On the Spot: Why Louis van Gaal needs to go

At some point, one wonders if the Theatre of Dreams has turned into a theatre of nightmares. Or if dreams even exist anymore at Old Trafford.

Twenty-six years of attacking football under Alex Ferguson may have given Manchester United fans a right to demand attacking football. Even under David Moyes, United tried to keep to the hallowed traditions of this famous club. Not under Louis van Gaal though.

There’s nothing wrong playing possession football — great teams like Arsenal and Barcelona used to dominate opponents with the way they moved the ball around the field; Manchester United keeps the ball but does almost nothing else with it. The statistics tell an even more damning story.

Prior to the Feb. 2 3-0 home win over Stoke, United had not scored a first-half goal at Old Trafford since late September, and went through December without a win. In the January FA Cup tie against Sheffield United, its first shot on target did not come until after 67 minutes into the match.

When van Gaal claims he is loosening the shackles, I cringe. Critics may argue that United has been harder to break down, but mistakes against Wolfsburg, Sunderland, Southampton and Norwich suggest otherwise, and just when United thought it turned a corner against Stoke, it floundered at Chelsea. This style of play makes the result and the performance even harder to stomach.

Despite spending £250 million, Manchester United looks like it has regressed. He’s had 18 months, but van Gaal has not been able to impose his so-called “philosophy” on the pitch. There should be no excuse for not finishing in the top four, nor should he be saying that the Europa League is United’s best bet for Champions League qualification.

With possession-based philosophies, you need both pace and incisiveness in the final third. Yet he benches Ander Herrera and sometimes Juan Mata. You would also want a player who can run behind the defenders and get behind the proverbial parked bus. Yet he’s hardly put his fastest players in those positions. Van Gaal put Ashley Young at full-back, loaned James Wilson out and benched Memphis Depay, so when he claims he doesn’t have enough pace in his team, I’m not sure if the Dutchman is blind or if he’s completely lost the plot.

I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s the latter. Players today can’t just be treated as robots. This isn’t FIFA16 or Football Manager — it’s 22 humans on the field trying to win a game. Players need room to breathe, and can’t be told to eat together every session, or train in a certain way. Van Gaal himself seems robotic — abnormally quiet on the bench and leaving Ryan Giggs to bellow instructions from the touchline. This is disheartening; it’s almost as if he doesn’t see the need to be actively involved in the game — especially when you consider that arch-rival Liverpool has that kind of active manager in Jurgen Klopp.

Dreams certainly do not come out from this supposed hell-hole that is Louis van Gaal’s methods. His strategies haven’t worked on the field, and his personnel-management methods seem antiquated.

Maybe soon he will be too.