I just want to write this post about some of the decisions that Louis van Gaal has been making with the Manchester United team sheet. A lot has been said in recent weeks about the formations and the players that he has chosen and the decisions behind that.
I'm going to focus on today's match against QPR as an example of this. He started the match with a 3-5-2 formation. It is his philosophy and a formation that he has had a lot of success with in the past. It is not one that United have had success with in the past though. Whenever the team play in this formation, to me, they just seem lost and look like they don't know what they're actually doing on the pitch. The most successful way for a United team to play has been in 4-4-2. Van Gaal wants them to embrace his philosophy and won't play them that way. Due to the fact that he was known as a "tactical genius" at the World Cup, this just doesn't seem to add up that he would allow them to play this way for so long. It could just make things go from bad to worse, however.
Another thing that seemed to confuse the team today was that Angel Di Maria started up front and Wayne Rooney played in behind them in midfield. Rooney has looked comfortable playing in this position in recent matches but Di Maria looks like he's completely lost and has never stepped foot on a football pitch before in his life. Every time the ball came to him, he seemed to panic and couldn't make a decision that would benefit anyone in his team. None of the players were able to string many passes together either without passing it to an opposition player or without it going out of play.
Now, this formation is good for keeping possession and in some way that should benefit a team. The team just can't create any chances though. They can pass the ball and when they get to the 18 yard box, instead of crossing it in; they pass it back and end up with the ball being at their goalkeeper's feet. Every time Antonio Valencia got the ball, he seemed afraid to cross the ball in. Also, Daley Blind didn't seem to be able to get onto the ball much in the first half, which doesn't benefit the team. If he had been playing in a more central role he might have been able to influence the game much better.
At some point in the game, van Gaal seemed to realise that this system just wasn't working for them. QPR seemed to be outplaying United in many ways. Still, even at half time, he brought on Marouane Fellaini for Juan Mata, but he still didn't change the formation. He left it the same for another 15 minutes! After the first 20 minutes, it was clear that United weren't going to win the game if they didn't change something.
Finally, just before the hour mark, van Gaal brought off Jonny Evans and replaced him with James Wilson, allowing the players to play in their favoured 4-4-2 formation. The players instantly looked comfortable and within a minute of the change, Fellaini scored the opener, and the assist came from Antonio Valencia who ran at his defender.
Even though QPR had some chances, the United players were finally comfortable and seemed to deal with the chances better. Di Maria had moved back into midfield and he looked a lot more dangerous, he was running at players and creating passes that troubled the defenders. Everything looked up after the change, especially when Wilson finished off the match with a nice finish that ended the game 2-0.
Hopefully, for the United fans, van Gaal will stay with the 4-4-2 formation, especially looking forward to the FA Cup game next weekend. They've been calling out for him to use the preferred formation and allow the players the freedom they get in it. It looks like if he does continue to use this formation, he could just go back to the winning run he had a little earlier on in the season. If he doesn't? Well, United could look to be losing a lot more points than they had imagined...
No comments:
Post a Comment