Manchester United Manager Louis van Gaal gave his prematch preview press conference today (here’s video and some quotes from that). During the session, he gave a very rosy assessment of the year.
“We have fulfilled the wish and our aim in the first season that ended halfway through 2015. Then we are out of the Champions League and that gives us a big blow, and we are still in that period, so when you don’t assess December, it was a very good year,” the Dutchman said.
He’s obviously reflecting back on the season by looking at it through rose colored glasses. I doubt many United supporters would agree with that evaluation.
Van Gaal has to say things like this right now, in order to rebuild morale at Old Trafford. There have been reports all week that LVG had lost the dressing room. We’ve heard that narrative in numerous outlets worldwide. LVG himself has made some comments recently that seemed to imply that the players could have quit on him.
Red Devils center back Chris Smalling totally disputes this idea.
When asked if the team has given up on Van Gaal yesterday, Smalling said “That’s silly.”
“If anything we are all playing for our own futures as well, so there’s not a case of no one not playing for the manager. And every week we want to go out there and show everyone what a good team we are and on our day we can beat anyone.”
Smalling doesn’t seem to think that Van Gaal make any changes to his tactics, methods or philosophy, even in spite of United’s worst run of form since the 1960s. Yes, you’d have to go back about a half-century to find a United team that went eight matches without winning before today.
“He has been himself from day one that we met him to how he is now,” Smalling added.
“He is not going to change and that is why he has had a lot of success throughout the years. I can’t ever see him changing because he’s got a track record.”
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