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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.
Tactical Genius
Van Gaal also possesses an astute footballing brain and great tactical mind. You can’t have a CV like that in football without having a genius of a tactical mind. Van Gaal has always wanted his team to play attacking, entertaining football. But he also knows that can’t happen always. It depends on the type of players at his disposal. In the world cup qualifiers Holland were unbeaten and played with a 4-3-3 formation. The played exactly the type of football which was expected of them.
Fast, flowing, lots of movement and interchanges between players is what defined their qualification campaign. But a bad injury to key player Kevin Strootman before the world cup and everything went for a toss. Knowing that he does not have the personnel to cover for Strootman, Van Gaal changed his formation to a more defensive 3-5-2, much to the anger and disbelief of the Dutch fans & media.
Fast forward to the present and all are hailing Van Gaal as a Master tactician none so more for the 5-1 demolition of Spain. This shows that Van Gaal knows how to utilize the resources at his disposal and the how to get the best out of them. He varied his formation from 3-5-2 to 4-3-3 as per the opposition and circumstances in the matches. But the best example of Van Gaal’s tactical genius is the substitution of Tim Krul in the quarter finals against Costa Rica. He has so much confidence in himself that he backs himself 100% for whatever decision he takes.
Krul didn’t even play a single minute at the world cup and he was put into such a situation by Van Gaal. Had this gone wrong the whole world would have been on his back and he would have been made a scapegoat. It’s not that Van Gaal had an ‘epiphany’ and sent in Krul just before the penalties. It was a plan that he had already thought about and had Krul practicing for penalties. Van Gaal has shown time and again he has the tactical know how, the ability to take the risks and the self belief of executing those risks to succeed at any level of Football.
Nurturing young talent
Louis Van Gaal has always been known as a man with a strong personality and dominating presence. But perhaps the most endearing part of his managerial experience is his ability to provide chances to youngsters. Maybe it’s because of his personality, but as he says youngsters ‘buy’ his philosophy more quickly than most established stars. The reason maybe his achievements, maybe they just want to impress him or perhaps he has that way with young talent. Whatever it is, wherever Van Gaal has gone youth talent has always flourished.
Clarence Seedorf from Ajax, Xavi from Barcelona and Thomas Muller from Bayern can back this case. Van Gaal not only works with the senior team but he takes extra interest in developing youngsters. Not only that he works from the bottom level so that the future of the club have a proper Setup and process to develop talented youngsters year in year out. Now that bodes well for a club like Manchester united who are known to give youth talent the chance time and again.
Of course, there are few occasions where they have gone wrong (e.g. Paul Pogba). But overall they have had a good history of getting youngsters through their youth setup to the senior team. So with Van Gaal at the helm you can expect the younger talents at united to get all excited. They will know they would now be given a good chance to prove themselves. United fans would be excited with the youth prospects that would come on to play in the senior team this season. At least they won’t be as bad as few members from the past seasons.
Target for season
All in all, Van Gaal promises to be the one that would take United back to the glory days. A Man like Van Gaal will be expected to go for the title in his first season itself. But a more realistic target would be top four and Champions league place. If he gets few more signings which he wants, United may well challenge their ‘Noisy neighbors’ and Jose’s ‘Chelsea’ for the Title. Remember there is no Champions league this season for united so they can completely concentrate on the league this season.
But what Van Gaal brings to United is that winning mentality lost during the Moyes era. He brings that killer instinct and the fear in opposition when playing against his teams, just like Fergie did. He also has an assistant who knows English football inside out and not to mention the club itself. In Giggs he has a perfect partner in crime who would help him settle down and give him all the necessary details about the club and English football in general.
So there is little wonder that the arrival of Van Gaal has caused so much excitement among united fans and they are all set to raise their voices against opposition fans after a disappointing season of being mocked all season last time out. The Challenge is huge at a club like Manchester United but for Louis Van Gaal, it’s been there done that.
