Louis Van Gaal, More of a Problem than Solution (Read)

When Manchester United next take to the field in a game versus Liverpool on Sept. 12, the competitive season will be 5 weeks — or 34 days — old. United will have played 6 games by that point. By the same stage last season, United had played 4 that’s 50 percent more games than last season.  Maths professors are welcome to work out a more accurate figure, never liked maths and was never good at it anyway.

United are back in the champions league no thanks to Club Brugge and their poor showing over both legs of the qualifier. Not much has changed at united despite an emphatic return to european competition, and if the result at the weekend is anything to go by then their win over Belgian side was a smoke screen.

The latest of lows came in sunday’s loss to Swansea a team whose transition from lower league football to top flight has been in continous ascendancy. A lot went into the build up to the fixture with many key battles already pointed out most notably Montero v Darmian, Gomis v Daley blind. Montero didn’t make the match day squad as a result of an injury he picked up before the game. Daley blind coped with Gomis fairly well but was nowhere near the Swansea forward when it ultimately mattered the most.

For the united faithfuls this summer’s transfer activity has proven the only source of excitement and optimism. The end of last season saw a rapid acquisition of Memphis depay followed by an early summer purchase of Matteo Darmian, Schweinsteiger, Schneiderlin in the space of 72 hours, for united supporters the feeling was orgasmic the  excitement levels reach an all time high albeit in the post ferguson era.

But that’s just about where the frenzy ends, the supporters had hoped for more arrivals only to be frustrated at the sight of key targets ending up elsewhere. The trust Ed woodward had somehow managed to gain evaporated and once more the fans where calling for his head, the status quo has not been helped either by David de Gea’s proposed move to real madrid, a summer episode that turned out to be the biggest transfer saga yet in United and madrid history.

The last piece of transfer business (in and out) was to be the signing of a forward Anthony Martial,  a 19 year old from Monaco in the region of £36 million making him the most expensive teenager in football history, albeit his arrival was greeted with no real fanfare by united supporters, even club captain Wayne rooney had to make verbal inquiries as to who martial was.

Over the years supporters of manchester united are known to support their managers and players alike whether the circumstances are favourable vice versa,  but on this occasion the arrival of Anthony Martial was not enough to raise the levels of optimism.

It is common knowledge that Martial doesn’t arrive with a bigger reputation than his deadline day predecessors Radamel falcao or Angel di maria, and if the success of the duo under Lvg is anything to go buy martial is in for a trying time.

‘It is difficult to adapt to Van Gaal. I had a couple of rows with him.’
Louis Van Gaal has his philosophy and one of the things that made me want to leave is that’. – ADM

Di maria has been widely criticised for bottling and not willing to fight which in some quarters holds water, however football players will only knuckle down for something they believe in, nobody enjoys being tagged a flop or a failure, a fact people have failed to come to terms with. The list is endless for great players who fell out with Lvg and one has to ask  just how much longer can the supporters take to his side of the fight.

‘Whether we can win the title [in the next two seasons] is dependable if we can buy players with speed and creativity.

‘You shall always be compared with other clubs. Barcelona without Neymar and Messi, their speed and creativity, they have Pedro behind. Bayern Munich: Ribery and Robben. After that they can change with Muller and they also had Shaqiri [now at Inter Milan] at other times.

‘Chelsea have Hazard, Willian, Oscar — that is speed and creativity. [Ashley] Young had a great season. [Juan] Mata also. But they don’t have the speed of Hazard or Robben. We have to improve our selection in that way.’ – Louis van gaal.

It would be important to note that before the signing of Angel di maria Lvg did make a similar comment. ADM came and left after one season. Sometimes you wonder if his predecessor David moyes would have been allowed to get away with not getting the best of one of the most exciting players on the planet, a player united broke the british transfer record for.

LVG can groan all he wants about  players with speed and creativity, however on getting them these creative players must be allowed the room to express themselves without thinking  “what would lvg rather have me do”.

A quick look into Lvg’s current group, Juan mata and Ander herrera are players blessed with an abundance of creativity and it would be unfair to say Oscar and Willian are miles ahead of the spaniards in that regard.

So what exactly makes them flourish under Jose mourinho a one time protege of Lvg. The trio of Eden hazard, Willian and Oscar, now Pedro are allowed to dovetail off each other whilst still carrying out their defensive duties and staying within the tactical setup of the team.

We know Lvg spends alot of time on the training pitches drilling movement and shape into his teams. But of what use are double training sessions if players and fans are not ripping the dividends. Sunday’s lose at Swansea was the latest example of how teams have mastered the art of defending against van gaal’s side while also finding a moment of brilliance to win the game.

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