What Manchester United fans can expect from Van Gaal Era
The time has finally arrived for Louis Van Gaal to officially take charge of Old Trafford. After a hugely successful world cup, Van Gaal takes over a team short of confidence and even shorter on motivation as seen last season. A season before, this same team was crowned the Champions of England winning with record number of points. A season later they finished with a lowly seventh place. For a club of this stature this was completely unacceptable. The same players, who won the league, looked liked a team of schoolboys even in their own backyard.
Old Trafford, where teams dreaded an away fixture, were now looking forward to getting three points in their bags. Van Gaal surely has his work cut out with this team. No doubt his immediate target would be to return Manchester United in the top four. Easily said than done this. But this is Van Gaal we are talking about. League titles in Holland, Spain and Germany. Add to that a Champions league and number of domestic cups and you wouldn’t get a better coach to lead Manchester United’s revival this season.
Van the Man
For over 25 years United have been dominating English football like no other team. And there is no doubt it was due to one man and one man only – Sir Alex Ferguson. He was the man who ruled Old Trafford with an Iron Fist. After United’s disappointing season they needed someone with similar personality, especially after the debacle called ‘David Moyes’. Louis Van Gaal fits the bill perfectly.
A man in a similar mould to Sir Alex Ferguson. He’s got the personality and the ability to take United forward and bruise a few egos for the sake of the whole team. He is the type of individual who commands respect with his achievements. He was the one who endorsed ‘Total Football’ along with Johan Cruyff at Ajax. He laid the foundation for Tiki-taka at Barcelona and for the all-conquering Bayern Munich team in 2013 when they won the treble. So United fans would be hoping he would set up a blueprint for the future of Manchester United as well.
True Van Gaal is kind of a ‘Meglomaniac’. It’s always ‘My way or the Highway’ for him. But then to lead a club of such magnitude you got to have such a personality. He does not shy from ruffling a few feathers or bruising a few egos. Rivaldo at Barcelona or Luca Toni at Bayern are just examples who were made to sit on the bench or sold for not co-operating with him. He will not be held hostage to Superstars and their types who do not work for the team and he isn’t afraid to show them the door as well. The way united played last season it certainly showed that they lacked commitment and you can be rest assured Louis ‘Big Balls’ Van Gaal will have none of it.
Knowing his players
Just having a team with world class players does not guarantee you success as Moyes found out. You need to make them gel together. Van Gaal has worked with Superstars like Rivaldo, Figo, Robben, Ribery etc. He has always made them from individual stars to team members who play for each other. That’s how Van Gaal sets up his team. He has his Philosophy and he sticks by it and certainly won’t change as per a certain individual. He believes that he has better knowledge than most and knows a players strength and weakness better than the player himself. Hence he plays the player at a position he feels the player can contribute much more to the team. He expects nothing less than 100% from his players even if they are played at a new position or out of their positions.
There have been times when it has backfired but more often than not he has found success. Bastian Schweinsteiger was an attacking Midfielder/Winger. Van Gaal recognized his talents could be used at better place and made him played in the midfield. Since then ‘Schweni’ has not looked back. A real Commander in the midfield, covering his backline, breaking up play, initiating attacks, spraying passes to the forwards and also joining them in attack Schweinsteiger gave Bayern and Germany a different dimension to their overall play. Schweinsteiger had played a huge part in the success of Bayern Munich at club level and not to mention for Germany, in the recently concluded World Cup which they won.