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.
FreakyJim said:
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?
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Pretty much, anticipates Rooney being Dog shite at #9 so he sets the team up where he can always drop him into #10 if he's not preforming upfront.

Back end of last year we played some fantastic football playing 4-3-3 with Carrick sitting in front of the defence (anchor). We should have continued and built on from that kept Herrera in the squad and If Rooney isnt good enough to lead the line then he shouldn't play, its as simple as that, we have player who can replace him and offer more to team.

Carrick
(Schneiderlin)
Herrera...................Bastian
(Pereira).................(Fellaini)

Mata.............................................Young
(Wilson)...................................(Memphis)
Rooney
(Martial)


​
 
What I really enjoyed about Ferguson was his ability to change his tactics depending on the opposition. He was fine with Arsenal keeping the ball and hitting them on the counter. Against another team he would press high and disturb their midfield. Sometimes he would play through the middle, then he would change and play on the wings.

LVG seems to have one tactic; that is to keep the ball more than the opposition and gradually press them back into their own 18 yard box. When that doesn't work, like against Arsenal, we have little more to offer. It's kind of like Wenger, really. I don't like the style of our play, and I don't like our one-dimensional tactics.
 
We played a desperate team. LVG had a mare and nobody can deny that. That midfield was too slow.
 
He needs to replace Rooney at the end of the season and sign a proper left sided center back.....I'd bet we will be outside the top 4 come November with October being so tough....Today was our first major test and we failed badly
 
I think we just need a decent RW, then we can move Mata in behind Martial. Mata would have a field day picking out the runs of Martial. Also with two capable wingers, it would make the system much more effective going forward. Memphis will come on fine on the left im sure, but if we could get a decent RW (Bale, although probs would not happen) then that attacking force would have it all. Pace with the front 3 on the break, power, passing class of Mata linking them all up and the finishing of Martial. I would like to think that this is LVG plan.

Then we have Schneiderlin alongside one of Bastian/Carrick to sure up the midfield and protect our back 4. The defence should pick itself, Shaw is a huge miss at the moment, but he will be back next season and that will be a huge gain. As for Smalling/Blind its still to early to judge on that one, they have looked promising throughout the season so far so I wont jump on Blind to be moved from CB yet. I would give that one a few more games at least, especially this month as with City and Everton to come, it will give us a real chance to see if it works, one bad game cant end this. Obviously if it doesn't work I would love for us to get someone like Stones in the summer. As for Darmian, again I would give him time as he started the season really well and he will settle and regain form.
 
itso 7 said:
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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Yep, he got it so wrong today.

What hurt more than the goals was the fact that we couldn't even break arsenal down in the 2nd half.

They still looked more threatening than us.
 
To be honest I think today was a really good eye opener for us! And has firmly put us back on planet earth.

Today doesn't mean we can't win the title but it shows that we will need a very bizarre season to win it.

LVG got it all wrong today from his choices at full back to his midfield selection. And to be honest I don't know why he was thinking. Today he was out thought by Wenger and was too stubborn to change things.

Why didn't he go with Valencia at right back with Darmian at left back? Because Young tries but he's no full back. Why did he go with such an immobile midfield? And why did he go with the hoofball alternative again? It's all so predictable! You know how we will start and you know what we'll do if things aren't going well.

LVG needs to make some big decisions ahead of next weekend. Everton will hurt us just as much next week if we set up that way. I think he needs to drop Rooney and bring in Pereira for Memphis who's just not getting it done in the league right now.
 
The more and more I think about his team and tactics today, the angrier I get. Its the kind of thing Arsenal fans have had to put up with Wenger doing for years.

Was an utter shambles.
 
It's his philosophy, Inter-Bayern champions league final 2010, very similar game

He played like today, no pressing, no defending. Milito and Eto'o free to do what they want, and Inter won the champions league, 2-0 effortless.
 
::sonny:: said:
It's his philosophy, Inter-Bayern champions league final 2010, very similar game

He played like today, no pressing, no defending. Milito and Eto'o free to do what they want, and Inter won the champions league, 2-0 effortless.
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I'm worried about this because i was also thinking the same, Space is wide open when our players lose possession, using pace against us and tight marking is killing us.
 
Got his tactics majorly wrong, never quite sure what to make of Van Gaal in the long term. He isn't disastrously bad but he doesn't inspire much confidence either during games.
 
Sam said:
The more and more I think about his team and tactics today, the angrier I get. Its the kind of thing Arsenal fans have had to put up with Wenger doing for years.

Was an utter shambles.
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Exactly it was basically an example of how not to play against arsenal and whether people like him or not there is simply no excuse for LVG today, he got it completely wrong with his team selection and tactics both before and during the game. The second half improvement was as much to do with arsenal dropping off as any changes he made.
 
think LVG has got so much right this season was a real shock to see him get it so completely wrong today,
  • schweinsteiger and carrick should never play in midfield together!
  • Memphis in front on young was asking for trouble!
  • why on earth wasn't schneiderlin on the pitch against a team that struggles with physicality?
he just got it very very wrong today!
 
Nytram Shakes said:
think LVG has got so much right this season was a real shock to see him get it so completely wrong today,
  • schweinsteiger and carrick should never play in midfield together!
  • Memphis in front on young was asking for trouble!
  • why on earth wasn't schneiderlin on the pitch against a team that struggles with physicality?
he just got it very very wrong today!
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Seemed Blatant before the game that Schneiderlin should have been in for Schweinsteiger or Carrick and Fellaini should have been on in place of Rooney as that would atleast in theory give the rest of the front 3 more space to play in and also give us an increased aerial threat from set pieces who knows how that would have went for us but I cant see it being any worse than what we got today.
 
You can easily argue that he got it wrong today and maybe you would be right but that is no excuse (and there is no way of predicting) that so many players would be so utterly incompetent in the first 20 minutes. Schweinsteiger, Carrick, Rooney, Young and Darmian all have enough experience and quality to ensure a better showing than they put in during what appeared to be a footballing rendition of Chucklevision.

The first three in particular should shoulder a lot of the burden for today's calamity irrespective of their performance beyond that initial period as they are the elder statesmen reputedly offering experience and the like.
 
seaNNN said:
Seemed Blatant before the game that Schneiderlin should have been in for Schweinsteiger or Carrick and Fellaini should have been on in place of Rooney as that would atleast in theory give the rest of the front 3 more space to play in and also give us an increased aerial threat from set pieces who knows how that would have went for us but I cant see it being any worse than what we got today.
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not sure i agree with the fellaini one, but the schneiderlin is a no brainier, one of the weridist management decisions ive seen in a very long time
 
He lost the game today with his ridiculous two man midfield including two slow 30+ year olds.
 
Nytram Shakes said:
think LVG has got so much right this season was a real shock to see him get it so completely wrong today,
  • schweinsteiger and carrick should never play in midfield together!
  • Memphis in front on young was asking for trouble!
  • why on earth wasn't schneiderlin on the pitch against a team that struggles with physicality?
he just got it very very wrong today!
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Not only did he play Carrick and Schweinstiger together, he then had the latter playing virtually next to Rooney, with Carrick left in midfield all on his own. Trying to protect a defence with an already weak and slow player in it, against a quick, fast tempo attack full of nippy players.

It was kamikaze tactics from LVG today. He just got it so hopelessly wrong.
 
Nytram Shakes said:
not sure i agree with the fellaini one, but the schneiderlin is a no brainier, one of the weridist management decisions ive seen in a very long time
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Do you feel that Rooney has had a positive contribution of late? It's been too long since he has been on top of his game and Fellaini has shown us previously that he can play football.
 
I think today Midfield selection was bad decision,
But we have to give credit to Arsenal team also they are just too good in their game,
So many time we try to close down players but they manage to make good pass (or I say a perfect pass) from that position.
In any other day it could be miss-pass or they might loose ball.
Also for first 20 min, our defense gone totally sleep where was marking?

I think its collection mistakes, we are too casual for our game and it hurts us so hard.
I am more angry on our still general slow zombie play.
Its really getting boring now, we are 3 down and still there is no urgency on play.
 
seaNNN said:
Do you feel that Rooney has had a positive contribution of late? It's been too long since he has been on top of his game and Fellaini has shown us previously that he can play football.
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Rooney has been poor recently, unfortunately i cant argue with that, having said that, he still played better then Memphis, and at least worked hard, but probably both deserve a spell on the bench, but you look at our bench and it isn't exactly brimming with talent.

As for fellaini, i don't give a rational argument about him, because the high ball football we have tendency to play when he is on the pitch makes me irrationally angry, so i probably don't give a fair assessment of fellaini's actual performances, so ill not comment.

personally i'd probably keep Rooney in till Herrera is fit, the put him in the number 10 role for a while, and either Young or Rooney on the left.
 
His philosophy really doesn't include any great attacking does it? The team is so rigid in attack its incredible. Our players almost never leave where they are meant to be. They instead should be looking for situations to take advantage of instead they are 'glued' to certain spots. What's worse is just how slow the football is. I've never seen a top team that poses so little threat on the break or the counter than we currently do.
 
Nytram Shakes said:
not sure i agree with the fellaini one, but the schneiderlin is a no brainier, one of the weridist management decisions ive seen in a very long time
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In hindsight it seems obvious that Schneiderlin should have played, but he was pretty crap midweek so I wasnt that surprised to see him rested

But still today was probably LvG's worst performance so far for United, he's done so well in the big games previously as well
 
Rood said:
In hindsight it seems obvious that Schneiderlin should have played, but he was pretty crap midweek so I wasnt that surprised to see him rested

But still today was probably LvG's worst performance so far for United, he's done so well in the big games previously as well
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not sure it hindsight when pretty much the moment the team came out everyone was saying it, and worrying about the Carrick/Schweinstiger combination.
 
Seems like there're certain managers he cannot beat. Wenger, Mourinho, Gary Monk,etc...we either win them unconvincingly ( Arsenal at emirates last season ) or just can't win at all. If Everton beat us again, I would add Martinez to that list as well.
 
I am just waiting for it all to click but it seems like it might not any time soon.
 
Just seen the post match presser. LVG says that Arsenal, mainly Ozil and Carzola, were given too much time and space to play because no one was closing them down. We could have bloody told you that would happen before the match if your going to play two 30+ years olds in that area of the pitch. One of the journos then says would Schneiderlin have helped? And he LVG says yes.

He really does make my head hurt at times.
 
Sam said:
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He obviously hates the media enough not to answer questions on Rooney, but can one of our away fans actually come down to the press conference to ask him that question? That'll be a much better gesture than applauding them at the end of the game.

Our away fans were great, as usual. Out singing a team who were 3-0 up at times.
 
Playing Carrick and Schweinsteiger together was a mistake form van Gaal. Schneiderlin should have played in place of the two I mentioned at the start. Van Gaal got things wrong, but his players just weren't at the races. They were still on the bus when the game had started.
 
This van Gaal should go beyond his philosophy.

A game of football is not just about playing to your teams strength. Its also about negating or minimising your oponents strengths.
Sanchez is their best player and he was given free reign to run at Darmain. Rooney on the right would have kept him back, while still providing option from the right. A simple swap between Mata and Rooney and playing Morgan with Basti or Carrick and playing defenders instead of the makeshift defense.

Hope he rests Memphis and plays Young on the left. Jones should have started btw.
 
Bad day at the office, but I've been impressed so far this year, its all starting to come togather and days like this are going to happen.
 
Getsme said:
Bad day at the office, but I've been impressed so far this year, its all starting to come togather and days like this are going to happen.
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Why are days like yesterday going to happen? I am not laying all the blame on his feet but he got the midfield wrong and for some reason he just cannot drop Rooney.
 
Nytram Shakes said:
not sure it hindsight when pretty much the moment the team came out everyone was saying it, and worrying about the Carrick/Schweinstiger combination.
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Yet you had posters on here who wanted to see the same midfield partnership, not necessarily against Arsenal to be fair though.

BFS and Carrick just don't have the legs to play together in a two man midfield especially with Rooney playing as a second striker and not helping out at all. We got bum rushed in midfield and that would not have been the case had LVG got the personnel and formation correct.
 
My biggest issue with the tactics is how we start games. It's better off if we went all out attack the opening 15 minutes like Arsenal try (and united used to), try and blitz teams and then settle into our possession. Too often, we try and play it calm from the start and that simply doesn't work when other teams try and blitz you.
 
NK86 said:
Why are days like yesterday going to happen? I am not laying all the blame on his feet but he got the midfield wrong and for some reason he just cannot drop Rooney.
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Simply put, he isnt perfect and he will get things wrong, even Fergie fecked up from time to time.
 
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