da jogodeouro： Following Manchester United’s shock defeat to Sunderland on Saturday, everybody’s hating on Louis van Gaal at the moment.
da 888casino： Admittedly, the statistics make grim reading. United have scored the fewest goals of any side in the top eight this season and recorded their worst-ever points haul after 26 games throughout the Premier League era. Perhaps most worryingly of all, they’re now six points off a Champions League spot with only twelve games remaining.
It now seems inevitable that the Dutchman’s Old Trafford tenure will come to an end before the start of next season. The shadow of Jose Mourinho is already looming over Carrington and recent reports have claimed he could be appointed as LVG’s replacement before the end of the month.
But regardless of all the #LVGOut hype on social media, not every aspect of the 64-year-old’s 18 month-reign has been a complete disaster. With that in mind, here are FIVE things United fans should give van Gaal some credit for.
FAITH IN YOUNG PLAYERS
When Louis van Gaal took the Old Trafford gig after the 2014 World Cup, there were three main requisites fans wanted fulfilled; competing regularly for silverware, exciting football and chances for young players.
On the latter front, the Dutchman has unquestionably delivered. Even though the quality of United’s youth set-up is being questioned even by the club itself amid an academy overhaul, van Gaal has issued first-team debuts to no less than eight United products over the last one-and-a-half seasons.
That’s a pretty strong record compared to the rest of the Premier League’s top clubs and in addition to the aforementioned eight, huge sums were put aside to bring Luke Shaw, Anthony Martial and Memphis Depay – three of the most exciting youngsters in world football – to Old Trafford, whilst the likes of Will Keane, Nick Powell and James Wilson, who made their debuts under prior regimes, have been handed chances to impress as well.
Perhaps only a few have produced a level of form suggesting they could become United icons in the years to come, but van Gaal boasts a phenomenal track record when it comes to picking future world-class stars from academy set-ups – something we’ll come onto later.
He’s developed Chris Smalling into a top-class defender
We rarely think of Louis van Gaal as a defensively astute coach but whether due to circumstance or design, it’s impossible to ignore the monumental progress Chris Smalling has made under the Dutchman since the start of last season.
Indeed, despite often being included in Roy Hodgson’s England squads and showing glimpses of his potential under Sir Alex Ferguson, the 26-year-old was some way off the level once heralded when LVG arrived at Old Trafford. There were even rumours of him moving to Arsenal in summer 2014.
But deployed exclusively at centre-back by van Gaal and issued a recurring starting berth, Smalling has rapidly emerged as one of the first names on the United team-sheet and one of the best defenders in the Premier League.
He’s a shoo-in to start for England at Euro 2016 and will almost certainly be central to the plans of the next Manchester United manager. Perhaps Smalling has simply come of age over the last 18 months, but van Gaal clearly saw great potential and has helped the 6 foot 3 centre-half unleash it.
MARTIAL, SHAW AND BLIND ARE ALL TOP-CLASS SIGNINGS
Manchester United’s record in the transfer market is considerably underwhelming with Louis van Gaal at the helm, having spent around £250million in the space of just four transfer windows yet failed to sign any player who can be indisputably deemed ‘world class’.
Nonetheless, some big-money calls have paid off and already look like wise long-term investments, most particularly in regards to Anthony Martial and Luke Shaw. The former has all the requisites to become a United superstar, boasting incredible physicality, flair and composure in the final third, whilst the latter is easily amongst the best young full-backs in world football when free of injury problems.
Likewise, Daley Blind is an incredibly underrated addition at a cost of just £14million. Technically gifted yet tactically astute and extremely versatile, every major European club would happily have the Dutch utility man bolstering their squad.
Similarly, Matteo Darmian, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Ander Herrera are all of good quality and despite his struggles this season, Depay still has the potential to prove a steal at £30million.
DECENT RECORD AGAINST THE RIVALS
If you’re not going to be competing for silverware at a club as monolithic as Manchester United, you at least have to ensure the fans some bragging rights, and that is what Louis van Gaal has done consistently over the last 18 months.
Indeed, the Dutchman has claimed twelve points from four fixtures against United’s bitter rivals, Liverpool, who did the double over United during David Moyes’ single season in charge. He’s also produced a decent record against Manchester City with one draw, one win and one defeat apiece, despite the noisy neighbours boasting a considerably superior squad.
No wins, one defeat and three draws against Chelsea is perhaps a little more underwhelming, whilst fans might expect United to do a better against Arsenal, claiming four points from a possible nine under LVG.
But amid all of these aforementioned fixtures, only against the Gunners earlier this season were the Red Devils truly embarrassed in a 3-0 demolition. The rest of their defeats were all by the odd goal in incredibly close-knit encounters.
LEGACY
Regardless of performances on the pitch, good things tend to follow Louis van Gaal regimes. Take his Champions League-winning Ajax side for example; Edwin van der Saar, Frank de Boer, Ronald de Boer, Edgar Davids, Clarence Seedorf, Marc Overmars, Finidi George, Nwankwo Kanu and Patrick Kluivert went on to represent the biggest clubs in world football and their national teams at major tournaments.
During his two spells at Barcelona, LVG not only helped sew the seeds for the tiki-taka style that later came to define the Catalans, but also nurtured two of the greatest managers of the modern era. Jose Mourinho served as his assistant, whilst Pep Guardiola was one of his senior players.
Likewise, whilst in charge of Bayern Munich, van Gaal issued debuts to Thomas Muller, Toni Kroos and David Alaba and reinvented Bastian Schweinsteiger in the deep-lying role that has definied his career.
Two years after leaving, the Bavarians lifted the Champions League title with all four in the starting Xi, and one year after that, three won the World Cup with Germany. Coincidentally, or perhaps not, Bayern are now being praised for the scintillating technical football they play under none other than former disciple Guardiola.
So although the Dutchman’s tenure has overall been rather underwhelming, especially in regards to results and performances, he’s clearly a very talented manager and developer of talent. United fans could look back in five or ten years time and realise van Gaal put the wheels for future success in motion.