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Louis van Gaal is wrong to label Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United as more boring than his
It’s not often that someone outside of Old Trafford will find himself standing up for Jose Mourinho, but this is one of those rare occasions on which the Manchester United boss deserves to be defended.
Having come in for heavy criticism after United’s lacklustre defeat in the Manchester derby – a result which leaves the Red Devils 11 points behind Manchester City – Mourinho now finds himself under attack from his predecessor, Louis van Gaal.
Speaking to Fox Sports in Holland, Van Gaal has said: “If you ask me how did I do at United, I will say it was my best year ever, given the circumstances I was working under. We played football that was quite alright. But it’s not football that is appreciated in England.
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“And yet, right now, looking at United, I have to conclude Mourinho is not being criticised while it’s far more boring football. I would rather watch City play than United. You need quality in a squad and it’s clear City have a better squad. What United produce now is defensive football.”
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While there’s little doubt that the team which Alex Ferguson once referred to as “noisy neighbours” are now a symphony orchestra – with Mourinho and co. a plodding sousaphone in comparison – Van Gaal is wrong to say that his successor’s team are “more boring” than his own. Whatever Manchester United’s current woes, and Van Gaal is probably right to say they are overreliant on “defensive football” at times, they are nowhere near as dirge-like as his own United side.
In defence of Mourinho
First, the simple facts. In his first season at Old Trafford, Mourinho won two major trophies and the Community Shield, while Van Gaal has a single FA Cup to show for his two-season spell at the club. Mourinho currently has 55 wins from 89 games in all competitions at United, one more than Van Gaal could accrue from 103 matches. Mourinho’s win ratio at the club is 61.8%, Van Gaal departed with a 52.43% success rate. From the fans’ perspective, winning games and silverware correspond pretty closely to levels of interest, while there is nothing more tedious than watching a side laden with high expectations losing and drawing matches time and time again.
Van Gaal’s record at Manchester United is unequivocally worse than Mourinho’s, which makes his attempt to stick the knife into his successor seem rather self-defeating. There are other moments from Van Gaal’s time in Manchester that could be used to pinpoint just how dreary it was: their eight-game winless run in the middle of the 2015/16 season, for instance, or the several occasions on which they stretched deep into triple figures for minutes without a goal.
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Meanwhile, earlier this month, Mourinho’s team were widely praised for their role in one of the most exciting games of the season as they won 3-1 at Arsenal. The notion that Mourinho’s tactical repertoire extends as far as parking the bus against quality opposition is a cliche, even if he could be more enterprising at times.
Despite their inferiority to Manchester City being ruthlessly exposed this weekend, United’s season will not be judged on one result alone. There is still plenty of opportunity for Mourinho to add more silverware to his collection, keeping supporters interested even as they come to terms with the reality of their intra-city rivals’ supremacy.
Meanwhile, the ultimate appraisal of the Van Gaal era comes from Manchester United fans. Even after a demoralising defeat in the Manchester derby, there is no sign of nostalgia for the Dutchman’s football and little indication that his reputation for tedium is about to be rehabilitated.
