Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal has been coming under increasing criticism off late with Alan Shearer joining former assistant manager of United, Carlos Queiroz in accusing the manager of getting things wrong at the club.
Alan Shearer became the latest man to blast Louis van Gaal’s management of Manchester United when the former Newcastle man labeled his side as “dull and functional” and at the same time questioned how a year could not have been enough to build a side even after the club spent the amount of money that they did.
Earlier, Carlos Queiroz, the former assistant manager of Manchester United had stated to Sir Alex Ferguson that Van Gaal had made big mistakes in rebuilding United.
He said, “I have great admiration and respect for Louis [van Gaal] and David [Moyes], they are great coaches that I admire but I think they made some critical and crucial mistakes in the transition from Alex.a
Manchester United have spend approximately 255m GBP and have just a fourth place to show for it, which one can argue, if not for Liverpool FC imploding in the final run-in last season, would not have been possible.
More than anything, the fact that the club are moving in no particular direction, at least not at the pace which is expected, is the most worrying sign.
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Shearer said that the manager had no excuse for Van Gaal ahead of the Liverpool FC game.
“He has been asking for more time for his team to blend, for young players to develop etc. Time is up I’m afraid – the time is now.
“You cannot oversee the changes he has made, backed by hundreds of millions, and then claim you are a victim because it needs time to blend. It is your job to mould a side and I would suggest a year is plenty for a club of Manchester United’s standing.”
Recapping from last season, the last 10 games have seen Manchester United win 3, draw 3, and lose 3.
While they play a lot more of the possession football that Van Gaal wants (they average 61.2 per cent of the ball compared to 55.3 per cent under Moyes), the Dutch manager has taken 50 games to register 27 wins, with Moyes taking just a game more to register the same amount of wins.
When you take into account the fact that Moyes spent approximately 60m GBP and inherited a largely ageing squad, one begins to start questioning just where the club is headed, a year into Van Gaal’s reign.
And while everyone saw that Manchester United played a rather ‘un-Manchester-United-like’ football under Moyes, they did manage to score more goals than under Van Gaal’s reign.
In 51 matches under Moyes, Manchetser United scored 86 goals at a rate of 1.69 goals per game. That rate has fallen to 1.62 under Louis van Gaal.
While Moyes may have stuck Felliani up-front and hoofed the ball at him, irking United fans, Van Gaal’s side’s possession-based, yet dour style of play with its lack of tempo and chance creation does not get the thumbs up, does it?
There is no defence of Moyes in here, but an illustration of Van Gaal’s failure in getting the best out of the team so far, despite the resources he has deployed.
Louis van Gaala s 27 wins have cost the club an incredible A?9.58m. Compare that to A?2.48m for Moyes and things appear much clearer.
Van Gaal did not even have European football fixtures in his opening term, yet he failed to make use of the time to instill his ‘philosophy’ in the squad even after a year.
Watching Manchester United under Van Gaal is like watching a very capable team weighed down by a ball and chain on their feet, one that is far away from the efficient machine assembled under Ferguson. And while the comparison can never be made with Ferguson’s team, other managers like Klopp, Guardiola, Ancelotti have shown that they can build greater teams with lesser resources and time.
Van Gaal must deliver this season at Manchester United, or he might just be making way for one of the three coaches we mentioned above.