LONG BALL MAN UTD ARE BORING: WHERE DOES VAN GAAL GO FROM HERE ?

The Red Devils crashed out of the Capital One
Cup on Wednesday after another performance
which lacked any dynamism in the opposition
half
COMMENT By Kris Voakes at Old Trafford
While Manchester United’s second successive
League Cup exit to lower-league opposition was
the main headline of Wednesday night, the
manner of their defeat to Middlesbrough was
even more frustrating than the loss itself.
Last season’s second-round humbling at Milton
Keynes Dons was at least a one-off, with Louis
van Gaal having sent out a team full of players
who were set to have no real future at the
club. That 4-0 defeat was embarrassing but
ultimately inconsequential in the bigger picture.
Yet Wednesday’s 3-1 penalty shoot-out defeat
to Aitor Karanka’s Middlesbrough left Van Gaal
with much to ponder, with the 0-0 draw in 120
minutes having provided the perfect showcase
of United’s current issues on a wider scale.
There were some positives to take from the
draws with CSKA Moscow and Manchester City
in the previous seven days, but in both fixtures
United had started slowly and rode their luck.
Too many of their passes went sideways, giving
their opponents very little to fret over. In both
matches United ended the game with a much
higher tempo and looked all the better for it.
But still there was no change in approach when
Boro came to town, despite Van Gaal making
nine changes to his starting line-up. There were
different faces, but the body of work was much
the same. United had plenty of ball, but very
little to show for it. Once more, it was their
opponents who had many of the better
opportunities in front of goal, with full-back
George Friend in particular missing a gilt-edged
chance before skipper Grant Leadbitter
spawned two very good openings.
For United’s part they improved slightly after
the break, but it wasn’t until extra-time that
they really asked questions of the
Championship side. And the fact that it took a
change to a 4-4-2 formation and long-ball
tactics for the 20-time champions of England to
pick holes in Middlesbrough’s defence says an
awful lot.
“I’m disappointed we are out, that we came so
close and we are still out,” said Van Gaal after
the match. “I thought we didn’t play so well in
the first half. They played in a compact way as
Man City did. In the second half we had much
more chances but you have to finish them. In
extra time we had even better chances, but
when you are not finishing the chances it is
difficult to win games.”
While it is true that Anthony Martial and
Marouane Fellaini both should have done better
with close-range headers at the end of extra
time, it would have been unjust on Boro to be
denied by that point.
The home side had a couple of big penalty
shouts, but Jesse Lingard could have seen red
for a nasty studs-up challenge in the first half.
Lingard hit the post, but Kike did too before
Daley Blind sliced into his own net only to be
saved by the offside flag. For every argument
in United’s favour, there was one for the
visitors. The difference was that Boro had the
better game-plan, and carried it out to
perfection.
So how has it come to this? Why have
Manchester United suddenly become a side
against whom teams can set up a base of six
or seven defensive players and hold out with
something to spare? Clubs arriving at Old
Trafford with men by the ball used to be asking
for trouble, but not any more. Should £300
million or more of spending really result in
desperation tactics against a Championship
side, with a series of long balls for Fellaini to
flick on?
The Red Devils have a squad packed with
potentially exciting footballers. Memphis Depay,
Lingard, Martial and Andreas Pereira are among
those who should be revelling in the wide-open
spaces of Old Trafford yet too often when the
ball comes to them the tempo has dropped to
walking pace.
United are not playing to the strengths of their
attackers, and it can be no coincidence that
this has happened regardless of their personnel.
There can be no denying that Depay has yet to
deliver his best football since arriving at Old
Trafford this summer. Again on Wednesday he
cut a frustrating figure, with his 70-minute
appearance littered with lost possession and
poor decision-making. But one player alone is
not to blame.
Were it just an issue with the way certain
individuals were performing, then the wholesale
changes would have done something to fix their
recent issues in front of goal. Instead, the high
turnover for the cup tie made no difference at
all. This was the latest in a string of dull, rigid
United performances. In five matches so far in
October, only at Everton have they started the
game with any kind of purpose. Coincidentally
enough, that is their only win this month too.
The issue is that Van Gaal’s desired approach
simply isn’t hitting the right note. His side have
dominated possession in most of their games
this season, yet the slow starts have laid the
wrong kind of platform in matches. Yes, they
have still created chances late on in games,
but United are not stretching and exhausting
opponents as they should be. Any side with
sturdy resolve and a high level of concentration
is finding them to be easy enough to deal with.
The lack of tempo and attacking flair is also
affecting the mood around Old Trafford. While
United fans are not the type to take out their
frustrations by booing, the general atmosphere
at the Theatre of Dreams has gradually
decreased as the Van Gaal era has gone on.
Some people might treat the Capital One Cup
as an unnecessary distraction, but it
represented one of four chances for Louis van
Gaal to collect his first piece of silverware as
Manchester United. Now he has three more
shots at glory, yet the exit to Middlesbrough
must serve as a warning to the Dutchman that
things need to be quickly addressed as he goes
in search of long-awaited success.