Interview with LvG

Not a myth, and no he didn't.

Changing what he was trying to do doesn't negate having an understanding of it. Certainly from an attacking view point.

His major issue was getting players like Valencia and Young to move the ball quicker. It seemed both of them and the midfield players were more scared of losing possession.

You could see this frustrating him in the dug out, yet he was unable to do anything about it, despite copious note taking.

Imagine if LVG actually did have a plan - to pass the ball sideways and bore everyone to death.

That is even more damning on the guy.

It is, there was no consistency in what he was trying to achieve during his time at the club. That’s why we kept changing the way we set up. Granted injuries really didn’t help, so his hand was often forced. But that doesn’t change the fact.

People conflate all the good and bad under LVG as being systemic and unchanged but this just didn’t happen.

This is where the rewriting of history is very much apt to his time.

People conflate all the good and bad under LVG as being systemic and unchanged but this just didn’t happen.

This is where the rewriting of history is very much apt to his time.

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I have never seen anyone on here suggest that LVG had a set way of playing week in week out. Like all managers he changed formation here and there to suit the game or the players he had available.

What he never really changed is his approach to attacking and keeping possession, which was where the major issues with him were.

Yes he did, there were plenty of times we sat deeper and played on the counter or went long. We often changed how we were playing within games, let alone from one match to another. People have short memories.

Yes he did, there were plenty of times we sat deeper and played on the counter or went long

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He served up, pretty much, the same dismal attacking play for the entire second season.

In his first season he mixed it up a bit, but again that was only over a short period.

Do you not remember that string of home performances, your mate Nobb reminded us after each one, that were 0-0 at half time, where exactly the same $hit was served up.

Valencia gets the ball in a froward position, Valencia waits until the opposition defence gets back in place. Valencia passes backwards. Live, die repeat.

So are you saying he abandoned possession football for example?

At times he did yes, 52.

VC, it wasn’t all like that, though. Most of our attacks funnelled down the left to Martial. And when Rashford came into the side we were going in behind or over the top a lot earlier than in the season.

By and large, the attacking play was dismal and often as a result of a lack of risk and urgency on the ball. But the ways in which we attacked differed quite often throughout his time at the club. Because he kept changing the team, which will naturally affect how you attack when you had the squad we did.

He was pragmatic with how he set the team up and coached our attacking patterns. The one consistent was the regularity with which we passed the ball between the midfield and defenders, but that’s not to say there was a consistent theme when it came to attacking.

Dazza

Will will have to agree to disagree on this one. What I will say is that it was probably around March of his last season that I finally said enough is enough, his football was boring me to death and he had to go.l

Look what happened to Macca. It did kill him.

Yet despite all that I could still see what he was trying to do. He just couldn't get the players we had to do it.