Louis van Gaal’s tenure at Manchester United is now six Premier League matches old, with the addition of one match in the Capital One Cup. United were placed into the second round of this competition courtesy of the club’s seventh placed finish last term, something which the Old Trafford club haven’t experienced since 1995.
With six games having been completed and the Premier League table starting to take shape, it is perhaps the first real chance to compare the starts made by both van Gaal and his predecessor David Moyes, who was dismissed just ten months into his stay in Manchester.
After six Premier League matches in charge, David Moyes’ United had recorded just two domestic victories to go alongside three defeats and a home draw against Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea. In addition, United entered the Capital One Cup at the third round stage, being drawn against fierce rivals Liverpool at Old Trafford on the night Luis Suarez’s suspension for biting Branislav Ivanovic elapsed. United emerged 1-0 winners that night.
In direct comparison, Louis van Gaal isn’t faring much better with his new look Manchester United side, bolstered by the long overdue injections of top quality in the forms of Angel di Maria and Radamel Falcao, recording two victories, two draws and two defeats. United’s sole fixture in the Capital One Cup was an embarrassing 4-0 defeat away to MK Dons.
In terms of pure footballing statistics, there is seemingly little difference in results between the opening to David Moyes’ spell as United manager and that of the incumbent boss Van Gaal. However, in terms of league positioning, United found themselves in twelfth place following a home defeat to West Bromwich Albion in late September last season whilst van Gaal’s United sit seventh, just two points of the top four.
However, when you look at the overall scheme of the two United teams in question, the current crop of stars under van Gaal’s stewardship leave far more reasons to be cheerful than last year.
United’s current problem is quite easily identified, the lack of a commanding central defender who can lead a back four. With the departures of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic having not been addressed in the transfer market, van Gaal has been forced to rely on 20-year-old Tyler Blackett as his defensive mainstay.
Injuries have plagued United’s defense and to a degree can be used to deflect criticism from United’s disappointing defeats to both Swansea and Leicester City, although on the flip side it could be argued that given how easy it is to see United’s defensive frailties, the decision not to bring a centre-half in during the summer is even more difficult to understand.
Going forward is a different story. The current group of international stars all fitted together in the 4-4-2 diamond system are giving United supporters some of the best football seen by the club since the great European Cup winning side of 2008.
Not since a certain Cristiano Ronaldo has there been a United player who could pick the ball up inside his own half and fans simply expect a chance to be created from there, yet Angel di Maria is exactly this player.
United have arguably the best forward line in the Premier League, yet due to defensive worries, are by no means guaranteed a spot in the top four.
This is a sharp contrast to United’s attacking play in the first six matches of David Moyes’ tenure with the tendency to fire seemingly aimless crosses towards the back post leaving United supporters miffed to say the very least.
Whilst results have been similar, the overall feeling around United under Van Gaal is far more positive than a year ago. There is genuine evidence of forward planning and progression and when United finally bring in a centre-half of high quality, then you are looking at a team who could be potential title contenders.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | PTS | |
| David Moyes | Swansea (a) W 4-1 | Chelsea (h) 0-0 | Liverpool (a) L 1-0 | Crystal Palace (h) W 2-0 | Manchester City (a) L 4-1 | West Brom (h) L 2-1 | 7 |
| Louis van Gaal | Swansea (h) L 2-1 | Sunderland (a) 0-0 | Burnley (a) 0-0 | QPR (h) W 4-0 | Leicester City (a) L 5-3 | West Ham (h) W 2-1 | 8 |
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Victor Daniel
November 3, 2014 at 6:35 am
Nice improvement by LVG. Am a chelsea Fan but I think what LVG is doing at United is fantastic. They have quality players but just need one or two finishing touches, it’s certain Man united will end in top four, but I think in premier League this period if u really determined to end top four u have to accumulate points from the smaller teams though u don’t have to underestimate any team but a team like united yes they certainly are small. VG just have to use what he has now or else the next transfer Window might just be too far for his appointment. Start winning united! And let’s meet at the top once again and make Europe proud.. missing u guys on tue and wed. Night live…
mlondi
October 5, 2014 at 7:53 am
Van gaal should work his butt off if he doesn’t want to get fired and to see manchester united go down in flames
Nik Howard
October 4, 2014 at 6:56 am
Luckily, we have the transfer window! Raid some great players, please, van Gaal! One right back, one or two world class central defenders, one tough-tackling world class midfielder, and a world class winger, too, and United are back in serious contention for the title the following season.
Nik Howard
October 4, 2014 at 6:49 am
As for the defence, van Gaal has been slow in dealing with that, but I think the problem, ironically, was that two things were wrong about the summer. First, as with Moyes, United appointed van Gaal too late. Now, this clearly could not be helped this season, given the World Cup and van Gaal’s aspirations there, but it was a big problem LAST season. If Moyes had been appointed much earlier (the previous year), then he would have known his team better and could have bought better with the increased amount of time available to him (hopefully, that is, but he was hardly likely to attract much of world class quality, as van Gaal can, as frankly on the world stage, Moyes was and is a nobody, it must be concluded; harsh for a thoroughly decent and good man, but true, alas). Two, given that late appointment of van Gaal, he did not have enough time to assess his forces. This meant that he wanted to give all a fair chance. However, the pre-season was a false dawn for many players at United. The games United played seemed to indicate good progress and a useful adaptation to van Gaal’s footballing style. Yet the truth was that United faced very largely international opposition abroad (and were lucky, if anything against Liverpool). This, in short, was not a good barometer with which to assess how well United would likely perform in the Premier League. In other words, it seemed United were rather stronger than they actually were. perhaps even van Gaal was even somewhat taken in by the pre-sason successes – enough to believe that things were not all that bad. One the poor results started coming through, van Gaal was decisive and ruthless. One may not agree with ALL of his decisions but one can see why he did what he did. And he has created a formidable line-up in attack, true to United traditions. In a sense, he started at the sexiest place in his re-sculpting of the team: in attack. It is a great shame he did not at least pick up a sound midfeilder like de Jong as well as another good and solid defensive player, but everything cannot be done all at once. If United are not far off the top five come the January transfer window, points-wise, then I think van Gaal can address the issues hopefully in the transfer window and United can mount a shot at the top four, possibly even the top three. Anything higher is most unlikely. If he could get United in the top three or four and won the FA Cup, van Gaal would be, to my mind, an absolute hero in terms of this season! But I suspect there will be rough seas between now and January. Given just how open the league is (below Chelsea), United are still very much have Arsenal and man City in their sights. Let us not underestimate how grand a top-four showing would be from van Gaal, if he makes it, however. Before he arrived, United were in disarray, with an incredibly poor squad. And it has to be said that this was hardly the fault of poor David Moyes. United have been in steady decline for many years, with neither the central defence, nor the central midfield or wingers being dealt with properly by Alex Ferguson. Genius of endeavour and man-management though the latter was, van Gaal is a strategist of some aplomb – nay, probably even of genius. He has fashioned three top sides. Ajax, Barca, and Bayern. he has not always reaped the rewards of that. Let us hope he can at United. he thoroughly deserves another domestic championship. More than that, he deserves his second European Cup. This is thinking big, bu there is no doubt van Gaal means business. I hope United give him ample time, no matter what the result come next May. If he does well in the FA Cup and gets United into some kind of Europe, then for me, that will be a success. I hope he’ll get us into 4th or 3rd, albeit with the current team, that is not really possible, unless the young defenders mature incredibly fast, I’d say…
Rio Ferdinand
October 22, 2014 at 10:20 pm
I predict Man U will end up in 7th position everyone needs to understand when Moyes took over he may have got them to 4th or even 5th however teams like Liverpool and Everton over preformed than the previous season coupled with a team that just didnt want to play can you blaim them when Man U were linked with so many players in the last transfer window the players obviously thought they were surplus or on there way out. Under Van Gaal he has a mountain to climb this is the premier league which has more than four teams fighting for the top place other leagues in Europe have about two or three maximum regardless of who you buy it takes time look at Liverpool last season from there previous look and tottenham they sold Bale and bought a number of players the team just didnt gel therefore the manager had to go if Van Gaal fails to get them to champions league he will be sacked you cant spend 150m+ and not get within the top 4 spots, looking at the results so far its not looking to good
Nik Howard
October 4, 2014 at 6:19 am
I think it is rather short-sighted to compare like with like at this stage, albeit it is always interesting to see how things stood this time last year. However, there is of course no straight comparison. Louis van Gaal teams always take time to adapt to his distinctive philosophy and style. Van Gaal is a world class coach, who needs time. Moyes was a poor appointment – always likely to prove out of his depth at United. Once he had been appointed, it was ridiculous not to have given him a fair chance, but on the other hand, there was the risk that, if he had been given United for two to three or more years, he could have made a total hash of things. In such circumstances and given who United ended up appointing, I think United now have a good managed who DOES require time! What is most important about van Gaal is that he has begun to sort United out. We have incredible quality in attack. He has addressed this thoroughly,
Tony Butterworth
September 30, 2014 at 6:44 pm
Your honor this is all irrelevant.
Last year Moyes used the same team as ended the season with SAF. This year the team style and personnel has been overhauled.
Please move along.
Rio Ferdinand
October 22, 2014 at 10:31 pm
i started to notice that there were activity in the transfer window and he was looking for defenders after that i didnt want to play for him along with a few other players who also noticed that their positions were being looked to be replaced
Yespage
September 30, 2014 at 11:06 am
Could we step back a second and relook at the records. Because when I see the teams Moyes’ United played against, over half of those games were against the top three teams last year: Chelsea, Liverpool (twice), Man City.
So far this season, Manchester United hasn’t played a single team that may even finish in the top half of the table!
Moyes’ team took 6 of 9 points against weaker teams, though only 1 of 9 against the top three (though winning the Sponsor Cup fixture). van Gaal has taken 8 of 21 from weak teams.
Manchester United under van Gaal has hardly matched what they did under Moyes at this point.
Yespage
September 30, 2014 at 11:11 am
I should say 8 points from 18, as the loss against MK Dons wasn’t for points.
Rio Ferdinand
October 22, 2014 at 10:24 pm
totally agree