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Van Gaal’s philosophy yet to take root at Man U

By on March 13, 2015

Louis Van Gaal rather foolishly gave himself a personal deadline of three months to turn around Manchester United’s fortunes. Nine months into his tenure at Old Trafford, Van Gaal only just reached his lowest point after an FA Cup elimination at the hands of Arsenal. His words initially bought him some time, but now serve as a reference frame to highlight his shortcomings.

At the time, Van Gaal’s approach only increased the Red Devils’ confidence in him. He spoke of a “philosophy” taking root. This was everything United wanted after David Moyes’ infamously brief era. Yet this philosophy is yet to have a positive impact on the pitch. Van Gaal has employed six different formations so far this season (fourth most in the “tinkering table“) and has even been accused of playing “long ball” football. His starting lineup has varied widely week-over-week, unable to find his best eleven as of yet, and as a consequence, continues to tinker, often leaving out star names to the chagrin of many supporters.

Not that all hope it lost: if he does manage to find a system that makes his team click, then United will have the potential once more be serious title challengers (next season), largely due to the star quality he brought to the club.

Yet that’s not what the public thought they were getting. One of the biggest causes for the backing of his summer spending spree was the notion that he was making his philosophy take root. United, after the Moyes saga, were impatient with the idea of waiting around for the success to begin rolling in. When they saw names like Daley Blind, Radamel Falcao, Ander Herrera, Marcos Rojo, and Luke Shaw coming in, they figured it was part of a renovation that Van Gaal was specifically planning, with the intention to better instill his philosophy, and to lead United into a new “galacticos” era.

Say, for the purpose of example, United had signed Jose Mourinho, which they were reportedly close to doing before opting for Moyes after Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement. They would have known what they were getting — a defensive, counter-attacking style of play — because that’s Mourinho’s philosophy, which he sticks by club after club. He would have known who he needed to purchase to make things work, because it is his philosophy: his quick fix to becoming a winning team.

Van Gaal, on the other hand, is offering United an experimental approach. He may know how he would like to play — a fluid style of possession-based play in a 3-5-2, people thought — but if so, obviously didn’t give United the tools to use it in the past two transfer windows.  Things could still work out in the end — he is, after all, the same man that lead the Netherlands from despair to a World Cup semifinal in just two years. His job isn’t an easy one; what United are looking for, however, is a clear plan to tackle it.

Homepage photo credit: Wikipedia Commons

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.