Despite Their Dismal Start Van Gaal's Man Utd Side Is Still Better Than Moyes'

With an hour played against Leicester City, Manchester United had turned the corner so emphatically that some were already plotting the path straight to the Premier League title.

Having disposed of Queens Park Rangers with a comprehensive 4-0 win the week before, Louis van Gaal’s side had taken a commanding 3-1 lead at the King Power Stadium following Ander Herrera’s clever backheel finish.

What happened next seemed beyond all realms of possibility. Leicester scored four times in just 21 minutes to complete a quite astonishing comeback. Having turned the corner, Man Utd proceeded to trip themselves up.

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The result and manner of defeat raised questions of Van Gaal’s stewardship of the team, with one Man Utd player reportedly asking “why the f--k did we take off Di Maria”? after the game in relation to the substitution of United’s best player on the day, as per Neil Ashton and Simon Jones of the Daily Mail.

Some chose to draw a comparison with Van Gaal’s predecessor, David Moyes, who must have watched Manchester United’s capitulation at Leicester in smug satisfaction.

At the same stage last season, after five Premier League games, Moyes’ side had taken seven points following games against Swansea City, Chelsea, Liverpool and Crystal Palace. Van Gaal’s start of five points from fixtures against Swansea, Sunderland, QPR and Leicester pales in comparison.

But regardless of such a comparison, Van Gaal’s Man Utd side is still better than Moyes’ ever was, even if the 5-3 defeat to Leicester makes it somewhat difficult to see so.

At no point during Moyes’ ill-fated tenure at Old Trafford did he communicate a vision or identity to either the players or the club’s fans. There may have been more organization to his side, but it was stagnant and unimaginative. There was no sign of where United were heading under Moyes. 

At least in the two games since the transfer window closed—against QPR and Leicester—United have shown some sort of personality under Van Gaal. The fast and furious attack that made so many of Sir Alex Ferguson’s sides so potent has been restored. There was more for United fans to be positive about in the 150 minutes played against QPR and Leicester than at any stage last season.

The paradox of the crushing loss on Sunday is that for 60 minutes United played some of their best stuff for around a year. Angel Di Maria was irresistible, evoking the kind of enthralling wing play not seen in a United shirt since Cristiano Ronaldo last played for the club.

Of course, Van Gaal was completely let down by his defence, who seemed to be something of an afterthought in terms of organization and strategy. It was far too easy for Leicester to expose the space behind the full-backs with very little protection from midfield for the centre-backs.

The defence was bad under Moyes; that much is undeniable too. But it was never as bad as Van Gaal’s was against Leicester. 

United’s attack has been upgraded significantly over the summer, with the arrival of Di Maria and Radamel Falcao following on from the signing of midfield creator Herrera. So is Man Utd’s front-line improvement solely down to the club’s newly flexed financial muscle? 

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Van Gaal may have been afforded the privilege of spending £170 million in the summer transfer window on six new players, but when Moyes was given funds to spend he did so poorly.

At a time when United were struggling to break down opposition defences, the then-club record signing of Juan Mata from Chelsea only served to make the team’s play in the final even more ponderous. And let’s not even start on the £28.5 million paid for Marouane Fellaini.

It’s true that a bolstered summer transfer window budget has been a major factor in United’s improvement in an attacking sense, but that isn’t the premise of the debate. How they have improved is irrelevant. All that matters is that they have improved at all.

As per David McDonnell of the Mirror, Van Gaal warned beforehand that it could take up to three months for his United side to hit top form, and indeed the Dutchman does have a history of starting slowly at pretty much every club he has ever been at.

But at least there are signs of some process in attack, even if it is being offset by what is happening at the back. Even with defeat at Leicester there are pointers to where United are heading under Van Gaal, and it’s somewhere better than where they were heading with Moyes.