Manchester United fans must stop pining for Sir Alex Ferguson's champagne football - that era is over
Gary Neville said it is time for supporters and pundits to accept that Louis van Gaal is a different breed of coach and let go of the past.
The time has come for Manchester United fans – me included – to let go of the Sir Alex Ferguson reign and stop judging this new era by former glories. The style of play and the names have changed, but the one person not confused by the team’s development will be Louis van Gaal.
I’ve never been a manager, but I personally believe in attacking football, with a high tempo. If United were committed to protecting that style of play at all costs they should have appointed a manager with those beliefs. But there was no way Van Gaal was going to come to Manchester United and adopt somebody else’s philosophy.
It’s a bit like breaking up with a partner of 26 years and wanting the new person to be the same as the old one. They – we – are going to have to let go. The idea of referencing Ferguson or saying "It’s not the Manchester United way" at every turn stylistically is not going to take Manchester United anywhere.
Personally I would like them to play at a higher tempo. I would also like them to press high against inferior opposition, but I've come to the conclusion this isn't the Van Gaal way. It's what I believe in, what United have previously believed in and not what is in front of us now. I also think most of the new signings should be performing at a higher level.
But, if you had told me as a fan that we would be third in the league at this point, in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup and on a run of one defeat in 19 games, I would have snapped your hand off.
Again: it’s about moving on, which is hard because we were married to a way of playing and a leader who dominated English football for 20 of his 26 years. Now, we are in a completely different period. We are not comparing like for like.
Seven years ago I found myself giggling with a group of mates through a business leadership speech in which the guru used four words to describe change. They were “form, storm, norm, perform.” It didn’t resonate me with me until I started thinking about United’s current condition.
The idea was this. When you “form” you bring in new parties. The storm is the chaos point. Norm means the new structure, bedding in. Perform speaks for itself. Coming out of the Ferguson era, United certainly saw the storm. But the norm has yet to fully establish itself, post-Ferguson and David Gill.
Many United fans feel confused between thinking ‘the pace is slow, we’re not playing the way we used to,’ and ‘hang on a minute, we’ve lost one game in 19, we’re third in the League and in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup.’
Definitive opinions remain elusive. You can say momentarily: good performance, bad performance; this player played well, this one played badly. But we are moving out of that hazy period, to a 14-day spell in March when opinions can harden. Arsenal in the FA Cup and Tottenham (home) and Liverpool (away) in the league. To reach an FA Cup semi-final and pick up four league points in those games would put United within striking range of ending the season on a high. Those results go wrong, and this could be a baptism of fire for Louis Van Gaal in his first season.
My biggest area of confusion is the following. Watching the team who finished third last season, Chelsea, it was quite apparent where the missing pieces were. They needed a creative midfielder to make the difference in tight games and a centre-forward who could finish the chances off. Two distinct areas where they needed to improve.
United are currently third in the Premier League and I don't have the same clarity . Even now I struggle to locate the precise deficiencies. I find myself looking at five or six areas. Van Gaal’s work will be judged not by whether he can take United back into the Champions League this season but whether he can ultimately regain the English title. The Premier League is the benchmark.
I believe he will complete phase one: win a trophy and return to the Champions League. But to win the Premier League in the next two seasons he has to win the recruitment battle. In the last two campaigns United have spent £280m and recouped £54m. Chelsea have spent £313m but recouped £190m and brought in better players.
So, post Ferguson and Gill, Chelsea are definitely trading better than United. With the Juan Cuadrado signing Chelsea spent £24m and let Andre Schurrle go for something similar. United will need to be equally shrewd, and not simply buy off-the-shelf players for £40m and find they don't fit.
It seems to me that, pre-season, part of the recruitment was based on playing three at the back, with Rojo, Blind and Shaw coming in, with another part based on 4-3-3, with Di Maria and Herrera. At the moment the squad is unbalanced. Until the system is settled it’s hard to identify the players needed to make it work.
In a diamond system, for example, you need a very good No 10 who is going to score goals two very mobile forwards and energetic wide midfielders. In a 4-3-3, you need excellent wingers or wide forwards that can score goals. Playing three at the back you need two excellent wing backs. This is the conundrum at the moment. What style of play are United recruiting for?
These questions will be at the forefront of Van Gaal’s mind. And he knows he has to get this next wave of additions right. The summer, after the World Cup, and this January window arrived too quickly. By May he should know exactly how he wants to shape things.
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