first 1/3 of the season compared

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red7

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After a third of the season is played I took some time to look at the previous seasons

2011/12 SAF 3rd 30 points 9-3-1 30:13
2012/13 SAF 1st 30 points 10-0-3 32:18
2013/14 MOY 8th 22 points 6-4-3 22:17
2014/15 LVG 4th 22 points 6-4-3 22:15
2015/16 LVG 2nd 27 points 8-3-2 19:9

Defensively better than in all those years but our often voiced critics towards our style of play is demonstrated by the lack of goals. If Louis can sort that out the way he did defensively, he will most probably leave OT with some silverware in 2017. If not, he goes down as the manager with with the most destructible style of football in the history of Manchester United.
 
I miss the Anderson-Cleverley partnership from 2011/12. No, not really.

The defensive record is very impressive.

The attacking play has been poor through a combination of style, tactics and form. The notion that Rooney was the problem, was and still is a naive view, when Martial is the only player in the front five to perform to the required standard. There have been signs of encouragement in the games against CSKA and West Brom though, and hopefully we can build on those two performances in the coming weeks and months. I think we'll spend big again next summer (or in January) on attacking players who are capable of moments of individual brilliance, which will enhance/hide deficiencies in Van Gaal's style of football, a la Robben at the last World Cup.

Destructible is a harsh word to use, red.
 
I wouldn't be surprised to see Van Gaal stay on beyond his current 3 years. Progress is slow but is being made, consider myself to be pretty patient but that's been tested this season. Part of me however thinks he's building something quite special and we could benefit greatly by sticking with him.
 
I really feel that if we add one or two players of real quality in attack and we will be firing. The system is somewhat similar to that of recent Barca sides in terms of dominating possession, the difference is that once having the ball in attacking positions Barca would have had the players to play it through sides or do something from nothing, we currently don't. Martial is the only one, Depay at times. What I would say though is that Barca would have moved it forward quicker from the back and always had fullbacks as a big attacking outlet, I'd like to see more of that under van Gaal.
 
There are some similarties to his time at Bayern. He is often mentioned as the man who laid the basis for Bayern's current success. He was also under fire in his time, especially in the beginning for playing too slow und not attractive. Unclear to me is, whether others reaped the rewards who came after him or if it got better from there because he left. Bayern lost patience with him. Interesting to see how we handle that but I think he will not extend his contract and will finally retire if we win the titel over the time of his contract. We are still a fair way off but in terms of results we are definately improving.

I also see the fullback positions as one reason why are not as attacking as we should be. Not much overlapping there. The return of Shaw next year will hopefully be like a new signing. Hope he can play like he did at the start of this season and we will have an attacking fullback. On the right Darmian has yet to proof he can recover the form of the first games. Anyway he's rather defensively solid than attacking but a more backwards thinking player behind an out-and-out attacking Bale for example to give him freedom could work very well.

Another reason is that we are short of one world-class attacking player who can make a difference. In terms of additions Bale could make that difference to our sqaud. Not much more is needed imo. I'd like Stones or Laporte as a new CB and that's it. If Smalling gets injured we do not have proper cover.

Rooney's form and the fact our other attackers are new at the club and also very young is another reason. Our youngsters are in a period where they still have to learn a lot. Even without new signings I expect Memphis and Martial to have a bigger impact in their second season.
 
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