A New Year's Resolution for Manchester United Boss Louis van Gaal

At the end of 2014, Louis van Gaal assured Manchester United fans that 2015 would be better.

He was right, in a sense. 2015 saw some of United's best football for some time. It was just that it only lasted for four games, and then the whole thing went to pot. Since Chelsea beat United 1-0 at Stamford Bridge on April 18, United have put in a very small number of convincing performances in what has been a long old slog of a year.

So how can Van Gaal address this? What new year's resolution could he choose to help resolve United's current lacklustre form?

He could resolve to invest even more of United's money in the transfer market, looking for the Neymar-, Gareth Bale- or Cristiano Ronaldo-shaped silver bullet to magically make United's problems go away.

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He could resolve to be less attached to his captain and accept that to get the best out of Wayne Rooney, he has to be more selective with him. He could resolve to play more players in their most natural positions—though that may be something of an anathema for a coach with his beliefs.

But more than any of those, he should learn from 2015 and resolve to get United playing in an attack-minded 4-3-3.

It is not rocket science. The tide of popular opinion among fans of the Red Devils has swung hard away from Van Gaal with the recent poor run of form, but in truth, it was the style of play that cost the manager credit with the supporters.

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In spite of seemingly reinforcing the squad in a manner that would make his 4-3-3 even more effective in the summer, he has abandoned it in favour of a much more defensively minded 4-2-3-1. The football has rarely been anything other than stodgy and static ever since.

During last season's brief purple patch, the three in midfield was made up of Michael Carrick, Marouane Fellaini and Ander Herrera. Their roles were prescribed and specific. Carrick played at the base of the midfield triangle as the only true holding player. Fellaini and Herrera were played diagonally in front of him, to the left and right respectively.

There was no true No. 10 in the side, but Herrera and Fellaini were both given an attacking brief.

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With the signing of Morgan Schneiderlin and Bastian Schweinsteiger, Van Gaal brought in players who could cover Carrick in the event of injury. Either of those could also have replaced Fellaini in the more advanced role on the left, particularly Schweinsteiger.

Memphis Depay and Anthony Martial were both players who could have slotted in with perfect ease to any of the spots across the front three.

And yet instead, Van Gaal moved to a system with two holding midfielders in place, stunting United's attacking build-up with overly conservative possession.

Switching to 4-3-3 is probably not going to serve as a magical tonic. Teams will still sit back and defend in numbers against United, as they have time and again, but having an extra midfielder breaking ahead of the ball would give those defences more to think about than they have had of late.

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Ultimately, of course, many United fans would simply prefer Van Gaal to resign. There was some support for him at Old Trafford against Chelsea, but social media has remained awash with calls for his head.

If he wants to win some of those fans back again, playing more obviously attacking football—football played at speed, designed to keep the opposition's hands full—will go a long way towards doing so. 2016 should be the year of 4-3-3.