Relief! That’s the overwhelming feeling I had when I read that Manchester United have finally sacked Louis van Gaal. As an ardent fan of the Red Devils, I was terrified to think what would happen to my favourite team if the Dutchmen continued for another year. The sideways passing, a lack of creativity and no bone-shattering tackles (God Bless Roy Keane) would have made for another year of boring football. But as they say, there’s always light at the end of the tunnel (in this case it’s hopefully Jose Mourinho). So now, I can look forward to the future with renewed optimism.
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Speaking of optimism, not all of what Van Gaal did was bad. Although it took me a while to put aside the pain that the departing Dutchman has inflicted upon us United fans, I managed to pull through. Read on for the 5 biggest positives from Louis van Gaal’s reign at Manchester United
1) Promoting the youth
This has been by far LvG’s most important contribution, and perhaps the only thing he did that resembled what Man United have always stood for. By choice or necessity, Van Gaal promoted a number of talented youngsters to the first team and most of them, if not all, have impressed.
Timothy Fosu-Mensah, Cameron Borthwick-Jackson, Paddy McNair, Regan Poole, Tyler Blackett were all players who were given their debuts by the Dutchman renowned for pushing youth through. But the one player that stole the limelight has been Marcus Rashford.
The lanky 18-year-old Mancunian has taken the Premier League by storm scoring a brace on debut against Arsenal and following that up with the winner against rivals Manchester City. With United clearly lacking ideas up top, Rashford has come in as a breath of fresh air.
His rise has been so staggering that England manager Roy Hodgson has put him in the preliminary squad for Euros, and it won’t be surprising, to us United fans at least if he gets on the plane to represent his country at the continent’s biggest football extravaganza.
One could also assume that without Rashford’s goals, Van Gaal might have gotten the sack much earlier. But let bygones be bygones and give credit where it’s due. Louis van Gaal might have done a lot of things wrong at United, but this is one thing that he definitely got right. Hopefully, the incoming manager will continue to give these youngsters ample opportunity.
2) Winning the FA Cup
When you think of Manchester United, images of a room full of trophies come to mind. Sadly, since Sir Alex Ferguson retired, United had not been able to add another major piece of silverware to their enviable collection. But all that was put to an end when Man United beat Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final on Sunday. It’s a cup that United had not won since 2004 and hence the victory at Wembley has come as a huge relief.
Winning the FA Cup also meant that United legends Wayne Rooney and Michael Carrick have now added the only trophy that was missing from their trophy cabinets.
Van Gaal has won at least one trophy wherever he has managed and the FA cup victory ensured his record remained intact. More importantly, he gave us United fans a much-needed morale booster and possibly the second best departing gift, with him leaving obviously being the biggest present.
3) Reinventing Wayne Rooney as a midfielder
Now, I know some of you fans out there might not agree with this. But I thoroughly believe that Wayne Rooney’s best position is in midfield. In fact, I will put my neck out and say that he is the best midfielder we have had since Paul Scholes, a man Rooney considers his inspiration. His range of passing is excellent, his vision second to none and he also consistently helps out in clearing up the mess that Chris Smalling seems to create more often that we would like.
I know that he is our record goal scorer and has won us matches in the past with some memorable goals. But that’s exactly my point – that’s now in the past. We need someone with pace up top, something that Rooney lacks, and a bit more skill.
Although only towards the end of the season, Van Gaal did eventually realise this and since moving Rooney into the midfield, the captain hasn’t put a foot wrong. I, for one, would like to see him finish his career playing there. And I would like to thank LvG for achieving what even the great Sir Alex could not – reinventing Rooney as a midfielder.
4) Retaining David de Gea
David, o David! Where would we have been without his gravity defying saves. Manchester United’s Player of the Season for three years in a row, David de Gea has been without a doubt our saviour. But things would have been a lot different had he left us for Real Madrid at the beginning of the 2015-16 season.
It seemed that De Gea had his heart set on leaving Old Trafford but Louis van Gaal stood firm, and boy has he reaped the rewards. He even benched the Spaniard for the first few games of the season claiming that de Gea was not in the right frame of mind. But since he pulled back the famous Red & White of United, David de Gea has not looked back. And all of us are mighty pleased that he has stayed put.
5) Buying Anthony Martial
Louis van Gaal spent around £250 million during his two years at Man United. Most of his signings have turned out to be big flops, especially players such as Memphis and Morgan Schneiderlin. But he did sign, in my opinion, a player the future United teams will be built around – Anthony Martial.
The Frenchman, plucked from obscurity for a mind-boggling fee of £38.5 million, which according to some reports can rise up to a staggering £61 million in the future, looked like a horrible investment at first. But what a masterstroke it has turned out to be.
In only his first season, Anthony Martial has become the darling of the Stretford End faithful. His boundless energy and immense composure defies all logic for a boy only 22-years old. Till Marcus Rashford broke onto the scene, ironically due to an injury to Martial, all hopes of United finishing in the top 4 were pinned on the Frenchmen.
Even though that target could not be achieved, Martial played his part ending up as United’s top scorer for the season. And there ain’t a better to start your Manchester United career than by scoring your first goal against Liverpool.
