Opinion: No Christmas cheer for United boss Louis van Gaal

This content was originally posted in 7DAYS UAE website at: Opinion: No Christmas cheer for United boss Louis van Gaal It’s never nice to mock someone when they are having a hard time in life, but when I saw the picture yesterday of a Stoke City fan wearing a hybrid Louis van Gaal/turkey hat it was hard not to laugh. As if it wasn’t a bad enough time of year for turkeys? It also hasn’t been a fun festive season for King Louis and his Red Army. They don’t have a victory in seven matches and never looked like getting anything against Stoke yesterday. At the time of going to press Van Gaal was still Manchester United manager – that may have changed by the time you are reading this – but even if he has not yet got the sack, it’s surely only a matter of time. He’s not getting on with the media, fans are turning against him and his team selection and tactics are questionable. Even yesterday he rightly dropped Wayne Rooney to the bench, then he called upon his skipper to be the savior when the team were 2-0 down at the break. Not a great confidence booster for your main man by any stretch. The main issue for me though is the tactics. If you are going to start Anthony Martial up front on his own at least play to his strengths – ie, his strength. Play wingers, cross the ball in at speed at let the youngster get on the end of decent deliveries. The problem is no wingers were picked, no crosses were good enough and when Rooney came on for Memphis Depay, Martial was shunted to the left. He is not a winger, Louis. The other major flaw is in the full-back positions, filled by Ashley Young and Daley Blind. Not the players themselves, though, but the roles they were asked to fill. If you want full-backs to provide the width you need to play them in a five, not a four. In fact Young was the best United player in the second-half when he got forward, pity he had to also concentrate on defending. Blind, on the other hand, should play centre-half not on the flank. Talking of defenders, it was funny watching Mike, sorry Chris, Smalling trying to play 60-yard passes to Young. Smalling is a decent defender, but he’s no Matthias Sammer (check him out on the interweb, kids). When United play Chelsea tomorrow they may once again have Ryan Giggs filling the caretaker manager’s role. It’s probably too early for the Jose Mourinho to be in the dugout for a debut against his old club, but football is a funny old game and stranger things have happened. United quickly need some festive cheer – forget the turkey and bring in the ‘Special One’. Manchester United’s last seven results in all competitions 0-0 home vs PSV Eindhoven 1-1 away vs Leicester City 0-0 home vs West Ham 2-3 away vs Wolfsburg 1-2 away vs Bournemouth 1-2 home vs Norwich 0-2 away vs Stoke City     Read the original story at: Opinion: No Christmas cheer for United boss Louis van Gaal