Louis Van Gaal's Tactics Were Always Going to Be Bad Fit with Manchester United

Louis van Gaal is undoubtedly a very good manager, with an impressively strong CV behind him, but when he joined Manchester United, I wondered whether he realised not only the size of the task ahead of him but also the new tactical ground he would have to tread to make it all work.

In 1995, I played against Van Gaal's Ajax team while I was at Liverpool, and we were 3-0 down inside 15 minutes. The Ajax philosophy was and is the following: “To keep the ball, so that the opponents can not score, and for Ajax to dominate every part of the football pitch.”

Who told me that? My mate from my Nottingham Forest days, Brian Roy (now an Ajax coach), and this has been the mantra for every Ajax team to follow over 40 years. Good players may come and go—as do great teams—but whether it is a vintage crop or not, Ajax play the same way, full stop.

So coming from that sort of background to Old Trafford, Van Gaal is immediately presented with a real problem.

At Manchester United, the philosophy over the last 40 years has almost always been the polar opposite of Ajax. Swift, attacking football, played at a breathtaking tempo, with at times little or no regard for mind-numbing possession; just the thirst for great attacking play, chances created, and goals scored.

The "Attack! Attack! Attack!" way.

Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images

Add to LVG’s CV two stints at Barcelona—a club that, thanks to Johan Cruyff, shamelessly mimicked Ajax's style of play, their groundbreaking academy, and their overall world view of the game—and you get a man who, for the majority of his footballing life, has championed slow, methodical possession rather than the “you score three, we’ll score four“ risk-laden-but-often-effective approach that United have traditionally adopted.

Two styles, at different ends of the football spectrum. Can he make United work? Of course he can, especially as United have money, lots of it (seemingly on tap), to be able to recruit whoever they like, but it is going to be fascinating to see what type of players he buys in the next 18 months and whether the United faithful stay on board with his way rather than the way they’ve enjoyed seemingly forever.

There are more specific issues too. I’m worried about Daley Blind as a seemingly indispensable pivot. He’s a good technical player—he’s of Ajax stock after all—and the very basic remit of any player coming from De Toekomst ("The Future") academy is an understanding of the game and the ability to do the basics very well.

However, often against good sides, he seems to get caught in possession, and I fear that in the company United want to keep in Europe and domestically over the coming years, he may well not be up to the task.

Jon Super/Associated Press

A completely new back four may also be required. Luke Shaw will get time but the truth is Chris Smalling, Phil Jones and Jonny Evans haven’t pushed on, and while Marco Rojo is currently playing well, he is clearly no Nemanja Vidic-in-waiting.

You could also part with Robin van Persie and Radamel Falcao this season, because the best strikers at Manchester United are both English.

Wayne Rooney proves that when he plays up top he has the heart, movement and mind of a striker, while James Wilson will get the time and space to breathe as all young United players do.

Add a medium-priced striker as cover and the overspend on Falcao (even on a loan), and an injury-prone Van Persie will be long forgotten.

So where will this go? Will Van Gaal, after 30 years of dictatorship in Germany, Holland and Spain, be a "United Way" convert? Or will the Stretford End embrace the slower, back and sideways pass-laden football that, if we’re being honest, even the recent great Barca side played but played so well as they had such a fine crop of players in forward positions to light a game up?

Michael Regan/Getty Images

It is easy to be clever in hindsight and say, “Van Gaal and United were never a great fit," that he was simply one candidate who was available and experienced enough at the time the failed David Moyes experiment was brought to an end, but I do wonder about two other men, two coaches and two personalities that may have been easier on the United fans' eyes.

Diego Simeone's abrasive, full-throttle teams at least play with the speed of foot that United fans expect. Then there is the elephant in the room, Jose Mourinho, who let's be honest would simply have got rid of the deadwood, told the remaining players how great they are, and would have had United competitive from the first day.

The Mourinho ship has long since sailed, but keep an eye out for Simeone, for me one manager who would be a better long-term fit at Old Trafford than Van Gaal.