Article 25 — Manchester United 2014–16
Legendary Dutch manager, Louis Van Gaal was hired to replace David Moyes. Van Gaal had been close to replacing Sir Alex Ferguson in 2002 when he first announced his intention to retire but Sir Alex’s U-turn meant that didn’t come to fruition. Van Gaal was a manager with a proven winning record at big clubs, winning major honours at Ajax Amsterdam, FC Barcelona and Bayern Munich. His achievement of winning the Dutch Eredivisie with lowly AZ Alkmaar would have to be the biggest achievement in his career for me. In the summer of 2014, he led a Dutch national team that didn’t have as many star names as they used to have to a 3rd place finish at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
I felt at the time of his appointment, United have now got it right with the appointment of a manager with the experience of managing a big club, big players and winning trophies. He was known to play attacking football and had a track record of giving opportunities for young players to break into the first team which fit well with United’s ethos and philosophy. Van Gaal brought in his own staff, Marcel Bout, Frans Hoek and Albert Stuivenberg. Ryan Giggs who had retired from professional football at the end of last season was hired as assistant manager.
The changes in the playing staff continued. As we are aware, Nemanja Vidic left the club at the end of his contract last season. Rio Ferdinand, his regular centre-back partner, was not offered a contract extension at the end of last season and he left too. Patrice Evra was sold to Juventus. Federico Macheda who had little impact after his heroic match-winning acts in 2008–09 was sold to Cardiff City, sadly Shinji Kagawa’s time was short-lived and he re-joined Borussia Dortmund, Bebe was sold to Benfica and unfortunately, Danny Welbeck was sold to Arsenal. Nani returned on loan to Sporting Lisbon, Tom Cleverley left on loan to join Aston Villa and Javier Hernandez was also unfortunately not kept and sent on loan to Real Madrid.
Coming in was Ander Herrera from Athletic Bilbao, Luke Shaw from Southampton, World Cup finalist Marcos Rojo from Sporting Lisbon, from the Dutch national team, Daley Blind from Ajax Amsterdam, another young Dutchman was signed from Ajax Amsterdam, Timothy Fosu-Mensah, Colombian striker with a big reputation, Radamel Falcao was signed on loan from Monaco and the biggest signing that summer, Argentine Angel Di Maria from Real Madrid. Di Maria was signed for a British transfer record fee in that summer and his signing especially excited United fans who felt that we would have a quick return to success with these signings. Former Barcelona and Spain goalkeeper, Victor Valdes was signed in the winter transfer window on a free transfer too.
Robin Van Persie who was below-par the previous season like most in the team was rejuvenated at the World Cup under Van Gaal and there were high hopes that the combination of Van Gaal and Van Persie would extend to club football this season. United’s fantastic pre-season in the USA added fuel to the fire for an upcoming season of success. Wayne Rooney was named the new club captain after Vidic’s departure.
However, the season had a rude shock for United in the opening game at Old Trafford. Swansea City beat United 2–1, United’s first home loss in a season opener since 1972. United drew their next 2 matches away to Sunderland and Burnley before the new-look United clicked into gear and comprehensively beat Queens Park Rangers 4–0. The following week, United carried on their attacking form but remarkably gave up a 2–0 and 3–1 lead to lose 3–5 away to Leicester City.
United was unbeaten in their next 4 matches including a thrilling late equaliser by Van Persie sealed a 1–1 draw against league leaders, 10 men Chelsea at Old Trafford.
United then lost their first Manchester derby 0–1 away at the Etihad Stadium. United followed that up by going on a winning run of 6 games and 10 games unbeaten which included a 2–1 win over Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium and 3–0 win over Liverpool at Old Trafford.
Southampton then recorded their first win at Old Trafford in 27 years by beating United 0–1 on the 11th January 2015. United then went on a mini-run of 4 games without defeat including a late equaliser by Daley Blind to secure a 1–1 draw against West Ham United at Upton Park. Swansea City then recorded their first-ever league double of home and away wins over United in their history by replicating the 1–2 score from the first day of the season.
What followed after that defeat was 5 wins on the trot which included some of the best performances of the season, beating Tottenham Hotspur 3–0 at Old Trafford, Liverpool 2–1 at Anfield which included Steven Gerrard’s sending off in his last appearance in a match against United and Wayne Rooney’s missed penalty and title-holders Manchester City 4–2 at Old Trafford.
United lost their next match away to champions-elect, Chelsea 0–1 at Stamford Bridge despite dominating possession. For the first time since 2001, United then lost 2 other games to make it 3 defeats in a row, 0–3 away to Everton and 0–1 at home to West Bromwich. United found their feet at the right time to beat Crystal Palace 2–1 away at Selhurst Park and a 1–1 draw at home against Arsenal meant that United would return to the Champions League after a one-year absence from the competition. The season was concluded with a 0–0 draw away to Hull City. United ended the season 3 places and 6 points higher than the previous season.
Manchester United was embarrassingly knocked out of the League Cup, getting trounced 0–4 by Milton Keynes Dons in the 3rd Round. A good run in the FA Cup was interrupted in the 6th Round when Danny Welbeck came back with Arsenal to score the winner in a 1–2 defeat of his boyhood club, Manchester United.
Expectations were heightened at the start of the season due to the signings made and pre-season form but United ended the season trophyless. However, United did well enough to qualify again for the Champions League after a season’s absence. It was a season of transition and adaptation for Van Gaal and the players he had in the squad. The performances were inconsistent but there were some very good performances this season that could be built on for next season.
David De Gea played a massive part in United finishing fourth and achieving Champions League qualification thanks to some big saves he had to make in games to enable us to get a point or 3 points. For the second season running, he won the Sir Matt Busby Player Of The Year and Manchester United Players’ Player Of The Season Award. His save against Everton at Old Trafford from last season’s match-winner in this fixture, Bryan Oviedo was voted as the Premier League Save Of The Season. In the same game, he kept Baines out from the penalty spot too in United’s 2–1 win, an example of how he helped us win games this season.
The issue of the defence was not resolved. There was an injury crisis which meant that youngsters Paddy McNair and Tyler Blackett from our famed academy were fielded. Out of the two, McNair impressed more to be fielded in more games. Van Gaal started the season with a 3 man defence which was unusual for United, famed for playing with a 4 man defence. He reverted to a 4 man defence after the experiment with a 3 man defence failed. Chris Smalling and Phil Jones were in and out of the side mostly due to injuries but did show in matches why they were brought to United.
This season, Antonio Valencia and Ashley Young started re-inventing themselves as wing-backs and full-backs and did well for beginners in that position. Valencia played more games at right-back than Young did at left-back. Young was still able to play in his usual left-wing role. His crosses and set-pieces delivery were a potent threat, forming a good combination with Fellaini’s heading prowess in the box.
Marcos Rojo who had played at left-back for Argentina in their run to the 2014 World Cup final, played some matches there without really impressing. Luke Shaw was another that didn’t quite get many minutes on the clock after doubts on his fitness. Daley Blind appeared at centre-back, left-back and centre-midfield showed good touches on the ball and his versatility but his lack of pace was exposed especially at left-back. He couldn’t nail down a standard place in the team but I felt did decently well in central midfield.
Michael Carrick was back to his best this season in midfield, arguably playing better than ever. Marouane Fellaini won over the United fans with a strong showing as a substitute in a 2–2 draw away to West Bromwich Albion, scoring the first equaliser in the game for us.
He had a much better season this time than he did in his debut season and getting on the scoresheet helped too, scoring one against Manchester City at Old Trafford and the winner against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park. Ander Herrera won over fans with his all-action, committed displays, scoring some good goals along the way. Darren Fletcher was the vice-captain in the team but didn’t feature much.
Angel Di Maria got off to a great start to life as United’s latest incumbent number 7 but the form of the star signing of the summer soon faded away and he found himself on the bench for more matches, unhappy and sulking. Juan Mata, unusually found himself in the right-wing position and did quite well from there but his lack of pace was exposed as expected in some matches.
Wayne Rooney was the best striker we had again, finishing the season as top scorer. The hope that van Persie would be rejuvenated under his former national team manager didn’t quite hold true. He finished the season as second top scorer but still not the van Persie we saw in 2012–13, he looked like he was on the decline. Radamel Falcao worked really hard whenever he played and was fully committed to the cause but he looked a shadow of the explosive, powerful striker he was at Porto and Atletico Madrid at the peak of his powers.
I was sad and disappointed that we lost Hernandez and Welbeck over the summer because I felt those two were still good enough and at the right age to be developed further, unfortunately, the manager didn’t see it that way.
Ahead of 2015–16 there were yet more changes to the playing personnel of Manchester United. Tom Cleverley couldn’t build on a promising start to life as a Manchester United first-team player in 2012–13 and was released on a free transfer to Everton. Nani and Robin Van Persie joined Turkish club Fenerbahce, Rafael Da Silva joined French club Lyon, Angel Di Maria only lasted one season in England and was sold to Paris Saint-Germain, Jonny Evans joined West Bromwich Albion after not being able to deliver on early promise, Anders Lindegaard followed him to The Hawthorns too and Javier Hernandez was sold to German side Bayer Leverkusen. Victor Valdes fell out with Van Gaal and was frozen out of the team, leaving in the winter to join Standard Liege in Belgium. An unfortunate and sad end for a player with a glorious career who was given the first break in the first team by Van Gaal himself.
More members of Sir Alex’s final squad that won the Premier League in 2012–13 were removed. Another member of Van Gaal’s 2014 World Cup squad, Memphis Depay joined from PSV Eindhoven, Matteo Darmian joined from Torino, World Cup winner, Bastian Schweinsteiger joined from Bayern Munich, Morgan Schneiderlin joined from Southampton and Sergio Romero, Van Gaal’s first-choice goalkeeper at AZ Alkmaar and Argentina’s first choice at the 2014 World Cup was also signed. Late in the summer transfer window, an unknown young Frenchman, Anthony Martial was signed from Monaco, paying over the odds for him at that time.
Memphis impressed me at the World Cup for Holland, Darmian I knew well of from his time at Serie A and the Italy national team and was another that impressed me, Schweinsteiger was a world-class player from his time with the German national team and Bayern Munich and Schneiderlin impressed in his time with Southampton. Romero was signed to be De Gea’s understudy and we knew nothing of Martial.
United started the season against Tottenham Hotspur and won the opener 1–0 attaining the victory in an unimpressive fashion. United kept 2 more clean sheets in a row, in a 1–0 win over Aston Villa at Villa Park and a 0–0 draw at home to Newcastle United. For the second season in a row, United lost to Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium by the same scoreline, 1–2.
The next match was the first big match of the season against fierce rivals, Liverpool which United dominated to win 3–1. Anthony Martial announced himself to the world with the third goal in that game.
The Martial show continued in the next match against Southampton at St. Mary’s Stadium as his double helped United to a narrow 3–2 win.
United went to the top of the Premier League for the first time in 2 years when they beat Sunderland 3–0 at Old Trafford. Wayne Rooney ended his longest barren run in the Premier League, 11 games, with a goal in that win.
United then followed that up with the heaviest defeat against Arsenal in the Premier League in 17 years, 0–3 at the Emirates. Last season, De Gea kept out the waves of Arsenal pressure but was powerless to stop them this time. United had not won at Goodison Park for 3 seasons in a row and made a visit there next. United produced their best performance of the season so far with a 3–0 win, a reverse of last season’s defeat there. Morgan Schneiderlin produced his best display of the season in this game.
United drew the next two, 0–0 against Manchester City at home and Crystal Palace away followed by a 2–0 win over West Bromwich Albion at home and a late, late winner in a 2–1 win against Watford at Vicarage Road. United then embarked on a shocking run of 6 Premier League games without a win which started with an away 1–1 draw against high-flying Leicester City. The run of 6 games without a win included 3 consecutive defeats against a couple of newly-promoted teams, Bournemouth and Norwich City and Stoke City. United’s worst run of results since January 1990. The pressure had cranked up on Louis Van Gaal’s future as United manager. It looked like the axe was hanging over his head and at any time now would receive the sack.
He survived the sack and United finally beat Swansea City after 3 consecutive losses to them, winning 2–1 at Old Trafford. The inconsistent form continued, drawing the next one 3–3 against Newcastle at St. James’ Park before completing a league double over Liverpool in a 1–0 win at Anfield.
They proceeded to lose 0–1 to Southampton at Old Trafford and the team was greeted with boos at full-time. United beat Stoke City 3–0 next before a good performance in a 1–1 draw against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Youth team product, Jesse Lingard scoring a fantastic opening goal.
Frustratingly, United slumped to another defeat 1–2 away to Sunderland before an injury-ravaged team beat Arsenal 3–2 at Old Trafford. Among the youngsters on the pitch, that day was two-goal hero, Marcus Rashford who had also scored on his debut in Europe in midweek.
After a 1–0 home win over Watford, West Bromwich Albion claimed their first home win over United in 32 years with a 1–0 win. United’s hopes of claiming a place in the Champions League were kept alive when young Rashford scored the winner in a 1–0 win against Manchester City in the derby at the Etihad Stadium.
Another 1–0 win at home to Everton kept the pressure on City for the 4th spot but a 0–3 defeat away to Tottenham meant we fell further behind in the race for the 4th spot. United was unbeaten in the next 4 matches including a 1–1 draw at home against surprise league leaders, Leicester City. 2 wins from their final 2 league matches would secure 4th spot and qualification to the Champions League despite an erratic and inconsistent season. Staying true to their form this season, United lost the final league match played at Upton Park 3–2, losing a 2–1 lead for a dream end to West Ham’s time there. That defeat ended United’s hopes of securing Champions League spot as Manchester City got the point they needed to secure a Champions League spot. United finished 4th and qualified for the Europa League instead.
In the League Cup, Middlesbrough knocked us out in the 4th Round after 3–1 penalty shootout win at Old Trafford. United had a glorious run in the FA Cup, beating Sheffield United, Derby County, Shrewsbury Town, a thrilling 2–1 replay win over West Ham in the 6th Round.
In the semi-final, United beat Everton in a thrilling and dramatic 2–1 win over where Romelu Lukaku missed a penalty for Everton before Martial scored the late winner.
It was followed by a glorious end in the final, a third 2–1 win in a row, coming from 0–1 down to win in extra-time over Crystal Palace. United’s first silverware since the Premier League of 2013–14 if you disregard the Community Shield of 2013–14.
In their return to the Champions League, United beat Belgian team Club Brugge 7–1 on aggregate to qualify for the group stages. The group stages began on the wrong foot with a 1–2 defeat at PSV in Van Gaal’s return to his native Holland. Luke Shaw suffered a horrific leg break in the same game. United beat German side VfL Wolfsburg 2–1 at home, drew 1–1 away against CSKA Moscow and won 1–0 against the same team at home. The abysmal form of late November and December 2015 extended into the Champions League. We drew 0–0 against PSV at home and lost 2–3 away to Wolfsburg to make it 8 games in a row without a win across all competitions.
United was demoted to the Europa League for the second Champions League campaign in their last 3 Champions League participations. In the Europa League, United was stunned with a 1–2 defeat away to Danish champions Midtjylland in the first leg of the Round of 32. In the second leg, Marcus Rashford announced himself to the world with 2 goals on his debut in a 5–1 win for a 6–3 aggregate win.
United was drawn against rivals Liverpool in the following round and lost against them for the first time in 4 matches in the first leg, 0–2. The return leg was drawn 1–1 and United was knocked out.
Louis Van Gaal was a dead man walking after the run of 8 matches without a win and his fate was sealed at the end of the season. He was sacked days after winning the FA Cup.
Season 2014–15 was one of promise but United and Van Gaal failed to build on that and bring it up to the next level in 2015–16. Memphis Depay failed to live up to the promise shown in World Cup 2014. We only saw sporadically the quality he truly possessed. The number 7 jersey that he had on his back weighed on him heavily. Since Ronaldo, Michael Owen, Antonio Valencia and Angel Di Maria have all worn it and not carried it with distinction.
Matteo Darmian had a very good start to life as a United player but for some reason started playing within himself after the first month, Schweinsteiger was no longer the player he was, injuries taking a toll on him and was on the decline but not for the lack of effort on his part and Schneiderlin didn’t have the same impact he had at Southampton. Romero didn’t get many opportunities to play due to the form of De Gea but he was steady whenever he did play.
David De Gea was embroiled in a transfer saga in the summer. Real Madrid wanted to sign him but a very late transfer bid in part-exchange with Real Madrid’s Keylor Navas fell through thanks to a broken fax machine and thank God for that. He signed a contract extension shortly after that and became the first player to win the Sir Matt Busby Player Of The Season and Manchester United Players’ Player Of The Season award for 3 consecutive seasons. He won the Save Of The Season award for 3 seasons in a row too. De Gea was the only player that has flourished and got better in the ensuing seasons after Sir Alex’s retirement. His influence and importance on the team growing with each passing season.
Van Gaal’s greatest legacy would have to be the young players he introduced in 2015–16, Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard. Lingard had a false start in 2014–15 when he was sidelined by a bad knee injury in the first game itself and was then loaned out after his recovery from his injury. Both players had a great breakthrough season, scoring some important goals and assists. It was none more important than Lingard’s winner in the FA Cup final. Anthony Martial came to United as an unknown and ended the season as top scorer, worth every penny spent on him. He did very well with his explosive pace, trickery, goals and assists. It worked very well in tandem with the raw pace of Rashford and Lingard. All three can certainly be developed further in the coming years with age on their side.
There were other players that made a breakthrough this season because of an injury crisis, Guillermo Varela, Cameron Borthwick-Jackson and Timothy Fosu-Mensah. Van Gaal was forced to field youngsters in both his seasons but he deserves credit for his courage and faith in fielding them. Adnan Januzaj who made his breakthrough under David Moyes was sent on loan to Borussia Dortmund, unable to find space in the team and develop as he was expected to. James Wilson who made a bright start with 2 goals on his debut fizzled out. Paddy McNair had fleeting appearances this season. Nick Powell only made 2 substitute appearances, out of favour and not making a mark at all.
Wayne Rooney was playing in a withdrawn role in central midfield as the season progressed and young players like Rashford and Martial emerged. Darren Fletcher left to join West Bromwich Albion in the winter transfer market and Michael Carrick was named the vice-captain. Carrick was finally getting recognition after being under-rated for so long in the company of Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs. He was ageing like fine wine and flourishing under Van Gaal. Valencia was also developing as a fine right-back, strong as an ox and quick off the ground.
Unfortunately, the appointment of Van Gaal didn’t turn out well for us despite ensuring only a one-year absence from European football and our first piece of silverware since winning the Premier League under Sir Alex Ferguson. For a big club like United, the ambition is always to challenge for the major honours every season and winning them. Van Gaal failed to create teams that were able to do that.
It was reported that his demands on the players was hard and the players couldn’t express themselves freely on the pitch, a point Rooney and Carrick made to him privately but never really heeded by the stubborn manager.
Van Gaal had a philosophy that worked well for him in the past but was no longer in line with modern football. His possession-based football would have been the prelude to Spain and Guardiola’s tiki-taka system but Van Gaal lacked the intensity in play that tiki-taka had. Moreover, at this time, tiki-taka was also no longer ruling the roost as teams preferred to attack directly with the lesser circulation of possession and more pace.
In two seasons, I noticed that Van Gaal struggled badly in away games when the home team, buoyed by the support of the partisan home crowd would start with great intensity and energy and United would struggle to cope. In 2014–15, United didn’t win away in the league until January.
On the flip side, he was always better prepared for taking on big teams. We produced some of our best performances under Van Gaal in those matches. If we could have translated that into our “bread and butter” matches, we would have surely won more than just the FA Cup. I felt the sack was justified and it was only a matter of time. Had he been in Germany, Italy or Spain, he would have got the sack in December 2015 when United went 8 games without winning so it wasn’t a big surprise when he did get the sack.
Losing so many players that were still on the right side of the 20s from Sir Alex Ferguson’s final squad that could have still played a part in this team was a big loss. He didn’t show much faith in the players that were there like Nani, Javier Hernandez, Rafael Da Silva, Danny Welbeck, players that could still play a part and be developed if given confidence in. Valencia had developed well under Van Gaal to be the first-choice right-back so Rafael wasn’t missed as much but would have been good to have around as cover.
One could argue that with Javier Hernandez and Danny Welbeck still around, Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial might not have found space in the first-team but healthy competition has never hurt anyone and is the cornerstone for a successful team.
Patrice Evra went on to have a couple of strong seasons at Juventus as first-choice left-back, he could have still done a job for us and was sold too soon.
The post-Sir Alex era continues on with more instability and the transition period is extended. The despair, anguish and frustration of the fans after years and years of being spoilt by success now almost the permanent emotion felt by all.
