Manchester United are on a steady decline

The reign of Louis van Gaal has been disappointing and can be classified as a failure considering the investment that has gone into the team in those two years. The rise of the youth stars, Marcus Rashford, Timothy Fosu Mensah and Jackson, which others think became a necessity because of the Dutchman's failure to address key areas effectively, can be said as the only positive. Some fans were happy for the team to finish 5th and miss out on Champions league so that the 64 year old will be sacked. This is called the 'Van Gaal effect'. This is how far fans feel detached from the team. The recent low attendance at Old Trafford including the rearranged game against Bournemouth when fans were offered free entry was pure evidence that fans don't want another season of this boring lethargic football. Mentions can also be made of the booing of Van Gaal's speech and the slow ticket renewal as a sign that Manchester United should dispense with the services of the 1995 Champions league winning coach. 

 

Amidst this 'Van Gaal effect' is a deeper issue, Manchester United are  on a steady decline. I say this judging by the level of performance in the league. The league involves 38 rounds of matches and needs consistency and focus to be achieve a significant position and as such tells the real state of your team. Statistics from the last 5 seasons suggest that Manchester United's decline didn't 'really start' after Ferguson retired. The fall started from dwindling attacking performance, from less chances created to less goals. 

The decline only became apparent after the lack of goals led to less accumulated points.

Manchester United, as a club, are paying for years of under-investment in their squad. For years, key areas like the central midfield and defence had been left un-addressed. This under-investment coincided with the failure to reduce the dependence on older players. Players like Rio Ferdinand, Nemenja Vidic, Patrice Evra, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and now Carrick served the club well and are legends but they should have been replaced much earlier. As a matter of fact, Scholes had to be forced out of retirement because of shortage of options in the central midfield area. In this period, the club and Sir Alex Ferguson mostly spent money on cheaper players who were simply not good enough. The likes of Bebe, Anderson, Ashley Young, Phil Jones, Shinji Kagawa didn't significantly add strength to the team. 

The new vice CEO Ed Woodward thought sudden over-investment in the team was going to solve a lot of problems and propel the team back to the top. However, he forgot the little detail of the new players having to play and gel together. This is against the backdrop that he has failed in the transfer markets time and time again chasing signings that were practically impossible. I admit that when a team fails to perform, the first person to get the blame is the coach. But imagine being in the shoes of David Moyes having to fit Juan Mata, Robin Van Persie, Wayne Rooney and Shinji Kagawa in one formation and having to suddenly replace leaders like Giggs, Scholes, Ferdinand, Evra and our former captain Vidic.  Not to mention that the quality of the rest of the team was practically average. Yes, Sir Alex Ferguson won the league with that squad but he is Sir Alex Ferguson and it's expected of him. The 13th time English Premier league Championship winning coach's brilliance papered over the cracks in this team. 

Fast forward to the 2015/2016 season which just ended. The current goal tally for this season (49) is the worst goal tally of any Manchester United side since the 1989/1990 season (45) when the team finished 13th, 5 points clear of relegation zone. The total points tally is just two better than the shambolic Moyes era.

Manchester United have to act decisively and fast to stop the rot that is getting deeper at Old Trafford. They need appoint someone who will steady the ship and bring gradual progress again. That person is at least not Louis Van Gaal. 

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What is Van Gaal's excuse?

On the same day that Leicester City achieved the greatest feat in English football history, a certain Dutchman was busily giving reasons as to why his team were regressing. Louis Van Gaal said:

"The expectations [For Manchester United] was too high. We are in a period of transition]".

My initial impression was that: Didn't he know he was taken over the most successful club in England hence the board or owners have high aspirations?

Didn't he also not know that Manchester United is the most supported club in the world and as such fans have high expectations?

This quotes come two years after being given the Manchester United job. For goodness sake, the club owners knew that after Sir Alex Ferguson left, the playing body needed a complete overhaul. David Moyes couldn't handle it and that's why he (Van Gaal) was brought to steady the ship and set the club on the path to greatness again! So what is Louis Van Gaal excuse now?

Is it the player's inability to adjust to his philosophy?

On 24th July, 2014, Van Gaal said his team needed 3 months to adjust to his philosophy. He was quoted saying:

"It is difficult at first [for players to learn my philosophy] and in the first three months it takes time,” he said. “When we survive the first three months, it will be the same as for me at it was at Bayern in 2009-10. After the first three months there, we were seventh and we were third in the Champions League [group].”

However, after two years we are still waiting for results (trophies) to show for his 'philosophy'.

Is it because other club's spend more money in the transfer window?
Van Gaal in December suggested that his side underachievement was due to big spendings by other clubs.

"Now we have much more clubs who have the money and are able to win something. Every club can buy a player. The difference is not so big any more. The confirmation is every week -- the bottom clubs can beat the top teams."

What Van Gaal doesn't know is that the Manchester United is the second most valuable or richest club in the Universe and that he has spent in excess of £250 million since taking over.

Is it due to bad officiating?

The Club were string favourites to emerge from a Champions league group containing Wolfsburg, PSV and CSKA Moscow. However, we crushed out in disappointing fashion after losing 3-2 in Germany. The 64 year old had this excuse:

"When you overview everything you remember the first match against PSV with the decisions of the referee and also today against Wolfsburg -- they were not positive for us"

Is it due to the wind?

After losing 2-0 to Stoke, the Dutchman ridiculously blamed the wind as one of the main reasons why The Reds lost. He said:

"They want to perform well but the circumstances are difficult. Not just with the wind, but with the pressure. That’s in my opinion the reason that they don’t dare to play football".

Is it due to the Murphy's law?

After the club's humiliating loss to FC Midtjylland in the Europa league. Van Gaal cited Murphy's law as the reason for the loss and famously said the "Universe wanted us to lose".

If I should cast your mind back to last season after we placed 4th, the 64 year old said that his team were close to being able to win the Premier League.

So I ask again, What is Van Gaal's excuse?

Could Manchester United have won the game against Leicester City?

Yesterday game should have been a platform for us to make a strong case for the top 4 at least but we spurned that chance. It was pretty obvious that Leicester City was going to battle against nerves and against the opposition offered by Manchester United especially at Old Trafford. Prior to the game, Manchester United fans didn't want it to be registered in history that Leicester City won their first ever league title at the 'Theatre of Dreams'. The match started as it was expected with United pressing and dominating and Leicester back peddling and making mistakes. Mahrez should have picked up Martial for the latter's calm finish but the Algerian was non-existent. The statistics from the first 20 minutes backed up the line-up chosen by Van Gaal was spot on but this was to be a false dawn as the match wore on.

Studies on Leicester City have revealed that Leicester City employ the same formation (4-4-2) every time. Their formation highlight include two full backs in Fuchs and Simpson who sit very deep, two deep lying holding midfielders cum playmakers who set the teams tone in Kante and Drinkwater and a striker who drops into midfield and acts as a false 10. The Foxes are a counter attacking team who rely on long balls and the pace of their attackers to devastating effect. The added dynamism and energy in the middle of the park coupled with their efficiency from set-pieces is the reason where they are on the verge of achieving something special. As is the case with counter attacking football teams, they are not really concerned about keeping possession. So in order to effectively nullify them, teams will have to sit so deep so Leicester can't hit the ball over the top, crowd the midfield and possibly create a 2v1 situation against Leicester dangerous forward men.

Michael Carrick has been criticized greatly this season for his lethargic displays. However, he was imperious in the minutes United were totally dominant. His intelligent positioning (including slotting between the central defenders) allowed the full backs freedom to attack the Leicester City defence. Had the crosses been better, the scoreline might have been different. In fact, two of the most dangerous chances United created cane from crosses from the wings. Martial's goal came from an Antonio Valencia rare 'over top cross' whilst Lingard's chance in the 13th minute came from one of the few good balls Rojo put into the box. Such was the menace created by our full-backs that Claudio Rainieri had to shuffle his team tactics. He put Schlupp on the right wing, the hardworking Okazaki on the left wing and Mahrez up front. However, after the equalizer by Wes Morgan, Leicester began to rediscover their mojo and United's dominance waned.

Claudio's Rainieri's side have had such a remarkable season that defies logic really. Morgan's goal was their first shot on target and their first meaningful assault on the Red's defence. It titled the momentum towards the league leaders and opened the home side to intermittent waves of attack. Suddenly, Louis Van Gaal side became susceptible to the long balls played by Leicester. The likes of Carrick and Rooney couldn't deal with the energy and pace of Kante and Drinkwater and resorted to needless fouls. The resulting set-pieces resulted in a war between Rojo and Morgan. Morgan had the beating of the Argentine every time. Initially, I blamed Smalling for allowing Rojo to man mark the Englishman at set-pieces when it was obvious that he was struggling to deal with the power of the Leicester captain. However, after this had occurred about 3 to four times coupled with the fact that Marcos Rojo was struggling to deal with the runs of the now adventurous Simpson and Mahrez, I concluded that the one to blame was Louis Van Gaal. I blamed Van Gaal because he could have changed the silver medalist at the 2014 World Cup who was having an awful game and replaced him with Timothy Fosu Mensah or Darmian.

All in all, we should have been out of touch with the top 4 race by now but someway somehow we are still in it. Given the dire performances we have put in this season we don't deserve to be anywhere near the top 5 teams. However, let's continue to hope that just like Manchester City lost by 4 goals to 2 against Southampton, our rivals for the top 4 will continue to drop points and maybe we will end up playing in the Champions league.

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The Statistics accompanying Manchester United after 32 league games.

The word 'philosophy' is synonymous with the word 'failure' at Manchester United. This has been the case after 32 games this season. The club have 53 points, four points adrift of 4th place Manchester City and are in danger of missing out on Champions league football again. Our last Premier league game (3-0 loss against Tottenham Hotspurs) represented the story of our season. There were moments when the players had no clear plan to execute(just pass the ball backwards), no urgency (with Van Gaal comfortably seated), weird substitutions and players playing out of positions. In fact, against Spurs, all our 4 attacking players were out of position with Ashley Young playing as a striker. Yes you read right! Ashley Young! It showed an extent to how much the Dutch gaffer has lost it.

After 32 games we look like a pale shadow of our former attacking sides. Thirty-nine goals in 32 goals is the worst total in the Premier league for any Manchester United side. In fact, in terms of goals scored this season we are ranked 11th behind the likes of Southampton(44) and Bournemouth(40). When we break the number of total goals scored into home goals and away goals scored, the result is even more shocking. We are ranked 12th in terms of goals scored at home(20) and this total is behind the likes of relegation battlers Norwich and Newcastle who have scores both scored 22 goals at home. In terms of goals scored away, we are ranked 10th.


Manchester United are ranked 16th out of 20 teams in the area of total shots (350 shots) hit in those 32 games. We are behind the likes of Crystal Palace (396), Swansea(386) and Sunderland (371) and Stoke(361). In terms of shot accuracy, we are ranked 14th. Most worrying is the chances churning department of the team, We have created just 254 chances in 32 matches and lie 17th behind Norwich (265), Newcastle (270) and Sunderland (277). I know you find it weird that a big club like Manchester United have statistics that look like a mid-table club or relegating threatened.

The defence which used to make sure we didn't lose points because of the lackluster attack has regressed compared to the first 15 games of the season. There are now more errors which seem to be hurting the team. In fact, 11 errors with 3 leading to a goal have been committed by the defenders. De Gea has had to produce an average 2.6 crucial saves every game to help the team keep its top 4 aspirations alive.

It seems this season can be said to be a failed one. I will end by saying even the beleaguered David Moyes had 54 points after 32 games in the 2013/2014 season.

The truth about Louis Van Gaal, Jose Mourinho and Manchester United.

Today, I want to do something different. I am going to report the views from a usually reliable source on Twitter (@agentofficial59) about Louis Van Gaal, Manchester United and Jose Mourinho. On the 5th of Febuary, the very well connected Marcel van der Kraan reported as Story in the De Telegraaf that Van Gaal will stay beyond this summer and complete his 3 year deal agreed when he took over Manchester United. This is what @agentofficial59 had to say about the story from De Telegraaf:

"The story for De Telegraaf today are not correct. United have now observed LvG spent their money on transfer targets that hasn't worked out. They won't offer him another £80m to spend for his last year, for just a new manager to build a new team the season after. All the people that have info within the system believes Mourinho will manage Manchester United next season."


He believes that Manchester United don't see a future with Louis Van Gaal even if the 64 year old manages to clinch Champions league qualification again. This is contrary to rumours that emanated this week that seem to suggest that Mourinho will only be appointed if the Reds fail to attain a top 4 position. He further adds that the United board have not announced Mourinho because they don't want similar impacts of what is happening at Manchester City on United. He had this to say:

"First of all, why are United being so quiet? Well, they know this game. They predicted this to affect City when they presented Pep. We all know what happened. The players get affected much more than you think. You know you might leave in the summer, the systems will change. Manchester United want the focus to be on the top 4 and nothing else. But they don't see any future with LvG after this season, even with top 4. There's been little improvement with all the money and time spent. Players aren't enjoying the football, and feel he isn't the right man. United are not interested in handing LvG another bunch of dollars to spend on players to be replaced the summer after".

The handling of Di Maria by the Dutch coach is one of the reasons the board think Van Gaal should leave. He says:

"They are impressed with the youth, but he has shown he can't handle the big stars. They are disappointed with his use of Di Maria. The United board thought Di Maria could be their new star for years, but LvG refused to use him in the best way, and it made him unhappy."

He confirms what we all know already that the but concludes with an interesting statement.

"Mourinho was contacted very early after getting sacked by Chelsea, and he has been planning his entry to United for a long time. He has analyzed the squad, analyzed his targets and is ready to come in and steer the ship. He has told [the board] he needs to make huge changes to XI. United board very split in opinion, but Mourinho's numbers says it all. They have concluded he is the man to take them back to the top".

The reliable @agentofficial59 says the arrival of Pep especially to Manchester City was one of the reasons why United chose Jose. He also mentions that with the pending arrival of Antonio Conte, the club have decided to give the Portuguese manager the resources to be able to compete on all fronts.

"He will be given money for his targets, and United know with Pep and Conte coming they need to take this opporturinity"

Finally, he says don't believe the Mourinho to Madrid stories.

"And the Real Madrid rumours are just something Mourinho camp are using to their own advantage. So don't worry."

If you enjoyed this news, you should give @agentofficial59 a follow and you would not regret it.

Location:Accra,Ghana

Mata's red card gave Van Gaal the perfect excuse!

The loss against West Bromwich Albion is a tough one to take especially since we were beginning to make a late charge into the top 4. Juan Mata's dismissal in 3 minutes was key moment in the match but it should not singled as the main excuse for the loss. With all due to respect, West Brom are no Manchester City or Arsenal. The are a side set up mainly to prevent opposing teams from scoring. In other words, they are a highly defensive side. The result might have stayed the same if the Spaniard was on the pitch simply because Van Gaal's men failed to break down the host defence and created close to nothing.

It wasn't like Albion was on the offensive or that De Gea had a lot to deal with following the aftermath of the red card. It wasn't like United were on the ropes with 10 men and that West Brom's pressure finally paid off. Pulis's side just hit 2 shots on target after the red card although one managed to find the back of the net. Another thing is that the 9 chances that West Brom created (including the one that led to their goal) were all from set-pieces.

It wasn't also the case that United were dominating and creating chances at will before the red card. In fact, United created more chances after red card (3) than before Mata was sent off (1). Likewise, The Reds had more shots (5) after the red card than before (2). Statistically, it was not a surprise that we failed to find the net on Sunday. In fact, United recorded just 7 shots, 4 out of which were blocked and only one was on target. That one shot on target by Martial was recorded even before the red card to Mata.




Mata red card gave under-pressure boss Louis Van Gaal an excuse instead of concentrating on his side frailties. His starting line-up and substitutions was too cautious for a side that work extremely hard in defence. Unless, Morgan Schneiderlin was injured, I see no point in him being dropped. I also don't get the reasoning behind taking Herrera off for Schneiderlin. Herrera wasn't having an exactly brilliant day but at least he was going forward to give support to the attack. Also, bringing a full-back for another when we had 8 minutes to get something out of this game was bizarre. Earlier in the week, the 64 year old admitted that Daley Blind was exhausted and needed rest. Yet Blind started the game and was culpable for the goal United conceded.

In truth, it was difficult to imagine where the breakthrough goal will emerge from before Rondon's opener. The game was devoid of clear cut chances and both keepers barely had saves to make. Juan Mata's gave Van Gaal a perfect excuse to make and the Dutch coach fully capitalized on it.

Van Gaal's unwanted broken records at Manchester United

Louis Van Gaal's time at Manchester United seems to be drawing to end. Fresh reports suggest that the Dutchman has lost the dressing room at Old Trafford. The United players are reportedly said to be fed up of the 64 year old's odd tactics which include taking an extra touch before shooting and also his sterile possession philosophy. This comes against the back-drop that Ed Woodward repeatedly called Jose Mourinho to enquire of his availability after the humiliating defeat to FC Midjiland.

Van Gaal has the been the worst manager per statistics United have had in 35 years. The former Netherlands gaffer has failed to win 42 of his 83 matches played under his tenure so far. United have also failed to score in a whooping 17 of those 83 matches. Under his guidance, the Reds have produced 6 scoreless draws this season, which is a record for any United manager in a single season. The worst part is that the season is not yet over. In total he has seen his team play out ten 0-0 draws. 

The Red Devils have only managed to win a game convincingly (by 2 or more goal margin) in just 23 matches. In 10 matches played against the top 4 teams in the league, Van Gaal's United have managed to accumulate 12 points out of a possible 30 (3 wins, 3 draws and 4 defeats). From the goal-less game against PSV to the Boxing Day loss at Stoke, Manchester United failed went winless for 8 matches. The last time this happened was in 1989. Also, within those 8 winless games, the 20 times league winners lost 4 consecutive games. This last happened in 1961 when the club was still reeling from the Munich disaster and thus finished in the 15th position. 

Manchester United current haul of 41 points after 26 game-weeks is the worst since the inception of the Premier league even Moyes had 42 at this stage in the 2013/2014 season. Old Trafford currently the fourth worst record for goals per game in Premier league history with 20 goals in 12 games. Manchester United have scored 15 goals and conceded five at home. The loss to Sunderland and Norwich, back to back home defeats against Southamptom are minor records that the Dutchman has broken.

To summarize, I think Van Gaal should be put out of his misery because he seems to have lost that magic touch that took Nertherlands to 3rd place at the 2014 World Cup.

Give Mourinho a chance!

I have been waiting for a while to write about Jose Mourinho especially during this turbulent times under Louis Van Gaal. The depths Manchester United have sunk to within just 3 years after arguably the greatest manager that football has ever seen, Sir Alex Ferguson, retired has been unbelievable. For a side so used to winning, the prospect of going 3 consecutive seasons without winning a major trophy makes this period excruciating. We, the United faithfuls, thought we had a world class manager who was going to oversee the return of the club back to its glory days after the wreckage caused by David Moyes. Little did we know, we were in for another tough ride. After spending £250 million, our squad looks woefully inadequate for competing for the title. The club's football has taken a dire change for the worse. At the time of writing this report, United were 6 points adrift of Manchester City in the battle for fourth with just 12 games left to play.

With the imminent arrival of Pep Guardiorla at Manchester City, only one man can lead Manchester United   to compete effectively against their noisy neighbours in terms of attracting players and churning out results on the pitch. That man is Jose Mourinho. I have always been been a fan of Jose Mourinho because he is a winner. His knack for making champions out of certain teams that have underachieved in certain tournaments is very impressive. He led Unaio de Leiria to their highest ever placing on the Portuguese league. Under Mourinho's tutelage, the Porto won their first Champions league eliminating several favourites like Manchester United, Deportivo La Coruna and Olympique Lyonnais in the process. The Portuguese coach also led Chelsea to their first league triumph in 50 years with the highest points ever achieved in the Premier league (95) and the lowest goals conceded (15) in a single season. The achievement list goes on and on, not forgetting the treble he won with Inter Milan.

So why is there division in the United board and fans in appointing Mourinho to take over? A coach with 22 team trophies and 28 individual trophies excluding coaches of the month awards is certainly the man needed to control the affairs of Old Trafford. His haters will say he is always followed by controversies which is against the code of conduct of coaches under the United tradition. Ferguson wasn't a saint either, even though he didn't go as far as poking someone's eyes, he sometimes uttered inflammatory comments. In 1997, Ferguson was quoted saying this about Arsene Wenger "He's a novice and should keep his opinions to Japanese football". Not forgetting the Scot's 'fight' with John Magnier, United's largest shareholder at the time, that led to Irish horse racing tycoon selling his shares to the Glazers among others. Van Gaal is not different, several players have expressed their 'hate' for him. Let's not go far, let's take the situations with Di Maria, Valdes and recently Marcos Rojo as examples. 

Before I go on, let me ask this question: Would you take Luiz Suarez at Manchester United? I am sure you answered 'yes' for footballing reasons irrespective of what the player had done in the past. The Suarez situation before he arrived at Barcelona is the similar to Mourinho's now. People including many Barcelona legends and fans condemned the club for even considering signing Suarez. However, a season and a half later, their tunes have changed. I will tell you what Barcelona did with Suarez, in the Uruguayan, they saw massive ability which needed some behavioral control. What they did was to put in place psychological help for the player to curb his bad behaviours. This has allowed Suarez to flourish into arguably the best player in the world at the moment on current form.  We can do similar for Mourinho by allowing the former Chelsea coach sign a behavioral contract. This would place a check on his behaviour and also allow the Portuguese to input his winning mentality back into the veins of our players. I think we should all give Mourinho a chance!