The 3 Biggest Challenges Facing Any New Manchester United Manager

With Louis van Gaal's position at Manchester United reportedly under threat, any incoming manager is going to be faced with a number of key challenges in improving the Red Devils' fortunes.

Over the past three games, nothing has worked for Van Gaal. This has been precipitated by an injury crisis, admittedly, but even before that, things were hardly going swimmingly, with fans sick of the style of play and a run of five 0-0 draws in nine games.

Thus there are clearly plenty of issues in play, but what are the three biggest, the three things that a new manager would have to face up to immediately? Let's take a look at those challenges which would be at the top of any new manager's to-do list.

The Wayne Rooney Issue

Van Gaal has frequently spoken about his captain's special place in the squad. After the loss to Norwich—another deeply unimpressive performance from United's No. 10—Van Gaal was asked whether Rooney still had any remaining credits, a reference to the manager's earlier assertion that Rooney "has more credits than any other player," per FourFourTwo. 

Jon Super/Associated Press

Van Gaal was atypically noncommittal after the Norwich game, saying he would have to evaluate that in the coming week. It was the first time he had offered anything other than fulsome support to his captain.

If a new manager takes over, he will have to decide whether to keep Rooney as the squad's leader, but more importantly, whether England's record goalscorer can justify his place in United's starting lineup every week.

He has done very little this season to suggest he is benefiting from his secure place in the side, neither in terms of his output of goals nor his overall contribution—two league goals and one league assist in 13 appearances tells an eloquent story.

It is far from the only issue at Old Trafford, but it is a huge one, and one Van Gaal has singularly failed to wrestle with.

Fluency in attack

Rooney is not the exclusive problem with United's attack. The whole thing has been dysfunctional for much of the season, and those five 0-0 draws in nine games make that quite clear.

It is not for lack of personnel. Rooney, Juan Mata, and Memphis Depay are all proven goalscorers. Anthony Martial is proving himself as one as the season plays out. Ander Herrera showed last season that he has an eye for goal.

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A supporting cast of players like Marouane Fellaini and fringe options like Jesse Lingard and Andreas Pereira are all more than capable of finding the back of the net.

Thus the raw materials would appear to be there for a new manager to work with. Finding a system and selection that maximises those raw materials will be vital.

Working with Ed Woodward

The first two challenges would be the immediate short-term matters a new manager would have to address. For the medium and long term, it is this point that would be the most crucial.

Assuming Van Gaal goes fairly soon, then the work will begin in the January transfer window. Woodward's track record of managing transfer windows for United has been distinctly mixed.

There have been multiple reported pursuits of extremely high-profile players that have amounted to nothing, and those kinds of attempts are ongoing, per Samuel Luckhurst of the Manchester Evening News. 

The other key issue would be that in the two-and-a-half years since David Gill left Old Trafford, whoever follows Van Gaal would be Woodward's third managerial appointment.

It would thus become clear that long-term patience is no longer the order of the day at United, and a much more typical approach to the hiring and firing of managers has been taken.

Between what would have become a—comparatively—trigger-happy approach and a still-unproven record in the market, working with Woodward will likely not be straightforward.

All quotations obtained first hand where not otherwise stated.