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When the experienced Louis van Gaal was appointed as the manager, Manchester United fans knew exactly what they were getting into this season after previous campaign’s debacle. So they did not make a big deal of every mistake made by the team at the start of the season, which gave the manager time and space to tinker the squad.Van Gaal seemed to have taken advantage of the hospitality and has been constantly changing a lot in a short span of time. May it be the numerous number of formations which he has used or constantly changing his back and front line without allowing anyone to settle properly in their roles. Not many of those gambles have paid off, as Van Gaal got stick for some of his blunders.So let us look at the five gambles that Van Gaal took at Manchester United which backfired:
#1 Starting Di Maria up front
Manchester United have one of the best attacking options up front in England with Wayne Rooney, Robin Van Persie and Radamel Falcao. But, the Dutch manager still seems to be unhappy with his forward line. Hence, he swaps Rooney's position with Angel Di Maria in his starting line-up.
Playing Rooney in midfield may not be such a big gamble as the English forward already has the necessary experience to fill in those roles. But the same may not be the case with the Argentine. Despite Di Maria possessing great skills, he is not one of the muscular players who will hold the ball up front to create chances for others.
Van Gaal has based United's set-up from his Netherlands World Cup model. Hence, he tried to fit Di Maria up front in the 3-5-2 system, hoping for him to match Arjen Robben's performance in Brazil 2014. However, the gamble has failed miserably.
Against Southampton at Old Trafford, Di Maria delivered possibly his worst performance in a Red shirt, still Van Gaal played him there the following week against Queens Park Rangers. “We still have to find that out,” Van Gaal responded when asked about Di Maria's best position. The Argentinians performance in those games have proved that up front is definitely not the one for him.
#2 Falcao\'s omission against Southampton
Manchester United produced one of their worst performance of the season at the Britannia Stadium. Radamel Falcao was the only shining light in an otherwise disappointing night against Stoke City. Yet he failed to find even a place on the bench in their next league match.
When Southampton arrived at Old Trafford earlier this month, Falcao was in red hot form as he scored twice and assisted another in the space of four games. Despite those good run, the manager was unable to find a place for the player who is earning £265,000 a week in even the bench, instead he had the young James Wilson in the substitute dugout.
United were toothless in the match as they failed to hit a single shot on target for the first time since the 0-0 draw against Arsenal in 2009 as they went on to lose 1-0. Rightly so all the questions after the match was focused on Van Gaal's omission of Falcao from the starting line-up. If substituting United's best player on the night, Falcao, against Stoke was a mistake, then not even having him on the bench against Southampton in their next league match was an even bigger mistake.
#3 Return of 3-5-2 formation
Manchester United never looked like the team they used to be when Van Gaal started the season with the unfamiliar 3-5-2 formation. After United failed to win a single match in the opening four exchanges when they lost twice and drew the same amount of games, Van Gaal dropped his idea and switched to a back four for the next few weeks.
However, Van Gaal decided to bring back his old philosophy when his team traveled to Emirates. Thanks to David de Gea and the poor finishing from Arsenal, United bagged their first away victory of the season. Despite the win, United's weakness was exposed on that night, hence fans and critics called for the return of a flat back four, which Van Gaal gave them as they enjoyed their best performance in their back-to-back wins against Hull and Stoke.
However, Van Gaal reverted to three at the back the next week, when United traveled to Saints. Miraculously though luck favoured Red Devils again as United scored from their two shots on target to win the game while Southampton kept missing chance after chance in the other end.
But, the luck booster seemed to have ran out as United failed to enjoy the same benefits in the following weeks. Noticeably the poor draws at Stoke, Aston Villa and the defeat against Southampton proved why 3-5-2 is not the solution for Manchester United.
#4 Failure to sign any central defenders
When long-term United servants Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic left the club in the summer, fans were crying for Van Gaal to sign at least one proper central defender. But, those shouts seemed to have never reached the Dutchman ears as he kept on overloading the attacking line-up instead of buying a proper centre-half.
He however managed to buy three defenders, but all three virtually used to occupy the same positions. Summer captures Luke Shaw, Marcos Rojo and Daley Blind are all left-sided defenders. Apart from Shaw, the other two can play in multiple positions, however their primary attributes are mainly on the left side.
Van Gaal might have seen Rojo as a centre-back when he signed him, but his performance so far in the season has not convinced anyone about that prospect. Also with the existing crop of central defenders Jonny Evans, Phil Jones and Chris Smalling failing miserably, it remains mystifying why United didn't invest any of their £150 million on a proven centre-back.
#5 His substitutions against Leicester
When Ander Herrera scored from the edge of the area past a stranded Schmeichel on 57 minutes, the match seemed to have over as United regained their two-goal advantage to lead the match 3-1. But, four goals in the space of 21-mad-minutes, helped Leicester City produce an unbelievable comeback to beat them 5-3.
Individual errors or total lack of experience at the back line may have caused the teams downfall on the night. But, one cannot deny Van Gaal's substitution played a key role in the mighty collapse.
When David Nugent and Esteban Cambiasso scored twice in as many minutes to level the score, United had to start from ground zero to regain the lead. But, Van Gaal surprisingly took off the front-man Falcao and replaced him with a winger Adnan Januzaj. Despite not scoring a goal, Falcao looked lively on the night and was involved in a lot of United attacks, but Van Gaal did not share the view as he took him off.
If this was a mistake, substituting United's best player on the night Di Maria was a bigger one. Three minutes after arriving on the pitch, Di Maria's replacement Mata was dispossessed and the ball was played through to Jamie Vardy to put Leicester ahead. Leonardo Ulloa scored late on to rub salts on Van Gaal's wound.
