WHY SAY ANYTHING?

(Louis explains why he is not under any pressure despite having spent £258 million and having a record worse than David Moyes)

The source of the above statement is the Daily Mirror, (so it must be true!), and it is based on figures from December, 2015. Here is the article.

So the pressure on van Gaal has eased following a, so far, unbeaten January. Why is this?

The month started with a 2-1 win over Swansea who, quite frankly, were awful until around the 80th minute. They then decided to show a little bit of spirit and, almost immediately, scored an equaliser. Once again this demonstrated that United ‘s defence is not the castle wall that van Gaal seems to think it is. Bear in mind that this game was at Old Trafford and Swansea could well be relegated this season, meaning that this result was hardly a reason for ecstasy among the United faithful.

The next game of January saw the reds welcome Sheffield United to Old Trafford. Two divisions below Manchester United, an easy win was expected and should have been delivered. As it turned out it was a struggle from start to finish and again exposed the weaknesses in van Gaal’s team, but this time in the attacking third. It took a penalty in the 93rd minute to win this one.

After the game van Gaal made no friends by coming up with excuses about the opposition defending with ten men behind the ball, etc., etc. Guess what Louis, better teams than Sheffield United have employed those tactics in the past and Mancheater United have still been able to record some comfortable wins against them!

In the next game, away at Newcastle, van Gaal seemed to have decided that United should actually try and win the game. The problem they have is that, if they are set up to attack, then they concede goals as they can’t really defend very well. If they are set up to defend then they can’t score, a problem which occasionally afflicts them even when set up to score. A lot of this stems from van Gaal’s insistence on playing people out of position.

In this game they coasted into a two goal lead before Newcastle really woke up. The problem was that, upon awakening, Newcastle exposed the obvious deficiencies in the United defence and brought the game back to 2-2 with relative ease. Still Manchester United should have won the game when Rooney made it 3-2 with only a few minutes remaining, but again, the defence fell asleep and allowed Newcastle to equalise with only a minute left on the clock.

Then came the fan’s favourite, an away win at Anfield. What I found amazing was how easily everybody appeared to forget how badly United played in this game. As a United supporter for over fifty years, yes, I get it. It was a win over Liverpool and needed celebrating but not to the extent whereby no comments on the performance were allowed.

In trying to be realistic online I commented that United were lucky to win the game, which they were. I pointed out that this Liverpool team is average, as is this United team and, to score with virtually the only shot on target all game demonstrated that it was United’s day. The reaction I got was amazing. “I should just be happy we won”, (I was, by the way), “the performance wasn’t important, we beat Liverpool”!

I can accept these remarks after all, it is freedom of speech which allows us all to say what we want, when we want. What makes them a little less palatable is that they are from THE SAME PEOPLE who, for most of the other games, are asking for van Gaal to be sacked, saying how boring United are even when they win, pointing out how rubbish this United team is compared with others. I think the word I am looking for is; hypocrites.

The point I am trying to make is that Louis van Gaal has NOT suddenly worked out how to manage Manchester United. He has had a decent January against two teams in the relegation zone, (one of which they failed to beat despite leading twice), a team two divisions below themselves and a fortuitous win at Anfield.

According to Bryan Robson, whose conversation and views are very limited, everybody who matters at Old Trafford is behind van Gaal. By everybody who matters I guess he means Ed Woodward, who knows very little about football but did appoint van Gaal and, therefore, has the most to lose reputation-wise if/when it doesn’t work out.

Robson himself who, as a permanently tipsy looking ambassador for the club, is picking up large pay cheques for doing very little, should keep his opinions and his rather portly frame in the background. He was a great player and captain, as was Sir Bobby Charlton, so why can’t he be more like him. They are even from the same part of the world!

Whilst on the subject of Sir Bobby, neither he nor Sir Alex are as influential now as they were a couple of years ago simply because they both endorsed the appointments of Moyes and van Gaal and it looks as though neither will end up being a success. They may not have much influence on who is to be the next manager.

Unfortunately, Ed Woodward probably will have some influence on the identity of the next manager, which is a pity because United should leave him in charge of the sponsorship deals and employ a Director of Football for all football matters.

January has been a lucky month for United in that they have picked up points in all their league games so far. They have not been games where points should have been dropped but they still did the business, in the main.

For some strange reason, this has eased the pressure on van Gaal, as wins often do on a manager. The problem is that anybody with any football knowledge whatsoever can see through the thin veneer of these wins and knows that they could just as easily have been points dropped as points gained.