It’s official. Louis van Gaal’s reign of terror is over.
The Manchester United manager has been relieved of his duties just two years into his three-year deal, with only a solitary FA Cup triumph to show for his efforts.
Van Gaal was not handed the easiest of tasks, coming in after a truly forgettable season under David Moyes, but that doesn’t mean he couldn’t have done a few things differently.
We’ve taken a look back at some of the key moments in the Dutchman’s tenure – not all his fault, of course – which contributed to his eventual downfall.
Selling Danny Welbeck
When Van Gaal arrived at Old Trafford, many expressed concerns about him bringing in his own backroom team and losing the club’s tradition of keeeping their youth products involved heavily in the club.
Those concerns were abated somewhat when fans learned that Ryan Giggs would be staying on as part of the coaching staff, but the good news was balanced out with bad when Arsenal completed a move for Danny Welbeck late in Van Gaal’s first transfer window.
While Welbeck has seen his time at the Emirates Stadium interrupted by injuries, the sight of a local lad leading the line for United would have made it easier for the manager to ride out early criticism.
https://twitter.com/danstapleton89/status/506552216099237888
Putting Phil Jones on corners
In the summer before Van Gaal’s arrival, United fans were excited by some of their manager-elect’s entertaining tactics in The Netherlands’ run to the World Cup semi-finals.
The high-point was the goalkeeper substitution which helped them past Costa Rica, but perhaps people should have been careful what they wished for.
The eccentricities have become more and more bizarre, beginning with the decision to hand set-piece duties to centre-back Jones and ending in the FA Cup Final when Ashley Young was – not for the first time – thrown up front while other strikers were utilised elsewhere on the pitch.
Never forget. Phil Jones taking corners for Manchester United Football Club. #VanGaalThat pic.twitter.com/EUXqd7jFyF
— OldTraffordFaithful (@OTFaithful) May 23, 2016
The attempted burglary of Angel Di Maria’s mansion
Not all of Van Gaal’s struggles can be blamed solely on him, and the decline of club record signing Angel di Maria was certainly something very much out of the Dutchman’s control.
Di Maria had impressed fleetingly after joining from Real Madrid, scoring one of the goals of last season in the 5-3 defeat at Leicester, but things seemed to go downhill for the Argentina international after would-be burglars attempted to break into his house while he was inside with his family.
The winger failed to score again all season, the mansion was put up for sale in March and he had moved to Paris Saint-Germain by the summer, forcing Van Gaal to come up with new plans for his second season.
https://twitter.com/HatTrickColon/status/576123314868977664
Missing out on Sergio Ramos
After recording their worst ever Premier League season under Moyes, the higher-ups at the club decided they would spend big to avoid a repeat.
Nearly £150m was spent on new players in the 2014/15 season, with summer 2015 bringing another nine-figure outlay, but the bigger problems came in the form of the players they did not sign.
Most significantly, Sergio Ramos decided to stay at Real Madrid despite overtures from Old Trafford, leading to *deep breath* Phil Jones, Marcos Rojo, Chris Smalling, Michael Carrick, Daley Blind, Antonio Valencia, Luke Shaw, Guillermo Varela, Paddy McNair, Matteo Darmian, Donald Love, Cameron Borthwick-Jackson and Tim Fosu-Mensah all getting Premier League minutes in defence this season.
Luke Shaw’s injury
Even after it became clear that Ramos wouldn’t be arriving, United started the season relatively positively with 10 points from their first five Premier League games and a Champions League play-off demolition of Club Brugge.
They were handed a group-stage draw which many described at the time as ‘favourable’, but a double blow arrived in the opening game against PSV Eindhoven as United lost 2-1 and Shaw suffered a double leg-break which would rule him out for the entire season.
England left-back Shaw had formed an impressive partnership with Memphis Depay down the left, but that injury – and a succession of auditionees as his successor – meant Memphis’ game struggled just as much.
Bringing on Nick Powell for Juan Mata
Despite that defeat in Eindhoven, United still had their fate in their own hands going into their final group game in Wolfsburg.
A win (and potentially a draw) in Germany would have seen them through, but with a quarter of the game remaining they were behind and needed to change something. One of Van Gaal’s most iconic pre-United moments came in the form of a surprising substitution (Tim Krul replacing Jasper Cillessen in Brazil), but there’s surprising and then there’s nonsensical.
Powell had played a combined 40 minutes of professional football after his part in the humbling 4-0 League Cup win at MK Dons early in Van Gaal’s reign, and hadn’t played a competitive second in almost an entire year. Probably not the best choice to replace fan favourite Juan Mata when goals were needed.
https://twitter.com/grimstonecowboy/status/734713724523667457
Isolating players for seemingly minor reasons
To a degree, United knew what they were letting themselves in for with Van Gaal. He had a reputation for falling out with players, but perhaps it wasn’t clear how little they needed to do to get frozen out.
Victor Valdes was one of the first to feel his wrath, being frozen out of the team after reportedly refusing to play for the Under-21s. But the treatment of him went that much further, with the Spaniard being effectively exiled from playing with, training with or even looking at other first-teamers.
And then there was the case of Adnan Januzaj and Andreas Pereira, who have played a combined 56 minutes (15 in the league) as an apparent punishment for showboating in an under-21s game. It might have gone down better had Van Gaal not already been under huge pressure.
Have a strong feeling that this could be a chaotic year under Van Gaal that will all end horrible and ugly
— Bobby Faghihi (@bobbyfaghihi) July 21, 2015
Winston Reid’s winner at the Boleyn Ground
It has felt like a matter of when Van Gaal leaves, rather than if, ever since December’s Champions League exit.
But the final nail in the coffin arrived on May 10 in East London, with Winston Reid bundling in a late winner after United had led going into the final 15 minutes.
Victory at Upton Park would have seen United back in a top four position with one game left – while his fate may have been sealed already, qualification for the Champions League might have at least made the decision to part ways a contentious one.
