mkrudden
Player Valuation: £40m
Couldn't agree more. He has obvious flaws akin to Martinez but at least we will attack in an orchestrated, effective manner.
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Next Everton Manager
- Thread starter mccole
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It wreaks of the incompetence over the Giroud saga where we (the club) had no real contingency plans, so when it fell through it was disastrous.
While I've not actually been overly fussed with Silva from the outset, with all the potential baggage it simply seems an overly risky decision.
JLW
Player Valuation: £60m
Im thinking Brands wants his man (whoever that may be) not Moshiris
Gladystweet
Player Valuation: £50m
Are you suggesting we tend to dither........?
Pellegrini - would make the west ham fans fume even more if we gazumped him
devo85
Player Valuation: £950k
People shout out managers just because they have a famous name. have you ever studied Van Gaal's Tactics or methods?
Louis van Gaal tactics left Manchester United players close to mutiny
Daniel Taylor
The scale of disillusionment in the dressing room is laid bare as the Dutchman’s era ends to little sympathy among players or fans
A manager does not have to be popular but he needs to be respected and, though there were times when the players warmed to him and even found him good company, Van Gaal’s often abrasive, almost schoolmasterly approach rubbed against the players like sandpaper. They found his methods restrictive. Why, they asked, was a man with his impressive background so devoted to such an unappealing style? Supporters longed for a return to the old United way – attacking, adventurous football, played at speed and with penetration – but so did the players, and it pained them that he refused to bend.
Instead, there was always the gnawing sense they had to stick to Van Gaal’s rigid system or risk being expelled from the team. United have scored one more goal than fourth-bottom Sunderland – a team who spent 237 days in the relegation zone – in his final season of talking about “the process” or “the philosophy”, and conveniently ignoring how he promised on his arrival that everything would click within three months. It is the least watchable United side in memory and there are numerous stories about how, collectively, the players’ respect for Van Gaal eroded in the process.
One example comes in the form of Van Gaal’s “evaluation sessions” the day after every match when the Dutchman could be so outspoken in his criticisms – “he would crucify players in front of each other”, according to one source – the two most senior players, Wayne Rooney and Michael Carrick, went to see him to air their concerns that it was damaging for morale and, in effect, a self-defeating exercise.
Van Gaal, to give him his due, was always willing to listen to complaints and encouraged his players to speak up. But the bad feeling continued. From that point onwards, he started sending the players individual emails detailing their faults and submitting video clips to highlight his dissatisfaction. Except by that stage a lot of the players were so disillusioned many ignored the emails or redirected them straight to their trash. Van Gaal suspected as much and had a tracker fitted so he could check if the emails were opened and for how long. It became a game of cat and mouse. Some players opened the emails on their mobiles, then left their phones on the side and wandered off for 20 minutes.
It reached the point where many players regarded international breaks as a welcome break and the chance to play in a relaxed atmosphere away from a manager they never fully understood and who, to borrow one description, was thought of as “weird”.
David de Gea will certainly not be too despondent bearing in mind his relationship with Van Gaal had broken to the point the goalkeeper was giving serious consideration to pressing for a transfer this summer. De Gea has been United’s player of the year for the last three seasons and, without him, it is tempting to think their fifth-placed finish, 15 points off the top, would have been significantly worse. Yet his outstanding form masked the fact there was no warmth between him and Van Gaal. The Spaniard had separate issues with Frans Hoek, the goalkeeping coach, but may now be dissuaded from making this his final season in Manchester.
The idea of losing De Gea, presumably to Real Madrid, would have represented a devastating setback for United given that we are talking about one of the few players with genuine star quality. Otherwise, it is not just Paul Scholes, Rio Ferdinand, Gary Neville and all those other player-turned-pundits from the Ferguson era who insist there will have to be a massive clearout. Many at Old Trafford are saying the same. How many need to go? “Ninety per cent,” says one important figure, after giving the question long consideration.
More than anything, the players crave a return to what they consider normality. Ashley Young, for instance, was bemused and mildly horrified earlier this year to be informed he was being given a new role as a back-up centre-forward. Young was one of United’s better performers last season when he moved from his customary place on the left wing to play as a full-back. What he has never purported to be is a striker, especially given the way Van Gaal sees the role. United’s forwards were under orders to do the same thing virtually every time: control the ball, lay it off and then get in the penalty area and wait for it. Wide players were told that, rather than taking on their man, it was better to wait for the team’s full‑backs to arrive in support.
All of which might help to explain why Van Gaal had misgivings about whether Gareth Bale, a long-time target of the club’s executive vice-chairman, Ed Woodward, was a natural fit for the team system. Van Gaal talked at Wembley about United needing “fast, creative players” but this was the manager who came out with a line in one of his first press conferences – “I do not want players to be intuitive” – that seemed so extraordinary the journalists in his company had to go over the tape to check they had not misheard.
With that type of regimented structure, it should be no surprise Ángel Di María did not flourish at Old Trafford but has excelled for Paris Saint-Germain. Memphis Depay has struggled, too, and his cocksure attitude hardly goes hand in hand with what the £25m signing has shown in his first season at the club. When Depay made a mistake that led to Chelsea’s goal in a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge in February he was ordered to play in the reserves the following day. Depay turned up to face Norwich City’s second string in a Rolls-Royce and did not seem to care when it was pointed out to him that it might reflect badly on him. There is, however, a degree of sympathy for him behind the scenes and a desire to give him the benefit of the doubt in the hope that he might be reinvented under a different manager.
Overall, though, there is no doubt Van Gaal’s signings have, for the most part, been a significant disappointment. Anthony Martial is the obvious exception but Van Gaal has spent in excess of £250m and for that kind of outlay there has been little back.
One of Van Gaal’s more bemusing instructions was for his strikers not to shoot first-time from balls coming across the penalty area. Instead they were under orders to take a touch in front of goal, even if the relevant players felt confident enough to go for goal straight away. One example goes back to the opening day of the season when Tottenham Hotspur were the opposition and Antonio Valencia sent in a low cross from the right to pick out Rooney, unmarked, in the middle of the penalty area. It seemed like a relatively straightforward finish but Rooney took an extra touch because that was what Van Gaal had drummed into his players. Kyle Walker made a saving tackle only to turn the ball into his own net and Rooney looked almost sheepish as he headed back to the centre circle.
A complex combination of dithering, naivety and perhaps certain individuals holding too much sway with their sentimental way comes to mind.
The decision by the hierarchy to let Lukaku go without having a replacement sorted, alongside the managerial debacle post-Koeman's departure...
... have induced feeling of little confidence with regards to how the club goes about things. The club mentioned a replacement in ten days - ha!
No idea, hopefully not Van Gaal or Martin Jol.
The next 1 will be Brands.
Im hopeful that with the recent changes we will see a new, forward thinking Everton.
Lets see.
Kenshin
Player Valuation: £40m
Blues Harp
Player Valuation: £60m
If we knew that Sam was only here until the end of the season and it was Silva that Moshiri wanted why hasn't it been sorted now? Hope Brands talks Mosh out of it tbh...
We want Pellegrini! Right!
Ey! Everhun aren’t we?!!!
Ey! Everhun aren’t we?!!!
Timhowardsswearbox
Player Valuation: £5m
I don't think they have to though. When people read this type of thing over and over and talk about it at the game, down the pub or whatever, the easily led between us believe it to be true. But nobody has to be in the new man's camp or outside the man's camp.
It's perfectly reasonable and actually healthier to step back and be neutral and give the man ample time to show us what he can do rather than wait slavering at the mouth waiting to slag someone off at the first chance.
I do appreciate that you yourself aren't saying that you in the slavering and booing camp by the way and are playing devil's advocate.
Obvs, Goodison does enjoy a good booing of late, so my point is moot, ha!
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