Football News: Stick Or Twist With Van Gaal?

Image from: Manchester Evening News

It’s taken me a while to decide to rewrite what I had written about Van Gaal before the Bournemouth game. I didn’t know how I felt as a fan of Manchester United, football and subsequently also an admirer of Van Gaal as a manager (shock!). I didn’t know my own opinion on the subject and felt it would be wrong to then write about it not knowing where I stood myself.

So, Should Van Gaal lose his job? – By the end of this article we will have an answer, I’ll do my best to base it solely on fact but on times where fact won’t be attainable we’ll have to go with speculation.

First things first, if Van Gaal was to leave what could/would the club do?

As ED002 has mentioned numerous times it is all down to what the clubs plan is, we have a 5 year plan on how the club is going to run and we need to ride through the bad times in order to get to pastures new across the turbulent seas.

If we were to sack him now then what do we do with that plan? Restructure it in a way that would cost the club more money in contracts, transfer fees and agent’s fees? Not to mention how much is currently being spent behind the scenes on areas such as the youth set up, coaching fees, scouting networks, etc. All of the work that has gone on for the past 18 months would have been wasted and we would simply have to tear it all down and start again. In what world is that a model any business should follow?

My next argument would be why does the club not have a contingency plan? We all know how unpredictable football is. Just because we are the mighty Manchester United it doesn’t stop us from failing on the pitch, as we all know, surely the club would have thought about that? What if Van Gaal quit or his history once again repeated itself in leaving Manchester prematurely?

From what I can tell, there is no back up plan with this because it’s a 5 year plan in which there is likely a contingency for poor performance over an entire season but not over an 8 game stretch. What are 8 games over 3 years? It’s meaningless. The past 2 months would not have reduced the value of anything to do with the club and therefore is completely irrelevant.

My point being, if you worked in Sales and you had a bad month you wouldn’t sack your sales manager you would look at what went wrong and how you improve it to meet the yearly figures. This is exactly the same! Manchester United will look to see how this bad period would affect the overall scheme of things across the season and our likely finish at the end of the season/our club position over the next 3-5 years.

I admire the route United are taking, as a business owner it isn’t one that I’ve always taken myself and what United are doing as a club are rebuilding things properly without the short sighted knee jerking of the fans.

On a side note – What is to stop Manchester United winning the league this year? Or finishing in the top 4? We all expect Chelsea to climb for top 8, we expect City and Arsenal to find consistency and we expect Spurs/Liverpool to suddenly beat everyone in sight heavily.

So, why can’t Manchester United do the same? Or why can’t Leicester fall down the table, why can’t City and Arsenal carry on as they have been all season? What’s to stop Chelsea getting relegated? Spurs and Liverpool may do what they always do and fall short? The point is, we don’t know and as a footballing institute our 25 man squad is capable of improving or stalling just as every other club is around us.

Our own fans right us off very quickly.

So what do we do if we sack Van Gaal?

From the club perspective is Manchester United likely to finish higher? Or lower? I personally think that if we appoint Giggs he’ll finish lower, if we appoint Mourinho we would pretty much stay the same and that’s simply because he won’t have time to mould this team to how he wants – side note, this could be the end for Mourinho, it may not be, it is indeed unlikely but this could be the time where he needs to evaluate his methods of management. We simply do not know yet.

A YouTube channel called the FullTime Devils (interesting to watch) have a presenter named Sam, his opinion is that it will always be the wrong time to appoint Ryan Giggs as he’ll never have enough experience to manage Manchester United and he’s 100% correct but maybe there is never a right time to sack a manager? Especially when the club have a long-term plan under that manager which has a strong chance of paying off.

Many have also asked would he be given this time at Barcelona, Bayern, Real Madrid, etc. and the answer is no. But here is the reason, it’s not because we’re pushovers it’s because we’re not on the level of those clubs from a football viewpoint. Commercially yes, on the field, no.

Managers at those clubs are currently expected to win league titles season in, season out. At Manchester United we are in a very similar position to Arsenal and Arsene Wenger after the Emirates Stadium was built. His objectives were to keep the team in the top 4 and once the stadium has been paid off the club will benefit.

Now, of course I am not on the United board, I do not know what has gone on but I believe if Van Gaal hasn’t been sacked yet it’s because his job is to keep the club competitive (which it currently is) for the top 4 and UEFA Champions League football.

ED002 recently said that Van Gaal has completed 8/10 objectives, now imagine the last two would involve a league title and a challenge in Europe at some stage throughout his tenure.

Whether he completes those objectives is irrelevant, what is relevant is that within the 3 years United are expected to try and mount a serious title challenge. We are half way through that spell and to some degree we are doing that this season and can still do that.

If we look at the state Sir Alex left the club in, and yes he left it in an horrific state. And if we look at the constant message with Moyes offering stability to the club then it would appear likely that the club are still searching for that stability under Van Gaal. His brief isn’t to win league titles, not immediately anyhow, his brief is to keep the club in a position similar to Arsenal in 2005-2011 and not let the club slip like the brief period Liverpool have had.

As fans we’ve been spoiled with success for so long, and that’s incredible to know we’ve been apart of such an era but the club now needs time to evaluate it’s future life cycle and how it will operate, Van Gaal can do that job well and is proving so behind the scenes.

We are not Bayern, we are not Barcelona and we are not Real Madrid. We are a club experiencing a similar period in time to Barcelona early 2000’s, Liverpool and Arsenal in the recent era.

League titles and championships are important but even more so, the club are concerned with the bigger picture something we as fans cannot fathom much further than a week-to-week basis.

My final point on this brief would simply be that playing style was most likely irrelevant.

I would simply say that our playing style isn’t bad it’s simply not exciting or explosive. Or maybe it’s one step away from being so?

In 2011, Barcelona were the best team on the planet and the best team ever by quite some margin, I believe better than this current Barcelona team. Over that period they kept on average 68% possession, averaged a conversion rate of 18.25% and conceded just under a goal per game 0.83. Contrast that with Manchester United this season who have an average possession of 58%, conceding 0.84 goals per game and converting 10.4% of all chances.

All though statistics do not tell the whole story, it is obvious to me that had Martial, Depay and Rooney scored in the way that Villa, Messi and Sanchez did for Barcelona then we would most likely cover similar statistics of conversion and had we had an Iniesta over a Fellaini or Scheiderlin we may have kept the ball slightly better also.

My point in this is simple, of course we’re not as productive as Barcelona. But what you need to consider is that this is a new brand of football stacked up against a team who has been bread to play this way since the came through the academy.

A British Quarterback has never been drafted in the NFL because a British player predominantly raised in England doesn’t possess that drilled in mechanical arm strength or ability to read the field – This applies to Manchester United, we aren’t Barcelona because we haven’t been drilled with an incredible possession based scheme and we cannot read the position of players like a Xavi could.

So with this in mind, do we say at least we’re trying and things will change?

No, of course we don’t. We take a look at Van Gaal in the transfer market, he has had plenty of opportunities to source a possession based team but has instead opted for recruitment elsewhere and that needs to be addressed.

Since Van Gaal arrived I’ve been impressed by the signings we’ve made as an overall. Rojo, Herrera & Blind are 3 that have been consistent in their play and are willing to play for the team. Our flashier signings haven’t worked out as such but that isn’t a dig at those individuals.

If we look at Van Gaal at almost everywhere he’s been he has had that Robben, Di Maria, Ribery, Depay, etc. A player that threatens with pace and is confortable in behind the last man (although you won’t see those runs often).

I wouldn’t say Van Gaal ruined Di Maria or that he was a bad bit of business, I would put it in a very similar category to Veron – Absolute world beater that you would sign in a heart beat, he was just unsuited to the demands of the Premier League.

Falcao was a gamble that didn’t pay off. If it had we would have arguably had the best number 9 in world football, it didn’t and we move on. That’s how it works. But tell me if there was a person in world football who would have passed up the chance to possess possibly the most deadly forward in the world? Even if it was a minimal gamble.

Depay and martial are too young to judge at the moment but I’ve been encouraged with what I’ve seen of both since they arrived in Manchester and in some cases before they moved to Manchester.

Luke Shaw is another that I believe has been fantastic, albeit a little bit unlucky with injuries.

Darmian, Schneiderlin and Schweinsteiger are the 3 that I am concerned about. Darmian isn’t a good fullback, he never has been anything special. He reminds me of the type of signing Buttner was – rash, unneeded and somewhat below his predecessor.

Schneiderlin has been okay when he has played but he can’t hold a midfield by himself and seems to be lacking direction in his role when he plays. It would be like buying Vidal and playing him in front of the back 4 – A position where he is somewhat ineffective and under used.

Schweinsteiger has been beyond woeful. I doubt if anyone can remember (feel free to find it in the archives), before the times of logins on this page and in 2011? I suggested United signed Pirlo to replace Scholes and I was shot down, but he was someone that at an older age was playing like a true professional with a lot left in the tank. With Schweinsteiger I see a German Rooney. An absolute legend in his own right who much like Rooney and the current Manchester United manager is living off of reputation rather than ability.

Yes he will have a good 20 minutes, yes he has an influence in the dressing room but if that is the kind of player we were looking for why not keep Van Persie? Patrice Evra? Somebody who would have been relatively content behind a younger player and would have offered the same if not more than Schweinsteiger, for me this move showed a lack of forward thinking from Van Gaal and cultural understanding of the United dressing room.

Just to sum that up I think Van Gaal bought well with Shaw, Herrera, Rojo and Blind. Depay and Martial are still raw talents so it’s difficult to really discuss it while Darmian, Schweinsteiger & Schneiderlin have been poor signings.

In terms of Falcao and Di Maria – they’re two players any manager would sign, the fact they didn’t work out isn’t the end of the world, it simply happens so I don’t blame the manager as such.

Romero and Valdes I’ve not mentioned because I don’t think there is a need too.

In terms of the players we’ve let go.

Evans wasn’t the greatest defender but he’s certainly better than McNair at the moment, he would have been invaluable with his experience at the back for us. Next to that you’ve got Rafael who is without a doubt a very good attacking full back. I wouldn’t have moved either of these two on.

In this current system of football with possession play and short passing Tom Cleverley would have excelled and that’s a fact. He was by no means the future of our midfield but he’s a more capable midfield option than Fellaini. As a temporary squad player I would have kept him.

I think it was the right time to move Rio on also.

Evra, much like Rafael is a player I certainly would have kept around the squad for the same reasons as Schweinsteiger was bought.

For me Nani is a difficult one, yes he’s a talented player and perhaps he would have been stifled in this United set up. However, he would have been made to play the ball more often something, which his game lacked massively.

Hernandez and Welbeck, I would have also kept both of these lads. They offer something different to the current option. Hernandez is the definition of a finisher albeit nothing else and Welbeck is a player, who can play all over the field, wings, striker and could have most probably done a shift at fullback.
All in all I don’t perhaps disagree with the sales I disagree with the lack of replacements for these players.

Hernandez, Welbeck, Cleverley, Evra, Evans and Rafael would have been kept and Ferdinand Nani and whoever else were sold who have also left.

To sum up both the incomings and outgoings I think Van Gaal has failed to replace those who didn’t need replacing to begin with and has bought poorly on the bigger players who you would expect to grab the game by the scruff of the neck and in terms of the direction which he wanted this team to go. We’ve bought athletes as opposed to technical brilliance.

With recruitment in mind, if the club had managed to sign Ibrahimovic, Bale, Muller, etc. over the summer would we all be complaining?

I believe if we were winning 2/3-0 every game playing the same way Van Gaal would be regarded as the best manager in the Premier League, the fact is he placed trust in Rooney (which isn’t a bad option to trust) and unfortunately it was just a little bit too much for him which has left him in an awkward position.

So yes, the recruitment could have been so much better but the playing style could have been amazingly effective if we had signed the likes of Muller in the summer.

This then brings me into my next point, does Woodward escape all blame within this?

From a recruitment perspective he has sold players for way below their values in my opinion and more importantly has left purchasing players to an outsourced agency who are paying (under instruction) whatever it takes to bring a player in, when that player doesn’t arrive I would assume that they lack the traditional values of the club to convince them in the vein that Gill, Kenyon, Wenger, Sir Alex, Mourinho, etc. would be able to convince players to join their respective clubs.

From a management perspective, do we also blame Woodward for a manager who has a history of falling out with players/staff, leaving on bad terms and ultimately disrupting the foundations of a club? – Well the answer to that I believe is no.

Woodward signed a manager who has a track record of winning a league title in Spain, Germany & Holland, if he wins a league title in England and then perhaps Italy (big IF) he will become the only manager to do so, if he wins a league title just in England he remains one of a few elite managers to win a league title across the major European leagues.

He is also appointing a manager responsible for the stability at Barcelona and Bayern Munich in some respects (although the entire German league was undergoing a major restructuring at the time, so that can also be accredited to the Bayern’s resurgence).

Woodward is also not a footballing man, do you blame an Englishman who cannot explain to me the rules of American Football? Of course you don’t because they simply don’t know much better. Well, Woodward doesn’t know an awful lot about the inner workings of a football club, therefore I blame his appointment and not him as a the MD.

So, just to summarise all of this; I don’t think we should consider sacking Van Gaal, I do think he’s under performed in the transfer market. I believe a lot of what we read is rubbish in the media targeted at unsettling the club further and I do think Van Gaal can mount a title challenge this season simply because we have the ability and he has the track record.

it is time to understand the immortal words of Sir Alex Ferguson "I would like to remind you this club stood by me in bad times, the players and the staff... Your job now is to stand by the new manager."

Thanks for taking the time out to read this, have a fantastic new year!

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Written by Jordan Lombard December 30 2015 19:33:20