Van Gaal lays foundations that future managers must build on

Louis van Gaal has laid the defensive foundations of which entertaining attacking play can be built on, but probably from someone else. Source: The Guardian

Many people have rightly claimed that the footballing philosophy that Louis van Gaal has brought to Manchester United has made them a dull, relatively predictable attacking team.

While the ideas he has put in place, centring around structure and possession of the football, have helped solidify a leaky defence, it has in turn stifled the attacking flair of which Sir Alex Ferguson’s teams were fondly remembered for.

With that significant comes criticism, rightly or wrongly, for the direction that the team is going in under the Dutchman. Many question whether it will win the club anything and even if it does, whether it would have been worth watching the mundanity of it all.

Some would also argue that the amount of money that United have spent in the last two summers demands trophies. That others have spent similar or less and have achieved results, therefore the same should be said of this current crop of players at Old Trafford.

However, some are forgetting what he inherited. The end of the Ferguson era saw the Moyes era and he simply could not lay the foundations that would stand the club in good stead not just in their immediate future but for many seasons to come.

They went backwards, without a real plan in attack or defence and with a squad that was waning, he could not put enough in place quickly enough to make a stark change.

In came Van Gaal, in came big changes to personnel and for a brief moment, it worked. The autumn was solid but it lead to a relatively bleak winter that saw United begin to dip in form. Unable to defend and with a lack of potency up front, they stagnated.

Then, there was a sign of real life.

United’s 3-0 win against Spurs, with Rooney’s “knockout” goal, was the real standout performance of last season.  Source: The Mirror

A 3-0 performance at Old Trafford against Tottenham Hotspur was a real marker of what this team can do. There was a real energy when the ball was played forward, the team pressed high and were rewarded with quick counters in the final third that Barcelona have proved in the last few years can be so deadly.

It didn’t require a huge amount of possession, with only 52%, and despite having 11 shots on goal, only three were on target. They all ended in the back of the net, a pretty regular symptom of the new Manchester United, of which that if they tend to work a goal-scoring opportunity, it at least ends in the back of the net.

And again, it was built of the solid defensive play from earlier in the season. Spurs failed to have a shot until the 89th minutes, the on-fire Harry Kane was completely anonymous and they build on top of that with a high-press, quick attacking game.

It lasted a few games before the team ran out of steam. In came a few more signings in the summer, some extra youthful injection as well as some real solidarity in midfield and other than potentially a real solid centre-back, it was the summer the team were begging for.

From the start of the season up until now, the team haven’t set anyone alight.

Van Gaal’s tactics in most games are set up almost not to lose or concede, which seem much more sensible when you consider the plights of Chelsea but seem outrageous when you can’t be adventurous away at Leicester City, a team that have been on quite the run but aren’t the most formidable defensive team.

Instead, they tried to stop the Foxes entertaining attack and for the most part they did, it did not end in a win but the team that was set out, with three centre-backs and two defensive midfielders, although Bastian Schweinsteiger did become more advanced once they went behind.

United were abject against Leicester, bar a solid showing from Schweinsteiger. Source: Manchester Evening News

What one can learn from these displays is that Van Gaal is at least providing a foundation of which the team can build from. No one wanted to join with Moyes in charge, he has attracted young talent that will grow with the club and their attacking flair will come to the fore at some point.

The defence can now defend properly and if Luke Shaw wasn’t injured, the back line might never have changed all season. Daley Blind has held his own, Phil Jones has impressed when fit and Chris Smalling has been a revelation. If Matteo Darmain can rediscover his confidence, it’s a good unit that is now finally protected by a solid defensive midfielder with good interplay skills in Morgan Schneiderlin.

They have the best defence in the league, conceding 10 goals in 14 games and in an era when defending has become an afterthought for some teams. It’s impressive when heading into the season, people thought they desperately needed a centre-back but all they needed was a firm structure and a bit of consistency.

While it’s clear that he’s restricting the attacking players, which is only more frustrating when you look at the talent and how some performed at the back end of last season, they have a solid backbone. Either Van Gaal will eventually let some of the reigns loose as his team continues to hold off others or someone else will make it so, much like at every other club the 64-year-old has been at.

Barcelona and Bayern Munich are both lauded for their attacking flair but what is also forgotten about, especially under Pep Guardiola, is the fact that they don’t concede many goals either. They had a basis, of which attacking play was then build upon and then the success would come.

It might be difficult to tell at the moment and a little inconsiderate to ask for people to wait for this to work but at least there looks to be a plan. Other teams spend in hope, as have United, but it’s with the intent to advance the team for the foreseeable future.

The days of traditional wing play and counter attacking football is gone, at least for the time being. The club are doing what every other rebuild should do, rebuild from the back and then move forwards, then you can create a team capable of winning silverware on a regular basis.

Whether it will be Van Gaal at the helm when that does happen is unlikely but United fans should not fret too much, the foundations are at least laid for a real identity to be placed upon them sooner rather than later.

England’s selection headaches

Hodgson needs to start sticking to a line-up or they’ll come unstuck against better teams. Source: The Guardian

Another Euro 2016 qualifier, another win. It’s hard to argue that Roy Hodgson isn’t doing a good job but at the same time, there’s still a lingering headache with fans with his incoherent team selection.

It began with the starting eleven, with Phil Jones starting at right-back instead of the natural full-back Nathaniel Clyne. Despite Jones having a few good games in the position, especially at club level, it’s not a natural fit and common sense would suggest that when you have someone of Clyne’s ability at your disposal, it makes the choice even more suspect.

Then after Jones was removed due to injury at half-time, Hodgson decided to move Jordan Henderson into the back four and bring on Adam Lallana. It’s an attacking change and England needed more impetuous after going behind, it still didn’t make much sense to weaken the middle of the park just to add another dimension in the final third.

Can people stop playing Phil Jones at right-back, please? Source: The FA

That’s not a slight on Lallana, who did make a difference, or Henderson, who did a capable job, but it only got more absurd when Clyne finally came on just after Slovenia’s equaliser. It almost felt like a token appearance, five minutes isn’t enough time to really impact the game and questions have to be asked about how England set up.

It’s not just the right-back position that was at fault, how Andros Townsend was chosen over Theo Walcott will boggle the mind for days. Townsend, who can’t get a game for Tottenham Hotspurs, has had a few decent performances for England which surely justifies his place in Hodgson’s mind over the in-form, FA Cup winning Theo Walcott.

If England are to take anything out of the game, it’s that they need more tactical flexibility and they need to start picking a consistent defensive line-up. Wayne Rooney had a pretty poor game but at the same time, all too often he was the only player in the box at any given time and that needed to change.

Walcott, even in a rich vein of form at the end of the season, can’t get a look in. Source: The Guardian

Adding Lallana was better, he tried to fill in the gap behind him along with Jack Wilshire but Townsend provided no width on the right, coming too far inside and staying out of the box. With Michael Carrick injured and no other quality options in his absence, Hodgson needs to be confident enough to play a 4-2-3-1 so that there are more choices for playmakers in the final third.

The defence also needs solidifying as his chop-changing style isn’t helping anyone. Chris Smalling and Gary Cahill is probably the ideal match-up, both because of age and style, but they need to play together regularly. He also can’t keep switching who’s at left-back, Kieran Gibbs was poor on the second goal and Ryan Bertrand didn’t do too much to be dropped so he needs to choose a solid line-up at the back.

Having pretty much qualified for Euro 2016 with a win, Hodgson now needs to use the games in the Autumn and next year to solidify the team, add the flexibility and make sure they’ll be ready against quality opposition. The mistakes made here will be severely punished by bigger teams and rather than wasting the time to test out players, Hodgson needs to use the valuable time the team have together to make them a better outfit ready for tournament football.