Manchester United crashed to a 3-0 defeat against title-chasing Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday and Sky Sport pundit Jamie Carragher did not hold back in his criticism of both the club and the manager for their poor result.
Manchester United and Louis van Gaal were dealt a further blow in their bid to finish in the Premier League top four, falling to a 3-0 defeat to Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham Hotspur. The Dutchman watched on as his team fell apart at White Hart Lane, with Spurs scoring three goals in a six-minute period in the second half to put the match to bed.
Sky Sports pundit and former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher was aghast at United’s poor performance and claimed after the game that Van Gaal would not be in the job next season if he failed to qualify for next season’s Champions League.
“It looks like they’re going backwards,” Carragher said of the Red Devils, according to Sky Sports.
“In terms of Louis van Gaal, I don’t see him at the club next year if he doesn’t get top four.
“[Tottenham] could have scored five or six today. [Anthony] Martial had the one chance at 0-0, but that’s what it’s come to now, where Van Gaal is actually pleased that they just gave Tottenham a game. That’s what he said: ‘Before the first goal, we’ve given them a good game’, but this is Manchester United and they’re talking about Tottenham as if they’re Real Madrid!
“I’d be worried listening to my manager speaking like that after a game.”
Ashley Young as striker a questionable decision by Van Gaal
Louis van Gaal seems to be a confused man at Old Trafford. Even after two seasons of tinkering, he continues to deploy players in positions they aren’t comfortable in and insists on forcing one-touch football on a group of players that simply do not have the skill to win matches in the league playing that style.
Timothy Fosu-Mensah and Marco Rojo, two natural centre-backs, started as full-backs for Van Gaal. Juan Mata played on the right wing, even though he is much better at number 10, where natural right winger Jesse Lingard was playing against Tottenham. The most devastating sight for Manchester United fans was seeing Ashley Young play as the lone striker towards the end of the game.
These tactics are not endearing Louis van Gaal to the Old Trafford faithful and are not getting United the results they need to meet their minimum expectation of a top four finish. Jamie Carragher’s prediction could well come true at the end of the season.
