LVG Under Pressure To Win The Right Way

Louis Van Gaal go into saturday’s game with just one thing in mind, win. After a poor run of results in his team’s last five games this is the only thing he has to do to appease his fans.

While no United fan could claim to be a fan of the way their team is playing, it is hard to argue too much with the results. Just three weeks ago, before the injury crisis set in, United were second in the table by one point, and were ahead of rivals Manchester City and Arsenal.

Now United find themselves six points behind league leaders Leicester, and grateful to Newcastle for getting a result against Tottenham Hotspur last weekend, otherwise they would have been pushed out of the top four.

However, following weeks of drab football, United adapted their approach slightly in their previous two games, and certainly played more attacking football than they have done, even if it didn’t come close to resembling the greatest of Sir Alex Ferguson’s teams. The main problem for United right now is their inability to score. Van Gaal can’t put the ball in the back of the net for them, and too many United players have been guilty of missing excellent chances, failing to get them on target even, but excuses like that are wearing thin.

Still, if poor results, boring performances and unhappy fans weren’t enough to contend with, Van Gaal is now confronted with two recent Champions League-winning managers currently on the lookout for work. Pep Guardiola is looking set to leave Bayern Munich at the end of the season, while Jose Mourinho has been sacked by Chelsea for a second time, as the club finds itself just one point off the relegation zone almost halfway through the season.

The United fan base seem split on which they would prefer, with Guardiola obviously the more popular of the two, although they should probably be careful what they wish for. Neither manager is famed for his dazzling, attacking football, with Guardiola claiming last month: “What I want, my desire, is to have 100 percent possession.” That’s hardly music to the ears of United fans, who watch their players keep the ball all game and do very little with it.

In contrast, Mourinho, who apparently has his sights set on the United job, is an option for two years maximum. The Special One regularly collapses in his third season, falling out with all the players, bringing embarrassment and ridicule to the club along the way, although he can probably guarantee you a trophy or two in those halcyon early days.

If LVG cannot do something about the poor run of form immediately he can lse his post to someone who can do it the united way.