Madman and genius. Louis van Gaal has certainly faced a lively introduction into English football.
The 63-year old newly instated Manchester United manager was quick to bemoan his team’s lack of quality following their uninspiring 2-1 loss at home to Welsh opponents Swansea.
He conceded the team list was sub-par and improvements were required to strengthen Manchester United’s flailing championship ambitions. But he defended his coaching style and tactical set-up staunchly, and this irked supporters who witnessed a disjointed side that lacked clarity in the system Van Gaal had implemented.
It had been an encouraging pre-season for Van Gaal’s squad, and they came out undefeated after most notably edging out a competitive Real Madrid side. The 3-5-2 formation had been effective during that tour, Jonny Evans being a major reason why.
However, with a recent spate of injuries cruelling first-team players such as Evans, the recently joined Luke Shaw and Antonio Valencia, it was intriguing that Louis opted to pursue his 3-5-2 given the lack of a clear leader in the centre of defence.
Tyler Blackett made a costly mistake that led to the opening goal. And without Shaw in the wingback position, Jesse Lingard, primarily known as an advanced midfield, looked uncertain as his replacement.
Van Gaal did recognise the undoing of his system at half-time and changed to a more traditional 4-4-1-1 but failed to admit afterwards that his original 3-5-2 was not favourable in the circumstances. He rather preferred to lament the lack of world-class players at his disposal.
This is a potentially dangerous line as Manchester United fans argue why he hasn’t signed the necessary players at an earlier date and allowed them to settle in.
Old Trafford was restored with a buzz during pre-match and signs were positive despite the lack of signings and injury qualms. The mood soured as the visitors clenched the lead and later clenched the game.
Reluctant to chasten the new manager, fans were left underwhelmed but still hoping that the Dutch mastermind can pull off his magic. Louis was exposed during this contest for his poor set-up of the team and this was the first revealing of his inherently stubborn nature.
He has been very open at press conferences and controversial at times, but if he continues to shelve critics of his own game plan it will generate a not-so-kind response for the Dutchman. Louis the magician must now show he is just that.
Radelaide
Guest
After the other day I think they are more realistic in that they have a poor squad that only Fergie could motivate and with the Glazers caring more about running their debt through the club didn't properly spend last year and now can't attract talent because they are not playing in Europe and there are to many other options that are.
Doug Graves
Guest
But it was all David Moyes fault according to United fans......
Albo
Guest
Yep ! The same problem as last year still exists at ManU, their very ordinary defensive set up ! It starts from the goalkeeper, with De Gea who refuses to venture off his goal line , creating exposure to crosses along the 6 yard box all day long and having central defenders under continual pressure from crosses. Then you have the current central defenders like the young inexperienced but talented Blackett and the Smalling ( always good for a major mistake every game), with Jones ( also good for one major mistake every game ) and Ashley Young ( WTF ??) as fullbacks ! This is a defensive set up that must have the rest of the team scared every time the opposition crosses halfway ! So we saw Swansea have but two attacking raids all game, and scoring two goals both from defensive errors ! Just like last year ! Without link man Carrick, they had a bunch of the usual fancy attacking midfielders, lots of wing attacks with the usual wastage of 100% in lousy crosses. Hence they scored the one dodgy goal, and that was the match ! The roster needs a complete clean out in my opinion, retaining only Rooney, Van Persie, Carrick, Shaw , Valencia, Mata, & Januzaj., with a bunch of new players brought in to augment these stars. And emphasis should be on setting up a solid platform of defence. Once that is in place, the great attacking players can develop with confidence and show their undoubted skills and win games.
HarryBalding
Roar Guru
I've wanted to see the three-man backline in English football for a long time. Italian giants Juve and Fiorentina use the 3-5-2 system more often than not and I love watching them play. They just seem to have it all over whoever they're playing. Effectively they have a six man midfield in attack and a 5 man defence, with two screening midfielders. The only concern is player fitness - the wing backs and defensive mids have a LOT of work to do. I think Luke Shaw is the type of player who can play that position well, but I can only really think of three other 'wing-backs' in the premier league that can. Zabaleta, Azpilicueta, and Nathaniel Clyne. I'll be really keen to watch Utd play when they get it right, until then I fear it will be much of the same for LVG and his squad of underachievers. P.s. How the heck was Fellaini ever worth £27.5million?
j binnie
Guest
Daniel - A well thought out contribution with only minor corrections needed. You hint that Lingard was a replacement for Shaw when in fact it was Young who was playing in Shaw's advanced position down the left in the first half. Lingard was supposed to be doing the same thing on the right side until he was injured and an out and out winger,Januzaj, was used to replace him,almost in one stroke introducing imbalance into the 3-5-2 system being attempted. . The "back 3 " set up is not new,in fact it can be traced back to when Herbert Chapman pulled his centre-half (as they were then known) back between 2 "static" and usually hard tackling full backs in his Arsenal team, ------- 90 years ago !!!!!!!!. That was the cornerstone to the development of what was known as WM (3 back players,4 midfielders,and 3 forwards) a formation that went on unchallenged in world football until the pre-World War 2 Austrians in 1938,and the post -war Russians 1946, and Hungarians 1950, began to question it's effectivness.So it could be argued that the 3-5-2 formation is only a rework of the Austrian and Hungarian 2 striker policy and the Russian "multi position" players. In today's game with the ball being moved so much faster than previously and players faster and fitter the 3 man backline has to be populated by 3 top class defenders,with great mobility and almost uncanny communication between each other. Man U don'r have 3 such players at present. Cheers jb