As the Premier League is all set to kick off, 18 Yard Box's contributor Aseem Gadgil takes a look at how van Gaal would line his team up to suit the quintet.
The
2013-14 season of the English Premier League, for Manchester United fans,
proved to be a forgettable one. The giants of English football, who had never
finished outside of the Top 3 positions in the Premier League era, found
themselves languishing at an unexpected 7th place. For the first
time, in over two decades, Manchester United failed to qualify for European
football. David Moyes, then Manager of MUFC, was unceremoniously shown the door
even before the season ended. Ryan Giggs took command as Interim Manager and
the hunt for a new Boss began.
United’s
crosshairs finally zeroed in on Louis van Gaal, who has had an illustrious
career managing some of Europe’s top teams like Bayern Munich, Ajax Amsterdam
and FC Barcelona. 15 major trophies adorn his resume, as of now. After leading
an average Netherlands side to a 3rd place finish in the World Cup, Van
Gaal’s tactics and his composure during the games were applauded the world over
and United fans were relieved to see the club in seemingly able hands.
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van Gaal's real test begins today
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It would be an
understatement to say that the Old Trafford faithful are curious and excited to
see how their team will be approaching this coming season, especially after the
clueless and disastrous brand of football played in the previous one. A quick
study of van Gaal’s managerial career would be enough to show that his teams
play attacking football and manage to grind out results, more often than not,
even with average squads. Something which reminds one and all of the Sir Alex
Ferguson era.
The
van Gaal revoultion
Van
Gaal has taken no time to impose his style of play. Where Sir Alex
relied on the conventional 4-4-2, van Gaal’s side adopt a 3-5-2 with marauding
wingbacks. The United side will need to adapt to this style of play quickly and
going by their pre- season results, things seem quite under control. However,
the biggest challenge which van Gaal faces is to the integrate the quintet of
Mata, Kagawa, Herrera, Rooney And Van Persie and along with this, maintaining the
defensive stability of the line-up.
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| Lvg's preferred XI |
To
solve the need of a Box to Box midfielder, ever since the departure of Roy
Keane, saw the arrival of Ander Herrera from Athletic Bilbao for a fee of 29
million GBP. He is a complete midfielder. His ball distribution, composure on
the ball and off-the-ball movements make him a threat going forward. Not only an
impressive passing range and the ability to execute defense-splitting through
balls, Herrera’s ability to read the opposition and a combination of above
average defensive tackles and interceptions make him a sort of extra defensive
cover in the centre of the park. His decent-to-high workrate allows him to
switch between defense and attack as and when the situation demands. Herrera is
tailor-made to remedy the current shambolic state of United’s midfield and is
expected to be a regular in the centre. He will most likely be partnered by
Michael Carrick or Darren Fletcher. With Carrick sidelined due to injury and
Herrera needing a more solid player beside him, it looks like Darren Fletcher
will be the preferred choice. Van Gaal has tried out Shinji Kagawa, a proper
CAM, in a double-pivot too, during pre-season, and has hinted that we might see
him in attacking as well as deeper roles under LvG. The Manager’s prime reason
for this is that he wants his best passers (namely Mata, Kagawa and Herrera) to
be on the pitch whenever possible. Mata will undoubtedly be the first choice
central attacking midfielder (CAM) and will be deployed in the hole behind the
two forwards. Adnan Januzaj is expected to be his cover, along with Kagawa,
considering the 19-year old isn’t really cut-out for the wingback role.
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| Integrating the trio in one team will be one of van Gaal's challenges |
Other
options which give depth to United’s midfield are Tom Cleverley and Maroaune Fellaini,
both of whom will have to up their performances from last season to feature in
the 3-5-2 of van Gaal. Both could partner Herrera depending upon the injuries
to the squad.
After
midfield, the striking department is probably the department that has got United fans excited the most.
With Mata being the obvious first choice CAM and LvG’s formation having 2
forwards, one can expect Rooney and Robin van Persie to pair up at the head of
United’s team sheet. Rooney’s striking talents being wasted by playing him in a
deeper role is something that had many people disturbed. But now maybe we will
see Rooney banging in those goals we all know he is capable of scoring, in
tandem with van Persie. Van Persie had a pretty good World Cup and that coupled
with his closeness to the Manager might mean that we get to see him in top
form, scoring goals for fun. Both strikers also have an uncanny knack of dropping
deep and picking out passes for the runners to get behind the opposition defense. However, the passing amongst them is one which needs to be worked at. Both strikers, while phenomenal when played alone, have not played as well together since the past 2 seasons as the United fans would have hoped for (both have never fired on all cylinders together). However, with these two leading the line and Mata and/or Kagawa behind them, it would be
safe to assume that goals will flow and that we will get to see a lot of
creativity, conviction and flair from the front 3.
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| The new formation could see plenty of goals from this duo |
Having
2 strikers also means more chances for Welbeck and Chicharito (assuming rumors
of him leaving are untrue). Welbeck, heavily touted as one of England's best young strikers for the future, has to improve his finishing ability to get into the the starting XI. His workrate is phenomenal, however, his consistency needs to improve. Chicharito, too, needs to find his magic touch back which has eluded him since the past two seasons.
Conclusion
All
in all, the attacking department looks pretty set on paper and in theory. It is
just a question of gelling quickly and adapting to the system, before we see
the magic on field. Looking at the players at United’s disposal and the past
exploits of the Manager, it wouldn’t be too much to expect a massively better
season than the last one. The 7th place finish must have hurt the
players too and they will be rearing to go. Manchester
United have always been known to get up and strike back every time they fall and
the fans must be expecting the glory days to come back soon.
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