FORMER MANCHESTER UNITED goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel said he believes Louis van Gaal is the man to turn around the club’s Premier League fortunes.
It was a season to forget for United in 2013-14 after finishing seventh in David Moyes’ only campaign at Old Trafford.
Moyes was the casualty of United’s failure, sacked in favour of experienced manager Van Gaal.
Van Gaal has already overseen a change in formation, with the Dutchman opting for a three-man defence, a system he adopted during the Netherlands’ World Cup campaign in Brazil.
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He also guided the club to an unbeaten tour of the United States, with wins against the Los Angeles Galaxy, Roma, Inter, Real Madrid and Liverpool.
And Van Gaal’s bold tactics — highlighted by his decision to swap goalkeepers in the Netherlands’ penalty shoot-out win against Costa Rica – bodes well for United.
“He did one or two things in the World Cup which were quite noticeable and have put his name right up there,” Schmeichel told the Daily Mirror. “They were things no-one else ever dared to do.
“So he looks to be his own man, who knows exactly what he wants to do. I think we should be contending for the title again this season under him.
“He has always been someone who is at a big club like Bayern Munich and Barcelona and done good things. Hopefully he can do the same at Manchester United.”
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If United are to return to the lofty heights of the Premier League table, they must improve their home form.
United uncharacteristically lost 12 league games last season, with seven of those coming at Old Trafford, slipping up against West Brom, Everton, Newcastle United, Tottenham, Liverpool, Manchester City and Sunderland.
“It wasn’t great losing that many games – especially at Old Trafford,” the Dane said.
“If you turn those seven defeats into wins – which we would normally do – then you see we would have been right up there in the table.
“There was a problem at Old Trafford last season. It would be nice for that to go away and to see the team winning again – and hopefully in style.”
Somewhere Phil Kearns is having an absolute meltdown about the unfairness of it all…
Great to see Jaguares win, hope they can follow up next week.
Argentina are 50-1 for the world cup! Insane odds given how well the Jaguares are going. Plus they always underperform in the Rugby Championship cos of the distances they have to travel. Given Ireland are 5-1, this seems pretty long for the Argies.
@Farzad Saadat: Pool C will see a big faller at the 1st. France, England and Argentina will be interesting. You’d think France could be the one to miss out but they’ve been ruthless with their squad selection, brought in O’Gara and you only have to look at 2011 when they had no chance and made the final. England could find themselves in a similar fate to 2015, after a great start under Jones they had an awful run of loses. Argentina always peak at world cup time. Exciting!
@RabidHorizon: Did they bring in O’Gara in the end? I thought that was all just rumours in the end
@Eddie Hekenui: No they didn’t in the end
@Ciaran Twomey: Cheers. Thought I might’ve missed the news he’d taken a role with them.
@Farzad Saadat: Madness considering they have knocked us out of 3 of the last 5 RWCs.
@RabidHorizon: they didn’t bring in O’Gara
@RabidHorizon: France brought in much better coaches than O’Gara, they should get a real boost – Labit and Galthié – they picked the right squad, too. I think England could be the team to miss out..
Brumbies should never have made it to a semi. Awful team but get lucky because of how weak their conference is.
@#JUSTICE4NOEL:
Aussie Rugby is in a bad place right now.
Unreal for the sport!! Makes the competition a whole lot more competitive! Will be interesting to see how far Argentina go at the WC.
@Aaron Tynan: Further than us, I fear.
@Bluepoolroad: draw kinder to them I think than Ireland – SA or NZ is a tough 1/4
The second semi just finished. Cracking game. 30-26 crusaders.
That jaguares kit is lovely
@Eoin Murphy: i wonder where one could buy it?
@Tony Stack: https://www.elverys.ie/elverys/en/search?text=jaguares
Great. When Argentina played in the November series against Ireland. Which i went too. It was the Jaguares team.
Jags play flat and pass wonderfully, it’s great to watch. The crowd was brilliant too.
I think the Crusaders will have too much for them at home, but I’d love to see the Jags win it.
Where’s the final taking place?
@Bluepoolroad: crusaders ground
@Bluepoolroad: Crusaders home stadium in Christchurch, super rugby needs to start playing them in neutral venues, even if it’s in the higher ranked clubs home country. Home stadium advantage is a bit much for a final.
@Con Al: The problem is distances. Say Cape Town was this year’s venue, how many Jaguares and Crusaders supporters are going to make it at a weeks notice? Stadium would be near empty. At least in the current system, one set of supporters see the final and home advantage is based on merit earned during the season. Not perfect, but understandable system