Louis van Gaal Must Be Bold and Base His Attack on Angel Di Maria

Louis van Gaal's abundance of attacking players leaves him with some difficult decisions, but he should certainly look to Angel Di Maria as his main creative force.

Di Maria's chance creation rate is among the best in Europe, as evidenced by the fact that he created a chance for his team-mates every 26 minutes in Real Madrid's league season 2013/14, per the Manchester Evening News. 

Because of this and the quality of those team-mates, he was the top assist-maker in Europe's top five leagues last season. A high rate of assists is not unusual for him, and he never failed to register double figures of assists in any season during his time at Real Madrid.

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He has got off to a flying start at United in terms of productivity. In his nine games for the club so far, he has five assists and three goals to his name, a promising beginning for someone looking to justify their enormous transfer fee.

However, it has not been all plain sailing for the Argentine. Writing in the London Evening Standard, United legend Paul Scholes said: 

"

I am also worried that the mood among the United players seems a bit low key. Preparing for the game in Madrid this week, I watched re-runs of last season and Angel Di Maria smiling broadly as he celebrated goal after goal with Cristiano Ronaldo. He doesn’t seem to be in the same happy mood at United.

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This seemed an odd claim, as fans at Old Trafford have been treated to Di Maria "smiling broadly" on many occasions, celebrating both his and his team-mates' goals. Indeed, seemingly in response to Scholes' quote, his wife took to Instagram:

"

You are free to think whatever you want, but in fact, Angel is absolutely happy of being in Manchester United 😉❤️... Buenas noches!!! ✨

A photo posted by Jor Cardoso y Angel Di Maria (@jorgelinacardoso) on Nov 11, 2014 at 7:38pm PST

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It is possible that Scholes' article was referring to the few games immediately prior to his column's publication on November 6.

Van Gaal engineered a shift in formation for the West Bromwich Albion game on 20 October, and from then on, Di Maria has moved from the heart of midfield to a more defined wide role.

A glance at his WhoScored.com rating, which is a statistical rating based on performance indicators, shows that his overall output has dropped considerably since his switch to the wing. In the five games prior to the West Brom match, he averaged a rating of 8.054. In the four since (including the West Brom game itself), he has averaged 7.0825.

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However, it is worth noting he still provided two assists during those games. He also made 12 key passes—more than any one else in a United shirt in that time. Even though the level of his output has dropped, statistically, he has still been making an important contribution.

To get the very best out of Di Maria, one of the obvious leading candidates in the debate over United's best player, Van Gaal needs to build his attack around him. El Fideo's dynamism in breaking from midfield provided the Red Devils' most electrifying attacking moments against Queens Park Rangers and Everton for example.

It is not necessarily the case that Di Maria needs to be played in midfield to thrive. There is an argument to be made that with a more dynamic and mobile centre-forward than Robin van Persie has been in his past few games, Di Maria's efforts would have led to greater rewards.

However, one of Van Gaal's primary considerations when building his United system should be which role suits Di Maria best and which players will play best alongside him.

The Argentine's extraordinary quality justifies such special treatment, and Di Maria's history suggests that bringing out the best in him will benefit Van Gaal enormously.

All statistics per WhoScored.com unless otherwise specified.