Wait till he sees Fellaini's first touch in training.
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Wait till he sees Fellaini's first touch in training.
Interesting that he considers Zaha a striker. So I take it he has no faith in any of our wingers playing on the wing 
It's not even that. I can somehow understand that he'll play him at right back ( Rafael's out, etc. ) but at left back ? That's looking for trouble imo.
Another season of Ashley Young at the club by the looks of things. Ridiculous.
I thought Young has been one of the better players in our last two games. One or two silly tackles against Roma but generally played quite well. That's probably one of Van Gaal's less weird comments.
Interesting that he considers Zaha a striker. So I take it he has no faith in any of our wingers playing on the wing
“He shall play in the second half as striker. When we play this system he has to play as a striker otherwise he cannot play.
Read again.
LvGBrilliant, I couldn't care less if us fans or the media understand him or not! As long as he clearly communicates with his players and the board, nothing else matters.
Did he actually say this?
Van Gaal: "We have to see how we can improve our selection, not only by training sessions but also by transfers"
Van Gaal: "We have to see how we can improve our selection, not only by training sessions but also by transfers"
Word for word.
His conferences are really interesting. Doesn't give crap answers, if he gets a good question he responds with a good answer. Refreshing I must say.
Good, hopefully that knocks some of the doom mongering on the head. I get the feeling he's keen to get players that will allow him to use his favoured 4-3-3 formation.
I figured it was because he's a full international. He was decent for Belgium, LVG might have seen him more for them than for us or Everton.
Sounds like Young will be our very own Dirk Kuyt.
Who would have thought Young would have a place over Valencia and Nani.
Which is true, frankly. We need a partner for Herrera. A midfield two of Vidal and Herrera with Mata ahead of them is certainly not balanced. We need a holding midfielder who can control the tempo and keep the structure. Vidal, as great as he is, is not what we need unless we want to bench Herrera or Mata. I don't want that.
I'd love to watch a midfield triad of Mata, Herrera and Vidal, but I agree, what the ideal 352 calls out for is a defensive midfielder in there.
I don't get why people think playing 352 means you need a more defensive CM trio than when you play a 433? Surely the extra man in central defence means the opposite is true?
EDIT: Actually, it's not "people", just @gooDevil. Formation aside, you could definitely argue that Vidal and Hererra aren't a well balanced pairing but they both make a lot of tackles, so I'm not sure I agree.
EDIT: Actually, it's not "people", just @gooDevil. Formation aside, you could definitely argue that Vidal and Hererra aren't a well balanced pairing but they both make a lot of tackles, so I'm not sure I agree.
And i don't know why people talk about a 3-5-2 when we clearly play in 3-4-3, in defense Mata plays with Rooney and Welbeck, not with Herrera and Fletcher.
That would presumably be because there's feck all difference between those two formations?
Last 20 seconds: van Gaal saying he is forced by our selection NOW to use 3-5-2, and that he actually favors 4-3-3. Sounds like this formation won't last long once he gets the players he wants.
They're both very aggressive and mobile players and so make a lot of tackles, absolutely. But do they have the positional sense and the composure in defence to maintain the structure, block off passing/running routes and intercept passes behind the half-way line? I'm not sure.
Both of them are natural 8's who have also played as a no. 10 (but never a no. 6) and I believe that if we plan to play possession-based football (I assume we do), we will need the more holding midfielder, the Carrick/Scholes, in order to keep the shape and spray the ball patiently around.
That's just me of course. But I don't think you can say that a midfield two with two players who both like to attack more than defend is balanced.
I haven't watched enough Spanish/Italian football to have a really good handle on what they both bring to the team. It does seem as though they're not a natural pairing though, based on what I've read. Certainly wouldn't complement each other as well as, say, Carrick and Scholes.
For me it's like saying that a 4-3-3 is equal to a 4-4-2 in defense, with the 3-5-2 you have 3 midfielders, you can defend from a deeper position, you can play with a holding midfielder.
In the 3-4-3, you have to press high and you need the possesion, if you are dominated, you find yourself in a 5-2-3 situation, you will be outnumbered with your two CM's but with a 3-5-2 you always have 3 CM's (or like Nederland a 10/8).
What's more worrying for me is that it implies some kind of constraint - he's play 3-5-2 because he's not confident of the club signing the players required for 4-3-3.
I didn't say you need a more defensive trio in a 352 than a 433.
I'm saying you need one player who is a strong defender, like how van Gaal played de Jong next to de Guzman (and Sneijder), for example. That's the same thing you need in a 433.
But Ander and Vidal are a lot stronger defensively than de Guzman. And defensive-ness aside, de Jong was probably the best midfield option LvG had, seeing as Strootman and van Ginkel were injured.
it's all about their understanding of the pivot position which from what i've seen, they can do pretty well. I think they could be a good pairing. You dont always need a no.6 to gobble up possession
I agree. Doesn't mean he didn't acknowledge a problem though.
Or selling the players to make space for those he'd like, can't just buy like mad as he wants a relatively small squad.
I'm encouraged by what LVG said about needing more players to play 4-3-3, as it looks like he's sussed out our winger problem already. Moyes took a whole season of playing Young and Valencia on the wings, and I'm still not sure he'd figured out that are crap by the end of it.
Sir Alex also recognized the midfield problem but wasnt as gung ho as fixing it
Actually Vidal is a natural defensive midfielder, he played there for Leverkusen all the time and developed into a Box-To-Box at Juventus, I don't think it would be smart to play him as a holding-midfielder for us as he offers way more than that and would be wasted there. But he certainly could play in a midfield-two with Herrera, Vidal being the player that's a little deeper, but both interchanging in going forward. The recent Germany midfield Schweinsteiger/Khedira comes to mind, just more disciplined, without Khedira always sprinting forward and leaving Schweinsteiger alone.
Vidal is a tackling beast, you didn't realize it that much at the world cup, because he mostly played further up the pitch, but he really is a beast, even more impressive than Phil Jones.
For all the armchair generals here, mark the following words:
LvG's 3-5-2 will be a huge success coming season. Guaranteed CL football, if not perhaps a trophy pocketed as well.
Can't play 4-3-3 with a squad that is not suited to it. 3-5-2 (or 3-4-3, essentially the same) is a fantastic solution to the squad imbalance we currently have. I see United surprising a few on here and doing rather well this season.
LvG's 3-5-2 will be a huge success coming season. Guaranteed CL football, if not perhaps a trophy pocketed as well.
Can't play 4-3-3 with a squad that is not suited to it. 3-5-2 (or 3-4-3, essentially the same) is a fantastic solution to the squad imbalance we currently have. I see United surprising a few on here and doing rather well this season.
Didn't reply to this in the Twitter thread as I didn't want to be thread banned.
Okay, my bad then, I didn't really watch him at Leverkusen. Judging from what I've seen, I still think it would be a shame to use him as the most defensive midfielder in a team because of the havoc he can wreak closer to the opposition's goal but possibly it could work alright. Still don't really see where the balance, the shape and the patient passes would come from but I guess we will have to wait and see. Most likely it won't be an issue since he's unlikely to come here.Actually Vidal is a natural defensive midfielder, he played there for Leverkusen all the time and developed into a Box-To-Box at Juventus, I don't think it would be smart to play him as a holding-midfielder for us as he offers way more than that and would be wasted there. But he certainly could play in a midfield-two with Herrera, Vidal being the player that's a little deeper, but both interchanging in going forward. The recent Germany midfield Schweinsteiger/Khedira comes to mind, just more disciplined, without Khedira always sprinting forward and leaving Schweinsteiger alone.
Vidal is a tackling beast, you didn't realize it that much at the world cup, because he mostly played further up the pitch, but he really is a beast, even more impressive than Phil Jones.
Thank you, armchair Marshall.
Don't think that's really true. Rolfes was Leverkusen's holding midfielder throughout Vidal's 4 years at the club and depending on who was the 3rd player in midfield Vidal switched between a box to box midfield role next to Rolfes in a 2 man midfield and the player at the tip of a 3 man midfield. Vidal even played his full 2nd season at Leverkusen as the AM in a diamond behind 2 strikers. I don't think he ever played as a natural defensive midfielder, he's way too much of an all action player, wants to be involved in every phase of the game. He played a damn good attacking fullback for Leverkusen and Chile as well a few times. What you don't want of him is playing a disciplined holding midfield role, that would be a waste and I don't think he ever played that role at all.Actually Vidal is a natural defensive midfielder, he played there for Leverkusen all the time and developed into a Box-To-Box at Juventus, I don't think it would be smart to play him as a holding-midfielder for us as he offers way more than that and would be wasted there. But he certainly could play in a midfield-two with Herrera, Vidal being the player that's a little deeper, but both interchanging in going forward. The recent Germany midfield Schweinsteiger/Khedira comes to mind, just more disciplined, without Khedira always sprinting forward and leaving Schweinsteiger alone.
Vidal is a tackling beast, you didn't realize it that much at the world cup, because he mostly played further up the pitch, but he really is a beast, even more impressive than Phil Jones.
"Why you shoot from there Fellani? Its too far from goal, makes no sence!"
Never said anything about disciplined holding midfielder, he was always an aggressive player, but he was never unaware of his tactical instructions and was always an immense player when it comes to tackling. I don't understand why everybody thinks we need a pure defensive minded player who's only job is it to destroy and take the tempo out of the game, I don't think we need such one and I think a player such as that is way too restricted for Van Gaal.
He played in a two-man midfield with Rolfes most of the time yeah, but they had shared defensive responsibility, he played as a full-back a few times too, even as attacking wide player, very versatile.
I love the way he constantly uses the word "shall"!
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