Football Season Guide

The new season brings new hope for Manchester United after the nightmare they had to endure in the first season after Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement. It was always thought that it will be a rough ride but it was a complete collapse under David Moyes and the Scott was eventually put out of his misery in April, being sacked after leading the team to a disastrous seventh-place finish. Yet, that all feels like a previous era now as there is lots of excitement and anticipation among the fans and casual observers as to how the behemoth that United are will respond to the challenge to forcing their way back into the top four. Louis van Gaal was put in charge in the summer and he already looks like a much better appointment than Moyes. He has the brass personality, the bravery and the tactical acumen to lead a club as big as the Red Devils and the pre-season could have hardly gone any better too. Despite going all the way to the semi-finals of the World Cup with the Netherlands, Van Gaal immediately took charge of United at the start of July and has lead them to impressive wins over Roma, Real Madrid and Liverpool in their USA tour. The team now plays a much more different 3-4-1-2 formation that gets the best out of the available personnel. The fluidity and movement has been a world apart from the turgidness of last season and there is definitely a lot of anticipation placed on Van Gaal’s shoulders now. Yet, he remains adamant that the team will only start to look like he wants them to after a few months of training and drilling of ideas. A gentle start of the season, unlike last year, will allow the Dutchman to indeed integrate his ideas in less pressure and the lack of midweek games will be a bonus as well. Of course, there are still a lot of issues that hamper United’s chances of a sustained tittle charge. Ander Herrera looks a cracking signing in midfield but there is the need of at least one more body there, especially with Michael Carrick out until November. Moreover, one centre-back is a minimum requirement after both Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand left over the summer. But United will surely sign at least one more big player before August and Van Gaal is anyway prepared to work with what he has and the World Cup showed that he can take even rather average players very far. Therefore, it should be a very interesting season at Old Trafford and a return to the top-four looks to be on the cards if United sustain and build on the momentum generated in pre-season.