Van Gaal

[Jam_Man]

I think you're witnessing what happens when SAF signs up and builds a squad that wants to play for him, and then he leaves.

All clubs have a transitional phase when a manager (especially a long-standing one) leaves. However SAF didn't leave a young squad ready for Moyes, he left an old squad with big personalities and little in the way of top quality youth coming through. United also panicked when signing players like Fellaini (above his release clause) and Mata.

Indeed, the team he left was one of the poorest he had.

However if he had stayed he would have made a much better job of the rebuild that was required than Moyes and LVG have so far.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Wonder how LVG feels right now after Welbeck dumps his team out of the cup.

Probably working out how much he's got to spend to bring in better players next season (especially if MU don't get in the top 4).

 

[Beefy]

You're witnessing now just how much of a genius SAF was.

I'm not sure I'd go that far - whoever had the job after Fergie was in for a difficult task but it is obvious to most what the problems are. Two over-the-hill big-name strikers in Falcao & RvP, no consistency of tactics or formation and a defence which is probably in the five or six poorest in the league. Ferguson left them with serious failings in midfield and an aging defence but these were problems which could have been addressed with the amount of money that they had available to spend. Instead it has been wasted on marquee attackers resulting in a top-heavy team with no good defenders and one decent striker who spends most of the season in midfield.

If it wasn't for de Gea they'd be in midtable.

 

[chapperzUK]

To be fair, Van Gaal did try and Shaw up the defence ....





I'll get my coat.

 

[EastStandBlue]

Aye, Ferguson knew when to jack it all in. There was a story not so long ago about Guardiola being offered the job after he'd finished with Barcelona, only he wanted his year out. Ferguson knew another year at the helm would've left him signing off in abject failure, so the deal broke down and Moyes was the sacrificial lamb that inherited last season's shower of *****.

I think what's now playing out is years of chronic underinvestment under the Glazer hierachy, setback by a transfer policy hindered by Moyes and Woodward's inexperience that LVG is only now beginning to improve. Fabregas and Thiago played them like a cheap flute in the first summer post-SAF, but compare that to LVG publicly "pulling out" of the race for Toni Kroos last summer because, word has it, he knew too well that Kroos had his heart set on Madrid and his agent was merely using United's interest as leverage for a better deal.

It's odd, because there seems to be this narrative that LVG's struggles to date almost absolve Moyes of any blame, but I don't buy that at all. Moyes was out of his depth and I remember being told that he was incredibly close to "pulling a Coppell" at one stage, and that by the time he'd had any chance to mull it over it was so abundantly clear he wouldn't last the season he merely clinged on for the pay-off.

Having said that, LVG's decision making, tactics and squad selection lacks consistency, clarity and, at the moment, any direction, and that's resulted in a hugely inconsistent season. Di Maria's spell as a shadow striker with Rooney behind him in was just odd, while I dare say Falcao's woeful season will have disrupted LVG's attempts to mask over a work-in-progress behind him - much like Ferguson did with Van Persie in his last year.

I'd say LVG's probably the man to take them forward still, but he needs a very strong summer of recruitment. United's ultimate failure was listening to Ferguson and going for Moyes when Mourinho would've lept at the chance to replace him.

 

[steveo]

Credit to the ref, i thought he was superb!

Second that. I thought he would bottle it when Januzaj went down so soon after the Di Maria incident.

Only one thing I noticed, he let Fallaini get away with about 8 or 9 fouls before he booked him.