at a much higher level than this season.
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Actually I probably am wrong about Evans. He's deteriorated. RvP is just getting old. Rooney's been about the same. People are forgetting how well he played in the early part of this season.
 
De Gea - Better

Rafael - Can't judge because the lad never plays!

Jones - Worse

Evans - Worse

Mata - About the same as last season

Rooney - Worse

Januzaj - Worse (Don't think that's all his fault though)

Smalling - Not sure because he never has a run of games

Carrick - Better

Young - Better

van Persie - Worse

Valencia - Better

Fellaini - Better
 
Football is a job in its most basic sense so I'm told by many a footballer. Like us, what's happening in your personal and professional life impacts on your ability to do it. How you are phyiscally and mentality impacts on your ability to do the job too. How you get on with the people you work with and your manager is the same. Equally you get bored or stagnate sometimes in work. You also get older which impacts on you ability to do the job whether physically or mentally. When it gets too hard physically, you move into some that requires other attributes like management. Sometimes it's as simple as 'are you happy with your lot'

That's the same whether it's McD's or Man Utd....and nothing to do with money.

Some players will improve, decline and stagnate irrespective of who manage the club. Fergie was the best manager I've seen who knew when was the right time to make the right decision with players....
 
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