4 Things LVG Must Do To Improve Manchester United’s (Boring) Playing Style

It’s become a universal truth, hasn’t it? If you have been diagnosed with insomnia or you are struggling to sleep, all you’ve got to do is what Manchester United play. 6 or 7 years ago, if you wanted to wake up from you sleep with a start, all excited and active, all you needed to do was watch the Manchester United or Sir Alex Ferguson’s reign play, such was the vibrancy and attractiveness with which that side played. And almost each bit of it has vanished into thin air under Louis van Gaal, as the Dutchman looks to build a United side that can challenge for the Champions League once again.

Week in, week out, we’ve got accustomed to saying and hearing this- Manchester United play boring football. Andrei Kanchelskis referred to United players as a ‘robot’ operating in an excessively rigid system, where they are governed by certain restrictions. Supporters have expressed their discontent about the style of play that van Gaal is adhering to and they have been coerced into booing their own players at Old Trafford, because of one sole reason- an unattractive brand of football.

1. Sign a pacy player

Louis van Gaal has expressed his opinion about doing the same quite a few times in press conferences and interviews with the media and almost did the same this past summer when he missed out on signing Sadio Mane from Southampton. Every time, you watch United play, you will realize that they need a burst of energy, pace and acceleration in there to blast things into action around the box. The sluggishness in passing during lead ups to goals are too much and it seems United take too many touches of the ball before having a shot on target. Or let put it this way- they lack the courage to go past opposition or even if they have it, they haven’t got the skill set to do it.

At Bayern Munich too, Louis van Gaal had attracted a fair amount of detractors who kept on saying that he was professing a boring brand of football. The playing style involved dictating tempo in the central midfield area, taking control of the game from there and the tempo hit full throttle around the box, where players with pace such as Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery sprang into action. We’ve seen glimpses of resembling style against sides like CSKA Moscow, West Bromwich Albion and the likes, but United have been made to pay by the inexperience the players with pace have. Players like Anthony Martial, Jesse Lingard, and Memphis Depay do have pace, but United don’t just need pace, they need an eye for a pass and an eye for a goal.

2. Don’t play two holding midfielders together…

I’ve seen this routine being practice in every game United play and being a United fan myself, I sometimes feel that the team’s central midfield is as slow as a tortoise. Van Gaal has deployed the likes of Morgan Schneiderlin, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Michael Carrick in the central midfield and we know how slow they actually are. Even against PSV at home, United play with Schneiderlin and Schweinsteiger and both happen to be deep-lying midfielders, with no pace whatsoever.

It’s being done to dictate possession in those key, central areas such that United can take control of the game fully but doesn’t lead to any end product, leading to a shortage of goals. And even otherwise, there’s no pace in the lineup and this pair of slow sitting midfield players doesn’t help in any way too. Playing Ander Herrera in that area would help a lot, adding more energy and pace to the side.

2.  …Especially in a 3-5-2

It was against Leicester City that I observed this strange and absurd strategy. The midfield consisted of Juan Mata, Michael Carrick and Bastian Schweinsteiger flanked by Ashley Young and Matteo Darmian. Apart from wide players or wing backs, no player in the central midfield areas was someone who takes players on. They ball winning midfielders like Schneiderlin, a ball playing midfield in Schweinsteiger and a creative, slow attacking midfielder in Mata.

This lack of pace made sure that the build up was very slow and sleepy, forcing Martial to drop deep, leaving the floundering  Rooney up top as a sole striker. The clear need for pace was realized by the young Frenchman and he had to go past people in deeper areas to create things in the final third. But much to every United fans’ anger, Wayne Rooney was bang out of form and nothing happened.

If Louis van Gaal does play a 3-5-2, he must make sure that he plays someone like Ander Herrera in there to quicken up the build up and make the build up more entertaining to watch.

3. Drop Rooney or play him behind Martial

What is absolutely clear from Wayne Rooney’s flop showings is that he can’t play as a striker anymore. He doesn’t have that willingness to move in behind, nor the goal scoring instincts or the pace that a striker needs. Martial is more of that hungry for goals, speedy and fox in the box striker that Manchester United need to field up top.

Rooney has to be dropped if van Gaal doesn’t play him behind the striker. He has looked sharp and impressive in the hole in games such as that one against CSKA at home especially and he was seen linking up with the likes of Lingard and Martial very well indeed. He seems to be a better player with his back to goal rather than his back to the midfield, clearly suggesting that he’s unsuitable to play up top again.