Louis van Gaal's interview with BBC

clarkydaz said:
Im delighted he keeps calling the board and Woodward out, its astounding what they get away with and get out of jail on the clubs cash
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Fans are easily led. Woodward was right in the firing line until things improved under Ole, then all the threads disappeared and people talk about all these great signings we'll make in the summer.

You can almost guarantee we won't do the necessary business to compete on all fronts this summer. Yesterday there was a briefing that we won't bother signing defenders this summer because of how well they've done under Ole. It's started already. What they don't realise is that we're still parking the bus against the better teams to try and get through the games.
 
pocco said:
Fans are easily led. Woodward was right in the firing line until things improved under Ole, then all the threads disappeared and people talk about all these great signings we'll make in the summer.

You can almost guarantee we won't do the necessary business to compete on all fronts this summer. Yesterday there was a briefing that we won't bother signing defenders this summer because of how well they've done under Ole. It's started already. What they don't realise is that we're still parking the bus against the better teams to try and get through the games.
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Probably the only right thing LVG said in this interview. I'm honestly not looking forward to next season, especially if Herrera ends up leaving. We will have too many positions to cover in short amount of time (the window closes on Aug 8th) and our board is as incompetent as shite in negotiation and transfer business.

It will probably be 1 or 2 signings at best.
 
I can sympathize with LVG to an extent but the fact of the matter is that his second season was a disaster. Most boring football I've ever witnessed and we finished 5th in a season where all the other big clubs were at their poorest.
 
Jose coming in and playing awful football for a long period has done LVG a huge favour really, he seems a decent enough guy and does make some good points in here but the football was still some of the worst I've ever seen, we never looked like shooting let alone scoring at some points.
 
Oggmonster said:
Jose coming in and playing awful football for a long period has done LVG a huge favour really, he seems a decent enough guy and does make some good points in here but the football was still some of the worst I've ever seen, we never looked like shooting let alone scoring at some points.
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Bad and all as he was, Jose didn’t have us playing bad football for as long as Van Gaal did. That’s where his bad grapes really ring hollow. Of all the post-Fergie disasters, he was given the longest opportunity to turn things round.

He’s right about Woodward having far too much influence on the football side of things but wrong about almost everything else.
 
I think it's harsh on van Gaal's part to criticise Solskjaer's football. He's been making best use of what he inherited. I do believe Solskjaer is better off creating a team adept at playing possession football with counter attacking football available as a weapon when it's on and not the default way of playing.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Bad and all as he was, Jose didn’t have us playing bad football for as long as Van Gaal did. That’s where his bad grapes really ring hollow. Of all the post-Fergie disasters, he was given the longest opportunity to turn things round.

He’s right about Woodward having far too much influence on the football side of things but wrong about almost everything else.
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Yeah it all seems a bit of revisionist history with LVG. He is a character and I think that helps him as people forget the football a bit. I honestly can't remember one good game I went to at Old Trafford when he was about it felt like such a chore to go.

Agree with last comment, he is definitely spot on with the Woodward thing, although I think he and Jose do use that as an easy excuse as they know it is something no one will argue with.

Ban said:
Had a dig at Scholes too.
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Can never really blame him and Jose for this. It is petty but Scholes was critical of them every chance he got and has always seemed bitter that his mate Giggs didn't get to walk in to the top job.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Bad and all as he was, Jose didn’t have us playing bad football for as long as Van Gaal did. That’s where his bad grapes really ring hollow. Of all the post-Fergie disasters, he was given the longest opportunity to turn things round.

He’s right about Woodward having far too much influence on the football side of things but wrong about almost everything else.
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Thought he was right about di Maria too imo.
 
Oggmonster said:
Can never really blame him and Jose for this. It is petty but Scholes was critical of them every chance he got and has always seemed bitter that his mate Giggs didn't get to walk in to the top job.
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Yeah, can understand him tbh.
 
He didnt say a whole lot wrong tbf but how they talk about Solskjaers football shows they just dont get it. People like LvG think you need to have 70%possession to be attacking. United fans have always liked fast, direct and fluid attacking football. That lends itself to normally not dominating possession but usually having a good chunk anyway and creating plenty of chances. I'd always just see it like if you create plenty of opportunities throughout the game, then you did that by attacking. Ole has more than helped that side of things. And the defence is a lot more improved and proactive, unlike under Mourinho.

Anyway, rest of it is fine, his own opinion. Hes spot on with how he sets his squads up to give youth a chance, though I do think he doesnt really work that well with older players anyway.
 
If I had to choose, I'd take Moyes back before LVG. Can't get any more damning than that.
 
spiriticon said:
I always thought he was just a few tweaks away from creating a winning team. Didn't get the chance unfortunately.
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I have to agree, the football was not the most exciting but he was in the process of creating something. We were dominating possession in games but not creating and converting enough chances. Given a little time, once the team were more familiar with the 'philosophy' I believe he would have made a few tweaks, allowed a little more freedom in attack, signed some better players and started to dominate AND WIN games.

The possession thing and 'philosophy' can be debated in terms of does it win matches but the fact is that opposition can't score when you have the ball and team without possession have to work a lot harder.

Therefore, possession does not guarantee that you win games but if you can win games with possession then you are a lot less likely to suffer injuries which means that throughout a season/campaign you can play a more consistent team and play your best players most of the time.

Mourinho always said that possession does not matter in winning a game which maybe true in the context of a single game but when you look at the longer term then his teams were always too knackered to sustain what he was asking them to do. This is why he can come and in win things in the short term.
 
Nice to see some reasonable comments here. Mourinho was roundly mocked for saying finishing 2nd was his greatest accomplishment in football (paraphrased from memory), now Van Gaal is talking about winning the FA Cup in the working conditions he had at United being his... is anybody else a little concerned that the issue might not have been the two previously world-class coaches? Solskjaer and his team have done an amazing job, but if our scouts are handing their research to a suit with a Sky Sports package we are better off promoting the kids.
 
spiriticon said:
I always thought he was just a few tweaks away from creating a winning team. Didn't get the chance unfortunately.
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He was probably missing a world-class forward, we used to dominate possession, but the only forwards who survived under Van Gaal were those who could beat their man one-on-one. Put Neymar in the side and we could have been frightening.
 
Its funny that someone who spent close to 400 million pounds is saying that we care too much about the commercial side. The man was backed more than Mourinho and brought it tons of mediocare players who should have never set foot in here. Thats on him
 
You can see the LVG influence in Mourinho, they both speak as much shit as one another

LVG may be right about the structure of the club but everything we saw on the pitch which is what he's judged on is on him
 
beedoubleyou said:
People say this a lot.

We've spent more on managers in recent years than most.

We have the top wage bill.

The difference between the wages Ole Gunnar Solskjær will demand and what Mauricio Pochettino will demand is insignificant.

Can everyone just leave this now?



Solskjær will get it or not on merit alone.[/QUOTE
Ole deserves it on merit, and also he will come cheaper than Poch, and that's why Woodward and Glazers will give him Phelan the job. They have just found there cheaper golden goose, no-one expected ole to have this run of form and results, Woodward , Glazers didn't, and us as fans didn't, if anybody did see it coming, lying through there ass. Just hope the money they save gets put into the squad.
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It's a good interview. He failed in the transfer market, partly because he didn't want to replace Rooney who was past it at this point. Had he signed a top striker he might have competed for the title, not only top 4.
 
Solves the RvP mystery though. I always wondered how they were like father and
son for Holland then it all seemed to fall apart when he took over Utd. LvGs answer- RvP was never fit. Makes sense.
 
LVG's football was awful, but weirdly enough I find him a fascinating man, and I think it has blinded me somewhat to just how bad it got under him. Even now I still like him, whereas Jose I can't stand. LVG has some head on him, it is massive, almost Rocky Denniseque.
 
Raw said:
I've forgotten how bad it truly was, perhaps I just deleted it from my brain :lol:

Fewest shots on goal out of 92 teams in England. Jesus wept. Better players wouldn't solve the horrendousness of his football.
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One thing I do think I remember is games with over 30 crosses just being launched into the box and never coming to anythinig.
 
A load of crap from yet another bitter ex-manager who blames everyone but himself.

Now we just need Moyes to come out and moan that he still should have been here for another 3 months to make the circle complete.
 
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Murder on Zidane's Floor said:






This thread pretty much blows LVGs thoughts out of the water in my opinion.
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As a United fan, I've never been as angry about the team as I was during that stint. Think I stopped watching us in the first half because I knew we wouldn't score, then I'd watch the second half to persecute myself while raging at the TV. Stopped watching all together at the end of the season apart from the FA cup final.

I like Van Gaal the character but Van Gaal the manager was the worst we've had. He may have known how to play attacking possession football but he must have kept it a secret from the players...
 
ottosec said:
A load of crap from yet another bitter ex-manager who blames everyone but himself.

Now we just need Moyes to come out and moan that he still should have been here for another 3 months to make the circle complete.
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Heard today he has announced that he's looking for a new club, typical Moyes luck to announce that on the day we announce Solskjær!
 
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