Jonathan Wilson
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The Dutchman used to be bold and had a clear tactical system with all his previous teams – but this season’s muddled thinking at Old Trafford poses the question: is the genius getting old?
• Michael ***: Ángel di María seems an uninterested bystanderSomething very strange is happening at Old Trafford. It not so much that the grumbling is growing louder, despite Manchester United sitting fourth in the table having lost only twice in the league since the turn of the year, it is who is lined up on either side of the debate. On the one hand, unconvinced by a string of scratchy displays, is a section of the media and public arguing that the spectacle needs to improve. On the other, demanding we look at the results, is Louis van Gaal, a coach who for a quarter of a century has been dogmatically insisting that aesthetics are vital to football and that journalists and fans never look sufficiently at the process.
It’s easy to be hasty and among modern football’s worst faults is its lack of patience. It’s chastening to think that in the modern world, Herbert Chapman, Don Revie, Bill Shankly and Brian Clough – twice – probably wouldn’t have survived long enough to build their great sides. The example of Sir Alex Ferguson taking almost four seasons to win a trophy looms over United. It’s also true that Van Gaal, at 63, is significantly older than any of those empire builders but, still, if anybody has a track record that demands another season to sort out things, it’s Van Gaal. In that regard, he created problems for himself, first by insisting it would take three weeks for his philosophy to take hold, then three months and now asking to be judged next season.
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• Michael ***: Ángel di María seems an uninterested bystanderSomething very strange is happening at Old Trafford. It not so much that the grumbling is growing louder, despite Manchester United sitting fourth in the table having lost only twice in the league since the turn of the year, it is who is lined up on either side of the debate. On the one hand, unconvinced by a string of scratchy displays, is a section of the media and public arguing that the spectacle needs to improve. On the other, demanding we look at the results, is Louis van Gaal, a coach who for a quarter of a century has been dogmatically insisting that aesthetics are vital to football and that journalists and fans never look sufficiently at the process.
It’s easy to be hasty and among modern football’s worst faults is its lack of patience. It’s chastening to think that in the modern world, Herbert Chapman, Don Revie, Bill Shankly and Brian Clough – twice – probably wouldn’t have survived long enough to build their great sides. The example of Sir Alex Ferguson taking almost four seasons to win a trophy looms over United. It’s also true that Van Gaal, at 63, is significantly older than any of those empire builders but, still, if anybody has a track record that demands another season to sort out things, it’s Van Gaal. In that regard, he created problems for himself, first by insisting it would take three weeks for his philosophy to take hold, then three months and now asking to be judged next season.
Continue reading...
More...