Had Louis van Gaal still been in charge of Manchester United and the club be in the situation they find themselves, then Old Trafford would have to set up an air traffic control tower to manage the airplanes flying their ‘LVG OUT’ banners above.
The fervour last season surrounding the Manchester United manager was something perhaps unprecedented, even in modern football. That the man has managed to keep his mouth shut, and not taken up writing a sneering column for a Dutch newspaper, is remarkable and shows a class which is akin to the mythical one supposed to be at Manchester United.
As Jose Mourinho drops comments about changing mindset and having lots of work to do with the squad, and omits the FA Cup from the squad photograph, Van Gaal shows restraint which some may say matched his football last season.
Many fans have got too much invested in Mourinho to admit he’s not been good enough to date, and perhaps some in the media too. Whilst still in the Chelsea job, Mourinho was already being styled as Manchester United’s rescue act, in a process which went on for some time and put a huge downer on Van Gaal’s final season.
Going back around 11 months, LVG’s head was on the block, with there almost being an excitement to push him out.
It’s worth looking at a timeline just until the end of December:
December 20th: The Independent run an exclusive saying Van Gaal will be sacked if his team lose to Stoke or Chelsea: ‘Louis van Gaal set for Christmas sack if Manchester United lose to Stoke or Chelsea.
Louis van Gaal is facing the sack at Manchester United if the club lose to Stoke City or Chelsea during the festive fixture period.’
December 21st: The Daily Mirror say Van Gaal has ONE game left to save his job and will be sacked if Stoke win.
December 21st: Jan Aage Fjortoft tweets: ‘Been talking to a lot of people last days.
My understanding:
Van Gaal OUT
Giggs the new manager
Could happen before Christmas’
December 22nd: talkSPORT have something of a ‘Van Gaal sacked’ day, insinuating the manager could go that day, and making claims of upcoming announcements.
Andy Goldstein of the radio station tweeted: ‘Lots asking me for news. It’s coming. Be patient. Will be today….so I’m told. My guess would be before 7.30pm’
December 22nd: Trevor Sinclair, who at the time said on his profile he was a BBC pundit, jumps on the bandwagon and tweets that Van Gaal has been sacked. Sinclair later said he’d left his telephone unattended at a Christmas party and someone else had tweeted it, few believed him.
A huge fuss develops, with Kevin Palmer of the Sunday World adding ‘Good to see Trevor Sinclair breaking the news that Man Utd have sacked Louis van Gaal…who needs Sky Sports News!’
December 22nd: The Sun say Mourinho is already working on Manchester United plans, and signing Wesley Sneijder would be his first move.
December 23rd: Van Gaal hosts his Manchester United press conference, clearly angry, asking for apologies over what he calls lies about his sacking being imminent.
Van Gaal ends the press conference, refusing to take questions, but wishes everyone well: “I wish you a merry Christmas and also maybe a happy new year when I see you. Enjoy the wine and a mince pie. Goodbye.”
December 23rd: The Sun’s Neil Custis prepares a response to Van Gaal within hours, turning the manager’s request for an apology full circle and into an attack. Custis uses the name ‘Apollo Gees’.
December 26th: Stoke City 2 Man United 0
December 26th: Paddy Power payout on Van Gaal being sacked: ‘Ho ho ho… Merry Christmas! After today’s defeat Van Gaal’s position at United looks dodgier than cold turkey on Boxing Day so we decided to payout on a Van Gaal exit.’
December 26th: The Daily Mirror: ‘Louis van Gaal on the brink of the sack after Manchester United crash to 2-0 defeat at Stoke. The Red Devils board accepted before the match that another defeat would make the Dutchman’s position untenable.’
December 28th: The Telegraph say Van Gaal could quit, even if Manchester United beat Chelsea, after the manager made comments suggesting he could decide to leave if he wants.
It went on and on, with Jose Mourinho increasingly involved. There was talk of Mourinho already planning for the Manchester United job, sending a love letter, assessing the squad, working out what needed to be improved.
So when Mourinho inevitably took his friend’s job, and it all felt inevitable even back then, he’d be wonderfully placed to have immediate success and show Van Gaal up for the dinosaur he is.
That the big Dutchman didn’t have a mental breakdown under the at times quite nasty reporting, some of which felt like sniggering playground bullying, is impressive. Maybe the red wine helped, but Van Gaal stumbled on to win the FA Cup, and even then on his big day, the news came that he was off.
Manchester United finished level on points with Manchester City, but goal difference saw them drop down a place from the fourth of the previous season, which had been an improvement on David Moyes’ 7th.
The team were 6 points ahead of Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool, and a mighty 16 points ahead of disastrous Chelsea. It should have been better, if Manchester United hadn’t imploded at West Ham, then perhaps they’d be losing in the Champions League this week, rather than Europa League.
It could have also been much worse. Van Gaal was criticised for his brand of football but he knew full well if he didn’t play in a way to protect Manchester United’s defence that they’d regularly be torn to shreds.
Edward Woodward’s pursuit of Sergio Ramos, and concrete reports of other defender chases, showed that Van Gaal wanted a top addition there. He didn’t get it, but was loyal enough to his employer to say he was happy with his squad.
With the defender, and without the sack-by-a-thousand-cuts which started before Christmas, it’s not too hard to conclude that extra point needed for Champions League qualification would have been gained.
What happened, happened. And Mourinho’s entrance into the Manchester United job was all rather special. Make no mistake, this wasn’t a man arriving to rebuild a club, this was very much a man arriving to add the finishing touches and get Manchester United quickly back on their perch.
Twisting a line from Donald Trump, Jose Mourinho was going to Make Manchester United Great Again.
It started off impressively, with Mino Raiola chosen as the hired help, Woodward set off signing some of the best. Manchester United bragged they’d got the best of Italy, Germany and France, along with Eric Bailly from Villarreal.
Were these what Manchester United needed? Did Mourinho know how to fit them all in the team and hit the ground running? Of course, he’d been planning it for months, remember.
Good times.
And then it started to go wrong. Eventually, Wayne Rooney was taken to the alter and sacrificed, a gift to the Gods which would bring good fortune to Our Lord and Saviour Mourinho.
But that didn’t work. Rooney had been terrible, but didn’t have the voodoo powers to make that pass around his teammates during matches. Then it was others, Paul Pogba was a favourite for media criticism, which is kind of inevitable after perhaps the most hyped transfer of all time.
Manchester United, Adidas, Mino Raiola and Paul Pogba himself all helped oil the hype machine. #PogBack and the whole process put so much pressure on a player, who remember is still only 23, that he was always going to struggle to quickly live up to the billing.
Excuses for the team have been plenty and varied. Luck. Cursed, abandoning, luck. Referees, individuals, opponents having the temerity to play well.
Tactics may be more to the point. As Manchester United struggled against Fenerbahce, Owen Hargreaves had a moment away from dreaming up new adjectives to point out the lack of width in the team.
When everything was going through the middle, it wasn’t working, so it seemed obvious to create space by going out wide. It’s pretty much the Manchester United way, but it still didn’t happen enough and it’s not the first time that’s been the case this season.
If Hargreaves and fans can see it, then Jose Mourinho can too, but the manager is in a corner where he’s trying so hard to bring #Pogback, and the Frenchman has been playing reasonably well, that perhaps the team is suffering.
There doesn’t appear to be a plan and Mourinho is getting to the stage now that it isn’t too hard to imagine him screaming at his troops: JUST DO F**KING FOOTBALL.
But it has to work. Mourinho cannot fail and he’s in the fortunate position that everyone has invested too much to let him do so. Fans who welcomed the sacked one as the special one went so deep with their yearning for, and welcoming of, Mourinho that they can hardly abandon ship. It’s only recently that criticism has been allowed, the cult loosening its rules to account for circumstance.
The media too. Whilst Manchester United fans will cry the coverage is unfair, Mourinho is living a relatively charmed life. The Van Gaal farce from December shows that.
There’s nobody hanging over Mourinho like he was with Van Gaal, there’s no obvious way to go from here other than to make it work.
And so those who welcomed Mourinho as the man to show how it’s done are now explaining that he needs time. The perceived difficulty of the job is increasing with every failure, and history being altered to make it look like the task Mourinho has been given is much harder than it actually was.
Manchester United have a good squad, it’s not quite as bad as those trying to inflate Mourinho’s task make it sound. The goalkeeping department is enviable for most clubs in the world, going forward there’s a choice of players including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Anthony Martial, Wayne Rooney and Marcus Rashford, with the deeper support act of Juan Mata and Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
There’s some back-up there too with the often-better-than-expected Ashley Young, along with Jesse Lingard and Memphis Depay.
Midfield of course has Paul Pogba, Ander Herrera, Morgan Schneiderlin, Michael Carrick, Marouane Fellaini and maybe even Bastian Schweinsteiger.
It’s not one of the best midfield and attacking selections in the world, but it’s certainly not too far away from it. Mourinho can mix and match that to get the best result, and he’ll surely get there, it’s on him that he hasn’t found out his plan already.
At the back, Manchester United are only an Eric Bailly better than last season, and with him injured and then off to the Africa Cup of Nations in January, perhaps going into February, it’s no better at all.
Mourinho made it very clear after the Fenerbahce match that he sees Daley Blind as a left back playing in central defence.
And what is a Daley Blind? Is he ever going to be one of the world’s best central defenders? Almost certainly not. One of the great left backs? Nope. A midfielder to drive his team to glory? Don’t think so.
Is he perhaps a world beater at being adept to play in all of those positions to a reasonable standard, but not quite the highest level? Yes, that’s what Daley Blind is.
He’s made so many ‘rare’ mistakes yet it would be easier to get the Oxford dictionary to change the definition of ‘rare’ than to change the mind of his biggest fans.
But at least he’s not the present incarnation of Marcos Rojo.
Manchester United are blessed with potentially the best left back in the world in Luke Shaw. If it wasn’t for his appalling injury then Mourinho may well have never had the chance to take over, because Shaw would have been the difference to gain at least an extra point.
Mourinho must manage Shaw better, a player returning from such an injury needs time and the unconditional support of his manager. Privately and publicly.
He’s not had it and it shows.
At right back Manchester United’s best option is currently Antonio Valencia, but he’s injured, yet deep down somewhere there’s a tune to be played from Matteo Darmian, and again Mourinho needs to get it out of him.
There are problems at the back, addition(s) needed, and the defence needs protecting at least for now. The other departments have the personnel to shine and it’s the manager’s job to enable that.
Talk of a lack of confidence, the wrong mentality, not battling enough… well that’s all the manager’s job too.
Mourinho can’t fail, Manchester United can’t allow him to. There’s nothing sick about the club, the idea of there being deep rooted problems somehow preventing Mourinho from managing well is taking excuses too far.
He has a squad to do much better than it has been doing, and to be much more consistent in performance than to date. Jose Mourinho has a big job on, it’s Manchester United of course, but it’s not quite as difficult as he may have you believe.
