Unless you work inside the Manchester United dressing room, or in a job very close to it, you can’t say for certain if the players have quit on the manager or not. Of course, the law of parsimony states that above all else, the simplest explanation is the best. The Red Devils keep losing, and they keep to much lesser, cheaper priced competition.
A team composed of this many big-money, big-name players just can’t be this bad. Unless they’ve somehow lost motivation along the way.
Today, following United’s fourth straight loss, Van Gaal admitted he might just resign. (More on that here). The Dutchman was also asked whether or not he was the man to motivate this team. His response:
“That is now the big issue. I have tried to do everything, but the pressure shall be higher and higher with every match. That is the problem now.
“It is more difficult because I am also part of the four matches we have lost, so people are looking at me, and I have to deal with that, but more importantly the players have to deal with that because they are the ones who have to perform.”
Think about that statement “I have tried to do everything,” and what that means. The manager essentially admitted that he’s run out of ideas and nothing so far has worked.
In the postgame interview with Sky Sports, Van Gaal was asked to analyze the match:
“My thoughts are that we didn’t dare to play football in the first half and then we gave a very bad goal away. That was too much.”
“They scored from a free kick and then it was half-time. We have spoken with each other and I have to say the second half was much better. We created one or two chances and you have to score. Then the belief is coming back, and we played better in the second half, but the problem is we didn’t dare to play. That is my analysis.”
Again think about that statement “we didn’t dare to play football in the first half.” When a manager says that about his own players, he’s admitting that they didn’t put out an effort for him that day. It’s an alarming, worst case kind of scenario.
If he truly has lost the dressing room, then it’s definitely the end for Van Gaal. If not today or tomorrow, then very soon.
If Van Gaal does leave United, whether he’s forced out, or by his own power, then the talk begins about potentially replacing him with Jose Mourinho. Here’s the latest on that.
The Telegraph claims that Mourinho would prospectively make about £6 million with the Red Devils, which is a pretty big pay cut. The publication indicates that Chelsea might have to pay £1.5 million of that wage disparity.
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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