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bmg033
BR.
SpinSwimScream
Sam
Sam
Based Jorge
Ninja
Really thought he'd crack it this season though with a bit more familiarity with the league, but he doesn't seem like he can be arsed to have a crack at it and when he's ended the season being back up to Ashley Young it is hardly a huge loss. If he does want to go to France there's really no point putting up a fight for someone who's not close to being a key player for us.
Pedro's a decent replacement I guess, although I think it leaves our attack short of star quality and a lot of reliance on Memphis to have a good season.
.verse
Ninja
And while we're at it it, I'm pretty sure I saw Van Gaal in the Middle East a few months before the appearance of ISIS so I bet thats his fault too.
He just didn't have a good season (unlike Mata and Rooney who you bizarrely list above) he played quite well centrally to start with but unlike at Real Madrid he couldn't be bothered to do any defensive work and was rightfully moved out of there in the aftermath of the capitulation at Leicester. He then got injured for a month around Christmas time, had his house broken into and didn't play well again. I also suspect in that entire time he did not train well either. His only obstacle to having a nailed down first team spot was Ashley Young for the entirety of the second half of the season; Young had a decent season, but if Di Maria wasn't showing enough in training to displace him then that's no ones fault but his own.
If I had to speculate? I don't think he ever particularly wanted to come (he was very close to joining PSG first time round, and was very unequivocal in his desire to stay at Madrid) and as soon as the going got tough he couldn't be bothered to fight.
Sam
Started really well, got a couple of injuries (although that's no excuse - players get injured) and then after the burglary he was understandably shook up, lost confidence and never recovered. He never wanted to leave Real in the first place, nor for that matter join us, if it wasn't for FFP he would have gone to PSG. It seemed like he struggled to settle in Manchester and the burglary messed up any chance of that situation improving.
On the pitch after returning from injury he didn't look bothered. And never looked up to the challenge, put no effort in and looked disinterested. All of this is down to him, and it seems like he's taking the easy option out and joining PSG. He was meant to report to us in America but skipped his flight, if that's his attitude then just sell him.
I'm disappointed he's leaving, I was hoping he'd fight back this coming season. But I'm not devastated, we'll be fine without him.
Eric Portapotty
For fuck's sake.
Ninja
It's just a stupid accusation.
The two players LVG has supposedly mismanaged have both just had poor seasons. Especially when no one bothers to quantify what exactly 'mismanagement' entails.
I mean, why Di Maria has struggled is so entirely obvious, and so entirely well precedented, that I don't see why people feel the need to start inventing sub-plots that just don't exist.
If Di Maria does leave, as is looking likely, then the only real sad part of the story is that he never tried to make it. The figure he cut on the pitch here was different to that at Madrid - he worked far less hard - the figure he cut off the pitch was of one who was not willing to fight for his place, and at the first opportunity will have jumped ship to what is unquestionably an easier league. It's a shame, because if he had wanted to make a success of himself here he unquestionably could have done it but he doesn't seem to want to.
Sam
Don't you realise that everything is LvG's fault?! Wait till you read Duncan Castle's article today.
Anyway, Pedro not a bad replacement. Even if he does arrive I hope we give Adnan and Lingard some games this season. We get a defender in and then I'm happy with the squad.
Poe
Ninja
Read it unfortunately, I don't really understand how a man who has no sources and is an uninspiring writer has made a career in journalism, to the point where his articles are published in the Times, but there you go.
For...
Poe
Obviously he can't help him wanting to leave etc. I don't think he's been 'mismanaged' but I do think a bit albeit not much blame lands at LvG's door.
Poe
Obviously he can't help him wanting to leave etc. I don't think he's been 'mismanaged' but I do think a bit albeit not much blame lands at LvG's door.
Ninja
Well yes, if you're going to be that simplistic about it then he does.
But there's a litany of players it hasn't worked out for at clubs across the world, and when the player had such obvious personal problems as this it seems weird to blame it on the manager in this instance. LVG couldn't have moved Manchester to Paris.
Where the club do deserve blame is for signing a player who didn't really want to come. But without having been privy to the negotiations it is hard to know how forthright Di Maria was about what he wanted until after he had already signed.
Based Jorge
Should've just put di Maria in his best position which is part of a midfield three instead of making Fellaini the CAM with Rooney for some reason shifted into a deep role. He probably wasn't the best fit but he could've been a whole lot better than he was, and a massive part of that is down to LVG himself, who is absolutely piss poor at man management.
Ninja
Di Maria had his chance in midfield, if he wasn't so sloppy in possession and actually had been bothered to do defensive work he might have stayed there. But as good as he was going forwards he was a huge liability. So he was trialled - and I stress trialled, it lasted for 2 games maximum - as a striker to see if you could get the benefits of Di Maria being central without the defensive headaches it was giving us - you couldn't. So he went back to being a winger, the position he was primarily bought for anyway, and carried on performing fairly well. But his performances dropped and when he was eventually benched he didn't show enough to get his place back.
Your last point about his man management is just ridiculous, for all the criticisms of him as a manager you only have to ask the staggeringly large amount of world class footballers that credit van Gaal with huge chunks of their development to know that far from being a 'piss poor' man manager he's actually one of the best the games seen over the past 15-20 years. It's a ridiculous criticism to level against him. Even if your entire knowledge of football is based entirely on the last two seasons at Manchester United its easy to see the respect and admiration he garners from his players and the ability he has to improve them,.
Based Jorge
Man management =/= progression of players careers. Of course he might have nurtured them and made them better, but that doesn't mean he treats everyone the same. He has his favourites, pies of the rest and once his favourites wash-up he gets rid. If there was anyone with a bit of backbone in the United squad there'd be a revolt fairly quickly; though it seems as if that's an area United lack in for the first time from when I can remember. Add that to the fact he's a (justified, unlike Rodgers) arrogant twat it seems as if he could turn a lot of players head the wrong way fairly easily.
Ninja
Also, Fergie was probably the best man manager the game has ever seen and he had frequent, and high profile, fallings out with some very big names.
Based Jorge
Difference is that with Fergie there was always a sense of mutual respect between him and the players. With LVG it doesn't really seem like the case with no real camaraderie in the team if a player is being treated like shite by him, as he has done with di Maria & Valdes. Almost like Magath minus the national service training & actually being a decent manager.
Ninja
How on earth were either of those two treated like shit?
Based Jorge
The geezers a crack-pot and I'm thankful he isn't the manager of my club, put it that way.
Ninja
Jesus wept.
Wenger would react in exactly the same way in both of those circumstance by the way, unless you think that form has no impact on selection at Arsenal.
Sam
The majority of the players seem to be doing fine under LvG, happy and enjoying their football, any mention of them?
Based Jorge
His volatile style of management has upset numerous star players in the past which is well noted. A couple of bad results and there could be a major backlash from the players, that's all I'm saying.
In terms of his ability he's probably the worst manager out of all the top 4 teams. But he's obviously still very good.
bmg033
Sam
I'm just joining in the other hyperbole being tossed around.
He didn't wish to play him, but he did anyway to help him out. What a dreadful man manager.