Manchester United Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread - Read Mod Warning in OP 7/1/15

thelad95 wrote: »

Will Nani or Chico ever come back? Two players I had massive soft spots for

IamtheWalrus wrote: »

If Mata goes in the Summer, can his signing be deemed a failure?

Where Did United’s Sense of Adventure Go – and When?

Listening to Radio Manchester’s Red Wednesday programme on the way to Old Trafford this week, it was disappointing to hear the number of views they reported from United fans who wanted Van Gaal out. Admittedly this was balanced by the opinions of a more supportive contingent, but a consistently heard view, from them and from areas of the media this week, was that Van Gaal has betrayed the United way, that the cavalier and attacking play associated with the club has been sacrificed in favour of an unrelenting dullness, a betrayal, no less, of the club and its ideals.

There were differences of opinion as to what constituted this dullness. Some expressed the preposterous view that, following the comments of Sam Allardyce and Van Gaal’s admittedly embarrassing reaction to it, United were now a long ball team. While it’s hard to imagine that anyone who actually watches United could hold such an opinion, the other view, that United’s style has lost its purpose in the pursuit of sterile possession, appears on the face of it to carry more credibility.

Indeed, Paul Scholes, not for the first team this season, weighed in with much the same criticism. I found this surprising, not because his views were wrong – there certainly is a lack of adventure about United’s play at the moment – but that the source from which the criticism came must know that this is not something that has only happened under Van Gaal. Because not only is the style of the team an improvement in terms of sophistication compared to what we saw last season, it’s not that different from what we saw from United in the later years under Ferguson.

Let’s be clear: United have not been played consistently attractive, positive football for several years. Since 2009, a lack of investment in the club coincided with an increasing pragmatism that saw Alex Ferguson continue his successful reign but with an emphasis on organisation and getting the best out of the players he had. His final season confirmed his brilliance as a manager in taking a team who rarely looked convincing over an entire season to the championship.

It’s not that Van Gaal, or Moyes for that matter, inherited a fantastically talented team and took it backwards by tampering with it: rather, they inherited a club that was much like the one Ferguson himself inherited in the eighties, one that required revitalising and reinventing in a new manager’s image. And those old enough to remember those early Ferguson years are kidding themselves if they genuinely believe they were playing attractive football from day one.

Although it took Fergie four years to win a trophy, it took even longer than that for him to get his side playing in a manner that resembled anything like the United ideal.

The truth is that Van Gaal faces the same kind of challenge now and changing the manager at this point will not alter the nature of the task we face. I don’t agree with all that he does

IamtheWalrus wrote: »

Maybe. I'm not saying these players aren't up to it. I'm not sure. I just hear the playing out of position comment more and more these days.