Any specific, realistic options ?
Louis Van Gaal | 2015-16 Performance Thread
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) is joined by CEO Duncan Drasdo and Financial Director Andy Green from the Manchester United Supporters Trust for a special episode on all things behind the scenes at Old Trafford including a brief history of MUST and their aims today, views on INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe so far, and the Old Trafford regeneration.
Any specific, realistic options ?
Anybody we want bar a certain few at the very top clubs are realistic if we pay huge money.
Some of the players you listed we would've already bought if we wanted them and they wanted to move imo. I doubt we're in for Kane as he would be too expensive relative to his quality, Lacazette has said he is staying at Lyon. Only Griezmann is a viable possibility, but again as we saw with attackers like Falcao and Di Maria, it would not guarantee anything.
Well in his final years at United, Fergie couldn't break down parked buses too. In fact, United haven't been able to break down parked buses since 2008! So leave LVG alone1!!1111!
at least i think that's how it goes
at least i think that's how it goes
Of course nothing is guaranteed. But I'd rather try and compete than simply try and consolidate fourth place. That's just my opinion. And players like Lacazette said he would stay at Lyon, but everyone has a price.
You'll be waiting a long time then mate, it is completely clear to me and I'm certain we aren't winning anything whilst he's at the club and I can't wait till, he fecks off. If the report on sky sports website is true where LVG basically says we don't need to strengthen then that's the final nail in the coffin for me.
Also no I wouldn't have signed ADM it was clear he didn't want to come here, I actually said that when he signed we were his 2nd choice and if a player isn't committed then I wouldn't be interested. Falcao was worth a punt because there was not telling how it could've gone for him.
I'm just completely baffled and angered how he can spend £250 million and not have a team capable of WINNING the league or WINNING the champs league. When you spend that huge amount it's not a case of simply contending for the trophies its a case of how many we will be winning.
I wasn't a fan of moyes and his time here was pretty dire but I don't see anything different from his time and LVG time except LVG has spent £250 million but in turn LVG has made us one of the most boring teams in the league to watch and nowhere nearer to winning anything.
It's a long season and I'd love to be proven wrong but just can't see it all all.
If he doesnt challenge for the title and finish at least 2nd or 3rd, with the money hes spent, he can go, though by that time he`ll probably be finishing his contract anyway
I dont understand how how you sell 2 former world class strikers, and replace them with no one, plus selling Di Maria, atleast bring in a right winger with the money from selling him
All we need minimum is a right winger, and proper striker and our team is complete. Then again he plays stupid football which does not play to our teams strengths. Im sure if you gave half of the managers in the current PL 250mill most would do a better job than LVG, anyone can just splash the cash, so far he hasnt proven shit , that hes the right man for the job
I dont understand how how you sell 2 former world class strikers, and replace them with no one, plus selling Di Maria, atleast bring in a right winger with the money from selling him
All we need minimum is a right winger, and proper striker and our team is complete. Then again he plays stupid football which does not play to our teams strengths. Im sure if you gave half of the managers in the current PL 250mill most would do a better job than LVG, anyone can just splash the cash, so far he hasnt proven shit , that hes the right man for the job
Agreed, today was the sort of game that we would have lost 1-0 with the opponents getting 1 shot on goal in the past.
Fair enough, good points. I also had a feeling we were 2nd choice for Di Maria but felt he would grow to love the club and tradition. I couldn't have been more wrong.
I disagree that he has made up more boring to watch than Moyes however. At least we have a style/structure. With Moyes it was literally like the players were told to go out there and do their best whilst getting as many crosses in as possible.
As for being wrong or right; I do hope you are wrong because I would love to see a trophy this season. We're both entitled to our opinions, it's just I don't like to see sweeping statements. Either way, I do feel that if LVG fails to come close to winning anything and by that I mean a couple of points off the title/final in CL or FA cup then he won't get more time and we'll go after someone else. He has hinted towards this himself.
He's a tactical fraud. Talks a great game, delivers very little. Its not really hard to see why he's been sacked from every top club he's managed, and delivered relatively little in silverware.
If he genuinely believes we were 'fantastic' today, then we might as well just give up now. Thats a Moyes-esque comment quite frankly.
If he genuinely believes we were 'fantastic' today, then we might as well just give up now. Thats a Moyes-esque comment quite frankly.
I thought the majority of fans would have got over SAF but from the evidence of this thread I can see there is a few who think we can replace SAF like for like, the reality is "those days are over" you can quote me on that but I personally cant see another SAF in this day and age. Football is ruined by money and sponsors want results which cost managers jobs (unless your a specialist in failure).
We need to get behind LVG as he has the experience and expertise to turn this club around to winning ways, which with all the new players in and the deadwood out is a MASSIVE improvement and is well under way to creating something special.
I remember the Moyes days when a lot on here were saying "bring in LVG to steady the ship and then let Giggs/Pep/Klopp take over" So what's changed lads? I think LVG has steadied the ship and has setup a solid foundation which is a big difference from when Moyes was here, we were a fecking laughing stock!
I'm happy with LVG, yes he's spent money but look how many players have left and needed replacing. We are 1 or 2 signings away from being a force again but that doesn't mean we can't win anything with this team.
Rant over.
We need to get behind LVG as he has the experience and expertise to turn this club around to winning ways, which with all the new players in and the deadwood out is a MASSIVE improvement and is well under way to creating something special.
I remember the Moyes days when a lot on here were saying "bring in LVG to steady the ship and then let Giggs/Pep/Klopp take over" So what's changed lads? I think LVG has steadied the ship and has setup a solid foundation which is a big difference from when Moyes was here, we were a fecking laughing stock!
I'm happy with LVG, yes he's spent money but look how many players have left and needed replacing. We are 1 or 2 signings away from being a force again but that doesn't mean we can't win anything with this team.
Rant over.
I wish people would stop with the " x number of signings away from this". It's not the signings that are holding us back. It's the way we are set up to play.
He has bought 12 players and some of them were overpriced and he doesn't have control over how much we Pay. We cleared out close to 21 players. If you think rebuilding a team is cheap especially for United, then I suggest you check which year you are watching the game from. If you consider the amount Jose spent to get back to winning, he spent close to £150m just to get the team back winning. And that is not even counting players like Cahill azpilicueta ivanovic terry cech Oscar hazard who were already there when he took charge so he had a solid spine to build on we had to sell most of our players who were too old or too average to be in the squad for us. So LvG had to start from scratch and now he has a very good team with good defenders and midfielders and not so bad attackers (not brilliant attack but not incompetent as well). If you think that is cheap to do, then please continue to be blind.
As for if he is better than Moyes, Moyes took a champion team to 7th and LvG took a 7th team to 4th. If that doesn't show you who is better, maybe you are better off watching season review of 07-08 or something. Style of play isn't boring and wasn't boring yesterday. We created a lot of chances and couldn't finish. That's not the same as not creating enough.
Indeed.
Indeed indeed!! 
Just sign a striker though, we're mint.
Just sign a right winger though, we're mint.
Just sign a center back though, we're mint.
Agreed. It is annoying.
I think the greatest trick him and Moyes have achieved here is to lower our expectations such that we genuinely believe thats just how good enough we are.
Its become common practise to claim that this season will be a satisfactory one ''as long as we make top 4''...at United?
That has been achieved by both managers complaining about not having 'x and y' players, which is then used to explain our poor perfomances...in a way it shields the manager himself from greater scrutiny, and thats a shame.
Its become common practise to claim that this season will be a satisfactory one ''as long as we make top 4''...at United?
That has been achieved by both managers complaining about not having 'x and y' players, which is then used to explain our poor perfomances...in a way it shields the manager himself from greater scrutiny, and thats a shame.
He's actually deluded if he thinks we don't need another striker. I honestly can't see us winning anything with him in charge.
He is repeating too many of the same mistakes that he made last year.
Insistence on two central attackers instead of just one and having a proper 4-3-3.
Refusal to drop a woefully out of form forward.
Baffling lack of playing time for Herrera.
Big problems last season and our team was transformed when he was forced into resolving them. Extremely worrying that he is making them all over again, makes it seem like he just stumbled onto an effective system last year and doesn't understand why it worked better than his preferred tactics.
Insistence on two central attackers instead of just one and having a proper 4-3-3.
Refusal to drop a woefully out of form forward.
Baffling lack of playing time for Herrera.
Big problems last season and our team was transformed when he was forced into resolving them. Extremely worrying that he is making them all over again, makes it seem like he just stumbled onto an effective system last year and doesn't understand why it worked better than his preferred tactics.
He didn't said we don't need another striker, infact he said he is looking for new players but would but they must be better then what we have.
Some sense spoken at last! I agree with you Will. We are 2 players away from being a real force. 2 special front players though.
What do you expect him to say? "Yeah Rooney's shite at the mo but what can I do?" Both Robben and Muller have supposedly commented on the utd interest for Muller, its not like they aint trying behind the scenes
"Fantastic, We don't need another striker, Philosophy, Match Rhythm" - all a load of crap. This guy needs to get his shit together as because the football he is producing is like watching paint dry. I am not convinced that if things don't improve in the next 4 weeks that you won't see immense pressure coming to be on LVG. It is one thing being short and condescending with the press when you are performing well but if results go against you, with this brand of football, they will crucify him.
Playing this type of football???????? We've lost our identity trying to play this possession based football where we have 70% of the ball but create nothing. Newcastle came to OT and parked the bus knowing that we couldn't go through them and when the full backs cannot cross or find a man in the box the result is a spectacle like yesterday described by LVG as "fantastic" and by the rest of us (including Paul Scholes) as dire.
Possession football is great, and since the opening day, there has been only improvement towards the attacking front. Having a clinical finisher would have had us won all games comfortbaly. Even then, it's a decent start. If we continued playing like we did on the opening day, I 'd have been more concerned. But nothing now.
No it hasn't. Every man and his dog have been saying this year we should be challenging.
Get a hold of your fecking self.
Some people are going way over the top. We haven't hit our stride yet, but there's clearly a good team in there somewhere.
We will be reasonably competitive this season, because we won't ship a lot of goals. If we keep De Gea and he is focused, I'd go as far as saying we will have the best defensive unit in the league.
However, my concern, and it's a major one, is at the front end of the pitch. I just don't see where a sudden improvement is going to come from - our striking options just aren't good enough, while our wingers are inconsistent.
Van Gaal also favours a conservative midfield, which doesn't help us get goals.
Not strictly true, aside from 03/04 and the following season, fergies teams average over 2 goals per game.
Moyes team averaged 1.67
Lvg last season dropped to 1.63 and this season so far 0.67
It's not just the players, it's something about the tactics or instructions that they receive from the coach
If by those 2 players being messi and ronaldo then I agree completely!
I don't even know where to begin.......
Actually that's not true at all. I know exactly where to begin
No one has lost any identity. We were always a team against whom teams would come hoping for a draw. What's different now is teams improved. Players like cabaye play in teams like crystal palace for instance. Teams are more financially well set and invest in players that they wouldn't have attracted in the past. Newcastle have for instance just appointed a manager who once managed England and was asst to Fergie. To expect the current Newcastle team to play as bad as John carvers team is stupid.
Just realised how much sense this makes, rather than sticking with what worked last year he's gone back with his original ideas, he is still lacking that perfect no.10 though and now his main no.9 still hasn't found form.
just go 4141 with two advanced cm's, brought us the best results and football last year. Why shy away from it ?
I guess you missed the part where he pulled out of the pedro deal and said we don't need anymore players ?
Gosh the man isn't perfect. He's been questioned at every club he's been to when his methods started to look ineffective. Why should it be any different here ? Far too early to pull the plug but he needs to do better.
Yes LVG deserves support but not without critiques. If he thought the performance against newcastle was fantastic then he needs to raise his standards and realise that at manchester united we expect better.
And you don't think that the players available are a reason for the tactics?
When your defense is inexperienced and prone to panic attacks while your midfield is as protective as a satin nightie on a battlefield, you don't attack like a mad man, even less when your attack is pretty efficient.
Now our problem is different we have a solid defense, a solid and controlling midfield but our attackers are new as a group, they have barely played together, they will need time to play like we all expect.
And I still believe that LVG will win nothing with us, but he will give a real team to his successor, a team that will have the quality to dominate for a long time.
Exactly. I was worried it will be another boring season, but the last 2 games have shown very obvious progression.
"We were three times the best team." It's that comment that riled me considering our opening 3 fixtures and the money spent that's surely the very least we should expect.
He doesn't think we need another striker 
Who is he trying to fool? That's just insane.
Who is he trying to fool? That's just insane.How many games these four players have played together in those roles?
And we are talking about an aging Rooney, two youngsters and an attacking midfielders who has been at the club for only 18 months. You don't develop an attack like that, it takes a little bit of time, on top of the talent.
As far as I'm concerned, I don't see how in the long term this team will be able to sustain a serious title challenge (I could be totally wrong and I hope I am) so top 4 is still my goal as a fan.