Manchester United’s season came to an end with a stalemate at the K.C. Stadium as they completed the first stage of their redevelopment under Louis van Gaal by finishing in the top four.
Due to Arsenal’s superior goal difference it was difficult to see United finishing in third place, thus the players went into this game knowing that the bare minimum had been achieved. The game itself was largely uneventful, United were poor in the attacking third and failed to match the motivation of Hull City who needed a win to have any chance of survival in the Premier League. Hull had the biggest chances in the game and were only thwarted by two excellent saves by stand-in goalkeeper Victor Valdes.
Manchester United faced many of the same similar difficulties as they have in other games of the season. They still lack one or two quality midfielders and definitely need a reshape in attack with more potent and dynamic wide men to support Wayne Rooney – Depay and a rejuvenated Di Maria could provide just that for Manchester United next season.
However, one aspect of their game which has improved over last season is their defending. United have conceded the fourth least amount of goals all season and with all the raving about United’s defending last year, it is certainly something that can be applauded. Credit for the change has to go to Louis van Gaal for creating a more compact and tight defence, but also for players such as Chris Smalling and Marcos Rojo who have massively improved and shown their quality over the course of the season. Jonny Evans seems to have no future at the club, whilst Phil Jones has improved, but still has his chaos factor. Another centre-back is still needed in the summer who can bring experience, organisation and composure to the United backline – Mats Hummels anyone?
Manchester United now finish their season with 70 points, six more points and three places higher than David Moyes’ campaign last season. A fourth place finish has left Manchester United fans in a bit of a limbo as United aren’t through to the Champions League groupstage and will have to play a two-legged Champions League qualifier match on the 18th/19th August and 25th/26th of August. Whilst it is possible Manchester United can draw tougher opponents such as Valencia, due to their favourable UEFA Club Cooefficient they are more likely to draw an opposition from some of the lesser known European leagues.
Opinions are split between fans over the success of this season. Some believe achieving top four with a plethora of new faces at the club is an achievement, whilst others believe with the money spent last summer, a higher league finish or more success in the domestic cups was necessary. Whatever the opinion, it is universally agreed that United have improved in a number of areas this season. Ball possession is better, defending is better and most importantly so are the performances in the big games with United beating Arsenal, City, Tottenham and Liverpool showing that Van Gaal has successfully instilled his big-game winning mentality into the players.
In a strange way, the biggest form of optimism which was further shown against Hull was the teams United have dropped points to. 6 against Swansea, 4 against West Brom, 3 against Leicester, 2 against Burnley, Villa, Sunderland and some others. Just those points mentioned there add up to 19 points, 2 points ahead of title winners Chelsea. To me this is a cause for optimism, the team have shown they can do it in the big games, but Louis van Gaal’s side has struggled against the smaller, more defensive teams and with some more additions to United’s squad and more time under Van Gaal, United should be picking up those points next season.
Brendan Rodger’s said at the start of the season that Louis van Gaal would be “in for a shock” and whilst he should have put more attention in the scouting and recruitment of his summer purchases he did have a point. Louis van Gaal underestimated the small teams, tinkered with formation too often and suffered from a number of injuries rumoured to be because of his training, but in the end he still managed to deliver the minimum that was expected of him.
This season has been a season of lessons for Louis van Gaal and he mirrored the optimism of the fans by loudly announcing “we are so close!” to the staff, fans and players. A few new recruits before United’s pre-season tour to give them enough time to bed in to Louis van Gaal’s philosophy can surely bring nothing but success in his next campaign, where according to Ed Woodward, United will be “challenging on all fronts”.
