It’s become a universal truth, hasn’t it? If you have been diagnosed with insomnia or you are struggling to sleep, all you’ve got to do is what Manchester United play. 6 or 7 years ago, if you wanted to wake up from you sleep with a start, all excited and active, all you needed to do was watch the Manchester United or Sir Alex Ferguson’s reign play, such was the vibrancy and attractiveness with which that side played. And almost each bit of it has vanished into thin air under Louis van Gaal, as the Dutchman looks to build a United side that can challenge for the Champions League once again.
Week in, week out, we’ve got accustomed to saying and hearing this- Manchester United play boring football. Andrei Kanchelskis referred to United players as a ‘robot’ operating in an excessively rigid system, where they are governed by certain restrictions. Supporters have expressed their discontent about the style of play that van Gaal is adhering to and they have been coerced into booing their own players at Old Trafford, because of one sole reason- an unattractive brand of football.
- Sign a pacy player
Louis van Gaal has expressed his opinion about doing the same quite a few times in press conferences and interviews with the media and almost did the same this past summer when he missed out on signing Sadio Mane from Southampton. Every time, you watch United play, you will realize that they need a burst of energy, pace and acceleration in there to blast things into action around the box. The sluggishness in passing during lead ups to goals are too much and it seems United take too many touches of the ball before having a shot on target. Or let put it this way- they lack the courage to go past opposition or even if they have it, they haven’t got the skill set to do it.
At Bayern Munich too, Louis van Gaal had attracted a fair amount of detractors who kept on saying that he was professing a boring brand of football. The playing style involved dictating tempo in the central midfield area, taking control of the game from there and the tempo hit full throttle around the box, where players with pace such as Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery sprang into action. We’ve seen glimpses of resembling style against sides like CSKA Moscow, West Bromwich Albion and the likes, but United have been made to pay by the inexperience the players with pace have. Players like Anthony Martial, Jesse Lingard, and Memphis Depay do have pace, but United don’t just need pace, they need an eye for a pass and an eye for a goal.