Louis Van Gaal | 2015-16 Performance Thread

Van Gaal: The verdict

  • 1) Sack him now.

  • 2) Sack him at the end of the season.

  • 3) Let him see out his contract and part ways after that.

  • 4) Extend his contract.

  • Undecided (between 1 and 2).

  • Undecided (between 2 and 3).

  • Undecided (between 3 and 4, if things improve before his contract expires, extend).

Results are only viewable after voting.
pseudo_canadian said:
Does it bother anyone else how he just sits on his ass all game with zero instruction? Same with Giggs.

It's infuriating.
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Yeah when your team is 3-0 down at 20 minutes and getting dominated you would hope he would stand up to get some intructions out there. Instead he sits and writes stuff down for half time.
 
We looked so much better in the second half.

Only Carrick sitting at DM suits us a lot more with a couple of reliable players to pass to in front of him.

Taking Rooney out of the centre of the pitch and putting Fellaini in there made a massive difference.
 
Randall Flagg said:
In fairness, yes it does. It's just his way I guess. But i think I would like to see him barking orders on the touch line
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It was clearly required today, a few tweaks in that first twenty minutes and the game might have been saved, lack of action just wasn't good enough.
 
Needs to take some of the blame himself. These are his players and he's spent a shit load of money. Should've stopped Schweinsteiger doing the stupid pressing in the first half and bought on Valencia earlier.
 
I just want to know why are we playing two in the midfield? I thought LVG swears by 4-3-3? Is it to accommodate Rooney at any cost? Is it Giggs' idea?
 
He's generally done well in the big games but I think he set us up all wrong today. It was way to open against a pacy Arsenal and nobody on Cazorla was a shocking decision. Arsenal did well but we made it easy for them which is the most disappointing aspect of the game.
 
Attila said:
Yeah when your team is 3-0 down at 20 minutes and getting dominated you would hope he would stand up to get some intructions out there. Instead he sits and writes stuff down for half time.
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Yeah, just shout something, doesn't matter what kind of instruction, doesn't matter that only the players close to the bench can hear him, just make an effort to make someone watching tv feel better.
 
LVG - “I could not change anything, if it was just one player then I can take measure but it was more than half of my team who were not doing what we had agreed in our game plan."
 
kps88 said:
LVG - “I could not change anything, if it was just one player then I can take measure but it was more than half of my team who were not doing what we had agreed in our game plan."
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I'd feckin' love to know what that gameplan was... other then "don't be shit"
 
kps88 said:
LVG - “I could not change anything, if it was just one player then I can take measure but it was more than half of my team who were not doing what we had agreed in our game plan."
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It's the players' faults for not listening...
 
Dr. Funkenstein said:
Yeah, just shout something, doesn't matter what kind of instruction, doesn't matter that only the players close to the bench can hear him, just make an effort to make someone watching tv feel better.
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Exactly what I meant. No need to act like a clown
 
For a possession side we sure are shit at keeping the ball when we really need to. Should have kept the ball better when we saw that they were on fire, taken the sting out of the game.
However, we lost the game on team selection. First off we need to accept that there are circumstances that suit playing Young and Blind in defense, Arsenal away is definitely not one of them. After midweek I thought there is no way LvG is playing Blind and Young against Arsenal, Jones should have started with Blind filling in at LB and then Young in place of the out of sorts Depay. Schneiderlin in midfield for Carrick is obvious as it gets especially if you are planning on playing Schweinsteiger. Then there is the case of us starting the game with ten men.
Going to The Emirates with so many holes is as naive as it gets but doing so with two of your front four being out of sorts is suicidal. Arsenal are now doing to us what we spent the best part of the decade doing to them, karma is a bitch.
 
He needs to realise he can't impose the philosophy to every away game and be successful.

We've had better United sides go to Arsenal and sit back, drop deep then cut them open on the counter.

The first 20 minutes were like the last 20 minutes at Leicester where one goal caused insecurity and we were sliced apart.
 
Attila said:
Yeah when your team is 3-0 down at 20 minutes and getting dominated you would hope he would stand up to get some intructions out there. Instead he sits and writes stuff down for half time.
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By which time they could be 4 or 5 down. He had to make changes straight away.
 
Shambles of a set up away to Arsenal. Absolute shambles.
 
Boycott said:
He needs to realise he can't impose the philosophy to every away game and be successful.

We've had better United sides go to Arsenal and sit back, drop deep then cut them open on the counter.

The first 20 minutes were like the last 20 minutes at Leicester where one goal caused insecurity and we were sliced apart.
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we were 2 nil down in 8 mins. that gameplan goes out the window
 
Sultan said:
Wrong team and formation. LvG lost this game.
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What would you have suggested?

In hindsight, it was madness to play 4231. He should have left out Memphis, played Rooney CF and Martial wide left, leaving a third man (Schneiderlin) in central midfield. And that 433 should have been tight and compact so not allowing Arsenal space to run through the centre. I don't understand why he never changed it after 10 minutes.
 
Annihilate Now! said:
Did he really pick the players for us to close down a fast Arsenal team effectively?
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I believe you are referring to our 2 CMs and whilst I totally agree that he did not, it wasn't the only problem area. Our entire team was asleep the 1st 20mins, not just our CMs. Our pressing was shocking starting right from the pressure on their full backs.
 
Playing Carrick and Basti away at Arsenal and expecting to control the game was such a monumentally stupid decision.

He has absolutely no plan B. Its just possession or nothing.
 
It's incredible, against Arsenal, a squad full of CM and fast paced players, you play with only with 2 CM, keeping out Herrera, Schneiderlin, Fellaini and playing with an unbalanced squad
 
sammsky1 said:
What would you have suggested?

In hindsight, it was madness to play 4231. He should have left out Memphis, played Rooney CF and Martial wide left, leaving a third man (Schneiderlin) in central midfield. And that 433 should have been tight and compact so not allowing Arsenal space to run through the centre. I don't understand why he never changed it after 10 minutes.
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Maybe it's because he lacks the street smarts to be successful in this league? We shouldn't have had to tighten things after going two/three down - the game is lost then. We needed to put out the most solid side in the most solid formation around. Reacting after the fact is simply not good enough he should have anticipated better and made adequate preparations.
 
sammsky1 said:
What would you have suggested?

In hindsight, it was madness to play 4231. He should have left out Memphis, played Rooney CF and Martial wide left, leaving a third man (Schneiderlin) in central midfield. And that 433 should have been tight and compact so not allowing Arsenal space to run through the centre. I don't understand why he never changed it after 10 minutes.
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Quite simply Morgan Schneiderlin should have started. Arsenal need space and time to play. United's set-up played into their hand.
 
Some of the criticism in here is over the top (surprise surprise). We were 2-0 down in 7 minutes, after 2 shots on target, before any changes could be expected.

He can take some blame for not changing the shape before half time which may have stabilised things at 2-0. The half-time changes worked.
 
No shame in losing to Arsenal who are a top team and will run City close for the title this season. The issues I have is our lack of effort after going two goals down. Do we have a plan to recover from this? Or do we think we can slowly pass our way around and get back into the game?

We are extremely one paced and completely bereft of ideas if things go a little awry. Not every team is going to sit back and allow us to play our game. We need better ideas to tackle different situations.

United fans have laughed at Arsenal over the years because they never drifted from their "game plan" and would lose games because of that. I see the same happening with us. One philosophy doesn't work in this league, you need to adjust to teams and situations. Don't know if Van Gaal has got a hang of that still, or if he is capable of coming up with different plans.

And what is with all this talk of tiredness? We are only 13 fecking games into the season. And if it is such a concern, than what in the feck was Januzaj doing coming off the bench against Bayern in a Dortmund shirt? Why didn't we purchase a CB when everyone and his dog knew that we needed one?
 
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At least he got all his subs correct today.Might have bought Wilson on earlier but that's it.

I have lost my hope on him since last year though.Too stubborn and native tactically and with his selection of players.
 
Not sure how much LVG had to do with transfers in but having to play Ashley Young and Daley Blind in defence against a good and quick team was only going to end one way. Add in a lack of squad depth at wing and up front means that we're forced to play players out of form and/or are tired.

Poor tactics and performances played their part too but we have let far too many players go over the past year or so without replacing them and today we were punished for it.
 
Sultan said:
Quite simply Morgan Schneiderlin should have started. Arsenal need space and time to play. United's set-up played into their hand.
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Why the feck was Schneiderlin on the benc? The match was calling for a destroyer in midfield against Arsenal like everyone else do.

We can talk about the shit defending, but that decision of not playing Morgan was the worst of all.
 
izec said:
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You can see he really is disappointed, he says its the worst game he has managed ever in his career, shows how wrong players went. May be they got a bit cocky. He talks about playing with agression and desire, and how players lacked that. I think the players dint care today, they were already on international duty. Its a shame what happened in first 20 mins of the game, rest of the game we were better. I think van gaal got the team wrong, but we should have been better in the first 20 mins. I am sure most would have been happy with that team when it was announced, it just took us by surprise the pace at which arsenal played. Arsenal have done this against city too and against mourinho in charity shield, liverpool in april. I think it is good to have a reality check, very important now to bounce back against everton. If we dont, we get city next and 3/3 losses may mean end of van gaal is near. I cant see us beating city, i hope we beat everton. If not we will fall behind the leading pack. Its bad time this run of games has come for us, its gonna be very difficult for us in next few weeks.
 
Untied said:
Some of the criticism in here is over the top (surprise surprise). We were 2-0 down in 7 minutes, after 2 shots on target, before any changes could be expected.

He can take some blame for not changing the shape before half time which may have stabilised things at 2-0. The half-time changes worked.
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No anyone with a brain cell could see our back 6 struggling against Arsenal. Fans could tell that Carrick - Schweinsteiger would struggle against opponents of this nature why couldn't he? Blind and Young in a back four behind that midfield, what did he expect? Because I sure as hell expected us to struggle. We shouldn't have been in a situation where we have to change things around within the first ten minutes. It was a failure in planning and that falls on the manager.
 
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