Lots of work ahead for Manchester United as Van Gaal’s team loses the opening match

Photo: Getty Images

This might have been an eye opener for Van Gaal who took a team like Manchester United that lacked lots of confidence last season under David Moyes. Seven straight loses for United last season resulted in the sacking of Moyes as their coach.

Now losing the opening match against Swansea (1-2) is not a deal breaker, although it would be nice for a coach to start with the win. We had the opportunity to see how good and technical coach Louis Van Gaal really is. Just look at his most recent results with Netherlands during the World Cup in Brazil. United’s legendary coach Alex Ferguson lost his first match when he took over, and we all witnessed what happened after that!

Their first loss doesn’t mean much for the team or the coach, especially knowing that they didn’t have many players available in the opening match. Some of their starting players like Van Persie, Antonio Valencia were missing due to injuries sustained during pre-season.

The biggest surprise in this match was the decision made by Van Gaal to play with a 3-4-1-2 formation. This was a surprising decision knowing that United’s main defenders like: Rio Ferdinand, Vidic and Patrice Evra left the club at the end of last season and the lack of leadership in the defense was very noticeable this time.

After the first half Van Gaal made the switch to 4-2-3-1 formation which resulted in Wayne Rooney scoring, but ultimately that wasn’t enough to win the game.

Van Gaal still has the opportunity to add new players to the team during this transfer window. Mats Hummels deal seems to have fallen through but there is still a glimpse of hope by their fans that in the hand they will dig deep into their pockets and sign Di Maria from Real Madrid. Earlier it was suggested that Van Gaal is considering AC Milan’s center back Philippe Mexes and midfielder Arturo Vidal from Juventus.

We believe that United needed an experienced and authoritative coach like Van Gaal but he needs to infuse the team with new players if they want to be a contender for the title this year.

Hekuran Latifi
Editor-in-Chief,
Inside Sport Center
Aug 18, 2014