It’s been a tough start for Van Gaal, but many would’ve predicted it even if the reds spent £150 million this summer; mainly on attacking talent. But, no one would’ve believed United would only take 12 points in 6 games from a seemingly easy run of fixtures and a recent admission suggesting he was stupid to put a ‘3 month’ timeframe on the reds to perform, no seems like a negative backtracking for the Dutch coach. Negativity, something Moyes was lambasted for.
A first mistake you could suggest would be playing 3-5-2 formation whilst lacking the required personal, he wanted United to play to his strengths and ideas, and however this should have been the other way round as you are supposed to make the best of what you have. He didn’t do this and after a run of poor results was forced to re-think his stance.
Furthermore, the recruitment although uplifting for United fans with an array of attacking talent seemed strange after the most key area surely was to replace the two World class defenders in Rio & Vidic, now they have an untried, untested and ultimately as shown at away at West Brom on Monday night, nowhere near as good enough. A big mistake from a ‘safe pair of hands’.
That isn’t to say that Van Gaal hasn’t a clue, there are clear indications of his side growing in stature with performances improving, however look at his counterpart this weekend Jose Mourinho his sides not always easy on the eye but they get the job done, something Van Gaal needs to do soon before a wave of pressure befalls him.
A comment he made a few weeks ago stuck with me, to jog your memory it went along the lines of ‘We want to play like them’, ‘them’ being Everton. Could you imagine Sir Alex, or even Moyes suggesting anything like that? This is Manchester United supposedly the biggest club in the world, fans will hope he rethinks that strategy as Everton’s performance’s for all their success are not good enough for a club of Man Utd’s magnitude.
The journey has just begun for Van Gaal and he will most likely go on to be a success, however, he has to realise football is all about success and that it needs to come back quick to satisfy the likes of Man Utd.