EXCLUSIVE JERMAINE JENAS: Van Gaal’s time is up at Man Utd – and Guardiola is the man to replace him

I’d be shocked if Louis van Gaal was still in a job in January, but not because of Manchester United’s defeat at Stoke. Mark Hughes’s side are on brilliant form and any side in the league could go to the Britannia Stadium and lose at the moment. But United’s problems go far deeper than one defeat.

Not only are they out of the Champions League, they haven’t been playing good football all season. The one thing Van Gaal has been able to hold on to is that United have been in the top four, mainly because they weren’t conceding goals. But when you look at them now, they look like a side that has zero chance of finishing in the top four. They have no cutting edge, no confidence and no real leaders on the pitch. It’s a team in decline, and this will be obvious to the people that matter at Old Trafford. I just don’t see a way out for Van Gaal.

If I was at Man Utd, I’d be doing whatever it took to make sure the club got Pep Guardiola as their manager for next season. Jose Mourinho may seem like the obvious choice, but Guardiola is the man who will provide a style of football that United fans will love. Mourinho would bring something else to the table, but Guardiola is a better fit for the club.

What players want is a manager that will make them a better player. But with the exception of Chris Smalling, there is nobody at Old Trafford who has improved under the Van Gaal. In fact, everybody has got worse. It’s not so much a case of Van Gaal “losing the dressing room”, but more the fact that he seems unable to get the best out of his players. Nothing he has tried seems to work, dropping Wayne Rooney today being the latest example.

If we were still in the Sir Alex Ferguson era at Manchester United, when the Red Devils went 2-0 down early doors at the Britannia Stadium, the bookies wouldn’t have even taken bets on a United comeback it would have been that likely. But today, it was already game over.

Van Gaal said United didn’t “dare” to play football, but it’s his clearly influence that has prevented his players from playing the way they want. Nobody in their side plays with any freedom. A defender like Smalling might flourish under Van Gaal’s tactics, but the creative minds in the team are being stifled.

Rooney used to pop up all over the pitch, sometimes he’d be tracking back and ending up at left-back. Fine, you could say that’s not the best use of energy, but from an opponent’s perspective it meant that Rooney was virtually impossible to mark because you never knew where he would be. He would go wherever he wanted, and that made him United’s creative force. United have always been about movement and counter-attacks, but now it’s about structure and possession.

It was freedom that gave Ferguson’s team their explosive spirit, whereas under Van Gaal they have been scared to take risks. But as a central midfielder, if you’re not taking risks you’re not doing your job properly. You’re just passing the ball to your mate next to you, rather than trying something special to get your centre-forward in, or hitting a big diag to the winger. You have to take risks in certain parts of the pitch.

Even if Van Gaal goes, United will have a struggle to get into the top four. Player for player I’d say that Arsenal, Man City and even Spurs have stronger squads. That’s why there is so much talk about bringing a global star to Old Trafford, to bring back some of that aura. Because at the moment it’s gone: no-one is scared of United any more.

The baffling thing is that this is a man who has managed at Bayern Munich, Barcelona and the Dutch national side with great success. He’s been there, done it and won titles. The kind of manager that, as a player, you feel that if you follow him you are almost guaranteed to win trophies. The United players would have been excited about playing for someone with that pedigree, but they must be so disappointed with what Van Gaal has offered. It’s a sad situation, but it’s clearly time for Van Gaal to go.