Van Gaal has made a rod for his own back
LOUISVAN GAAL never seems to tire of reminding us that he’s a winner.
His media unveiling as Manchester United manager was peppered with references to it — he made Ajax the best team in Holland, Bayern Munich the best in Germany, Barcelona the top team in Spain.
He’s too clever to say it outright, but the inference was obvious.
And after what he achieved at theWorld Cup, expectations have been ratcheted up several notches.
In many ways, Van Gaal did himself few favours by taking his country to within a penalty shoot-out of the final in Brazil.
He won’t see it like that, of course.TheWorld Cup produced another glittering page for that CV he likes to talk about so much.
But in radically overachieving with a pretty average Dutch side, he gave Manchester United fans the belief that restoring their team to previous heights will be a doddle.
After all, most analysts creditedVan Gaal as the mastermind behind everything Holland did.
He switched formations during games, his use of substitutes was excellent, he converted ex-Liverpool striker Dirk Kuyt into an effective left wing-back and made his famous goalkeeper switch for the shoot-out against Costa Rica.
It was a stunning taster of things to come. Back in Manchester they liked what they saw. As a result, the bookies have dramatically shortened United’s title odds.
Now the perception ofVan Gaal is that he’s the polar opposite of David Moyes.This is a confident, decisive, innovative coach who will select line-ups and make tactical changes that win matches.
Put that together with a more aggressive transfer policy, and the consensus is that United can’t fail to challenge for the Premier League title.They might even win it.
Van Gaal knows it won’t be as straightforward as that. He realises that United have slipped badly in the last 12 months.
And while he clearly believes he’ll get the club back to the summit, he warned it might take more than one season.
So despite all the unashamed self-proclamation, his press conference was just as much a plea for patience as Moyes’was this time last year.
If he’d had an averageWorld Cup, the fans might have bought that. ButVan Gaal has raised their hopes, so the pressure is on from Day One.