Louis van Gaal brandishes Manchester United players as 'unprofessional' for ignoring his feedback

Originally Posted by ScholesGingerSheen

If the choice is between finishing second in the league playing football like this or finishing second playing better football I'll take the latter, at the moment we're the least shit contender behind City in a division where Burnley are good enough for 7th and yet are closer to relegation places than we are to City and could still mathematically be caught by a historically bad West Brom.

Frankly any manager with a reputation of Mourinho should be a lot closer to City for the money spent since he arrived, especially in this division, they are having a good season, but unless we end up winning 11 on the spin to end the season we're more likely heading for what would be a runners up points total 9 times out of 10.

What if playing better football meant finishing lower than 2nd?

Originally Posted by ScholesGingerSheen

If the choice is between finishing second in the league playing football like this or finishing second playing better football I'll take the latter, at the moment we're the least shit contender behind City in a division where Burnley are good enough for 7th and yet are closer to relegation places than we are to City and could still mathematically be caught by a historically bad West Brom.

Frankly any manager with a reputation of Mourinho should be a lot closer to City for the money spent since he arrived, especially in this division, they are having a good season, but unless we end up winning 11 on the spin to end the season we're more likely heading for what would be a runners up points total 9 times out of 10.

Agreed but, why does it have to be a choice between football like this and finishing 2nd or better football finishing 2nd?

That's just shifting the goalposts to suit the current agenda!
If it was better football and finishing 2nd, for 3 years, without any kind of trophy, do you think people would be happy with it like they're claiming?

No! They wouldn't!
They can say it all they want now but, if it did come to that, they would be making polls on here, looking for "Poch" to be sacked "TONIGHT!" and bigging up the next flavour of the month

Originally Posted by LFOD

Shame it was LVG that didn't. He didn't know what he was doing.

He always knows what he is doing. 9 wins from his last 13 games with a young side. Won a trophy; the biggest since Fergie left. Even the football was showing signs of improvement, as admitted at the time on here by some of his detractors.

What could have been

Originally Posted by Zorg

Can actually picture him brandishing players.

Must spread blah blah blah.

Originally Posted by Clarkie

Agreed but, why does it have to be a choice between football like this and finishing 2nd or better football finishing 2nd?

That's just shifting the goalposts to suit the current agenda!
If it was better football and finishing 2nd, for 3 years, without any kind of trophy, do you think people would be happy with it like they're claiming?

No! They wouldn't!
They can say it all they want now but, if it did come to that, they would be making polls on here, looking for "Poch" to be sacked "TONIGHT!" and bigging up the next flavour of the month

Some of us wanted Pochettino in 2016. Hardly flavour of the month.

Originally Posted by Buck

Some of us wanted Pochettino in 2016. Hardly flavour of the month.

Yep. As did Fergie iirc.

Tbf he's been the flavour of the last 24 months.

I have no doubt that if we were in exactly this position but playing great football, Mourinho wouldn't be under any pressure at all.

Originally Posted by ScholesGingerSheen

any manager with a reputation of Mourinho

who was it that first called him the special one?


£#%&! me, louis and jose have both been shit in their own way. king louis was anti-risk and jose is just anti-football. but at least lvg was funny.

Originally Posted by jem

who was it that first called him the special one?


£#%&! me, louis and jose have both been shit in their own way. king louis was anti-risk and jose is just anti-football. but at least lvg was funny.

Louis anti-risk?

Sorry, no way. Centre backs on the halfway line with 50 yards of space in behind them? He was just in love with having the ball for the sake of having the ball.

Jose Mourinho takes zero risks with or without the ball.

Originally Posted by Sparky***

Louis anti-risk?

Sorry, no way. Centre backs on the halfway line with 50 yards of space in behind them? He was just in love with having the ball for the sake of having the ball.

Jose Mourinho takes zero risks with or without the ball.

Sparks sageing the shit out of Jem. Very interesting

Originally Posted by Sparky***

Louis anti-risk?

Sorry, no way. Centre backs on the halfway line with 50 yards of space in behind them? He was just in love with having the ball for the sake of having the ball.

Jose Mourinho takes zero risks with or without the ball.

You're absolutely right.

Originally Posted by AK14

What if playing better football meant finishing lower than 2nd?

I'd rather try to win n fail than set up with bitch tactics hoping for one goal.

The way we went out of Europe was a disgrace.

Originally Posted by Sparky***

Louis anti-risk?

Sorry, no way. Centre backs on the halfway line with 50 yards of space in behind them? He was just in love with having the ball for the sake of having the ball.

Jose Mourinho takes zero risks with or without the ball.

passing sideways rather than risking losing possession looking upfield.

given that the object is to score, not to keep the ball for the sake of it, I'd say that was a bit of an issue.

jolly old fat man, though.

Originally Posted by S/Side.Red

Sparks sageing the shit out of Jem. Very interesting

bitch.

Originally Posted by Sparky***

Louis anti-risk?

Sorry, no way. Centre backs on the halfway line with 50 yards of space in behind them? He was just in love with having the ball for the sake of having the ball.

Jose Mourinho takes zero risks with or without the ball.

Give over - totally afraid to lose possession so took very few risks moving the ball forward whenever a risk free sideways or back ball could be played. As un-mufc an approach as I’ve ever seen. Mou’s approach can be worse on the eye but not consistently so.

Both shit heads.

Originally Posted by My Name is Keith

Give over - totally afraid to lose possession so took very few risks moving the ball forward whenever a risk free sideways or back ball could be played. As un-mufc an approach as I’ve ever seen. Mou’s approach can be worse in the eye but not consistently so.

Both shit heads.

Just calling it as i saw it. He wasn't afraid to lose possession, he wanted United to dictate the entire game with the ball.

only problem was we had no idea what to do with it once we got in the final 3rd.

We were hopelessly vulnerable without the ball simply because of the way he set the team up. Go back and watch Smalling's sending off in the FA Cup final for a perfect example. 1v1 on the halfway line vs Yannick Bolaise with acres of space in behind, he has to rugby tackle him.

Originally Posted by jem

passing sideways rather than risking losing possession looking upfield.

given that the object is to score, not to keep the ball for the sake of it, I'd say that was a bit of an issue.

jolly old fat man, though.

Why would anybody want to keep the ball for the sake of it? Doesn't make any sense

It's not about the risk of losing the ball. Anyone worried about losing the ball wouldn't have their defensive line on the halfway line. It's about keeping the team compact and backing yourselves to play your way through teams.

Sometimes the easiest and least risky thing a player can do is go direct.

Originally Posted by Sparky***

Just calling it as i saw it. He wasn't afraid to lose possession, he wanted United to dictate the entire game with the ball.

only problem was we had no idea what to do with it once we got in the final 3rd.

We were hopelessly vulnerable without the ball simply because of the way he set the team up. Go back and watch Smalling's sending off in the FA Cup final for a perfect example. 1v1 on the halfway line vs Yannick Bolaise with acres of space in behind, he has to rugby tackle him.

This guy, taking lads to school

Originally Posted by Sparky***

Just calling it as i saw it. He wasn't afraid to lose possession, he wanted United to dictate the entire game with the ball.

only problem was we had no idea what to do with it once we got in the final 3rd.

We were hopelessly vulnerable without the ball simply because of the way he set the team up. Go back and watch Smalling's sending off in the FA Cup final for a perfect example. 1v1 on the halfway line vs Yannick Bolaise with acres of space in behind, he has to rugby tackle him.

Keith?

Keith?

Time to get up for school love. You'll be late.

Can they both be shit and playing themselves out of jobs in season 2?

Originally Posted by S/Side.Red

Why would anybody want to keep the ball for the sake of it? Doesn't make any sense

um.... yeah..... I think that was my point.

*sigh*

I did like old louis, though. not so much the football.

Originally Posted by jem

um.... yeah..... I think that was my point.

*sigh*

I did like old louis, though. not so much the football.

Your point was that it was deliberate. I'm just saying that if he had a De Bruyne or Silva threading passes through he'd have been alright with it. Also when the team is committed to play in the opponent's half you obviously do need to be more careful.

The movement between the lines and the speed of the circulation of the ball was the bigger issue, rather than the choice of pass. City move the ball sideways and backwards a huge amount and they obviously make loads of short passes. They do it pretty quickly though.

Originally Posted by Sparky***

Just calling it as i saw it. He wasn't afraid to lose possession, he wanted United to dictate the entire game with the ball.

only problem was we had no idea what to do with it once we got in the final 3rd.

We were hopelessly vulnerable without the ball simply because of the way he set the team up. Go back and watch Smalling's sending off in the FA Cup final for a perfect example. 1v1 on the halfway line vs Yannick Bolaise with acres of space in behind, he has to rugby tackle him.

I was there pal - I remember it. Anyway, I agree - he made the pitch so small that we ended up playing the majority of matches between the half way line and the 16 yard box. We encouraged risk taking at the back but didn’t whatsoever upfront because our players were clueless and van gaal refused to change his approach despite it not working. We ended the season with one of lowest attempts on goal tallies in the history of the club. Risk taking