In what has been nearly two seasons of turmoil for Manchester United fans, Louis van Gaal remains at the helm of the club despite failing to show any kind of improvement since the failed tenure of David Moyes.
The former Barcelona, Ajax and Bayern manager has turned what was once a feared and devastating United side into the laughing stock of the Premier League, a side that plays boring football and looks clueless while going up forward. Knocked out of every competition bar the FA Cup, Manchester United are barely in the race for the top four and look far away from returning to the glory days of old.
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Despite taking the team to the FA Cup Final, Van Gaal’s poor decision making over the past 18 months cannot be ignored, with his squad only ever showing glimpses of what they’re capable of.
As the end of the season approaches, United fans can only hope that Van Gaal’s so called “philosophy” will come into effect next season, but most will be hoping the Dutchman makes a swift exit with the likes of Jose Mourinho waiting in the wings.
While watching Manchester United play for just five minutes should make anyone realise Van Gaal needs to go, we came up with five reasons why a summer exit would be best for everyone involved.
#1 The signings
Upon signing a three-year contract with Manchester United, Van Gaal claimed that he had inherited a “broken squad” and has since spent a whopping £250 million on new signings. But the players Van Gaal signed have nowhere near shown their worth, at least not yet.
Having first signed Ander Herrera from Athletic Bilbao for £29 million, the Dutchman has hardly used the attacking midfielder despite the United midfield looking bereft of ideas while going forward. Luke Shaw was the next to arrive at a costly £30 million, and while the young defender is most certainly a prospect for the future, fitness issues and an unfortunate leg break means the player has hardly made an impact since arriving at Old Trafford.
Argentinian centre-back Marcos Rojo was the third signing to arrive at £16 million, but the defender has failed to impress and has spent a large amount of time on the sidelines. When fit, Van Gaal has often played him at left back, but has more recently preferred to play youngster Timothy Fosu-Mensah.
Perhaps the worst decision of all was to sign Angel Di Maria from Real Madrid for a record-breaking £60 million, before selling the winger to PSG the very next season for £44 million. Di Maria, who was unable to settle under Van Gaal, has since shown that he is still more than capable of playing at a high level as he helped PSG to their fourth consecutive Ligue 1 title.
The £6 million loan of Falcao from AS Monaco was also a disaster, with the Colombian only managing to score one goal before he was loaned to Chelsea where he has hardly featured.
Having since signed the likes of Matteo Darmian, Sergio Romero, Morgan Schneiderlin, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Anthony Martial, only Darmian and Martial have impressed, with Memphis looking largely out of depth and the others either playing bit part roles or sitting on the sidelines through injury.
While it’s hard to tell if United’s failings are the fault of the players or the way they’re being utilised under Van Gaal, one thing is clear - The current Manchester United squad is not up to standard, and this is all down to the signings made by the manager.
#2 The tactics
While Van Gaal’s eagerness to start Marouane Fellaini has long been a point of frustration for Manchester United fans, the Dutchman’s tactics during their recent 3-0 loss to Tottenham were perplexing to say the least.
Starting with youngsters Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial up front, Van Gaal decided to drag Rashford at halftime in place of Ashley Young. However instead of doing the obvious and leaving Martial in his favoured position, Van Gaal pushed the striker out to the wing and played Ashley Young as a centre forward. This was Young’s first appearance since January.
If that wasn’t enough to confuse the fans, Jesse Lingard, who is a winger by trade, was played in the number 10 role and Juan Mata, who twice won Chelsea’s player of the season as a number 10, was played on the right wing.
It seemed the fans weren’t the only ones confused by Van Gaal’s decisions as the team conceded three times in six minutes, leaving them four points away from Manchester City in fourth and less and less likely to make the Champions League.
While this may be the best example of Van Gaal’s poor tactical decisions, this was just another day for Manchester United fans who have now become used to Van Gaal’s odd choices.
Despite having spent £250 million on signings, Manchester United regularly look short of ideas while going forward and have often registered just one shot on target during matches.
Relying on youth products such as Rashford to bail them out of tight situations, some may argue Van Gaal has succeeded by bringing youth into the first team, but this has largely been forced due to injury.
While the team showed glimpses of Van Gaal’s so-called philosophy during their FA Cup semi-final win over Everton, the Dutchman’s poor choice of tactics over the past 18 months cannot be forgotten.
#3 His attitude
When Van Gaal first arrived at Old Trafford, it came as a surprise to many that the Dutchman refused to leave the dugout and stand on the touchline during matches. While Van Gaal has claimed that this is because he is a “sitting down coach”, many supporters, who were used to seeing Sir Alex Ferguson wave frantically on the touchline, struggled to understand how the manager could instil any confidence in his players by staying rooted to his seat.
This was perhaps most noticeable during a 2-1 loss at home to Norwich in December. Trailing by one goal with the clock winding down, assistant manager Ryan Giggs could be seen standing on the touchline barking instructions at the side, who failed to show the fighting spirit needed to make a comeback.
As Van Gaal remained in his seat, Giggs was unable to inspire the side who suffered their third successive defeat. The Dutchman was criticised by the media for his motionless behaviour and later said he only instructs Giggs to give out instructions when the side isn’t playing well. It wasn’t exactly a good explanation and it’s hard to tell if he even understood why he was being criticised in the first place.
Apart from his lack of interaction on the field, Van Gaal also has a poor relationship with the media and often makes bizarre statements which make little sense. Frustrated by nearly every question asked by reporters, Van Gaal was recently asked about a large number of empty seats during a home game against Crystal Palace. Believing there is some kind of agenda against the club, the Dutchman responded by saying, “I have not seen a lot of empty seats but you have seen it because you want to see it.”
While most professional managers can understand the role of a journalist, which is to ask hard hitting questions, Van Gaal has become known for his fiery temper and not long ago stormed out of a press conference before calling one of the reporters a “fat man”. Not quite the classy behaviour you would expect from the manager of such a prestigious club.
#4 The results
The results haven’t gone Van Gaal’s way from the very beginning and are arguably the biggest reason why the Dutchman must go.
Starting with an embarrassing 4-0 loss to League One side MK Dons in the Capital One Cup last season, Van Gaal gained just 13 points from his first 10 games in the league, the club's worst start since 1986. Having spent £150 million on new signings in the first season alone, Van Gaal was initially given leniency due to his previous success, his reputation, and claims that his “philosophy” would take time to come into effect.
But it soon became apparent that Manchester United were not improving under Van Gaal, and by the end of his first season, the team finished just six points higher than it did under David Moyes.
As fans became upset with Van Gaal’s boring style of play, chants of “attack attack attack” were heard around Old Trafford, but the Dutchman refused to change his tactics and the team managed to somehow finish the season in fourth place.
Despite spending another £100 million in the summer, by January of this year Van Gaal had a win ratio of just 50 per cent across all competitions, lower than that of David Moyes who managed 52.9 per cent. In March, Manchester United won just 12 of 30 games.
While Van Gaal has come up with occasional wins against the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool, memorable losses to FC Midtjylland, Wolfsburg, Leicester City, Southampton, MK Dons and various other small clubs have not gone unnoticed.
Currently sitting five points behind fourth place, things are looking grim for United who have been dumped out of the Champions League, Europa League and Capital One Cup. With a fourth place spot looking less and less likely, a side worth this much money should be challenging for European glory, but instead is facing the consolation of a potential FA Cup.
#5 The club’s reputation
If David Moyes didn’t turn Manchester United into a complete laughing stock when he dragged the then league champions to a seventh placed finish, Van Gaal finished the job.
Once a club that was feared by almost everyone, the club has become somewhat of a joke in the football world and even the smallest clubs can now travel to Old Trafford looking for a win.
But it’s not just competitively that Manchester United have become a joke. The club’s demise has coincided with the rise of social media, meaning the Red Devils are often the butt of jokes on every football related site looking for cheap clicks or likes.
While a club such as United failing was always going to suffer a massive fallout due to its previous success, Manchester United can consider themselves unlucky that their fall from grace occurred when memes were brought into the mainstream.
Now universally laughed at on the internet after each poor result, Louis Van Gaal hasn’t exactly helped the club’s cause with his ridiculous quotes and antics. His most infamous moment arguably came against Arsenal, when he unusually rushed to the touchline and threw himself to the ground in front of the fourth official, mocking what he believed was a dive by Alexis Sanchez.
As soon as it happened everyone knew it would be an instant meme, and within minutes several edited variations of the fall had made its way onto social media.
It was something you would never have seen from former manager Sir Alex Ferguson, and a real showing of how times have changed at Manchester United.
