Ex-Manchester United and Netherlands boss Louis van Gaal has retired from coaching after a 26-year career.
The Dutchman has been out of work since winning the FA Cup with United in 2016 and subsequently being sacked hours later for the incoming Jose Mourinho.
“I thought maybe I would stop, then I thought it would be a sabbatical, but now I do not think I will return to coaching,” Van Gaal told Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf.
The former Barcelona, Ajax and Bayern Munich boss had a glistening managerial career, but struggled at United and was often berated for his ‘boring’ style of football and ‘lack of success’ with the Red Devils.
What is ironic, however, is that United this season are no better off without the Dutchman at the helm; in fact they are worse off, currently sitting one place behind where they finished last season under Van Gaal.
Red Devils fans should not forget what Van Gaal did for their club. We take a look at three reasons why they should be grateful for his two year tenure…
Signings
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Admittedly, not all of the Dutchman’s signings were brilliant. Take Angel Di Maria, for example, who arrived in a record-breaking deal worth nearly £60million, only to completely flop and leave for PSG the following summer. The loan signing of Radamel Falcao was also an humongous disaster.
Let us not forget, though, that Van Gaal did bring in some of United’s key first team players today and indeed some for the future. Ander Herrera, Daley Blind, Anthony Martial, Marcos Rojo and Luke Shaw have all been relative successes at Old Trafford, especially the former three who are likely to be a huge part of the club’s long-term plans.
Youth
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Something new manager Jose Mourinho is infamous for ignoring is youth, but Louis Van Gaal could not be accused of that in the slightest. United were once renowned for their ability to bring through world-class youth with the prime example being the Class of ’92, and Van Gaal tried to bring that back to the club.
The former Barcelona manager ensured Anthony Martial thrived, and the Frenchman ended last season as the club’s top scorer. Jesse Lingard showed the world what he could do too, scoring the winning goal in the FA Cup final. And finally, of course, there is Marcus Rashford. The youngster set Old Trafford alight after being given his chance by the then-United boss and has continued to prosper since.
Champions League
It was a big old shock when David Moyes’ United failed to qualify for the Champions League upon finishing seventh during the 2013/14 Premier League season. All seemed doom and gloom at United.
Playing in Europe’s top club competition has always been an earmark of the elite, and Van Gaal didn’t take long to get United back into it. In his first season, he finished fourth and qualified for the group stages of the tournament. While they may not have gone very far, it was important he kept United on the European radar after the turmoil Moyes had caused.
People flocked, understandably, to the Bet365 Stadium at the weekend in the vague hope of seeing history made.
Of course, every journey made recently has been a step into the unknown as it is never truly known whether the potential record breaker is playing. He has been in and out of the side, his best days are behind him, but there is still the general feeling he can do some kind of job when required.
He played but he failed to score. Yes, Peter Crouch let his public down and failed to score his 100th Premier League goal. It was lucky Wayne Rooney popped up or all those fans would have had a completely wasted journey.
Yes, Wazza scored the goal that finally means Sir Bobby can stay at home in the warm rather than be in the stands on permanent standby to pull out his “well, it was going to get broken eventually and boy am I happy for the lad” face.
Rooney’s 250th United goal was rather nice and it saved United’s blushes after Juan Mata had scored at the wrong end. You see, Jose, this is what happens when you ask Juan to do the defensive side of the game. Rooney released a tribute video on social media after the game that, frankly, looked like Sir Bobby had used all his technical know how to knock it up on Powerpoint.
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There is a rumour doing the rounds, admittedly started by me, that the Etihad has a gypsy curse affecting all goalkeepers. It’s even got to Hugo Lloris now. The normally reliable Spurs captain made two incredibly rare blunders within ten minutes of each other to give Pep hope that his whole “I am not good enough for City” routine might get filed under “successful reverse psychology.”
Lloris was another mistake short of having a five-year-deal slapped under his nose by Pep before the final whistle was blown. But then the other Etihad curse kicked in. The curse of “not killing the bloody game off.” OK, Sterling was pushed in the back by Walker and it was the first time since Teresa May became PM that Sterling hasn’t nosedived and sure, it was a penalty. But City, boys. It is not compulsory to have to concede within 90 seconds of something going against you.
It happened against Chelsea when De Bruyne hit the bar and it happened here again. Spurs saw the light and got themselves level. Suddenly Jesus was arisen, but the linesman was clearly atheist as he correctly, if not disappointingly, ruined all the headlines of the next day in ruling the goal out for offside.
Someone needs to get hold of Claudio Ranieri’s dilly ding, dilly dong bell and ring it very loudly in his ears. Claudio not tinkering leads to silverware. Claudio tinkering leads to impending doom. In the last few games Leicester have tried a back three, a false front two and, more recently, a midfield diamond, all to no avail.
Southampton swept past them, leaving the ” Champions” in an actual relegation dogfight. Maybe it is time for Claudio to discreetly step aside and let someone come in and save the day? I am not being over dramatic.
Leicester’s European adventure is bound to end against Sevilla and can you imagine that side picking themselves up and digging in again to ensure a mid-table finish? I think not. After the game Ranieri suggested the fans should blame him for the defeat. Claudio, I think they were one step ahead of you.
David Moyes issued the bizarre rallying cry of “new signings won’t make any difference!” before Sunderland’s miserable defeat to West Brom. Mind you, he probably knew he’d be announcing Joleon Lescott within the next few days so you can see where he was coming from.
Sunderland have a number of problems, none of which can be solved by bringing Lescott to the club. Unless, of course, the problem is solving the “how many former Everton players can I sign before somebody starts asking questions” conundrum.
The Stadium of Light is starting to resemble Goodison Park circa 2009 right now. And they weren’t that good then, let alone now. Sunderland had zero fight, unless of course you count the right hook Djilobodji landed on Darren Fletcher.
I was under the weird impression that Palace had recruited Big Sam to save them from relegation. They still haven’t won under the former England manager and already rumours are going round that losing the England job might have done more damage to the Allardyce aura than first thought.
Bringing in Little Sam hasn’t made any difference either, and I am pretty sure signing Patrick van Aarnolt isn’t going to paper over too many cracks. Could Sam actually lose the England job and get Palace relegated all in the same season? I don’t think even Smug Al could have managed that.
Everton were pretty good in beating Palace at Selhurst Park and Ross Barkley put in the kind of performance that smacked of clear jealousy towards all the attention Tom Davies has been getting.
As you will have detected, I am not exactly a football expert but even I have crunched the numbers and worked out that if you plan to win the Premier League for the first time in a generation, letting Swansea score three times against you isn’t going to help. Kloppo can call them all in for “clear-the-air” talks as often as he wants, but it’s not going to be enough.
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Swansea were much improved, only conceding twice rather than the customary three of four and Paul Clement looks like he might be living up to the praise heaped on him by Manuel Neuer. A Spaniard called Fernando scoring twice at Anfield, it was just like old times for the Scousers.
Payet, in his own way, seems to have turned West Ham’s season around in a way nobody quite expected. Since officially downing tools and refusing to step foot on the pitch rather than downing tools on the pitch as he has been all season, West Ham have won twice. Andy Carroll scored another two goals, which means he is certain to be injured next weekend and miss the rest of the season.
If you judge a player by his goal celebrations you could believe that Diego Costa is quite happy at Chelsea. His hand gestures would suggest that everything that has been said recently has just been silly talk, and there was no way he was interested in earning £1m a week, or whatever it was, in China.
Interestingly, if you listened to all the punditry prattle when Marco Silva took over at Hull you would have believed he couldn’t speak a word of English. Judging by his regular five minute briefing with players on the sidelines at Stamford Bridge, I would say we have all been duped. Mind you, they still lost so it might be more about what he was saying in English I suppose.
It was Arsenal’s turn to have me scribbling out most of what I had written about them in the previous ninety three minutes at the Emirates. Granit Xhaka now has more red cards than goals or assists this season and if Fellaini had put in the injury time challenge that Coquelin managed having been brought on to see the game out then social media would have imploded.
Sean Dyche must have thought it was a job very well done when they equalised, until Ben Mee tried to kick Koscielny’s head into Row Z rather than the ball.
For me, the FA missed a great opportunity by banning Arsene Wenger for pushing the 4th official. Imagine Jose’s next press conference if they had let him off.
Go on, imagine.
There is a new FM book out on sale, edited by the supremely talented Alex Stewart and has a foreword from his arch enemy (in the FM sense only) Iain Macintosh – it is an anthology of all kinds of FM writing with contributions from some of our very own FootballFanCast writers (Lee Scott and myself) as well as excellent pieces from others too. 10% of all the sales goes to the mental health charity CALM, which is doing fantastic work. Anyway, if you like James’ FM updates on here then you will love this as much. Go and spend £4 on it which, as I understand it, is less than a large coffee in Costa now. You can get it here.
Chelsea have one hand on the Premier League trophy. Arsenal and Tottenham dropped points in midweek as the Blues came within a Diego Costa penalty of beating Liverpool as they extended their lead to a daunting nine points. Antonio Conte’s side have not been performing at their best of late, but are still on course for one of the all-time best Premier League seasons.
It is the responsibility of Arsenal to peg Chelsea back. Unfortunately this comes after an almost typical Arsenal performance, a home match that looked a guaranteed victory with their rivals set to drop points ended in an immensely disappointing defeat. The following frustrations of the Arsenal fans are understandable, that’s for sure, but the team cannot afford to carry a hangover from such a weak performance this weekend.
They are the final hope of keeping Chelsea in check, the possibility of finishing this challenging week with a lead as great as it currently is will have Roman Abramovich sitting smugly, but it does not leave much enjoyment in the Premier League title race for any neutral.
Arsenal briefly carried the mantle of Chelsea’s closest challengers before blowing it. Spurs also missed an opportunity to close the gap in midweek and Liverpool are yet to show any significant signs of returning to the form that made them such a joy to watch during the latter months of 2016. Chelsea, meanwhile, are plodding along, forcing results and looking defensively secure for the most part. Liverpool missed a chance to reign the Blues back in, now Arsenal must produce a rare victory at Stamford Bridge to keep an element of balance at the top of the table.
Should Chelsea avoid defeat on Saturday, the destination of the trophy will be all but sewn up. The Blues will go from strong favourites to kings in waiting. The midweek results mean that even a draw is not acceptable for Arsenal, they must go to Stamford Bridge to win.
If they come away with anything less than three points the only team that can change the fate of the Premier League will be Chelsea. Conte’s team will have to throw the title away, they may suffer under the great weight of expectation in that scenario, admittedly, but there are hardly signs of that to date.
Manchester City’s wonderful performance against West Ham has seen them keep pace with the top four, but even they are in dire need of an Arsenal victory. Pep Guardiola’s side may be rank outsiders for the title at this moment in time, but the nature of their performance against the Hammers keeps them in contention, although only if Arsenal can peg the Blues back.
While they will still remain strong favourites for the title even with defeat this weekend, Arsenal have the opportunity to avoid it becoming a forgone conclusion. A draw or a Chelsea victory will leave the league leaders in a such a position where only they can throw the lead away and, frankly, they don’t look like doing that.
Sutton United midfielder Nicky Bailey has revealed that he will prepare for tonight’s FA Cup fifth-round match against Arsenal by eating McDonald’s meal.
Nowadays footballers are kept on strict diets in order to get the best out of them on the pitch, but that seems only to be at elite level.
Bailey competes in the National League with Sutton, and his revelation suggests that his club are not particularly stringent when it comes to what their players eat.
While speaking to The Sun, Bailey claimed that before welcoming the Gunners to Gander Green Lane, he will tuck into nine chicken nuggets.
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In fact, he is so averse to some healthy foods and has never eaten a vegetable in his life.
“My diet has got me to where I am today! I am not the best eater. I don’t think I’ve ever had a salad in my life, or a vegetable. It’s always worked for me.
“My pre-match meal is always a McDonald’s – nine nuggets. When I was younger, my mum used to try and make me eat the green stuff, but I used to sick it up.”
Bailey might be wishing for a better source of energy come the final whistle as he attempts to cause an upset to Premier League opposition.
There is potential for a shock win, though, considering that Sutton overcame Leeds United in the fifth round, plus the Gunners will lack some confidence after getting thrashed by Bayern Munich 5-1 in the Champions League last week.
It is not the first time that West Ham United have been linked with a move for Christian Benteke, and according to The Telegraph they may revive their interest in the striker.
The publication states that the 26-year-old is pondering his Crystal Palace future after having an on-pitch argument with teammate Andros Townsend during Saturday’s victory over Middlesbrough.
Benteke made the move to Selhurst Park from Liverpool for a reported £32m figure last summer and has gone on to score 11 goals in 28 appearances in all competitions.
The striker has had a goal drought of late, though, scoring just the once since Sam Allardyce was appointed manager in December.
West Ham boss Slaven Bilic admitted in October that he was looking at Benteke during last summer’s transfer window, but a move failed to materialise.
Now The Telegraph speculate that the Hammers may turn their attention to Benteke at the end of the season.
As expected, fans have had their say on the matter, with plenty insisting that he is not a better fit than one of their current forwards Andy Carroll.
Others, though, would welcome the arrival of the Belgium international.
Manchester United midfielder Michael Carrick is prepared to retire if he doesn’t get offered a new deal at Old Trafford, he told the BBC.
The 35-year-old has spent 11 years at United since joining from Tottenham Hotspur in 2006 but sees his current deal expire in June and, so far, there has been no fresh offers from the Red Devils forthcoming.
With his future up in the air, Carrick has stated he would not move to another English side and would consider retirement altogether. Speaking to the BBC, he said:
“I just can’t picture myself playing for anyone else – certainly any other club in England.”
When asked if he would consider retiring, he added:
“I probably would say so, yes. I think so. I couldn’t say definitely but pretty much.”
Carrick currently stands as the second-longest serving player at Manchester United, after Wayne Rooney, and has accumulated over 400 appearances for the Red Devils- winning five Premier League’s, three EFL Cup’s, an FA Cup and the Champions League in 2008.
Jose Mourinho’s tenure at the helm of Manchester United has been a mixed bag so far this season. A stellar start to life in Manchester saw his side rise near the top of the table, but they have struggled to really get a decent run of form going since that point.
The Red Devils are unbeaten in the Premier League since October, but the fine form of sides around them combined with an increasing number of draws has prevented them from rising up the table – with 6th place simply not good enough for Mourinho.
The EFL Cup is already in the trophy case, of course, but with the Premier League title no longer within reach, Jose Mourinho must add to his trophy haul this season if he wants to consider it a success. Indeed, if Mourinho really wants to achieve greatness during his debut campaign, he must win the competition that he once described as ‘not good’ – the Europa League.
You could even argue that Thursday evening’s clash between Manchester United and FC Rostov could be the match to define Mourinho’s first year in charge. On a basic level, the fact that the Premier League title is out of reach and the FA Cup is but a distant memory should serve as motivation to give the Red Devils something to fight for – but the need to succeed goes much deeper than that.
From Jose Mourinho’s perspective, his reputation is seriously on the line. After a disappointing final few months in charge of Chelsea, the Portuguese manager needs to prove his worth – and poor performances in the league and FA Cup have done little to change the perception of him.
Certainly, the Europa League is not the pinnacle of European performance, but a victory in the cup will go some way to reestablishing the Red Devils as a side to be fearful of. Mourinho has always been a manager that brings immediate success, and should he fail against Rostov, the success that he has achieved at Old Trafford so far can be considered minimal at best.
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Of course, perhaps the main motivator for success on Thursday evening should be the prospect of Champions League football. The winner of the competition this year gets a clear route through to the competition, and with a top four finish far from assured it could end up being Man Utd’s only route in. Manchester United’s presence back in the competition would help establish them as a big European force once again, and to do that, they simply must win the Europa League.
The return of Champions League football also brings so much more than just the competition itself. It also brings the prospect of money, and, perhaps more importantly, top players. Of course, Manchester United were able to land the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Paul Pogba without it over the summer, but that might not be possible again this year with players like Romelu Lukaku and Antoine Griezmann likely to be on Mourinho’s targets list.
Indeed, for many reasons, the success of Jose Mourinho’s first season, and indeed his second, could rest on victory against FC Rostov. Defeat could very well mean another year without major European football, and whilst a victory will only take them through to the quarter-final, they will be one step closer to their elusive prize.
Tottenham Hotspur consolidated their second position in the English Premier League on Sunday, ending the day two points ahead of Manchester City in third.
The three points came courtesy of a 2-1 win at home to Claude Puel’s Southampton, a hard fought encounter that required determination and desire to get through.
Goals from Christian Eriksen and Dele Alli in the first half gave them an insurmountable lead and although Saints came back into the game in the second half, with a goal from James Ward-Prowse, Mauricio Pochettino’s men held on for a big win.
They head into the last international break of the season in great health and must be considered favourites to finish best of the rest behind Chelsea.
What did the 90 minutes tell us about the White Hart Lane side?
Here are FIVE lessons we learned from their win…
Christian Eriksen has emerged as the main man
With 10 direct goal contributions in his last 6 matches, Christian Eriksen is in better form than anyone right now at Spurs. Those 7 assists and 3 goals have powered Mauricio Pochettino’s side on at a vital time in the season when others around him are not exactly firing on all cylinders.
He’s now the main man in the final third for Spurs and although the likes of Dele Alli and Harry Kane steal the headlines, Eriksen’s consistency is a vital component of this team.
Is he underrated? We’re not sure we’d go that far, but supporters should massively appreciate what he brings to the team.
Spurs could struggle with Son Heung-Min leading the attack
With Harry Kane out for the next few weeks at least, Pochettino has turned to Son Heung-Min as the answer to lead the Spurs attack. That could be a problem against Premier League opposition as shown by his ineffectual display against Southampton on Sunday.
He did excellently against Millwall, but they are a League One side after all.
It highlights the lack of depth at Spurs in the striking position and fans must be hoping the club go out and sign a player of quality to compete and provide back-up to Kane without any missteps.
Not Son’s day.
Threat of Alli more important than ever
Dele Alli has been a massive part of Spurs’ season but as we approach the tail-end of the campaign and with injuries and suspensions likely to play a big role over the coming months, it’s more important than ever that he steps up and pulls his side through games.
He certainly did that today, a formidable presence in the Southampton half, constantly looking like a threat and able to create something.
There’s been many times this season you’ve expected Dele Alli’s form to drop off due to his young age but he’s proving to be a driving force for Spurs’ success.
Manolo Gabbiadini is a big miss for Saints
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Gabbiadini has scored six goals in his first four games for Southampton, announcing himself as a fantastic buy very early in his career on the south coast. His groin injury in the first half was a big blow for Southampton and they now anxiously await to scans to reveal the extent of the problem.
He’s been a breath of fresh air to Claude Puel’s team, looking like he possesses the quality to be a massive force in the Premier League.
To Southampton’s credit they rallied in the second half regardless and managed to get their goal but fans may be left wondering what might have happened should Gabbiadini been able to stay on the pitch.
One man team? Not likely
The accusations that Tottenham Hotspur are a one man team have never looked further from the truth than in their win against Southampton. Saints are a tricky team and you truly need to be an elite side at the top of your game to see them off. Spurs proved they were that.
Of course, losing Harry Kane is a massive blow but it’s not a mortal blow to their hopes of finishing in he UEFA Champions League positions.
With Christian Eriksen, Dele Alli and others all ready to step up, Pochettino’s men have plenty of talent to replace his goals with.
Rangers are supposed to be in the midst of a defensive crisis right now but two clean sheets in a row have left supporters optimistic Pedro Caixinha has found the right blend at the back.
A 0-0 draw last week against Kilmarnock was disappointing but in a match that two young defenders made their debut for the club, it was at least an encouraging sign they weren’t out of their depth.
Many had predicted their makeshift backline would come unglued at Pittodrie where a rampant Aberdeen had won 10 games in a row prior to the Gers’ visit. However, a thumping 3-0 win has kickstarted Caixinha’s reign and a second clean sheet delighted supporters.
One player in particular attracting praise is young Myles Beerman who, at 18 years old, is filling in for club captain Lee Wallace at left back. He dealt with the threat of the Dons superbly on Sunday and appears to be in line to make many more appearances in the tail-end of the season.
Supporters took to Twitter to share their enthusiasm for the young defender…
As reported by The Times, Liverpool are prioritising a shake-up of their defence this summer after putting Virgil van Dijk at the top of their wish-list.
What’s the story
Even though he’s been out injured for 3 months, Van Dijk can’t stop hitting the headlines and the defender is at the centre of another massive transfer rumour this weekend.
The Times reckon Jurgen Klopp has made the Dutchman his first choice in terms of defensive reinforcements, despite a £50m price tag.
Van Dijk has been at the centre of intense speculation this season, with almost every top seven side in England linked with him at one point or another.
A move for the Southampton man would be part of an ambitious transfer window, say The Times, with Liverpool also targeting in-form RB Leipzig midfielder Naby Keita.
Title winning stars?
Given Liverpool’s defensive problems this season, a move for Virgil van Dijk could add the stability they need in the backline to make them a real force next season.
Before his ankle injury in January, Van Dijk was arguably the most impressive defender in the Premier League season. He helped Southampton an incredible 12 clean sheets in half a season.
The Reds also need more defensive prowess in the middle of the park too and that’s where Naby Keita comes in. The Guinean international has excelled in the Bundesliga for Leipzig this season and could add real energy and the defensive skills required to stop opponents bypassing an often absent midfield.
If the reported moves come off, they could be the difference between top four contenders to outright title contenders late into the season.