Manager-in: Meet Manchester United’s new boss – Louis van Gaal

Manchester United have signed Louis van Gaal (LvG) in a 3 year deal. He is the first Non-UK (United Kingdom) Manchester United manager. He is very much in contrast to David Moyes. He has managed at the clubs (Barcelona and Bayern Munich) at the highest level, has won trophies (La Liga, Bundesliga, Champions League and UEFA Cup) which are at the highest level and has succeeded a manager (Bobby Robson at Barcelona) at the highest level & coped up well. These 3 factors (none of which David Moyes possessed) are a great fit for Manchester United currently. His signing was supposed to happen 12 years back (2002) when Sir Alex Ferguson thought of retiring (before a change in his decision). After 12 years, it’s happened. Let’s have a look at his managerial statistics.

Louis Van Gaal Managerial Record

LvG has got a better winning record at every club he has managed. He has even surpassed the record of Sir Alex Ferguson (58.14 % wins in career) in winning percentage with 61.33% career wins. David Moyes was never near both of them at just 44.58%.

LvG vs SAF vs David Moyes

Sir Alex Ferguson is famous for delivering trophies consistently at Manchester United. David Moyes on the other hand doesn’t have any major trophies to add his name to. Louis van Gaal has the experience winning key trophies like Dutch Eredivisie, Spanish La Liga, Copa del Rey, German Bundesliga, UEFA Super Cup, Inter Continental Cup, UEFA Cup and UEFA Champions League. This will prove to be a key factor in turning around things at Old Trafford.

Louis van Gaal Trophy Cabinet

He is one of the philosophers of attacking football and his impact at the clubs is on a positive side. His sides in most of the cases have focused on scoring more goals. AFC AJAX had an instant impact of him. They had an average of 73.5 goals per season in the four seasons before he came. In his first 5 seasons, he managed an average of 91.8 goals per season.

AFC AJAX – GOALS SCORED PER SEASON

In Barcelona, he managed an average of 78.33 goals per season. In the 3 seasons before he was signed, they had an average of 78 goals per season. There wasn’t much impact in terms of average, but he was consistent in goals and won the league two times & came second once. In Bayern Munich he has managed the team to score the highest number of league goals (81 goals in 34 games) in 23 years. Hence his footballing philosophy always revolves around scoring more goals, which is a very good trait for a Manchester United manager.

Do you know that, Louis van Gaal’s AFC Ajax side lost only 1 match (in KNVB Cup) in the entire 1994-95 campaign in 49 matches.

The concern about him is that he is very stubborn and arrogant. This might help or prove bad for United. He has been sacked by Barcelona in 2003, has resigned as Technical Director from Ajax in 2004 due to internal conflict and has been sacked by Bayern Munich in 2011. He has had highs and lows in his managerial career. Whether he will prove to be a success in United is yet to be seen.

Do you think he will be a success at Manchester United?

8 statistics that haunted David Moyes’ United tenure

1. POOR TABLE POSITION

Manchester United are not going to finish in Top 3 for the first time in Premier League

Manchester United – First time out of Top Three

2. LOW POINTS EARNED

Even if United wins the remaining 4 games, they will be able to earn only 69 points, which is 6 less than their lowest in Premier League

Manchester United – Lowest Points Tally ever in Premier League

3. OLD TRAFFORD’S PRESTIGE PUT AT STAKE

Old Trafford has become a 3-points gifting stadium. Apart from the top 6 clubs, Stoke City, Southampton, Crystal Palace, Hull City, Norwich City, West Ham United, Swansea City and West Bromwich Albion have all performed better than United at their respective home stadiums in one aspect or the other as depicted below.

Premier League Home Table 2013-14 Season

4. HUMILIATIONS GALORE

Humiliations have been so common that so many teams recorded their first wins against Manchester United in the recent times

David Moyes’ Humiliations at United

5. VERY POOR PERFORMANCE AGAINST THE BEST TEAMS

Manchester United performance against Top 5 teams have been so abysmal in the last 5 years. Incidentally, this table shows a decline in form against Top teams during Sir Alex Ferguson’s tenure itself.

Under David Moyes, United against top 5 teams

6. INABILITY TO ACHIEVE STABILITY

Even towards the end of the season, David Moyes had never finalized on his preferred starting line up. Manchester United have the maximum number of players utilized in the league (28) among the Top 7 teams.

David Moyes – 51 Starting Line Ups at United

7. LACK OF TRANSFERS ACUMEN

Sir Alex Ferguson always have spent less money to get high output from the players he has signed. David Moyes failed in that miserably as his signings Juan Mata and Marouane Fellaini didn’t actually contribute as much as expected.

Money Spent per goal and assist – Manchester United

8. VERY POOR INTENT IN FRONT OF GOAL

Basis of scoring is to show more intent by having more shots per game. This key indicator has steeply decreased this year and it’s noticed that even under Sir Alex Ferguson last season, this dip was noticed.

Manchester United – Shots per game over seasons

Share your opinion on what all went wrong for David Moyes at Manchester United.

1000 Games – Arsène Wenger’s Arsenal Milestone

Arsène Wenger was appointed in 1996 immediately after Premier League finishes of 10th, 4th, 12th and 5th positions. He brought in the stability (not seen since World War II) at the top four of the Premier League ever since he took over. It’s a big milestone to manage 1,000 competitive games with a single club and Wenger joins elite few comprising of Sir Matt Busby, Dario Gradi and Sir Alex Ferguson. At this juncture, let’s look at how he has built Arsenal castle with these 1000 bricks.

1. Season wise performance – Stable throughout

Season wise Win-Draw-Loss percentage of Arsene Wenger

Apart from the initial season, he has managed a minimum of 50% wins every season and he has never lost more than 25% of games every season. The split up of wins, draws and losses along all seasons haven’t changed drastically. He has achieved a stable split over seasons.

2. Opponent wise analysis: High success rate against Small clubs, Low success rate against Big clubs

Teams Wenger has faced more are Manchester United (51 games), Chelsea (49 games), Liverpool (45 games) and Tottenham Hotspur (43 games). Taking teams whom he has faced more than 10 games:

• He has never lost against Portsmouth (15 games – 10 wins, 5 draws) and Wolverhampton Wanderers (12 games – 11 wins, 1 draws)
• He has lost almost half the matches against Manchester United (51 games – 16 wins, 11 draws, 24 losses). This is followed by Chelsea (35%), Liverpool (31%) and Manchester City (29%).

Arsene Wenger has lost almost half the matches against Manchester United

• Top 5 win percentage against Wolverhampton Wanderers (92%), Wigan Athletic (75%), Charlton Athletic (75%), Derby County (75%) and West Bromwich Albion (74%)
• Apart from Manchester United (31%), Chelsea (39%), Liverpool (40%) and Tottenham Hotspur (49%), he has managed to keep a win percentage of minimum 50%.

3. Opponent Manager wise analysis: High loss percentage against managers with strong personality

Managers whom he has played against most number of times are Sir Alex Ferguson (51 games – 16 wins, 11 draws, 24 losses), Harry Redknapp (32 games – 15 wins, 13 draws, 4 losses), David Moyes (27 games – 18 wins, 6 draws, 3 losses), Sam Allardyce (25 games – 13 wins, 7 draws, 5 losses) and Rafael Benitez (22 games – 9 wins, 6 draws, 7 losses). Considering managers whom he has faced more than 5 games,

• 100% win percentage against Gary Megson (6 games – 6 wins)
• 0% win percentage against Jose Mourinho (11 games – 5 draws, 6 losses)

Arsene Wenger has never won against Jose Mourinho

• Never lost against Kevin Keegan, Dave Jones, Glenn Hoddle, Steve Coppell, Mick McCarthy, Glenn Roeder, Ruud Gullit and Gary Megson.
• Highest loss percentage against Jose Mourinho, Josep Guadiola, Carlo Ancelotti, Sir Alex Ferguson and Roberto Mancini
• Among current Premier League managers, he has high win percentage against David Moyes (67%), Roberto Martinez (64%), Tony Pulis (62%), Brendan Rodgers (57%) and Mark Hughes (52%)

4. Competition wise analysis: FA Cup is Wenger’s strong battle ground

FA Cup is Arsene’s strong battle ground

In FA Community Shield, FA Cup and League Cup matches, Wenger has managed to keep a win percentage of more than 60%. When it came to meeting Europe’s elite clubs, Wenger hadn’t made a big impact since he has won just half the games in Champions League.

Arsene has won FA Cup 4 times

In the home games, he has won 69% of games whereas he has won just 46% of away games. In the neutral games, he has won 54% of games, but the loss percentage is also high at 42%.

5. Arsene Wenger (57.2%) has a higher win percentage than Sir Alex Ferguson (56.4%) in the first 1000 games with their respective clubs, but Arsene inherited a much better squad than Fergie.

Share with us the interesting Arsene Wenger statistics that you know here or in EPL Statistics

100 Jose Mourinho’s Premier League wins – An analysis

Jose Mourinho became the 15th Premier League manager to record 100 Premier League wins with 3-1 win against Manchester United. He is the first manager who has managed Chelsea to have achieved this feet. Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger, Rafael Benitez and Jose Mourinho are the only Fantastic Four to hold this record by managing a single club in Premier League.

Managers with 100 Premier League wins

Trying to analyze these 100 wins, the following intriguing observations have been noticed:

1. Saturday is better than Sunday: Mourinho has had 78% wins and 8% losses in Saturday league games whereas he has had just 55% wins and 13% losses in Sunday league games. This is predominantly due to scheduling of tough and interesting fixtures on Sundays.

2. Stamford Bridge is Fortress: His formidable unbeaten home league game record of 71 matches is widely known. He has 79% wins and no losses at home whereas has 62% wins and 18% losses away from home.

3. One-Goal-More is enough for a Win: 31% of Jose’s league matches were won by 1 goal difference. He has drawn One out of every Five games.

League Games split by Goal Difference

4. Avoiding Defeat against Big Teams is his style: Against Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United he has lost only 3 out of 30 matches. He has 56% wins and 33% draws against these four teams in the League.

5. Defense is his Forte: His teams have kept clean sheets in 54% of the league matches. His teams have conceded more than 2 goals only in 3 occasions. The only 3 clubs to scored 3 goals against his teams are Sunderland, Middlesbrough and Stoke City.

6. Jose Mourinho is the master of 1-0 victories: One out of every Five games, Jose has won by 1-0. One out of every Three games, he has won by either 1-0 or 2-0.

7. Stoke City is so far Special: There are 29 teams that he has played in Premier League so far. Stoke City is the only team he hasn’t won so far in league. Only Newcastle United and Middlesbrough have won two league matches against him. Against 12 teams, he has 100% win percentage.

Jose Mourinho 100 Premier League wins Club-by-Club

Share with us the Jose Mourinho moments you like.

Related Articles

• http://www.barriesview.com/2013/06/jose-mourinhos-record-at-chelsea (José Mourinho’s record at Chelsea)
• http://carefreeblue.wordpress.com/2013/10/02/chelsea-vs-rest-jose-mourinhos-style/ (Chelsea Vs Rest- Jose Mourinho’s Style)
• http://chelseafc360.com/2014/01/21/the-special-one-with-a-remarkable-100th-bpl-win/ (The Special One, with a remarkable 100th BPL win)

Current Arsene Wenger versus Past Sir Alex Ferguson

Current Arsene Wenger versus Past Sir Alex Ferguson

Manchester united under Sir Alex Ferguson have never scored more than 31 points in first 13 Barclays Premier League games in the last 6 seasons. Do you think Arsenal would still be number one if SAF still manages United this season?

Related articles

• Sir Alex Ferguson Presence is “Positive Influence” On Manchester United Says Arsenal Manager Arsene Wenger (insidefutbol.com)
• Sir Alex Ferguson best moments (dahabshiil123.wordpress.com)

 

Sir Alex Ferguson – Numbers behind the Making of the Legend

1 – Won the 1st English Premier League Edition, Won 1 FIFA Club World Cup

2 – Won 2 UEFA Champions League titles, Won 2 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup, Won 2 UEFA Super Cup

3 – Only Manager to have won the treble of Premier League, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League, Only Manager to have won hat trick Premier League titles and he did it twice, Won 3 Scottish Premier Division Titles

4 – Won 4 League Cups, Won 4 World Soccer Magazine World Manager of the Year award, Won 4 Scottish Cups

5 – Won 5 FA Cups, He has managed 5 different teams in his entire managerial career

6 – He has played in 6 different clubs in his entire playing career

7 – Number of times he finished 2nd in Premier League/First Division for Manchester United

8 – Number of full seasons managed at Aberdeen

9 – Number of seasons his managing team finished second in the league

10 – Number of trophies won with Aberdeen

11 – He has won 11 trophies as a manager before joining Manchester United, Manchester United finished 11th in his first season in-charge, He has won 11 Premier League Manager of the Season awards

12 – Number of points when Manchester United came from behind to win the title against Keegan’s Newcastle in 1995-96

13 – He has won a total of 13 Premier League titles

14 – Number of goals he has scored in 1971-72 season for Falkirk

15 – Non-league Non-community shield trophies won with Manchester United

16 – His age when his senior playing career began with Queen’s Park

17 – Number of matches he was given touchline ban, Number of seasons he played senior football

18 – Number of managers who managed Manchester City when he managed Manchester United

19 – Number of goals he has scored in St. Johnstone (His second club)

20 – His last league title with Manchester United is the club’s 20th league title overall

21 – His age when he has won his first league title as a player

22 – Consecutive seasons with Top 3 finish in the Premier League/First Division

24 – Number of appearances he has made at Ayr United (His sixth club)

25 – Number of goals he has scored in Rangers (His fourth club)

26 – Number of seasons he has managed in Manchester United

27 – He has won a total of 27 Premier League Manger of the Month awards

28 – Non-community shield trophies he has won with Manchester United

29 – Longest unbeaten run in league matches of Manchester United was achieved twice by him

30 – Win % during his managerial stint with Scotland

31 – Number of appearances he has made at Queen’s Park (His first club)

32 – His age when his managerial career began

34 – His age when he has won his first league title as manager

36 – Longest scoring streak for Manchester United between 3rd December 2007 to 15th November 2008

37 – Number of appearances he has made at St. Johnstone (His second club)

38 – Number of trophies he has won with Manchester United

39 – Total Number of seasons he has managed

40 – His age when he has won his first international club trophy with Aberdeen (UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup)

41 – Number of appearances he has made at Rangers (His fourth club)

43 – Win % during his managerial stint with St. Mirren (43.79)

44 – His age when he signed for managing Manchester United

45 – Number of goals he scored in the 1965-66 season for Dunfermline Athletic (His third club)

49 – Number of trophies he has won in his managerial career, Number of matches against Arsene Wenger

52 – Win % during his managerial stint with East Stirlingshire (52.94)

57 – His age when he won the treble

59 – Win % during his managerial stint with Aberdeen (59.26) and with Manchester United (59.71) (As of 18 May 2013)

65 – Joined Rangers in 1967 for then Scottish transfer record of £65k

66 – Number of goals he has scored in Dunfermline Athletic (His third club)

71 – His age during retirement

79 – Fergie Time in seconds

80 – Number of FA Cup matches he has won

89 – Number of appearances he has made at Dunfermline Athletic (His third club)

95 – Number of appearances he has made at Falkirk (His fifth club)

97 – Most number of Premier League goals scored by his Manchester United side

99 – Number of Champions League home matches

100 – It’s very difficult to see another manager like him in the next 100 years

Sir Alex Ferguson Numbers

If you have any more data on Sir Alex Ferguson, Please share it with us.

Related articles

• Alex Ferguson: his career in numbers (guardian.co.uk)
• Sir Alex Ferguson: reaching 1,500 Manchester United games is ‘incredible’ (izzycoconyra.wordpress.com)

 

My opinions on EPL 2012-13 Gameweek 6

Gameweek 6 with 3 home wins, 2 home draws, 5 home losses, 2 clean sheets and 34 goals was indeed a disastrous week for the home teams. The following are my opinions about this disastrous week for the home teams:

1. Though Fernando Torres scored with a wonderful flick and contributed well to the defense, his one-on-one miss opportunity in the first half should have been converted and that could have been a killer. Support for the defensive solidness by the attacking midfielders Eden Hazard, Juan Mata and Oscar is the character required from a team fighting out for the title.

2. Though Gervinho scored an awesome goal, the number of missed opportunities was disappointing. I almost got the feeling that it was the same old Adebayor who was playing.

3. Goddess of Luck, Fortuna, was on Manchester City‘s side. It’s good for them at the time when they are struggling defensively.

4. Spurs won at Old Trafford after 23 years and André Villas Boas showed his capability and acumen to the Premier League.

5. Manchester United‘s defense was pathetic. The defenders couldn’t even hold the opponents in any of their counter attacks. With so many injuries, SAF has to invest on buying some solid defender to avoid what Arsene had done over the past few years.

6. Rooney is still the King of Old Trafford. His sheer presence uplifted Manchester United’s game in the second half. Van Persie might not be able to inspire in such a way.

7. With just 16 matches played, Nikica Jelavić became Everton’s top scorer last year. Both his goals this week were complete target man materials. And he is turning out to be another brilliant signings of David Moyes. I think that David Moyes deserves to be among Alex Ferguson’s succession candidates.

8. Liverpool‘s win against Norwich doesn’t guarantee anything. They need to fight it out with mid table teams at the least if not the top teams to prove that they are still a tough team in the league.

9. Newcastle’s dependence on Demba Ba is increasing every gameweek. So far he has scored six out of the eight goals Newcastle has scored.

10. Peter Crouch is still the man to watch in set pieces (in the matches he plays) and his presence in Stoke supplements their brilliance in set pieces.

Let’s wait for more exciting things to come out of this best league in the world in the upcoming games.

Related articles

• EPL 2012-13 : Gameweek 1-5 : Analysis on Teams currently ranked 1 to 5 (arunsankar.wordpress.com)
• EPL Match Recap- GameWeek 6 (rottengambol.wordpress.com)

The real boss

The world sees Chelsea FC as a Football Club, whereas the owner Roman Abramovich sees Chelsea FC as his new costly toy. In particular, the managers of Chelsea FC. When he gets bored of a manager, he throws him out. Almost everyone who follows Football knows this by now. As a fan of Chelsea FC, I see Manchester United, Arsenal, and Everton with envy. How it works for these clubs to have a consistent manager even though the managers of these clubs don’t add trophy to the club every year? Manchester United and Sir Alex Ferguson are almost synonymous. But to create such a legacy is not what Chelsea needs now. A stint of three reasonable years isn’t asking for much. Also the fans of Chelsea FC needs to understand that even Fergie was very close under the axe four years into his tenure. Had they not won the FA cup third round against Nottingham Forest, thanks to the goal from Mark Robins, their history over the past 22 years would have been altogether different for Manchester United. And Manchester United finished thirteenth that season (1989-90). It took a long seven years for even the mighty Fergie to win the league title. Persistence with the same manager is the key to set up a world class football club. Injecting the cash from oil well into the club might win trophies in the short term but it is not a sustainable mechanism.

Arsene Wenger’s story is more than just a case of Football Management. He is one manager who earns profits to the management rather than spending millions freely. Not many football coaches will be ready to carry the financial debt stress due to building a stadium on his shoulders. After their Emirates stadium project, the period saw very less but futuristic signings from the `professor` which helped Arsenal to post a 56 million pounds profit before tax during the year 2010-11. Though this resulted in Arsenal not being in a position to compete for the league title, they always qualified for the Champions League. Support from the board and the fans are crucial as winning trophies alone does not define the success of a club. Sustainable presence, pride and growth does.

Everton’s manager David Moyes is another commendable manager who has had a tenure of more than ten years now with the club. Before he took charge of the club, the club hasn’t finished in the top 10 of the league table for six years. And after he took over, the club has finished below top 10 only in 3 of the 10 years. They qualified for UEFA champions league once and qualified for UEFA cup thrice. A manager with a record of just over 40% wins has made a statement on sustainable presence and development in the premier league. This is not possible without the support of the owner and the fans. 

It is very much a possibility of building a club by dropping into the mid table in the early years. The owner just needs some patience to give the manager a minimum of three year spell to form a stable squad when the dressing room is so powerful with experienced players. These experienced players are stuck in some system they have followed over years. In my honorable opinion, Andre Villas Boas is not a manager who should have been sacked but who should have been given full support. Had the owner supported the manager instead of the aging players, he would have turned the club’s fortune in two or three years. Finally, I envy Inter for the support shown by Moratti on Ranieri even after the Champions League exit. I am hoping that the mentality of Roman and the Chelsea fans change.