Manchester United’s defeat to Liverpool on Thursday included the Dutchman’s oddest tactical decision to date.
In his time at Manchester United, Louis van Gaal has made a number of incomprehensible, mysterious and downright bizarre tactical decisions.
There’s been the infamous trial with a 3-5-2 system. There’s been the one-off experiment to press unusually high against, of all sides, Arsenal. On Thursday night, the Dutchman failed to take advantage of James Milner playing at left-back and played one of United’s slowest and least athletic players against him.
The point, though, is that there are many examples of Van Gaal’s strange decision-making in the last two seasons. It could be a top 10 or even a top 20.
Even in the first leg of United’s last-16 Europa League clash with Liverpool, Van Gaal sent his team out in a 4-2-3-1 but was forced at half-time to revert to a 3-5-2.
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In that match, Marcus Rashford – a pacy striker who scored four goals in his first two games for United – was used as an auxiliary right-back to protect against the overlapping Alberto Moreno.
It was a necessary step to take, in Van Gaal’s eyes, because Guillermo Varela was tasked with man-marking Philippe Coutinho and following him into central areas.
It went horribly wrong, and United were completely outplayed in the first half.
That game not even making the top five worst tactical decisions made by the Dutchman illustrates just how bad the top five actually are.
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