Grading Louis van Gaal: Part III on the United boss
Credit: FourFourTwo
So, after the end of a long season, it has ended with Chelsea lifting the Premier League trophy and three clubs waving goodbye to the top tier of English football and facing life in the increasingly competitive Championship.
Somewhere in that mix, fourth place to be precise, Louis van Gaal has completed his first season in charge. So how did he do?
Finishing Position (4th) – B
Finishing in the top four was the most realistic goal, and he achieved it without too much worry. That said, it did come at the cost of a straight knockout of the League Cup at the hands of League One’s MK Dons and also saw United fall 5-3 away at Leicester, losing 1-0 at home to West Brom and also losing to Arsenal at home in the FA Cup with the goal that knocked United out coming from a player they sold in the summer, Danny Welbeck. Having been kicked out of Old Trafford by Louis van Gaal; Welbeck is now in with the possibility of winning the FA Cup. Karma?
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That said, who could forget the beautiful destruction of Liverpool at Anfield, with Juan Mata’s sublime overhead goal providing endless replay’s to sink the heart of every Liverpool fan ever to further compound misery on their horrible season. That game also saw Steven Gerrard subbed on and then sent off after 38 seconds.
Also, Ashley Young and Marouane Fellaini had a new lease of life under van Gaal, with both players proving vital to the team in one way or another. David De Gea was voted the league’s best goalkeeper and has been tipped to replace Iker Casillas at Real Madrid. Rooney embraced the captains armband and Louis van Gaal ensured he had that link to the players at every level by keeping Giggs involved as assistant manager and taking great interest in reserve games.
So in league terms it was mission accomplished, but I can’t help but feel United fans wanted more in the Cup’s too. The League Cup was there for the taking but the chance was wasted and a dismal performance was witnessed instead. Sure, give youth players a chance but don’t turn up just for the sake of it.
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Nevertheless, Champions League football returns to Old Trafford; and will stay a little longer if they can negotiate the tricky qualification through the Champions League play-offs. The price it took to get there, £150+ million is a little hard to swallow. Spending that much to only get fourth doesn’t sound too good in that context.
Tactics – C
It seemed a bit ‘all over the place’ at times. The noun ‘philosophy’ was banded about by Louis van Gaal in his first few weeks but nobody really understood quite what he meant by it. Neither did he it seemed. The initial 3-5-2 was slowly (too slowly) phased out and replaced by a 4-3-3 using wingers and overlapping full-backs to create a real attacking formation that showed it could still defend too. A few extra additions to the squad would really help smooth things out, with the acquisition of Memphis Depay just the start.
Another plus was the two Spaniards with Mata and Ander Herrera working well together when they both played. The glue that held the team together was Michael Carrick and his injury towards the end of the season meant the team could not maintain their good form which helped them secure European football.
While some players excelled, some regressed. Robin van Persie had been linked with the captaincy having a public close relationship with Louis van Gaal and shined for him at the 2014 World Cup. Alas, it was not meant to be and the Dutch striker had a very poor campaign; and could be shown the door.
Media Handling – A
I personally, am a huge fan of his ‘style’ in front of the media. Producing that booklet full of statistics and diagrams to shut Sam Allardyce up was a stroke of genius, and showed how to deal with criticism in a good way – Nigel Pearson needs to take notes!
He was often seen laughing in his press conferences and even when he was deadly serious it never came across as threatening. If somebody asked a question he didn’t like he made it known, but didn’t get stupid over it. It was a fresh, unexpected style finely balanced that make him a special figure alongside such characters as Jose Mourinho and showed that the positive feeling was back at Manchester United. This feeling having gone missing when David Moyes took charge; and only returned when he left and Giggs took charge for the last few games.
His end of season speech at the final home game was amazing, and his shenanigans at the awards dinners ensured he stole the show, and the headlines, from the players themselves. Poor Moyes could only dream of that. Simply put, the fans love Louis, and he loves the fans.
Overall Grade – B
It could have been much worse, and for his first season in charge it is not a failure by any means. Of course, with the comparisons to Fergie looming over him it will be a challenge. There however needs to be at least one trophy in the cabinet by the end of next season – even Moyes managed that feat.