Mutzo Nutzo
Player Valuation: £70m
Is this the same mate who said Fonseca was a done deal? For that alone I'd give your mate another 5 years in the cooler the absolute whopper.
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Is this the same mate who said Fonseca was a done deal? For that alone I'd give your mate another 5 years in the cooler the absolute whopper.
Ralph Hasenhüttl is available.
Borussin
Player Valuation: £1m
He's not German, but yes, your point stands! And he is pretty much the same deal, cos he's always coached in Germany!
I'd love it if he gave it a go actually, but no idea if he has any interest in leaving the Bundesliga, although there aren't actually any job openings now in the league unless wolfsburg have one soon.... sooooo maybe he should expand his horizons!
Blues Harp
Player Valuation: £60m
Son of Daveklollollol
blue_order
Player Valuation: £1.5m
West Ham getting a premier league winning manager and we're stuck courting a bloke who wanted to leave his club after 9 games whilst getting them to the dizzy heights of 7th.
We need to make a statement (again)
Get Emery, a winner.
We need to make a statement (again)
Get Emery, a winner.
Gladystweet
Player Valuation: £50m
It's how we roll.
n01efc
Player Valuation: £20m
West Ham said 14 days (or something to that effect) we say nothing - I just don’t want to be here in weeks, I want to build on the positive momentum we have at the moment.
Jesus....go and have a cup tea and a biscuit.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.
tungetango
Did IQs just drop sharply while I was away?
I know that,but more thinking in ways of keeping them there in some coach-function after their playing career is over. Can't see any positives in that
gaino92
Power level over 9000
We said 10 days to 2 weeks, what are you on about?
Gladystweet
Player Valuation: £50m
I think they've said "in the next 7 days" and a manager "who has a proven record of success". Ok, I don't know what they deem as success, but they're certainly going for it, and seem to have a few options open.
n01efc
Player Valuation: £20m
I obviously didn’t see that
Simon Buttle
Player Valuation: £50m
Pellegrini is going to be announced on Monday according to my mate, she is a mad hammers fan.
All Hammers fans are mad.
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