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Don’t judge Van Gaal yet – Only hindsight is 20-20

By on October 15, 2014

Upon joining Manchester United, Louis Van Gaal said very specifically his philosophy will take route in around three months. Everybody took that as a challenge to judge him in three months.  Well, that time has come, and to say the least the media is having a field day. His most common “report cards” give him a grade of somewhere in the range of Bs and Cs. Yes, you now apparently grade Premier League managers with As and Bs.  But keep in mind that when he said it he had no idea just how much his squad would change by the end of the transfer window, creating the need for more time to mold, and that he would suffer a terrible injury plague, which he is only just getting over.  Most of all, however, keep in mind that he is only three months into his job.  There is no need to evaluate just yet.  For those of you who play Football Manager (who am I kidding – everybody does), they aren’t even past the “board doesn’t think it would be fair to comment” on how you have met their expectations just yet.  Even in the real world of football not a single Premier League manager has been given the sack yet.  It just isn’t fair to comment on his time just yet – at least wait until November.

Sure, many managers will be sacked before Christmas, and once they leave their time at the club can be judged, although most sackings just yet would be harsh and premature. As Jose Mourinho said of his controversial signing Didier Drogba after his poor start at Chelsea, “Judge him when he leaves the club.”  This may only be the fair time to judge a manager, or player too, for that matter – Drogba is now a legend at The Blues.  Hindsight is always 20-20.  The media will always, and should, evaluate situation, yet if you try to judge a managers’ time at a club just three months in, aside from just looking at the results, it will hardly be a big sign for what they could do tomorrow.  Just three months in it is clear Van Gaal is still experimenting with United.

Moreover, there is something deeply troubling about the thought of the whole thing.  Okay, Van Gaal hasn’t had a perfect start to his United career, but currently sits in fourth even with their injury plague.  To give somebody a full report card so early on is like, especially when they are still experimenting and the club are just meeting expectations, not drastically falling down the table or dominating it, like Van Gaal, means little about what he will do in the future.

United are facing their first few tough matches against Champions League and potentially title rivals in the next few weeks.  Chelsea, Manchester City, and Liverpool are all to come in the span of a few weeks.  At least wait until his biggest test yet is over – at very least it is only fair to judge him after another three months.

 

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.