Louis van Gaal

I'm actually quite surprised he didn't lay into the referee. Okay we all know we did wrong as a team, but remember there was one pre-season game, where he went insane on the linesman and that was just pre-season, but he was so calm on Sunday.

I think this is just his style though, that he doesn't get up on the touch line. We will have to just accept this. I remember Sven-goran Eriksson getting criticised for the same thing, Steve McClaren usually did all the shouting.

I also don't think he underestimated Leicester, before the match he said he thinks the will be tougher than both Sunderland and Burnley. 2 games where we dropped points.

Btw, I agree he is too direct. What he said about Mata and Falcao being a better striker than Rooney is a bit too much. I think Rooney was smart in telling van Gaal that his favourite role was the #10, we know now that he perfers Falcao as a striker. There would always be a slight doubt at the back of Louis van Gaals head to play Falcao instead of Rooney or RvP instead of Rooney. Less so if it's Mata.

A while back, I saw an interview, where he said he knows he's too direct or honest and he's tried to reduce it. I don't think he knows what he's saying sometimes is too much.

About him being direct, I was thinking that too. There is no filter. He needs to be more subtle sometimes when it comes to addressing matters to the press, because we know how they are at twisting things and sensationalising the smallest matters when it comes to United.

I feel for Mata in a way. It's becoming abundantly clear from the moment he was subbed against QPR and him not starting against Leicester that he will be the fall guy to Rooney, RVP and Falcao starting. Also I wonder how he privately reacted to LVG saying he doesn't rate him as a midfielder. yeah..well done LVG what a confidence boost that is. smh.

Another thing I want to touch upon with LVG that concerns me somewhat, is that I hope he doesn't continue to stick with an out of form RVP. Everytime he's played this season he has looked not up to it. Even Falcao, who is less match fit, looked sharper and better. I feel atm RVP doesn't deserve to play 90 mins at other players' expense, regardless of the circumstances.

LVG needs to show the same ruthlessness in which he is reknowned for, the same ruthlessness in which he subbed off RVP for Huntelaar against Mexico at the WC.

I have to agree on RvP, it doesn't seem like fitness anymore perhaps it's decline. I wouldn't mind seeing him dropped next game. I do think it was strange dropping Mata when he looked like he was going to pick up form, he has been very uncreative, but you don't do it when it looks he's only going to get better in the next few games. Rooney didn't do badly, but you can see his limitations as a #10, when he has his back to goal. Rooney does defend though. I have mixed feelings on who the front three should be, I'm not entirely sure.

LvG's handling of Januzaj has been poor too imo, he's played him wing-back twice, CM once, DM once, winger once and CF once. Has played every position apart from CB and #10. It's already hard enough coming on as a sub, without changing your position every game, sometimes within games. The way he brought him on vs Leicester was akin to Moyes bringing Zaha on vs Newcastle when we were losing. They never had a chance.

Notice how the British media have already turned on LVG.

Compare that with the amount of excuses they gave Moyes when it was glaringly obvious how inept he was.

Noticed. Its

RED wrote:Notice how the British media have already turned on LVG.

Compare that with the amount of excuses they gave Moyes when it was glaringly obvious how inept he was.

I noticed that as well. With Moyes they kept more or less quiet till January, while now after a couple of games it's already
"van Gaal needs to do this, his philosophy clearly isn't working, honey moon is over, he needs to get a grip soon etc pp"

While van Gaal actually works with a squad that is kind of new, many senior players gone, and changes fundamental stuff in the way of playing; Moyes didn't really change anything.

But Moyes was British and handpicked by SAF, the United way, long term etc pp, van Gaal is an European snob who uses words like 'philosophy' which they don't like.

The funny thing is that competitors for top 4, Liverpool, Everton, Spurs are in no way in a better position so far.

The fact Southampton and Villa are in the current top 4 shows how irrelevant the table is after 5 games.

The media started in January like like Hans said, but it was only a very few. It started to get more after the game vs Olympiakos away. In the end, there were still some that said Moyes deserved longer. Almost every football pundit said he deserved more time, in fact the only ones that said he didn't were the Liverpool ones (Carragher and Hansen) and Savage.

Louis van Gaal is foreign, expect more of the same from the media. He will get support in the stadium, from the fans, like Moyes did. That's all that matters.

I think Van Gaal is old school and likes to respect the referee and his decision. It's a refreshing approach and one Brian Clough adopted. Whether it will do him any good in the Premier League is another matter?#

Sir Alex's approach of being in the face of referee's certainly was an advantage.

really disappointed with Van Gaal.

The biggest disagreement here is his persistence with Van Perise. Its dragging the club down like massively.

The club allowed him to spent as much as he want on players and its nowhere near he is delivering what is expected of him.

Until Rooney comes back


Got rid of the two waste of spaces

Lumiere_Blanche wrote:really disappointed with Van Gaal.

The biggest disagreement here is his persistence with Van Perise. Its dragging the club down like massively.

The club allowed him to spent as much as he want on players and its nowhere near he is delivering what is expected of him.

problem is fans are so fickle. change their minds every few weeks.
If I could be bothered to dig I'm sure I could quote dozens of posts of you crying for Rooney to be dropped so Mata can play ehind Rvp.

etc
pp

Now Rooney is suddenly back in favour, while Mata and RvP are out.

Here's an idea: why don't you stop singling out individual players all the time.

Hans, I think it's more to do with the acceptance that....Mata....is just a bit poo.

Him blindly playing RVP every game, despite the player looking in decline and past it, is worrying tbh.

Tbh, we normally just criticise players after a bad game. This opinion of Mata and RvP getting dropped has been developed from poor form since last season. Rooney is the exception to rule, yes sometimes he does get unfairly criticised while other times it is just.

well, there's different theories how to handle a striker who has a spell of bad form, drop him or continue to play him until he scores again..

Just saying, RvP played a WC too so not being 100% is to be expected, Falcao just arrived and will get his games, Januzaj can start a game against a lower table team once in a while, don't see what the fuzz is about.

Van Persie had a goalscoring drought in 2013 for about 10 games under Fergie. If you remember when he scored he did that celebration when he hugged SAF. No one wanted RvP dropped while he was in that drought, because although he was not scoring he was still useful. Just like Falcao was before he scored vs Everton, you could see his all round performance was good and he just had to be patient. This is not how RvP is playing right now, something needs to happen. He doesn't have to be dropped permanently maybe a few games and he comes back in.

Hapless_Hans wrote:well, there's different theories how to handle a striker who has a spell of bad form, drop him or continue to play him until he scores again..

Just saying, RvP played a WC too so not being 100% is to be expected, Falcao just arrived and will get his games, Januzaj can start a game against a lower table team once in a while, don't see what the fuzz is about.

It's not poor form if it's been like that for over a year now.

Like BB said, in the 12/13 season, he went on a drought, but his overall game was light years ahead of how it is now.

Right now, he is playing like a player that is not arsed, not worried about his place in the team. Looks more like complacency mixed with decline.

He needs to be on the bench for games.

Hapless_Hans wrote:

Lumiere_Blanche wrote:really disappointed with Van Gaal.

The biggest disagreement here is his persistence with Van Perise. Its dragging the club down like massively.

The club allowed him to spent as much as he want on players and its nowhere near he is delivering what is expected of him.

problem is fans are so fickle. change their minds every few weeks.
If I could be bothered to dig I'm sure I could quote dozens of posts of you crying for Rooney to be dropped so Mata can play ehind Rvp.

etc
pp

Now Rooney is suddenly back in favour, while Mata and RvP are out.

Here's an idea: why don't you stop singling out individual players all the time.

Oh Please. Did you even watch the match. Or for that matter the past 2 or 3 matches we played. I am sure you didnt.

The way van persie is playing right now is exactly the way rooney played under moyish, that complacency and 'No matter what I do on the pitch I will never be dropped' kinda attitude is easy to spot.

And fyi this is not knee jerk at all. You can sure 'dig in' and find any posts to contradict. The only condition  there being it has to be this season's. Can you mention one meaningful contribution van persie has made this season apart form a couple of being 'at the right place at the right time' sort of goals he has scored. I havent seen him influence the game at all. And then we look at the number of chances he has failed to convert.
He cant run, he cant shoot properly and yet he is playing everytime. Now tell me what should I say other than criticize him and criticize Van gaal who is letting him play continuously.  Also its not even about the stats. Its about his effing attitude.  

Whereas regarding mata, I dont know where you got that, but I can assure you that I havent said he should be playing behind strikers in the hole. Again I may have said that last season or even beginning of this season. And thats because Last season we had Shinji whose presence brought the best out of Juan, So he played really well as a CAM. But now its well proven that he is not suited to play a CAM in this formation. We have been saying that a lot recently. Check the mata thread for once before coming up with these bizarre opinions.
Putting his name in the formation in that position doesnt mean I am happy deploying him there. I try to put a practical formation albeit 1 or 2 exceptions. (wilson, januzaj for instance) But even there I am well aware I wont be seeing either of them in the match.

Now What I have in fact said is he should be playing as a striker or a False 9 alongside a forward (falcao to be exact). Even LvG has said that. that He is a false striker and not a playmaker.

So if van persie is struggling and rooney is unavailable put him alongside falcao up top. Its not that we dont have any option and we have to persist with RvP throughout.  

And when it comes to rooney, well I have already made my stand clear a lot of times regarding him. And how can you all of a sudden assume that now I want rooney to play in the hole. Have I said that???? For the nth time I am making myself clear, I want him to play only as a forward.

And who according to me should play as a CAM you may ask. Well, Its either Herrera or Januzaj. Janzuaj until we bring in another midfielder and after that herrera.

And you are telling me to stop singling out individuals I see, but there you have to take note of the fact that we are playing only on weekends this season until January. And because of that we only get 2 or 3 games to come to conclusions and form opinions on players. Its sort of a bane we are facing this season. If van persie perform in 3 games poorly what it means is he is not performing in an entire month (if we count international breaks). So while other top teams get more time to assess player's performances , we get relatively very less. So What else do you expect.

I am not saying Van Gaal is doing badly or anything but some of his decisions and actions has been very poor. Like majority of his substitutions (fellaini one yesterday being the only exception), failure to address the defensive issues by not buying another cb added with the van persie bromance which i mentioned already. You have to understand the board didnt hold back and gave him a free pass to spend whatever he want. And yet we are struggling in defense.  But in no way I am even attempting to compare him and the clown moyish. And I am well aware that pros outweigh the cons here. And its only going to improve with time too.

------------

I understand you are taking so much effort to pop up in every nook and corner of this forum, and I appreciate it, but of late you are just putting up half baked opinions based on some assumptions and outdated theories. Heres an idea - Try to catch up or just keep quiet.

I watched the match.

To me, typical van Gaal team. A lot of possession, though not especially brilliant in the final third.
A very high line, full backs pushing up very high; but then not enough pressure on the ball when it's lost and not enough balance for a safe defense.

First goal Shaw loses the aerial duel, guy can run behind and cross to the guy between defense and midfield, sunday shot.

Little anyone can do, as the organization is such that once a 'mistake' happens (a lost duel) it is hard to defend for the CBS if the midfielders are to far upfield.
Blind was not there in the space and Herrera clearly wasn't fit enough to go these distances.

2nd goal, one CB goes forward to intercept something (Jones?), again lost duel, miles of space between Rafael and Rojo, bingo.
Jones probably was told to go forward to intercept passes in the 5-3-2, as there it's his job, in the 4-3-3 it's problematic, there should be a midfielder in that space to defend.

2 shots, 2 goals, while Utd pass around the box all game.

I've been in your shoes, it's a systemic thing. Too high line with not enough defensive cover, one 'mistake' happens there's danger.
It's too risky as LvG leaves his defenders with no room for error. And then you have defenders with little match practice and routine, that's what can happen.

You'll just have to outscore the opposition.

Yeah, that's true Leicester had 5 shots - 5 goals, MK Dons 7 shots - 4 goals and West Brom 2 shots - 2 goals. We'll end up buying a CB for £40 mil next year, and scratch our heads when we have the same issues, a bit like Liverpool right now.

thats an intersting observation. So what should we do ? Outscore the opposition each time? If these decisive errors are part of LvG's 'philosophy' then whats the alternative to that.

well I'm not necessarily saying it's part of his system, but as far as I can remember we always had this feeling of missing balance, of pending danger, with him.

Now this was the first time you played that particular formation People say it was 4-2-3-1, was it? But it seemed to me Herrera played quite further ahead than Blind, so maybe more a 4-3-3?
Actually after maybe 10 seconds there was a similar situation as the 1:0 - Shaw is VERY advanced, space behind him exploited, Blind does not/ cannot really commit to covering that space as Herrera is not there in the middle, cross, shot from out of the box
http://livetv.sx/de/showvideo/212577_west_bromwich_manchester_utd/

They need to develop the understanding who covers for who, and also you got to hope your CBs stay fit so a pairing can develop.
You have to hope mistakes become less so that you'll indeed outscore the opponent, but I think you'll have to be prepared to never feel fully safe, unless LvG goes back to a massive 5-3-2 as with Holland, which he won't and shouldn't as it's not pretty.
Carrick will be back too, he'll have a role to play there.

Van Gaal improved Holland by playing 3-5-2, obviously that didn't work for us, but maybe play two DMs, Carrick and Blind, or even Valencia since he did a good defensive job vs Everton. Carrick is still unfit/aging so Valencia might be the answer. Blind just isn't fast/mobile enough to cover everything by himself. Perhaps this is why he still wants Strootman.

yea I can see him definately putting carrick in the scheme of things against chelsea in place of mata. 2 DMs and herrera in an advanced midfielder sort of role.
Thats the only we way can even have a chance against them.

Valencia paired with blind is also not a bad alternative considering he has a burst of pace up his sleeve and can compensate for the lack of mobility of blind. Blind can become the brain and valencia the limbs. or the rider and the horse

Busby Babe wrote: Valencia might be the answer.

RED, you hear that?

Herrera wasn't fit and bad, so Blind was overwhelmed alone.
For the second goal too as there Fellaini was further upfront, DiMaria was in the center but had just gotten injured and didn't help Blind who was simply passed around chasing for the ball.
Jones made a stupid and mistimed charge forward which was a couple of meters off, Rafael messed up the offside line...