After the 2014-15 season ended (and Man Utd had finished fourth), writing for ESPNFC.com, Ian Macintosh had argued that Manchester United’s arrogance was back. This arrogance comes from the history of being the top team in England for better part of the Premier League era, and it was something David Moyes just couldn’t contemplate.
He had written: “Arrogance suits United. They wear it well. That's why David Moyes failed at Old Trafford. He just couldn't grasp the mentality of the club. It is fuelled by the kind of arrogance that is so arrogant that it would not actually recognise itself as being arrogant. It would instead simply consider itself to be better than you and would then refuse to give the matter a second thought.”
He had ended his article commenting that it seemed like the arrogance that propelled Manchester United to the top of pile in English football was back. Now as we reach the half-way mark in the Premier League season, that arrogance has been conspicuous by its absence The man who many claim is a ‘genius’ has spent £250 million since he took charge, but the club are no better off than they were in the Moyes era.
The only difference seems to be that the rest of the league’s top guns – Chelsea FC, Manchester City and Arsenal – seem to be sputtering as well, which explains why Manchester United are within touching distance with the league leaders. And it’s not just the drab performances on the field, or the disappointing results, but the comments that follow which suggest that Manchester United fans to forget about the Sir Alex Ferguson era and accept mediocrity in the Premier League.
After crashing out of the Champions League he was quoted saying: “You have to analyse the club as it is now. You cannot compare it with 10 years ago because there is an evolution in football and in European football. Now we have many more clubs who have the money, who also have the structure to – and are able to – win something. It is the same in the Premier League.”
Can you imagine Sir Alex Ferguson saying this? That the competition has evolved and it’s okay to be mediocre and not get better.
In his new book Leading he had written that even after City’s last-minute injury time winner in 2012, he would keep reinforcing the idea that no club was ever going to be bigger than Manchester United. He had written: “I was able to keep reinforcing the ideology that no club was bigger than United – no matter whether their owner controlled all the oil in the Persian Gulf or every coal mine in Russia.” It was the belief, along with the signing of Van Persie that would help Manchester United come back and win the Premier League the following season.
Related Read: Meet Manchester United's new kids -- Anthony Martial, Memphis Depay, Luke Shaw and Adnan Januzaj
What exactly is Van Gaal’s philosophy?
Exactly why did Van Gaal allow players like Rafael da Silva, Jonny Evans, Tyler Blackett, Patrice Evra, Nani, Fletcher, Angel Di Maria, Shinji Kagawa, James Wilson, Adnan Januzaj and Javier Hernandez to leave? And that too together.
Di Maria when he arrived was (and still is) the most expensive Premier League player of all time. Yet one season later, he’s moved on for a loss. Di Maria explained he left because he didn’t get Van Gaal’s philosophy. He had said: “Van Gaal has his philosophy and one of the things that made me want to leave is that. It is difficult to adapt to Van Gaal. I had a couple of rows with him.”
One would assume this has something to do with Di Maria’s defensive work-rate which begs the question – what’s the point of buying a derby horse and treating it like a donkey? Or to use a quote from Di Maria’s teammate Zlatan Ibrahimovic, when he told Van Gaal’s protege Pep Guardiola (another philosophy enthusiast): “You bought a Ferrari, but you drive it like a Fiat.”
The decision to sell Javier Hernandez is equally baffling. An old-school striker with pace, little Chicharito always made it a point to get on the end of things in the box, as he’s shown at Bayer Leverkusen with 15 goals in 12 appearances. But Van Gaal never really gave him a chance, shipping out to Madrid on loan and then selling him.
Kagawa is another interesting loss, and an argument can be made that he never got to play in his favoured number 10 position and it’s hard to see him doing worse than Felliani there. Equally baffling is the loan move for promising youngster Adnan Januzaj, one of the few bright marks from David Moyes’ ill-fated reign.
Are all these moves part of some mysterious plan? Part of the ‘philosophy’ we keep hearing about which we can’t understand like the mysterious organisation called Spectre in the new James Bond movie (or why they keep on making James Bond movies in the 21s Century)?
The truth is that Manchester United has survived on one simple philosophy -- defend well, pass the ball and score more goals than the opposition. Former Man Utd player and an avowed Van Gaal critic, Paul Scholes summed it up best when he described Man Utd's true philosophy: "It hasn't been great for 13 months, but I better not say too much because Louis might be listening," he said recently. "There's been talk of a philosophy, a process. For me, Manchester United don't need a philosophy. The fans want to see attacking football and goals -- that's the Manchester United way."
The sooner Louis van Gaal realises this, the better it is for every one involved.
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