I don't post often but here is my take on things:
LVG's style of football is poor and not getting out of this group is unacceptable BUT looking at the overall situation we have to remember the state of the club and squad when he took over. Just finished 7th, Moyes had gotten rid of most of the backroom team, Woodward and him had messed up almost every transfer, the squad was full of old over paid players and players (like Rooney) past their best but just signed new contracts. Yes LVG has spent a load of money but he has stabilised the club, brought together a new coaching structure with Giggs and Butt at the heart of it, got us back into champs league and sitting there again in the league at the min. He has also revamped the squad which except for carrick, Rooney, Bastian, and to lesser extent Young and Valenica, is now very young (average age at final whistle today was under 25). Also the reason he he had to spend so much is because he had to rid players like RVP and Nani for next to nothing because of heir age and wages.
All in all the football is boring and we should be doing better and he has made mistakes, but I honestly believe the next man in (if he's the right appointment) will reap the benefits of what he has done. I think it's time for him to go this summer tho and not see out the last year. The base is almost been left, move on and let someone more progressive take the next step. With hindsight and in the future I think we will look back and say he did the exact job that was needed at the time but that we didn't enjoy it while it was happening.
My Take
posted on 8/12/15
I think our squad is hopelessly small and when we get a few injuries, it is ruthlessly exposed. There's very little to be thankful for in what LVG is doing right now imo
posted on 8/12/15
I increasingly think that our finishing seventh is totally irrelevant. Moyes was sacked for that. I don't really see how it affected the way in which we approached the next season. The biggest problem was attracting big names, and we did that, for all it was worth.
Yes, Vidic, Rio, Giggs and Evra were gone, but Giggs really was a squad player by then, Rio barely played a good game for Moyes (we were already trying to build a central defence made from two of Evans, Smalling and Jones under Moyes), Vidic didn't play much either, and Evra was adequately replaced by Shaw and Blind (Rojo as well, for good measure).
Van Gaal simply achieved Moyes's minimum target, and fair play to him for that. But I think he had an easier task following a disastrous Moyes campaign than Moyes did following a victories Fergie farewell.
posted on 8/12/15
LVG is not to blame, Ed Woodward is. I never seen a spell under Man Utd we constantly create a lot more chances then the opposition.
posted on 8/12/15
*victorious
posted on 9/12/15
He's doing a great job building us for the long term, refreshing the squad and improving it whilst also keeping us competitive. If anything I would say Van Gaal has done a pretty good job for us so far but I have always been a bit of a long term thinker.
posted on 9/12/15
comment by merrysupersteve (U1132)
posted 7 hours, 49 minutes ago
I think our squad is hopelessly small and when we get a few injuries, it is ruthlessly exposed. There's very little to be thankful for in what LVG is doing right now imo
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Forget style of play this is my major issue with LVG. Stripped our squad back to the bare bones. The squad was too big last year but we had no CL football
posted on 9/12/15
He hasn't refreshed the squad for the long term at a all. Stop kidding yourself. The squad is tiny, and even the first team is short of real top quality. We aren't competitive at the highest level and will drop out of the top 4 in the near future if we continue in our current form. Don't kid yourself, he's not doing a great job.
posted on 9/12/15
He hasn't refreshed the squad for the long term at a all. Stop kidding yourself.
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Maybe it was actually Depay and Martial I saw discussing the performance of Scholes and Rio then rather than the other way around?
Our squad is younger now, we have replaced older players with younger ones, I could use a different word other than refreshing if that is the problem.
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We aren't competitive at the highest level and will drop out of the top 4 in the near future if we continue in our current form.
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Depends what you mean by current form, he has us top 4 by a few points and we are only just in December.
I remember this disaster talk regarding the top 4 last year, I don't know how some of you people get out of bed.
posted on 9/12/15
Two young players does not equate to refreshing the squad imo. Depay has a lot to do to show he's good enough at the minute anyway.
Current form is that we are leaking points on a virtual weekly basis and have been doing so for a couple of months now. Remember when we were com paring our first 10 games last season to our first 10 last season and saying how much better it was? Well now we're only one point better off than this stage last season and will struggle to field a team on Saturday, such are the limitations of our squad. At least we still have the League Cup and CL though, should things go wrong in the league.
posted on 9/12/15
*First 10 games this season