Following Manchester United’s worst season in the Premier League era under the tutelage of David Moyes, Louis van Gaal took over at the Old Trafford club after a successful World Cup with the Netherlands, finishing third. With van Gaal’s side having taken a mere 37 points in 20 games this season- the exact same tally as David Moyes managed in the same period, there is talk of whether Manchester United are really improving under the Dutch tactician or only flattering to deceive.
Louis van Gaal quickly rang in the changes at his new post, ordering for the turf at the Aon Training Complex to be changed to the same type at Old Trafford, installing cameras, replacing square tables with round ones at the cafeteria and introducing double training sessions. Fans received these changes with great pleasure as there was renewed hope at the club. Pre-season started in the United States where Manchester United came up against some of Europe’s elite teams. They beat Liverpool in their final match after impressive wins against Real Madrid, Roma and Inter Milan on penalties. Everything seemed right at the club as Adidas announced their mega 10-year £750 million deal with the club. At this stage, morale was sky high prior to the start of the Premier League campaign and Louis van Gaal’s first test was at home to Swansea- same as David Moyes who visited the Welsh club. Manchester United lost 2-1 to Swansea at Old Trafford, a defeat which manager van Gaal claimed had smashed the confidence built in the off-season.
Following a disappointing draw to Sunderland and an embarrassing 4-0 defeat to MK Dons in the League Cup, Manchester United looked to have a long season ahead. However, with the announcement of the signing of Angel Di Maria for a British record fee of £59.7mil, followed by the loan-signing of Radamel Falcao, Manchester United fans found a new belief as they hoped to savour the quintet of Di Maria, Falcao, Rooney, van Persie and Mata in action. However, injuries have blighted their cause this season as the Red Devils have had no less than 55 different injuries this season with full-backs Luke Shaw and Rafael missing most part of the season through injury. Manchester United did hit a good run of form in November and went on a 10-game unbeaten run which ended at the hands of Ronald Koeman’s Southampton on Sunday.
Manchester United would need to get back to winning ways in their next fixture against QPR at Loftus Road but now we take a closer look at David Moyes tenure and Louis van Gaal’s time in charge;
- While David Moyes inherited a team that had just clinched the Premier League title, Louis van Gaal inherited a team which was short of confidence and at an all-time low. David Moyes had to fill the huge boots of Sir Alex Ferguson who is arguably the greatest manager in English football. Louis van Gaal, who took over the helms at Manchester United, had his Netherlands team over-achieving at the FIFA World Cup 2014 and had the job of bringing back the glorious days at Manchester United.
- Manchester United had relatively easier pre-season games under the Scot but failed to perform losing to the Thai All-Star XI in his first game. Moyes team lost 3 of their 7 pre-season games which covered Asia, Australia and Europe. van Gaal, on the other hand, had a successful pre-season against tougher opposition in the United States where they came up top in the International Champions Cup.
- Both managers had their first Premier League games against Swansea City with David Moyes passing the test with a 4-1 victory at the Liberty Stadium. van Gaal’s side was ousted by the Welsh club as Gyilfi Sigurdsson scored the winner for the Swans.
- Prior to the start of the League, Moyes complained about the fixtures as the Red Devils had to face Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City in the first five games (Swansea and Crystal Palace being the other two). However, Louis van Gaal had relatively easier fixtures as Manchester United had Swansea, Sunderland, Burnley, QPR and Leicester – three of the newly promoted sides – in their first five). Moyes side picked up 7 points while van Gaal’s side had 5 points.
- With no distractions from the UEFA Champions League, van Gaal’s men were knocked out in the First Round of the League Cup losing 4-0 to MK Dons. Manchester United were only a step away from the final of the Capital One Cup under Moyes, only losing to Sunderland on penalties. However, Manchester United lost their third round fixture to Swansea with Wilfried Bony netting the late winner to send the Old-Trafford outfit crashing out of the competition last season. The Red Devils have passed the third round test of the FA Cup this season, beating Yeovil Town 2-0.
- Against the top teams in the league, Manchester United have been better this season, picking up wins over Liverpool and Everton – two teams that did the double over Man United in the last campaign. With the exception of Arsenal, most teams near the top of the table had the better of the Red Devils last season with neighbours Man City and fiercest rivals Liverpool doing the most damage.
- Finally, the most talked about issue concerning the van Gaal era which is the £156 million spent in the transfer window in bringing in Angel Di Maria, Luke Shaw, Ander Herrera, Marcos Rojo, Daley Blind and Radamel Falcao (loan). David Moyes spent rather miserly, bringing Marouane Fellaini from former employers Everton for £27 million, whilst also signing Juan Mata in the January transfer window for £37 million. Of the two managers, Louis van Gaal has spent more but the majority of his signings have spent most the season on the injury table.
Despite having totaled the same points in the same number of games, Manchester United find themselves in the top four, a feat they never achieved the whole of last season. Could it be the smaller teams have gotten better? Or the stronger teams have gotten weaker? Either ways, Louis van Gaal looks confident and certain of what he’s doing and with all but Ashley Young fit for the Dutchman; Manchester United can look to a far more promising campaign under Louis van Gaal. Hopefully, his decision to bring a Zen master to address his squad so they can focus on their mental and emotional side could just help them build up a head of steam in the remaining league games. It might be too early to give an appropriate evaluation of Louis van Gaal’s tenure, but what happens from now to the end of the season will give us more reasons to.
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