Mission accomplished for Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal?
Most punters in the Football Transfer Tavern would respond to that question ‘yes’ after the Red Devils’ slender 2-1 victory at Crystal Palace this weekend meant they led arch-rivals and fifth-placed Liverpool by six points with just two Premier League fixtures remaining.
Everybody knows that Manchester United are accustomed to finishing a couple of places higher than the position they currently occupy but the fact remains; they look incredibly likely to rejoin European football’s top table.
With the signature of PSV Eindhoven’s standout Memphis Depay also wrapped up for the summer, Red Devils fans are more optimistic about the future than they were under the ill-fated reign of David Moyes.
To say that United’s quest for Champions League football was plain sailing this term would be far off the mark however and the Old Trafford side are still a shadow of the one who dominated English football under the great Sir Alex Ferguson.
Nevertheless, they now look like they’re on the road to redemption but here are five moments where our resident Red Devils fans thought the wheels were coming off!
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Click on Louis van Gaal to reveal what we think are the worst 5 moments of Manchester United’s season.
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08/02/2015 – LVG’s meltdown in his West Ham United presser
The term ‘dossier’ has never been used as much as it was on the weekend of February 7/8 after Louis van Gaal embarked on bizarre Rafael Benitez-esque post-match rant about long ball tactics following a dour 1-1 draw for the Red Devils away at West Ham United.
The hosts were just minutes away from recording a first top flight victory over United in seven years, only to be denied by a late Daley Blind leveller.
So you think LVG would be delighted to snatch at least one point away in the dying embers of a Premier League fixture in which they looked like they might get none.
Not at all after the Dutch tactician became particularly irked over immediate comments by Hammers boss Sam Allardyce who attacked the Red Devils over their adopted long ball style at Upton Park. Rich considering the success Allardyce has enjoyed utilising such a style!
van Gaal was so irked that he produced a dossier of his tactics to the press detailing why his un-United like tactics were justified against the Hammers.
At this time, you could sense LVG was feeling the pressure in the race for fourth!
21/09/2014 – The horror show at the King Power Stadium
Tottenham 5 Chelsea 3 was one of the most entertaining games of the season but it could probably be trumped by this one – that is if you were a neutral!
Manchester United fans were subjected to an absolute horror show away at Leicester City back in September.
The Foxes look like remaining in the Premier League against the odds after a last gasp string of wins but three points they will remember more than most came against United on a day whereby Robin van Persie and Angel Di Maria had put the Red Devils 2-0 up in just 16 minutes.
You got the sense this game wasn’t going to go to plan after Leonardo Ulloa grabbed a goal back just a minute after Di Maria’s sublime strike and fast forward to full time and United had lost 5-3 to the newly promoted side.
What’s more; Ander Herrera actually put them 3-1 up on the day only for David Nugent, Esteban Cambiasso, Jamie Vardy and Ulloa (again) to pile on the misery!
26/08/2014 – Oh no, it’s Moysey mark II!?
Manchester United had suffered some truly awful un-United like defeats under the reign of David Moyes but this emphatic defeat to League One MK Dons in the Capital One Cup really took the biscuit!
United were performing in the third round of the League Cup for the first time in a long while courtesy of their dour finish under Moyes the season before and our resident United fans were witnessing a nightmare before their very eyes when Will Grigg opened the scoring on 25 minutes.
Karl Robinson’s men have actually achieved promotion to the Championship for the first time in their short history this term and this feat was in so small part due to the goals of Benik Afobe earlier in the season.
Having since gone on to become something of a goalscoring machine at Wolverhampton Wanderers, Afobe made everybody sit up and take notice this night at Stadium:MK scoring a brace in addition to Grigg’s other strike to compound a truly forgettable night for van Gaal who will now never ever forget where Milton Keynes is on the map!
09/03/2015 – He’s no longer ‘dat guy’ anymore
In a classic case of biting off the hand that once fed you, everybody will associate March 9th 2015 as the night in which Danny Welbeck came back to haunt Manchester United.
Sold to old foes Arsenal on summer transfer deadline day after being deemed surplus to requirements by Louis van Gaal, Welbeck responded to this snub in the best way possible by latching onto a misplaced Antonio Valencia back pass to round David De Gea before prodding the ball into an empty Old Trafford net.
Unable to pass up on celebrating, Arsenal fans got some sort of retribution on their United counterparts who had been growing used to taunting Gooners over their sale of Robin van Persie before Welbeck.
Arsenal progressed to the semi-final stage to take on Reading while United exited, signalling a trophyless first season in charge for van Gaal.
02/11/2014 – Chris Smalling at his worst
He wasn’t so confidently branded the future of Manchester United’s defence like counterpart Phil Jones (one of Sir Alex Ferguson’s more questionable claims!) and Chris Smalling continues to make our resident Red Devils supporters feel uncomfortable when marshalling the back line.
Many a time this term, United fans have been reminiscing the defensive partnership of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic with Smalling, Jones and Jonny Evans often not looking capable of keeping opposition attacks out.
With Depay already in the bag, United need to set their sights on landing some world class defensive additions in the summer such as Mats Hummels due to the incompetencies of the aforementioned pros and the injury troubles suffered by Marcos Rojo in his debut season.
Smalling’s worst hour came away at the home of United’s arch-rivals and noisy neighbours Manchester City back in November where he picked up a second yellow card in the 39th minute for a reckless foul on England team-mate James Milner.
In a tackle branded as ‘stupid’ by his manager Louis van Gaal, Smalling subjected United fans to not only a crushing 1-0 derby day defeat but the rest of us to a drab Super Sunday showing that was killed the minute 11 vs 11 went to 11 vs 10!
