Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal has come under a lot of criticism after his assistant Ryan Giggs was seen fruitlessly directing the players in their 2-1 home loss to Norwich at Old Trafford, but the Dutchman has indicated that it was needed because things were not going in his side’s favour.
Van Gaal has come under a lot of criticism in general, as he failed to win any of their last six games, also building up a losing streak of three successive losses in all competitions on the way. This has put immense pressure on the Dutchman.
In the Saturday match against Norwich, Giggs was seen furiously barking instructions at the Manchester United players, as they were losing in the second half. Meanwhile, Van Gaal sat in the dugout, scribbling away in his famous notebook.
This had in fact brought the Manchester United manager under even more criticism, as the general perception of things seemed to be that Giggs, who is a legend at the club, was desperately trying to mend things while Van Gaal silently warmed his seat in the dugout. However, the Dutchman cleared the air about the incident.
“In the last match he [Giggs] had a lot of time on the touchline. He has to give the advice to the players. He can do that because we speak about that,” Van Gaal was quoted as saying in Manchester Evening News . . “You are at the sideline when it is not going well. And that’s the reason.”
‘Boring’ football turning into poor results?
Before this bad run of form, Van Gaal was accused of imposing a style of football that the Old Trafford faithful were neither used to, nor willing to accept from their beloved team. But, the main thing that was keeping things going was the fact that Manchester United kept grinding out the results.
However, that has changed now, as they have lost three matches on the trot and failed to win the three prior to that, crashing out of the Champions League on the way. This seems to have completely turned things around for Van Gaal, who is reportedly under a lot of pressure right now.