TIME RAN OUT ON LOUIS VAN GAAL
Looking back on
the season Manchester United has had so far you could probably say that the
team has had a bumpy season under Louis Van Gaal.
First qualifying for the
Champions League and then dropping down to 10th spot in the Barclays
League Table, then during the middle of the season Louis Van Gaal got the team
up to 5th position with the help of some exceptional performances
from Manchester United's young players such as Anthony Martial, James Riley,
Fosu Mensah, Jesse Lingard and of course Marcus Rashford.
These young players have been pivotal in helping the team retain a position in the top half of of
the Barclays Premiere League Table and even helping the team put up a fight to
retain a place in the Champions League, even though the dream of playing in the Champions League Knock out round ended
in the hands of German Club Werder Bremen, the match revealed what was a strong, impressive, performances
from Manchester United's young players such as Jesse Lingard that helped The Red
Devils fight till the bitter end.
With the recent
uplifting performances by Manchester United Young Stars, it’s quite clear why
Coach Van Gaal has continually chosen to play Manchester United's young
starlets for a large portion of games this season and quite frankly I supported him for some time. Lingard, Martial, Rashford, Mensah, and even
Riley for the few games he has played, have all put in good, eye raising shifts
in the pitch this season and as much as Manchester United circle certainly will be happy and proud of the Lads this
season. Evidently, there are certain matches that the young lads will excel in
and last weekends clash against Tottenham was not one of those matches.
Tottenham controlled the rhythm of the game from
the beginning and kept their foot on the gas till referee blew the final whistle
to a final score line that read Tottenham 3 – 0 Manchester United and to be
quite honest, the score should have
read Tottenham 4 Manchester United 0 had
Harry Kane converted the chance that came his way as the game was coming to an
end. The miss by Kane had no effect on the outcome of the game, the damage had
been done and Tottenham walked away with another three points as they continue
their chase for the title leaving Old Trafford to lick it’s wound.
My question to
Van Gaal is, if the team was heading into a crucial match against a team like
Tottenham whom is in excellent form this season and Manchester United knows that
anything less than a point gotten from the game would be disastrous to say the least
to Manchester United's champions league aspirations next season, why would you
choose to put players like Jesse Lingard and Marcus Rashford in the starting
line up and leave Depay and Young on the bench? That to me seems like poor
decision making. If you, as a coach, are leading your team into a very tough
game were the chances of getting even a point were slim but possible, The better advice options to take by any manager will be to start the game with the best eleven players in the team.
Start the game
strong in order to build a solid foundation for the remainder of the match. Coach Van
Gaal did not do that, he instead chose to start the match with Martial and Mata
in the wing, Lingard in the Central Attacking Midfield and Rashford as the lone
striker and leave Memphis, Young and other experienced players on the bench and
that to me just seemed like very poor team selection.
Rather the coach might
have gone with Young and Memphis in the
wing, Mata in the Central Attacking Midfield where Mata is most dangerous
operating from, Matial as the lone striker and leave Lingard and Rashford on
the bench till at least the 66th minute when Manchester United has
gotten a firm flow in the game. If Manchester United had taken this approach in
the game, a healthy portion of the Manchester United circle felt like Manchester United would have had a strong chance of
getting at least a point out of the game.
