It has become the pattern this season. There were more than 20 minutes remaining at the King Power Stadium when Louis van Gaal’s side slowed the game to walking pace; point seemingly gained, control established, ambition withered away. The limp final quarter, in what was supposed to be a top-of-the-table clash, was symptomatic of far too many United games this season. The intensity of attacking aspiration was almost entirely absent. The visitors failed to register a single shot on target in the second period, despite enjoying almost 70 per cent possession. Van Gaal called it a “dominant” performance. It was nothing of the sort – and 18 months into the Dutchman’s reign the vision for the club is far from clear.
It shouldn’t be this hard to establish a pattern of play in keeping with the club’s stature. Whisper it quietly, but Jurgen Klopp’s immediate impact some 45 miles to the west shines an uncomfortable light on United’s elder statesman. Not only has Klopp enjoyed six wins from 10 games in charge at Anfield, but established a distinct – and attacking – pattern to the club’s play. More pointed still, Klopp’s team is now just five points behind United in the Premier League. The momentum is with the Anfield side.
By contrast Van Gaal’s team may be third in the table, just one point off the summit, but the quality of football remains dire. Entertainment is almost non-existent and week-to-week, as at Leicester City on Saturday evening, Van Gaal changes personnel and formation with reason, but very little rhyme. On Saturday the Dutchman switched United back to an historically ineffective three-man defence, although he was not willing to abandon the use of two defensive midfielders.
The impact, whatever United’s shape, is now depressingly familiar – so few chances created, but with a possession obsession pushed to ever more unfathomable levels. Such is the team’s unwillingness to seek a creative or progressive option that it took until the 38th minute of United’s game at Leicester City for one of the visitors to take on a risky forward ball. Daley Blind’s long pass found Antony Martial in the channel and the visitors earned a corner for their efforts
In the East Midlands United garnered just six shots on goal, with two on target, one of which was Bastian Schweinsteiger’s 45th minute header. It was so little to show for such significant focus on ball retention, with Van Gaal’s team completing 478 passes during the 90 minutes. It was some 300 more than the hosts, but Leicester enjoyed more shots on target. That stat should surprise nobody.
For all United’s possession it was also Leicester, not the Reds, who often carried the greater threat. Jamie Vardy, Shinji Okazaki and Ryiad Mahrez combined effectively on the counter-attack to stretch United’s awkward back-three. The Foxes were happy to soak up United’s passive ball retention and then break at speed. There was no better example than for Vardy’s opening goal, which followed United’s corner, and was set up by Christian Fuch’s sublime left-footed through ball from the right side of midfield. It was Leicester, not the visitors, that created the best chances on the night.
After two prosaic performances during the past week criticism of the Dutchman’s side is reaching a fresh apex. Rightly so. It should surprise few, with so much of United’s passing unpenetrative and Van Gaal’s understanding of supporters’ frustration wholly inadequate.
Yet, Van Gaal is having none of the criticism aimed in his direction. Once again the 64-year-old blamed the opposition’s tactics for United’s lack of penetration – as if it is not clear to all that a deep and narrow set-up is the most effective way of neutralising what threat the Reds’ possess. That United also started the game in a particularly narrow formation simply played into Leicester’s hands.
“In the third and fourth phase we have to create more, but it is more difficult because you have seen where Leicester City stand on the pitch,” claimed Van Gaal in the aftermath.
“That is a lot of bodies in front of you, but we have created the chances to beat them. We could have scored in the second half. We have to wait for the moment that we do that. I have the feeling that we could have won this game. I’ve said to my players – this kind of match you have to win if you want to be champions at the end of the season.”
Van Gaal singled out Schweinstiger’s headed effort after the break and Memphis Depay’s loose control followed by a shot over the bar as the chances that United had “waited for” to win the game.
It may be romanticism, but there was a time when United did not have to wait for a single clear-cut chance per game; when a dominant team could turn possession into chances created, and chances into goals scored. It is an era long gone, although Van Gaal’s crass misreading of United’s history has improved very little since the veteran coach joined the club in summer 2014.
Van Gaal’s is a strange mode of football to bring to England, let alone a club with a history built on vibrant attack. It is a mistake that Sir Alex Ferguson never made, no matter the restraint put on the Scot’s tactical outlook in his latter years.
“Sir Alex was very clear on this one,” former United assistant manager Rene Meulensteen told the BBC recently. “We want to be successful, we want to win games, we want to win trophies, but we have an obligation to entertain the fans. The word is maybe rigid at times. There’s a lack of freedom now.”
Van Gaal’s team has taken just 143 shots on goal this season, compared to 198 at the same point last year, and 229 in the first 14 games of Ferguson’s last campaign as manager. It is a symptom of the Dutchman’s apparent determination to structure his team’s attacking play.
On Saturday Van Gaal changed the shape of United’s front-three, with Juan Mata deployed at 10, behind Wayne Rooney and Anthony Martial. It had little impact, with Martial running into the channels to create space, Rooney dropping deep into Mata’s zone, and the Spaniard struggling to pick up the ball in attacking areas. With no width of note, Leicester’s defensive shape was rarely breached and it was no surprise that United’s only goal came from a set-piece.
Former Livepool defender Jamie Carragher defines United’s attacking impotence as “over organisation” leaving no room for “off-the-cuff” creativity. Peter Schmeichel, whose son appeared in goal for Leicester at the weekend, accuses Van Gaal’s team of “irrelevant passing,” with the ball distributed from side-to-side, but at such ponderous pace that it has little impact on the opposition’s shape. “This is Manchester United and United don’t wait for one chance,” quipped the former goalkeeper.
“I keep saying it’s boring, I know,” added Paul Scholes after United’s goalless draw with PSV Eindhoven last week. “Attacking-wise they don’t look a threat, they don’t look good enough, they don’t look like they’re going to go and score goals.”
He’s not wrong and after 18 months in which Van Gaal has acquired so many new players it shouldn’t be this way. More to the point, with talent that includes Depay, Martial, and Mata, to mention little of the fading force that is Rooney, Van Gaal has more tools than most with which to fashion a more effective attacking unit. Little wonder supporters and, it seems, players are now looking to the coach for a change.
“I spoke to one player at United who told me he is half the player he can be here at the moment because of the way they are playing,” said The Telegraph’s Jason Burt this week.
Some might interpret the off-the-record memo as a turning point. There are few excuses left. This is, after all, very much Van Gaal’s squad – a team living in fear of a mistake and a prisoner of its own fashion. After 531 days in charge, with just 549 to go before Van Gaal’s contract ends at United, the Dutchman’s time is slowly running down.
Slow, like his team and the pace of change, being the appropriate word.
Jamie vardy
LVG OUT..!!! HE IS KILLING THE TEAM WITH HIS RUBBISH PHILOSOPHY
eloquent and angry. Brief, honest answer, Ed. Would it be better for United if he went?
I’m not Ed but in my opinion, yes it would.
It’s truly awful. A soul crushing moribund type of football of the most dispiriting style. Easily worse than poor Dave Sexton, and he was fired after a run of straight wins.
Does Giggs sit there and feel comfortable with this? Because if he does then he’s not the man of the future. But if he’s waiting for LvG to bury himself then he really is a Machiavellian bastard of the highest order. Although we know that he is anyway don’t we, the dirty little bugger.
Well written piece.
I watch MUTV a lot especially post match analysis and it surprises me how many ex players have somehow com to accept this style of football. It is almost as if we have come to accept that what Sir Alex had was so unique that we can never replicate in our life time. Both are not true. Every excuse is made for where we are. “New Player”, “Players getting used to the new Philosophy”, ” The opposition packed the bus” and so on and so forth.
There are coaches suitable to different clubs and LVG’s style is definitely not the future for United.
Whether the owners of the club see it that way is another issue. Regardless of what is written however, United are not on the right path and at some point, There remains a large elephant in the room and at some point we will have to look at LVG and ask. is this what we want for United…
They’re on the payroll so what can we expect. Tow the party line and shut the f*uck up. MUFC are like Disney, Pravda, Fox News. It’s MUFC propaganda via MUTV so what can we really expect. As Public Enemy once said, “Don’t believe the hype…”.
I hope you don’t pay for it.
Unclear why,ffs its easy to see,7 in defence and try to score,van gaal is a clueless big headed prick,no more than that..
Good piece, Ed.
Last season van Gaal droned on about his philosophy and the need for the players (and the fans) to ‘get it’. It took quite a while to understand what he was on about because he was forever chopping and changing, with no obvious pattern or cohesion.
Well we ‘get it’ now, and what footballing rubbish it is.
I don’t understand why all this venom is directed towards Van Gaal. He is a doing a great job. United are in the top 4 while playing with 10 men for the whole season.
Where would Arsenal be if Rooney was their undroppable striker and they tried to play attacking football. Where would city be if Rooney was there misplacing every pass and failing to control easy passes. They would be ripped apart by opponents.
We are where we are because we defend well and have a system that compensates for ALWAYS playing a POOR Rooney. Its hard to prove but I suspect that if we play 10 games and had Rooney sent off in the 1st min in all 10 games we will still accumulate the same avg number of points as we do right now.
It’s just ludicrous putting all the blame on LvG for making Man Utd a top 4 team after the damage done by the Moyes debacle. (On that note I hope the Giggs lobby don’t get their way and have him appointed)
I will end with what Arlo White said during Saturday’s game when Rooney wildly over hit a cross from the left. “Pin point cross by Rooney’. It’s back to watching games on MUTE for me.
Are you confused?
LVG is the person choosing to play Rooney every week and not drop him.
I have no issue with LVG showing up and investing in Rooney because at that time Rooney was arguably a better player, the captain and United’s primary player. But sticking with him despite of his horrific form and the damage he does the team is at this point criminal and stupid.
And let’s not forget. LVG is a man who by all rights should have started the season without De Gea and without Martial (a last minute panic buy). And Jesse Lindegard is now our one, bright attacking option (Januzai sent on loan remember?). These are all poor management decisions and the ball not broken his way, LVG would be having a Moyes season.
Well said, agreed on all points.
The buck stops with the manager. This is now his team, they’ve had time to gel together, but it’s still utter dogsh*it. I honestly don’t think it would be much worse with Big Sam!!! And how sad is that.
Brilliant!
New I’d seen him before
550 days in charge and possibly a handful of games in which it’s been exciting to watch Utd. Utterly depressing. Van Gaal’s obstinacy means this will not change. Grinding out results through a constipated, constricted style of play is not what United fans (or any football fan) wants to witness. Where is the joy, the taking of breath away, the exhilaration and adventure? It’s smothered by an obsession to possess, to control, to minimise the possibility of mistake. Christ this isn’t chess but that’s exactly who Van Gaal is – a Grandmaster squeezing the life out of something we love. Come save us Pep.
Anti Football Philosophy
i agree LVG`s UTD has n`t played any real attractive attacking football in general but, he has shored up the mess from Fergies departure and the Moyes transition which we should remember left the club in a dire state when you include the need for a squad clear-out which many fans thought necessary and the need to bring youth through into the senior squad Van Gaal is hitting those targets he has also made our defense one of the best in the league then if you look at he`s transfer policy he has brought well and brought technically gifted and fast young players with a lot of potential to the club.He`s only downfall for me is his constant use of wanyne rooney in positions where we have players who can play those positions better ,that’s why i think a positional tweak while keeping with the 4-2-3-1 formation used most frequently this season a minor shift of rooney to the left of the midfield three where he played quiet a bit in the 2007/8 season when in a champions league winning team Rooney integrated well in a front three with Tevez and Ronaldo which was dynamic going forward while Rooneys willingness to trackback made him vital defensively , this would in turn free up Mata to play in the 10 position behind Martial with Memphis or Young on the right this would lead to the ball moving quicker in the final third having the exact effect to remedy our attacking problems also the inclusion of Herrera with Schneiderlin in the midfield would add to this dynamism this formation would take the pressure off of Rooney free up Mata to play centrally were he is at his most influential especially with the pace of Martial, Memphis, and Young while Lingard has impressed too and also possesses pace with players running behind, Mata playing in the hole and in between the lines can be the one to provide that final ball thats been missing from our attacking game, his speed of touch and eye for that short weighted ball in a tight offensive spot is whats needed in that position plus he can score too and with Herrera has proved the highlights of attractive football in the Van Gaal era so far . Martial too is at this moment in time a better option at number 9 than Rooney and with Memphis struggling for form and Lingard being inexperienced at this level. Rooney and Young look like the best options to occupy the wide spots in the midfield three their defensive capabilities and work ethic helping to give them the edge in selection over the likes of Memphis and Lingard. I would also like to see the addition of Mane from Southampton because of his pace and ability to pick his pass at pace I think he`d be a great shot in the arm to this Utd side if he came in January. So I think Van Gaal should be given more time to fall upon a strategy to get the must out of the attacking talent he has at his disposal ,maybe playing the majority of your attacking players in their natural positions might be a start, maybe this tactical change could be the one to get the flow back into UTD`s game , before we all go nuts ..
DeGea
Darmian Smalling Blind Rojo
Schneiderlin Herrera
Young Mata Rooney
Martial
Amen! Someone finally said it! We tend to forget that one season under DM that shook the ground beneath OT. LvG has done a decent job of stopping that leak and brought players with promise. Am just hoping for the next manager to take the team upto the next level. However, I don’t believe our defence is as great as its made to be, Arsenal was a good example of utmost pressure right at the beginning of the game and United defence just collapses. We still need a good defender next to Smalling. Am just hoping for top 4 finishes for the next 2 seasons and then see some success. Until then we’ll power thru this snooze fest.
However I would like to add that maybe we have the liberty of another 2 years to wait for success….we’ll end up on that fine line between title contenders, league powerhouse and also-rans aka Liverpool…who have the history behind but no sustained success to be really seen as genuine top team..this is really an important time in the club’s history.
Which players with promise?
Martial was a panic buy and he has collapsed playing under LVG. Same can be said of Depay who showed up and promptly got worse. You know who else this happened to? Angel di Maria.
Lindegard, Mata and Hererra were already at the club. I’d give you the Shaw buy maybe, but that is it. Sorry.
A lot of United fans look at Bayern/Barca and point to them having a lot of the ball and also scoring lot of goals and ask why United can’t do the same. The difference lies in Van Gaal’s possession philosophy to Pep’s. Van Gaal, if you remember, in one of his very first press conferences as United manager said, “If we can keep the ball, the opposition can’t score”. Therein lies the essential difference. Barca and Bayern keep the ball so that they can fashion a lot of chances and score goals, Van Gaal’s United keep the ball so that the opposition can’t make enough goalscoring opportunities. This needs to change, and change quickly. Only a matter of time before Spurs and Liverpool catch up with us.
I agree totally this attempt to coach the final sequence of play after moving the ball through the phases is crippling the collective imagination of our forward line.I think once the ball gets up to the forwards it should be instinctive and imaginative not slow and labored teams can see whats coming before its even attempted we`re strong enough in midfield and defense to deal with losing possession so why not take more chances with the final pass let the forward players take those chances without much thought because when you get a group of players playing with confidence those instinctive balls forward come off and that`s what creates beautiful football not a bunch of drones who would rather not risk possession instead of creating a scoring chance, the reigns need to be let off this team but also the players have to be in their proper positions and with Mata on the right instead of in the hole there’s an imbalance in the team especially at home plus he could be the one to make those goal scoring chances in a position where he can effect the game more and also get on the end of chances shifting Rooney over to the left could be the answer the fans and LVG could both be happy with
“Mata on the right instead of in the hole there’s an imbalance in the team especially at home”
I meant to say away from home here
Well-written article, but I don’t really agree with the tenets that LvG doesn’t know what he’s doing or that what he is doing is damaging United. Is it boring? Most of the time. Is it necessary? Probably…
We are constantly compared against the “Giants” of Today’s Football: Madrid, Barca, Bayern and are reminded of how poor United have become and how the English sides have become terrible in Europe. However, there is more to it that this. Spain, Germany, and France are 1-2 team leagues, where talent is entirely concentrated in very few teams per league — every year. This makes for a very different competition and affords these teams incredible flexibility in balancing Europe and League. So why doesn’t United have the same flexibility given that we’re the richest bla-bla-bla in the world? For one, Premier League is a fair TV league with bottom clubs making more money than top clubs in most leagues… which is a recent phenomena. As a result, bottom clubs are building up competitive sides — and I don’t mean retirement teams like Middlesborough of the 1990s. The Premier League is so competitive that Everton and Tottenham opt to sparingly use players in the Europa League for fear of de-railing their League efforts. Where else does that happen?
Look at how Fergie responded to these changes in competitiveness in his last 2-3 years in charge: sacrificed United glamour style for effectiveness, because it was necessary, because wild attacking football that attracted fans worldwide in the 2000s, results in 5-5 scores against West Brom today (Fergie’s last game). The gap between the have’s and the have’s not’s is zilch, because all premier league clubs can spend more than 30m per year if they want, which is enough to sustain a strong side (after a few years of building: i.e., now). Just look at how Liverpool went from kings in the 70s and 80s to pawns in the 90s and 00s (when other clubs rebuilt to challenge).
The idea that LvG is being “boring”, by choice, is odd. In Fergie’s last couple seasons (post-Ronaldo), we all sat and counted the number of useless players on the pay-roll — there were A LOT. Moyes came and didn’t change that number much and crashed the club. LvG has come in and is doing a magnificent clean-up job while at the same time maintaining a competitive side (note: I did not say exciting)… this is very hard to do. In year 1, LvG gave us back our Tuesday/Wednesday European nights (at least for the first half of the season). In year 2, we are solidly back in the top 4 competing for the title with the league’s 4th youngest team that is frightfully thin at the top.
So, give the man his due time. He is here for 18 more months and it is only going upwards on an ever-stronger foundation of youth. Some you claimed during the Moyes debacle that you would be happy with relegation if United would just recover their style… in that case, consider LvG a sweet relegation-in-cognito 🙂
Minor comment:
“Not only has Klopp enjoyed six wins from 10 games in charge at Anfield, but established a distinct – and attacking – pattern to the club’s play.”
— Take off your Klopp-tinted glasses. I love the guy too, but is that stat supposed to be good or bad record? In the league, he has 12 points from Villa, Chelsea, City (impressive!), and Swansea and lost 11 pts against Everton, Tottenham, Southampton, Norwich, and Palace.
Regarding Pep, why are you so sure he will succeed in a competitive Premier League if he has to build a team? Mourinho is not doing well. Why is Pep “more special”? Pep had Messi and Bayern’s dominance behind him… what will United back him with?
Just because a team is being ‘rebuilt’ doesn’t mean that the football needs to be boring, unimaginative, dreary, risk-free, turgid and pedestrian, especially given the quality of United’s attacking midfielders/forwards.
Van Gaal is an over-cautious, uninspiring micro-manager whose attitude and philosophy is sucking the life out of the team. Not one of United’s attacking players is performing anywhere near his best because each is being hamstrung by van Gaal’s methods and instructions. Keeping the ball is paramount over any sort of initiative or real creativity.
Not only are United boring to watch, but they are so predictable that they are quite straight forward to defend against. Despite averaging 70% possession the team has managed seven goals in the last nine games (spread over three competitions). Vardy has a bigger goal tally on his own in the last nine.
Van Gaal has had his five hundred plus games and has spent a couple of hundred million getting United to a situation where they are organised and hard to beat; however in doing so he has suppressed flair, limited initiative and blunted any real cutting edge. His like-for-like substitutions appear to reflect a man operating within the confines of a self-imposed strait-jacket, who has failed to make game-changing decisions, (or even consider them?).
FFS, let slip the dogs of war and let’s at least have a go at playing the United way.