http://www.theguardian.com/football...-premier-league-match-report#comment-65787410 ------------------ asiancelt 4m ago 12 The problem is lvg doesn't seem to want to adapt his philosophy to the epl. As henry showed on Monday night football, what man utd are doing upto the final third is exactly what Barcelona for example do. It is the final third were is no risk, no speed and no tactical flexibility or expression. If you can't get potchetino or guardiola. There's no point in putting jose park the bus in. He might win a title and a cup but then be sacked, along with selling instead of developing our youngsters like lukaku and debruyne. -------------------- What do you guys think about this comment? I agree with most of what that poster said and definitely agree with my fear of what Jose may mean for United. If we are complaining about our style of play now, surely going for Jose is not going to improve that. But if we get a natural striker and a right winger in January, I'm more inclined to stick with LVG than rush things over. It ain't exactly like sht can get any worse than it is now.
If you're prepared to watch the same poor level of performances we've seen all season, have no success but possibly achieve top 4 for this season and next (although not necessarily guaranteed) then stick with LVG. I'm not saying that's a bad thing to do btw, just that this is what you have to expect and if you're happy to accept that then why not. I think I would agree with the bit about the final third, he's right there but it goes deeper that that imo. The reason we play well up to the final third is bcos teams let us have the ball up to that point or bcos we hold onto possession. The reason we do little beyond that, is bcos the whole philosophy is to hold onto possession and wait for an opening rather than press and create one. It seems to be bcos LVG prefers this risk averse approach and imo is why we're 5hite in the final third. The comparison to Barcelona is a joke btw. Barcelona play one-touch possession football, we defintely don't. Hence the difference in pace. Barcelona use the width of the pitch to create space in midfield and then look for runners on the shoulders of defences, we definitely don't. It's a lazy comparison made by ppl who've seen Barcelona's tippy tappy football and lump anything that seems to resemble that together just bcos a team makes a 100 meaningless passes. Guardiola must listen to it and chuckle to himself.
Ironically, LVG was actually instrumental in putting that building blocks in place at Barca. He did the same at Bayern and AZ Alkmaar. Though the latter did not sustain the success much after LVG left. These accomplishments have been acknowledged in number of analysis - the ability to build. I don't believe for one single second that the objective of the philosophy is simply to pass and not aim for goal. This is the same LVG that masterminded Spain's destruction in the last world cup. Sure, he has a vision of what he is attempting to build. After slow start of last season, we saw glimpses of this through latter stage of the season until we tapered off again. But when it did come together, it was there to see. We surely haven't always played this way under LVG. Therefore the notion that his philosophy is to blame is overly simplistic conclusion. What United lack particular this season is a balanced squad. natural right wing, striker and natural left back. I would probably add left winger unless Depay starts doing his job. Until we fill these gaps, I don't see how any now manager would magically get us to compete at the top. This is by no means a post to defend LVG. But looking at his track record throughout his career, he has the ability to turn things around with his back against the wall. Further, the so called boring football is not so evident in his track record. If the Board cannot get the desired manager, I would hate for us to hastily terminate his contract only for us to end up with a worse option.
Mate, you want to start bringing up LVG's record that's up to you. I'm simply responding to Henry's point and your OP. As for other managers not being able to do better, I would strongly suggest you're in the minority there.
You're missing the point; The point that I am making is, the Board should plan this out and not hastily sack him and rush over to someone like Mourinho in hope it would grantee better performances. In recent weeks, we have seen at Liverpool that changing manager does not guarantee you points, at least in the short term, which is what we are looking at. Would Brendon have had more points than Klopp? Possibly! But longer term, Klopp would be the better manager based on his history. As much as you want to ignore history, it is the only indicator that anyone has to offer someone a job. With longer term view, LVG would go in the summer and we can bring in someone qualified to take the club forward. If we can't get Pep, try Antonio Conte. He did well getting Juve out of the gutter to win three titles in a roll. Mourinho would win trophies but will bring drama along with it. This is why I believe the Board has been hesitant in rushing to sack LVG.
Haven't we been over this countless times though? What does it have to do with which is what I was responding to. But if you want to talk about Van Gaal as a manager, there is something more than history... how about looking at what is actually happening on the pitch and the lack of progress indicators over the last 12 months. BTW I don't think I mentioned Mourinho at all in any of my posts on here but if you want to talk about history then why ignore Mourinho's? Let's ignore Mourinho for a second and go back to whether LVG is doing a better job than any manager can with this squad of players. Do you think our squad of players on paper is better than Crystal Palace, Stoke, West Ham, Spurs, Leicester? Bcos if they are, then surely the likes of Pardew, Hughes, Bilic and Ranieri are doing a better job with the tools at their disposal. The reason is simple - it's about style, performance and the tactical approach to play to the strengths of the ability of your players. Van Gaal can't do that, but those managers with the players they have, can. I think we need to stop making our players the scapegoats.
I'd rather take mourinho now and get the trophys in the short term, get us back on top than wait and gradually become the next Liverpool. What we need now is get the fear factor back, let teams start getting afraid of us while we gradually rebuild. If we can't get the fear factor back then teams will keep getting at us and we can see what that did to Liverpool. We need a trophy asap. Hate him or not, Jose is still one of the top 2 managers up there, yes he comes with drama but he knows how to win, he knows how to set up and motivate his team unlike LVG that would stick to his fellosephee even when he is down 10-0. Also at the moment Jose is a man that has a point to prove, so I'd take him now even if it means sacking him after 2 seasons.
I am not ignoring Mourinho's history by any stretch of the imagination. But the two questions I've asked myself are 1. Is it right to put Mourinho in at this stage of the season? 2. Would the style of Mourinho's football actually please United fans? We keep talking about attack, attack, attack. That is far from Mourinho's philosophy. By that logic that you've applied there, then Mourinho wouldn't get the job because Pardew, Hughes, Bilic and Ranieri would all be classed as better coaches based on their respective teams' performances this season. Your logic was actually the reason why we initially got Moyes. Board looked at what he had achieved with smaller budget and thought he was right man. The rest is history, of course! As I said before, the team was performing well for much of last year. Yes, sht is really bad right now, but I don't think LVG is as "under-qualified" in tactical awareness, as you've put it, to not recognize where the gaps are. I'd rather have him in charge than Giggs based on his experience, at least until the end of the season.
I hear you. I know we would have better chance of trophies with Mourinho. But would his style suite United if we are already complaining about LVG? At least that's the question I'm asking myself and I don't think the answer is as straight forward.
1. Why not? 2. I think Mourinho would settle our defence first and foremost, but this idea that his style of football wouldn't please United fans, let alone be as bad as LVG's is very wrong. His approach to football at United would be similar to when he was at Real Madrid which was very expansive while being defensively sound. I think he's a manager that looks at the club and sets up accordingly. Yep that's a fair comment, and lets agree on that basis Mourinho has been worse that Pardew, Hughes, Bilic and Ranieri this season. But my point was that you're wrong that other managers can't do better with the squad we have. If the likes of those 4 managers mentioned can do better with players that on paper are worse than ours, then there are definitely managers out there that can do better with our. I was responding in particular to...
btw @cytrax we didn't play that much better last season. It was pretty one dimensional football bar a couple of decent performances around March. We started with the back 5 debacle which he jetisoned, then not playing Herrera or Mata but relying on Fellaini, then sticking Rooney in midfield and the last 6 games were truly dreadful, the wheels beginning to come off for Van Gaal's philosophy. We crawled over the line to Top 4 when we should really have romped home.
