Seems like Herrera was the last piece to fall into place. It's been an amazing feat of management to pick up the points we did while the players were getting healthy and learning how to play the LvG way. Hopefully we'll keep it going through the end of the season, although we're still very vulnerable to injuries - yesterday showed how much we need Smalling, and we're not exactly deep anywhere else (except maybe left back).
United under LvG: verdict so far!
- Thread starter LawCharltonBest
- Start date
- Status
Let's be honest. At no point did any one think Mata playing right wing and fellaini playing #8 with young keeping di Maria out of the left wing spot would have been as great as it has been. Most wanted 4231 with no fellaini and Mat or di Maria as #10 or 433 with blind Carrick and Herrera midfield.
Props where due. Lvg is doing a fantastic job,he always has been, just took longer for everything to click. I'm so happy we have him as out coach. We will be even better next year I think
Props where due. Lvg is doing a fantastic job,he always has been, just took longer for everything to click. I'm so happy we have him as out coach. We will be even better next year I think
True
Firstly Ferguson couldn't win every championship in a row and nor will Mourinho.
Secondly Mourinho's last spell involved winning two seasons in a row before losing the championship and then having a poor start to the following season, his Chelsea team has been beaten in the past and will be beaten again.
Thirdly Louis van Gaal has the potential to build an incredible side if it all comes together.
I would say 90 points will be needed for the side to win the league therefore it is going to be difficult however I don't see why a United team of the future can't get that.
PSG beat Mourinho's Chelsea with 10 men, Diego Costa's injury problems means they could do with another quality striker, Fabregas' second season disappearing act means they need to be looking at alternatives if he repeats it next season and also they have an ageing Terry and Cahill as the centre back pairings. Nobody is perfect and Mourinho will make errors too, it will be a fantastic battle but don't concede defeat just yet, the next season has already started, the transfer window will be important for all title challengers and you can bet clubs are working behind the scenes to get their men.
Ed Woodward said the very best players have been going to La Liga but this is a trend he wants to reverse, he wants to attract them to Manchester, let's see what happens.
I might get stick for this, but looking at Herrera, Mata and Valencia playing triangles, I wonder how Kagawa would have fared under a fully functional Van Gaal side.
I'll be up front and say that as recently as 5-6 weeks ago I was starting to worry about the lack of progress. However, you can't argue with how we have played the last several matches and where we stand in the table. Looking forward
!
!
I noticed he didn't start against Bayern this weekend. Is he a regular starter at BVB?
I still feel we should have kept him. Like Herrera I think he would have come good.
We still cross quite a bit (which is something I think we will see less and less of over time, except when it's necessary) but it seems like we have a greater variety in our play for the first time in years. I'm genuinely excited to see what we can produce when we get in a few more players and when Di Maria hopefully acclimatises to the League. My hope is that we will be able to play tippy tappy but also be able to play more direct when its needed and do both to a very high level.
It would be interesting to see a compilation of some of our goals this year because I reckon there is some of the best team goals we have seen in years.
It would be interesting to see a compilation of some of our goals this year because I reckon there is some of the best team goals we have seen in years.
http://www.transfermarkt.com/shinji-kagawa/leistungsdaten/spieler/81785
A quick look there says he's had 16 starts. Not a lot of 90 minute appearances though.
I really don't. I just don't think the quality was there. His type of player is something that we yearned for which is why people got so attached to the idea of him succeeding but the reality was that he couldn't cope with the pace or physicality of the league and his performances and productivity wasn't good enough.
He might have been a bit better this year as it might have suited him more if he played more but at the expense of who? Better than Mata? Nope. Herrera? No way. Young or Di Maria? Don't think so. Rooney? No chance.
He'd have been in exactly the same position as he was in before. The only discussion you could have is the theoretical one where he is played no matter what and in his best position. Would he have had a better season this year under Van Gaal? Almost certainly. Would it have been better than the alternatives? I very much doubt it.
Which, quite simply, is why he was sold.
I don't think the pace and physicality of Premiership suited Kagawa.
Personally i think he would have fit in great in the left wing position.
Something that i've really enjoyed watching the past few games is our right side. In Mata, Herrera and Valencia we have three players who compliment each other so well. I dont think i've seen United players play around teams as much as these three have. You have Valencia who gets forward and hugs the touchline, this allows Mata to drift inside and causes Herrera to fall back to provide the outball which hes great at, its so interchangeable and some of their passing/movement to pull players all over the shop has been great to watch. I feel had Kagawa stayed he would be able to replicate something similar with Fellaini and Shaw.
100% this.
Good post.
Not sure if anyone posted the full MUTV Documentary but here it is:
Thanks, been waiting for that.
That's not the full documentary, it cuts off about three-quarters in I think. Here is a full one in full screen:
http://www.fullmatchesandshows.com/louis-van-gaal-my-life-my-philosophy-documentary/
http://www.fullmatchesandshows.com/louis-van-gaal-my-life-my-philosophy-documentary/
Thank you!
I watched it on MUTV. Found him to be a very fascinating man, rather complicated, so can understand some players not liking him, but can understand why the majority love him to bits. He is very very human.
Mata's not the quickest, or the biggest. He's got more in common with Kagawa than, say, Valencia. Kagawa had an injury plagued first season under Fergie, and still got some good performances in. Everyone bar De Gea turned to shit under Moyes, so its unfair to judge him based on last season.
Anyway, the point is moot. Hoping Di Maria kicks on next season. Or even this last couple of months.
Wow so achieving the absolute bare minimum means he is a revelation? Maybe if he wins the title we can call him that, but for finishing 4th lol? Nah.
I agree with this except I don't think we were ever going to seriously challenge for the title. LvG tried for too long to get the troika to work and the result was we the fans had to suffer through some unbearable football. Not matter how, though, he has gotten it right and deserves credit.
At Christmas we were very close to challenging for the title. However, we ended up going backwards instead of forwards.
From the second half at Spurs we were pretty awful. We were creating sweet FA in games, boring our way to draws at places like Stoke and Villa. Yet Van Gaal refused to stop trying to shoehorn the big name strikers into the side.
I can't remember the last time Falcao or Van Persie outplayed Herrera, Fellaini or Mata. QPR away Fellaini saved us, Herrera's goals saved us in the FA Cup etc. but until recently neither was given a run.
We could have challenged for the title but for Van Gaal's favouritism. The league isn't that good. The team we are putting out now would have converted all the possession we've had so often this season into wins.
Last season David Moyes said we should aspire to be City's level, right now I would argue we are better than City, bet when he said that he didn't think it could happen in a season.
Or they would have lost possession by running around like headless chicken opening up the 4-3-3 for a mass of counterattacks.
Agreed. Van Gaal deserves credit for turning things around but he really should have learnt from his mistakes a lot earlier than he did. The saving grace is that he wasn't too late and learnt in time for the more crucial games of the season.
Ribery acknowledges that Van Gaal brought on-pitch results but has questioned his man-management skills.
"We had problems on a human basis," Ribery told Goal. "When he started, nobody knew what was going to happen.
"His idea was that he did not care about names at all, you don't need stars, everybody had to prove themselves again.
"The first contact with him was already poisoned. As a professional you lose your trust. He does great things on the pitch but the coach Van Gaal was a bad man. Our relationship was crushed."
Good man Ribery.
"We had problems on a human basis," Ribery told Goal. "When he started, nobody knew what was going to happen.
"His idea was that he did not care about names at all, you don't need stars, everybody had to prove themselves again.
"The first contact with him was already poisoned. As a professional you lose your trust. He does great things on the pitch but the coach Van Gaal was a bad man. Our relationship was crushed."
Good man Ribery.
Very impressed by him recently, I'm not afraid to change my mind and say that I've been pleased with his job in the past couple of months and his overall picture from first season at United looks reasonably fine at the moment. It took him a while to find good system and drop the thing that didn't work but I like the fact that he has improved certain players significantly, has employed a good attractive style based on passing lately and has gone back on his previous errors. Hopefully he'll build on that in his second season.
He's the polar opposite of Moyes who was decent at first look (first game to be honest) and then went worse as season progressed because he had very little clue what he was doing. Had Moyes had a second half of season like this he'd have stayed and would have been backed by vast majority of fans (me included). Van Gaal has basically succeeded exactly where Moyes had failed.
He's the polar opposite of Moyes who was decent at first look (first game to be honest) and then went worse as season progressed because he had very little clue what he was doing. Had Moyes had a second half of season like this he'd have stayed and would have been backed by vast majority of fans (me included). Van Gaal has basically succeeded exactly where Moyes had failed.
Luckily we don't have any Prima Donna in the squad who need egos massaged.
I think that Ribery has confidence issues, he needs to feel the trust of his coaches and teammates.
It's actually frightening to think of where we'd be going into this derby on Sunday had we kept Moyes on.
I think Van Gaal is also pleasantly surprised at the attitude of the players and the club. He has no meddling players/directors and the support from the club has been unwavering.
It was almost as if he was expecting trouble, but didn't have any. His press conferences have always been happy.
It was almost as if he was expecting trouble, but didn't have any. His press conferences have always been happy.
To be fair, most players were used to Fergie. They didn't feel bigger than the club or manager and those are the type of players van Gaal likes. Van Persie knows van Gaal so that wasn't going to be an issue and Rooney was made captain. Carrick is still vital and de Gea has been praised and played everything. I think he handled the squad, especially the stars and veterans well.
The players he bought all have good personalities too: even Di Maria and Falcao are (relatively) humble people. I doubt he wants to blow his last job because of personal issues like he had at Bayern, so no doubt that personality is a criterium in his transfers.
Needing the same set of results as we do now to stay in the top 10 probably.
Van gaal has made plenty of bad calls when it came to tactics and team selection, that much is obvious to me. I don't know why people are arguing that injuries forced him to, when clearly that wasn't the case.
Injuries had nothing to do with playing rooney in midfield, it was the fact that he wanted to play falcao, van persie and rooney in the same line up, and the fact that he wouldn't drop van persie under any circumstances, when all it took for herrera or mata is just one bad game and they're gone, he simply wasn't fair, that's just poor management from him, and it fecked any chance of balance the team had.
He deserves credit for our current form, and because he's willing to change. I'm now much more optimistic about our future under him, because i don't think he's stupid enough to repeat those mistakes again. But please, let's not pretend that our current run is the result of his good management earlier in the season, it isn't, it's the result of him fixing his own mistakes.
Injuries had nothing to do with playing rooney in midfield, it was the fact that he wanted to play falcao, van persie and rooney in the same line up, and the fact that he wouldn't drop van persie under any circumstances, when all it took for herrera or mata is just one bad game and they're gone, he simply wasn't fair, that's just poor management from him, and it fecked any chance of balance the team had.
He deserves credit for our current form, and because he's willing to change. I'm now much more optimistic about our future under him, because i don't think he's stupid enough to repeat those mistakes again. But please, let's not pretend that our current run is the result of his good management earlier in the season, it isn't, it's the result of him fixing his own mistakes.
This is likely his first job other than AZ where he did not have to deal with a finicky director or board.
If old Manchester United won't return next season, old Louie Van Gaal shall return and heads will roll and papers will be flying from a hairdryer that not only will consume the players.
The club will have to accept his philosophy to the last drop. Woodward shall be tested heavily this summer after Sir Alex already gave further support to new boss after defeat against Arsenal at Old Trafford. This season is just a taste of what will become in next years. If Van Gaal shall not meet any resistance, he will push it until he'll change United into his football club.
He's not stupid. He'll do it in a way that everyone will love him but we may see the times where he will have the last say in who will be his successor. Almost everything is working now in his favour to be here at least five years.
If he'll like the life in England he may have some chance to become a member of the board. After all it will be already his club with everyone looking on Fergie if he has something to say.
The truth is Fergie wanted someone to take huge responsibilities of club of that size and sooner or later we all know we will see changes of United's proportion.
Hard to say at this stage as we appeared to stumble across this winning formula because of injuries in the face of a manager determined to shoe horn in the best names as if instructed so from above. The fact there was no such pressure on him to do so makes it worse not better. The coming transfer window is massive for him and us. Overpaying for average CBs or bringing in past it right backs because of their name on big wages whilst letting Rafa leave could change opinions.
- Status