It was of course a midweek to forget for Manchester United supporters as they saw their Champions League qualification hopes crash and burn out in Wolfsburg with the German side going through alongside PSV Eindhoven.
In a group that also contained CSKA Moscow, for a club the stature of United, they should’ve really been bossing that group despite Louis van Gaal’s claims that it was always going to be tough.
Now what lays in wait for the Red Devils is another unwanted spell in the inferior Europa League where United will now have to manage Thursday – Sunday game rotations for as long as they’re in the competition.
Although many argue that playing on Wednesday – Saturday rotations in the Champions League is exactly the same, shifting to the Thursday represents a change to the usual routine and the troubles this has caused teams on Sunday is well documented.
Having spent around £250 million on new acquisitions since arriving in the Old Trafford hotseat, this fact makes it all the more difficult to swallow for United fans whereby an entire generation aren’t used to these gross inconsistencies in the performances.
With this in mind, we’ve taken this moment to devise a list of the five biggest gripes Manchester United have with manager Louis van Gaal at the moment.
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Click on the image below to reveal the five biggest gripes Manchester United fans have with Louis van Gaal.
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His fan-like references to other teams’ capabilities
Following United’s dour 0-0 draw against West Ham United at Old Trafford last Saturday, Louis van Gaal alluded to the fact that either Sergio Aguero or Luis Suarez would’ve scored more goals for the club this season following the full-time whistle.
But should the Manchester United boss really be making statements such as this?
Sounding like a teenage fan rather than an experienced gaffer, it’s not washing with several Red Devils supporters who want van Gaal to start acting far more like a Manchester United manager.
At the end of the day, Ed Woodward has backed him to the hilt with a huge transfer war chest and van Gaal has made the decisions to sign the players he has so we think he should be living and dying by these decisions rather than whining about it not working out.
The fact it’s his way or the highway
He’s only been at Old Trafford for one season and a bit but how many players has Louis van Gaal fell out with so far?
The likes of Rafael, Victor Valdes and Javier Hernandez have either been outcast or sold on from the club as a result of not being deemed good enough by the manager.
But given the fact the club are relying on the likes of Guillermo Varela, Cameron Borthwick-Jackson and Nick Powell right now, surely these previously seasoned campaigners could’ve done a job?
Especially Hernandez who’s departure is starting to look like a huge mistake with the underrated Mexican having scored seven goals in his first 12 Bundesliga appearances for Bayer Leverkusen.
Considering United only have Wayne Rooney and Anthony Martial as centre forward options right now, letting Hernandez go while not adequately filling the position is a huge mistake on the manager’s part.
Free spending ways on players not necessarily good enough
As mentioned at the outset, it hasn’t been like Louis van Gaal hasn’t had huge funds to spend with the manager having been able to go out and land who he wants tin the transfer market.
van Gaal has signed 12 first team players so far in his United tenure with those being Ander Herrera, Luke Shaw, Marcos Rojo, Angel Di Maria, Daley Blind, Victor Valdes, Memphis Depay, Matteo Darmian, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Morgan Schneiderlin, Sergio Romero and Anthony Martial.
But really, how many of those have been good enough over a sustained period to truly believe that the club are moving on well post Sir Alex Ferguson?
With the club giving up on Di Maria perhaps prematurely, elsewhere the likes of Marcos Rojo, Matteo Darmian and Memphis Depay really haven’t blown anybody away.
The bigger problem is that United are splashing huge fees on these guys too and quite simply, it’s a bit of a mockery with many believing the manager is bleeding the club dry.
Although prising the likes of Thomas Muller and Karim Benzema away from their current clubs is virtually impossible, United need to try and land a superstar in the next couple of transfer windows to really turnaround their fortunes.
Perhaps landing Gareth Bale is their best chance if the Welshman decides a return to the Premier League is the way to go in a few seasons.
His ‘boring’ style of play
The most well documented gripe a huge section of United fans have with Louis van Gaal right now is the fact the club just aren’t playing the same brand of football that brought them so much success under Sir Alex Ferguson.
Fergie experienced uncharted success by employing wingers to get chalk on their boots out wide in an expansive style but this has all been in too little supply under the van Gaal regime.
The Dutchman seems to come from a school where grinding out victories no matter what is good on his part but everybody knows that winning isn’t enough at a club such as United – it has to be done in a certain style with flair and verve.
What’s more, van Gaal boasts a level of huge arrogance and self assuredness that he knows best based on his former successes in football but nobody knows the club better than the Manchester United fans and playing this way doesn’t wash.
He uses too many players and doesn’t know his best team
Although injuries have definitely played their part this season and last, just how many players has Louis van Gaal called upon in that time?
Everybody from Paddy McNair to Cameron Borthwick-Jackson has been used and who could’ve ever predicted an eventual breakthrough for Guillermo Varela this term with the Uruguayan being the definition of deadwood only a few weeks back?
So many times in the past, we’ve seen successful Premier League teams of course utilise a large squad but the starting eleven rarely changes, if at all and that’s just not the case with United any more.
van Gaal doesn’t seem to know his best squad given all the tinkering and this could in part explain some of the inconsistencies in results.
