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Is the end of Van Gaal’s reign at Manchester United imminent?

By on December 27, 2015

Louis van Gaal has a very particular, Dutch sense of humor, combative and ever so slightly churlish to fit with his large, brazen personality. Back in the good ole days of his Manchester United tenure, say, last summer, Van Gaal enjoyed a nice crack in his press conferences, but as his United team have become increasingly spiritless as the cold winter weeks slog by, the Dutchman has accordingly become far more curt in front of the press. His death stare in a post-match interview at Stoke wasn’t the worst he’s done, either.

Then perhaps the irony of Stoke City’s 2-0 win over United yesterday was lost on Van Gaal. As opposed to their direct approach of years gone past, the Potters bossed United and controlled the ball with ease, eventually capitalizing on Memphis Depay’s terrible error and Marko Arnautovic’s wonder strike to break the deadlock. Stoke fans began to sing, a chant of, “boring, boring” whenever the visitors got the ball. The jest was witty and ironically self-deprecating, but quite to the point given United have had the second fewest number of shots on target and the fewest chances created at the halfway point of the Premier League season.

Yet the chant, “you’ll be sacked in the morning” was even more blunt.

Truth be told, the United hierarchy could’ve reasonably sacked Van Gaal anytime over the past two weeks and even a win against Chelsea on New Years’ Day might be too little, too late for the Dutchman, while a loss should surely put the nail in the coffin.

His United team have already looked listless over the past several weeks, winless in their last seven matches. They’ve scored just five goals during this winless streak against PSV Eindhoven, Leicester City, West Ham United, VfL Wolfsburg, Bournemouth, Norwich City and Stoke; not exactly Europe’s finest. United have lost track of the basics in a myriad of tactical tweaks and curious squad rotations.

For the first time in the league this season, Van Gaal kept Wayne Rooney out of the starting lineup against Stoke, instead opting for Marouane Fellaini, to little avail. Memphis Depay still looked lost and on the right flank, Juan Mata’s artistry has been stifled by Van Gaal’s pragmatic approach and the result of playing off the bench or out of position for two years.

At the back, Van Gaal’s rotating circus of second-string players has borne little fruit either.

The sixty-four-year-old is faced with a dilemma heading into the team’s meeting with Chelsea, given United’s uninspiring hyper-conservatism in possession and struggles defending against counter-attacks. They seem too weak to press the Blues, yet Van Gaal’s system is so possession-oriented that, as expert tactical analyst Michael Cox has noted, neither of United’s available fullbacks are suited towards a counter-attacking style of play. Ashley Young is simply too attacking-minded and Daley Blind lacks the pace to defend in one-on-one situations.

Either way, United will need significant upturn to challenge Chelsea and the imminent end of Van Gaal’s campaign seems inevitable. If he doesn’t get the sack soon, Van Gaal even admitted that he may consider resigning for the seventh time in his career.

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.