Who Was Worse: Moyes or Van Gaal?
Manchester United hasn’t had the greatest spell of managers in the recent years. Today we ask, who has been the worst since the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson?
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While United has remained marginally successful in the time between Ferguson’s departure and now, it still hasn’t been enough to satisfy the higher-ups at Old Trafford. David Moyes and Louis Van Gaal have been the underwhelming successors, and have not preformed up to the Manchester United standard, with many considering them some of the worst managers in club history.
David Moyes
After being announced manager on May 9th, 2013, Moyes would only hold the position for 10 months. Moyes had an underwhelming season, and at the time of being sacked in late April, United was seventh with only four matches to go.
Despite this, he did make it into the quarter finals on the Champions League, before being knocked off by Bayern. However, Moyes was still unable to perform in other cup competitions. Swansea knocked United out in the third round of the FA Cup, at home, by a score of 3-1.
Whilst many former players protested the clubs choice of sacking Moyes, saying he deserves more time, however, the damage was done. His interim replacement, Ryan Giggs, would later be replaced by Netherlands National Team manager Louis Van Gaal.
Louis Van Gaal
Louis Van Gaal had a busy first transfer window as manager of Manchester United, making six signings during the summer, for a total of £130 million. Among those signings was Angel Di Maria, who moved from Real Madrid for an English club record, £59.7 million.
In his first Premier League game, Van Gaal lost 2-1 to Swansea City to open the season. It would take four games before he got his first win, with a 4-0 win against Queens Park Rangers. Ten matches into the season, and United had only two victories, with a total of 13 points.
Van Gaal was able to pick up his form, and he led the team to a fourth place finish. That summer, Van Gaal addressed some of the team’s weaknesses. He signed Mateo Darmian and Memphis Depay, as well as the young Anthony Martial.
The second season did not bode as well as the first. In early December, United were knocked out of the Champions League by Wolfsburg, leaving questions about Van Gaal’s future. Youngster Marcus Rashford rose up the pecking order after an injury crisis, leading many to claim he was saving the Dutchman’s job.
One of the few upsides of the 2015-2016 season was Van Gaal’s only trophy win at United, the FA Cup victory over Crystal Palace. Despite this, rumours of his sacking were already going around, and on May 23rd, 2016, he was sacked.
Who was worse?
Domestically Moyes was generally worse than Van Gaal, however Moyes was able to to preform in the European competition. What separated these two the most was play styles. With Moyes having a more aggressive style, whereas Van Gaal tended to play more cautious.
The choice is clear however, that David Moyes was the worse manager. Van Gaal was more of a lesser of two evils, but still showed he could consistently perform, contrary to Moyes.