Have Manchester United Made A Huge Mistake With Van Gaal?

Louis Van Gaal vs David Moyes: Was the Scott not given enough time?

Well, it has been a pretty hot topic of discussion among football fans of all clubs whether David Moyes should have been given more time, especially since Van Gaal hasn’t actually proven his abilities with results. In fact he has been worse than Moyes and managed to break the former Everton manager’s infamous record of having led Man Utd to the worst start to a season since 1986.

The difference between both managers.

David Moyes was known as the Chosen One, as he was handpicked by Sir Alex for the prestigious job of managing the then Champions of England. Moyes definitely found the going tough as he showed his lack of experience in dealing with the demands of the club and managing some world class players with high profile attitude and behavior.

To add to his misery, the early matches were pretty tough as Moyes faced the likes of Chelsea and Man City. There were apparent flaws in the team and Moyes had purchased only one player in the summer in the form of Fellaini and he was already being criticized for his failure in guiding the Champions with decent tactics. After all, despite there being weaknesses in the team, Man Utd were a team that had players habituated to the winning mentality. As the season wore on, United struggled and somewhat got stuck on 7th spot despite the purchase of Chelsea star Juan Mata for the then club record. He was given the sack before the season ended.

Now let’s get to Van Gaal. We get to see his aggression and his outspokenness. We also get to see a sense of arrogance and complacency when he took the Man Utd job. It looked as if everything will get back to order once the Dutchman settles in, as United won their preseason tournament.

But then, 10 games into the season with 3 wins, 4 draws and 3 losses, Van Gaal has done worse than Moyes who had got 17 points with harder fixtures. Van Gaal’s 13 points keep Man Utd at 10th place and 4 points away from 4th placed Arsenal.

Despite spending over £150m in the summer window, van Gaal’s transfers have been rather struggling to get along. Falcao and Herrera have been struggling with fitness while Shaw has been in average form. Rojo just injured his shoulder and would be out for about 3 months and Man Utd are now forced to play young and inexperienced defenders in their team. They have already shown that they lack a leader at the back as Vidic was not adequately replaced.

The ‘Gaalacticos’ squad was made with some really high profile signings but the results have not been favourable. Unnecessary spending on Falcao’s loan deal instead of buying a decisive center back has been cited as a key reason to Man Utd’s struggles.

Van Gaal’s team is playing more fluidly, but is Moyes to be blamed for his tactics?

Van Gaal has brought in a player like Di Maria, who’s the only one who’s shown real form. He literally has the ability to attract the players of his calibre because of his reputation as a top manager. David Moyes didn’t have that luck. His reputation was never that high profile like Van Gaal and Sir Alex etc. So naturally, van Gaal with his choice of players is able to have a team that plays offensive minded football. Yet, it is easy to believe that Moyes suffered because of his lower profile. Ferguson saw him as someone perfect to continue his legacy and would have had total faith in him, but as Utd fans grew tired, even the board thought the same way.

Man Utd are now with a high profile manager and a one who dominates the team with his ideas. Also, to van Gaal’s credit, he still has the dressing room’s confidence, which Moyes lost in his tenure.

The conclusion is that David Moyes, despite his quality, was never of the same profile as that of Man Utd. While Ferguson saw him as someone who would work hard and achieve a name for himself with the prestigious club the way Sir Alex himself did years ago, the idea didn’t pan out in the present era with constant pressure, expectations and money involved.