Manchester United: A Fan’s Perspective

Manchester United were knocked out of the Champions League, arguably the greatest tournament there is for club football. As a United fan, this deeply saddens me. Though 7 years is a long time, the memories are still fresh of that night in Moscow when our team lifted the coveted trophy. The icing on the cake was the fact that we beat our closest rivals in Premier League, Chelsea, in a thrilling finale. Those days were probably the best days in the life of a young Manchester United fan, but we hardly had bad days under the great Sir Alex Ferguson.

Seven years down the line, United has dropped down into Europa League from a fairly easy group. There have been shouts of “LVG out” and our manager is under severe pressure. Though among the top 4 in the Premier League, our style of play has been labelled “boring” and probably rightly so. And all stick has been given to one man, Louis van Gaal.

In this article I am not going to crack down on Van Gaal, in fact I am going to support him. Support doesn’t mean that I will not criticise him, but then again, there will be no “LVG out” statements from me during this article – sorry if that disappoints you.

When Louis van Gaal arrived at United one and a half years ago, the fans and whole Manchester United family looked at him as a Messiah. After the circumstances under which David Moyes left, MUFC needed someone to take the responsibility and as the man who guided his national team to the semis in the World Cup, Van Gaal seemd to be United’s saviour. Boasting an impressive CV, Van Gaal was never short of confidence and that was probably what was required at that time, confidence.

In footballing terms, our team was lacking in defence. Phil Jones, Jonny Evans and Chris Smalling never looked like anything other than overrated English footballers. In the attack, what with Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie, goals should have never been a problem for United. The attempts to sign a top center back failed as United could neither land Matts Hummels nor John Stones.

To his credit, van Gaal did what he said he would, he improved our defense. Looking at the state now, Smalling has established himself as one of the best center backs in the league, and Daley Blind has once again proven that he is probably one of the most versatile players in world football out there who can play anywhere for his team. The possession game hasn’t gelled well with most of the fans though, who are so used to beautiful football played under Sir Alex, but it surely has been effective in the League. We stand just 3 points off top, that too when we aren’t playing well. It was Sir Alex who said that attack wins matches and defence wins tournaments. But it’s the attacking that’s severely lacking. A lot of stick has been received by Van Gaal about his “boring” display.

But then, many people seem to ignore the fact that Ryan Giggs, the man who knows more about Sir Alex’s United than anyone else on this planet, is sitting right next to Van Gaal. And somewhere as a fan I believe that he players have had a lucky escape. Wayne Rooney has not been the player he used to be. Some might argue that it’s down to the tactics, but I don’t see how speed and first touch can be poor due to tactics. The likes of Schneiderlin and Depay haven’t really stepped up to the level expected from them. Even veterans like Carrick and Schweinsteiger haven’t been consistent. Anthony Martial, though being a fine player, isn’t the kind of striker that lives for goals. This United side clearly lack a goal hungry world class goal scorer. Lady luck also hasn’t been kind on Van Gaal, as injuries to key players have really hampered the team’s progress, like Luke Shaw.

But here is the part where criticism comes in. After spending £258.7m, you will expect a manager to find the player he wants. He has clearly failed in the transfer market. Also letting some of the players go seemed pretty absurd, especially Javier Hernandez who is now thriving in Germany. Also his recent criticism of Bastian Schweinsteiger was a little uncalled for as it was fully expected that the German will never be the player he was years ago in Bayern.

But after seeing our team fighting out against Wolfsburg, though disappointed by the result, my faith in this Manchester United is restored. The way our young side played against a team that lost only 1 match in last 30 at home, I am proud. The attacking play was refreshing after several 0-0 draws. Though we only scored 2, we could have easily scored 6. Also, the timing of the goals we conceded were harsh. Conceding goals minutes after just scoring, that too by set pieces, clearly wasn’t something the manager could have controlled. And on a night the attack stepped up, it was our defense that let us down, that so far has been flawless this season.

Yes Manchester United should be spoken of in the same breath as Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Barcelona, but we all knew, replacing Sir Alex was going to be tough. It’s testing times for us, and all the fans needs to stand together.

With Van Gaal already announcing that he will retire in 2017, I think we need to stand by our manager. For years United fans have seen Chelsea and criticised their management and serious lack of patience, and now when the time is testing us, it’s time for us to show our class. Once Van Gaal, along with legendary Giggs finds the right balance between attack and defesne, it won’t be long before we start winning. As an example look at Netherlands, the team which was led by our manager to Semi Finals of World Cup, but did not even qualify to the Euros meaning that sacking Van Gaal is not necessarily the solution. And after all this is the man who has won the tournaments that we can only imagine winning in video games.

I will like to end with the thought –

After 25 years of success, I owe my club patience.