Gareth Crooks, who had a very brief loan spell with Manchester United in addition to his legendary career with Tottenham Hotspur absolutely bashed United’s style in his BBC column today: “What a yawn. The only decent thing to come out of Manchester United’s performance this weekend was Chris Smalling.”
“Manager Louis van Gaal must be working extremely hard in training to get a team full of such wonderful attacking flair to look so dull.”
“Surely the time has come for the United fans to petition the club and demand that Sir Alex Ferguson comes out of retirement and rescues us from this complete and utter drudgery. It’s just not football.”
It’s now official, United are now the most heavily criticized title contending team in history.
Ok, first and foremost, Crooks is obviously “trolling,” “click-baiting” and whatever other web 2.0 buzzwords for trying to make a page views grab you want to use here. It’s an attention-whoring column, and I really think the BBC could have gone either way on deciding to run it or not. Now if this piece were in The Sun or the Daily Express or Metro, ok that would make more sense.
Now there’s nothing wrong to with ripping Louis van Gaal for his dull, tedious style. Crooks is spot on there, and absolutely everyone is doing it. (The intro photo here for this post was the ESPN FC home page last Wednesday).
Van Gaal always dominates the possession percentage statistic, but at this point it’s a possession obsession, or possession just for possession sake. Watching them play this year is reminiscent of this clip from The Simpsons:
@PaulMBanks @Frustrated_Fan @HammerAndRails also works for 2013 blackhawks on a power play pic.twitter.com/4MHuj4YXwE
— Ryan Davis (@RyanQDavis) November 29, 2015
So I would agree, Van Gaal’s style this season has been BORING, but to call for United fans to take grassroots political action and petition for Sir Alex Ferguson to return?
Well, that’s a bit extreme there, again especially so for a team that’s in the thick of the title hunt. It’s also a bit pointless to even ask for a Sir Alex Ferguson return given how far-fetched it would be. Beyond this ridiculously unrealistic idea, you also have this story today:
Louis van Gaal’s Man United are so boring they ‘make me want to cry’, says former Netherlands star https://t.co/o3vktua6s1
— MANCHESTER UNITED NEWS ?? (@SirAlexStand) November 30, 2015
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and sometimes writes The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. The website is also featured on News Now.
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