From the archaic days of neanderthalic men lining up in 4-4-2 formations and kicking lumps out of each others’ shins, football has become a sport obsessed with the idea of philosophies.
Whether it’s Real Madrid vs Atletico in the Champions League final, Liverpool vs Chelsea in the Premier League or Bradford City giant-killing Arsenal in the Capital One Cup, every match, big or small, has become a representation of a clash of ideals and identity.
The recent change in management at Manchester United echoes this prevailing trend. In the summer, the Red Devils swapped a gaffer in David Moyes who lacked a vision of his own with Louis van Gaal, a manager whom, in direct contrast, has already made ‘philosophy’ the very conscious catchphrase of his Old Trafford tenure.
Indeed, upon his official arrival at Carrington, after inspiring the Netherlands to a 3rd place finish at the World Cup with an unexpected switch to a 3-4-1-2 formation, the Dutchman proclaimed that a ‘strong philosophy’ was the leading factor in United’s decision to hire him.
The only problem is, four competitive matches into van Gaal’s United career, the strength of his philosophy is yet to come into fruition. The Red Devils are without a win in the Premier League and have already been eliminated from the Capital One Cup via a 4-0 thumping at the hands of League One side MK Dons.
Thus, it must be asked – is van Gaal’s philosophy, the apparent mandate of his legitimacy at Old Trafford, actually that good? Or to better refine the question; does it really suit Manchester United?
Of course, the underlying pillars of van Gaal’s philosophy are an entrenched faith in attacking football and young players. His alumni of debutants, including Andres Iniesta, Xavi, Carles Puyol, Thomas Muller and Toni Kroos to name a few, is almost as illustrious as the Ballon d’Or nominations list.
That ideal has already been incredibly prevalent this season; LVG issued debuts to 20 year-old centre-back Tyler Blackett, who has played in every minute of United’s league campaign thus far, and 21 year-old winger Jesse Lingard on the Premier League’s opening weekend, whilst fellow academy graduate Michael Keane came on as a substitute against Sunderland to mark his inaugural top flight outing. This fits naturally with the traditional ethos at Manchester United, a club once immortalised by the infamous quote ‘you can’t win anything with kids’.
Yet, there will be few managers – if any – in world football, who would actively protest against the regular inclusion of young players. Likewise, if the introduction of Blackett, Lingard and Keane can be considered an inevitable process of the van Gaal philosophy, then his decision to part with Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand and Patrice Evra at the start of the summer must be too. There’s hardly a school of thought around Carrington that suggests this was a mistake, but it’s impossible to dispute that, with no defender older than Johnny Evans at 26, Manchester United’s three-man backline has desperately lacked in experience, direction and leadership this season.
Perhaps that process is somewhat inevitable. After all, the Red Devils have entered a new era, one van Gaal wants to develop from the ground up rather than drawing out the transition process from Sir Alex Ferguson’s reign to his any longer.
But there are other parts of the van Gaal philosophy that don’t add up, most particularly his introduction of 3-4-1-2. From a tactical perspective, this formation is more commonly utilised by teams expecting to completely dominate their opponents or be completely dominated by them, yet in the Premier League, undisputedly the most competitive top flight in world football, there are few matches that actually pan out in this manner.
That’s not to say it’s a system completely alien to the Premier League; Steve Bruce has utilised it to secure promotion, a 16th place Premier League finish and Europa League qualification at Hull City.
Yet, the summit of the English top flight is a different challenge altogether. Under the leadership of Roberto Mancini, Manchester City threw away their title defence campaign in 2012/13 as the players struggled to adapt to the Italian’s Serie A inspired 3-5-2. With United now struggling under a likewise system, one has to consider whether three-man defences are unsuitable to a top flight characterised by road-running wingers and quick, frequent transitions of play, especially without proven specialists in specialised roles – the situation United now find themselves in.
Of course, creating a new philosophy takes time – van Gaal has remarked on several occasions that he expects the transition to take around three months, and in that period, neither results nor performances will be particularly pleasing. Manchester United is a specifically difficult club to instigate drastic changes of ideals too; they’ve had two managers since 1986 and have forever been a club based around the notions of back-four-double-wideman football.
Yet there is a warning from the past that van Gaal’s philosophy can be a double-edged sword. As German sports writer Raphael Honigstein explains: ” The 4-3-3 formation brought the best out of many Bayern players [in van Gaal’s first season in charge] and gave their play a sense of identity, something that hadn’t been seen in Munich for quite a while.
“The season after, the formation became a dogma. He never diverted from it. Not when the opposition had worked out a way to deal with, not when specific games warranted it, nor when key players were injured. Instead, players were shuffled around inside the system and often ended up in very unfamiliar positions.”
Clearly, it’s too early to say whether van Gaal’s philosophy will be a success at Manchester United and equally, it remains to be seen how the club’s late summer recruitment influences his first team plans. But thus far, there’s little to suggest the Dutchman’s ideals, his faith in young players, his desire for attacking football, his utilisation of 3-4-1-2, is any cleverer, wiser or more efficient than the many diverse and successful philosophies that already exist in the Premier League.
One certainly remains however; whether title-laden or wooden-spooned, whether eventually compared to Ferguson as a United great or David Moyes as a United failure, whether victorious or defeated, van Gaal is a manager determined to live or die by his own proverbial sword.
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