Van Gaal Inspires And Innovates

ManUtd.com's Ben Hibbs looks at the impressive start to life at United under Louis van Gaal on and off the pitch...

Right from the very moment Louis van Gaal breezed into Old Trafford - hardly flustered by a meagre two days off after leading the Netherlands to third place at the World Cup in Brazil - he was already innovating, inspiring and instigating changes to bring his fresh approach at United.

The Aon Training Complex pitches the first team players use were different from the surface at Old Trafford. They'll now have the same part-synthetic composition that OT's state-of-the-art pitch boasts. They are also too open to the elements – which any one of the dedicated devotees who attend Academy matches will tell you, leaves even those steady on their feet fearful they might be whisked off into Carrington farmland – so, let's make it more sheltered because "wind is not always the friend of the players or the ball".

"The squad is imbalanced," he also pointed out, "we have four no.10s". Van Gaal has expressed a desire to play 4-3-3 but that would also mean leaving too many of the team's strikers on the bench, so there's a refocusing to the 3-5-2 system he used at the World Cup. It's an established system but a relatively new sight at United where chalk-on-their-boots traditional wingers have long ruled the roost. Most importantly it's challenging players throughout the team to think differently: "I'm training the players in their brains, not their legs," the boss says.

There's possibly also a distinction in van Gaal's reference to his own role as the more continental-sounding "trainer-coach", which implies the very active and hands-on role he applies on the training field. Rather than manager, which perhaps suited Sir Alex Ferguson better than anyone.

Still, van Gaal is nevertheless in charge and, from watching his exchanges with the world's media in press conferences and listening to first-team players talk about him, he is positively plain-talking; the players know what is expected of them and, coming from a revered coach with vast experience and success trailing in his slipstream, you're bound to listen and be inspired to carry out instructions.

Van Gaal claims it could take months for his players to adapt to his way of thinking. A couple of days ago in Washington DC, he said: "Every club where I have been, I've struggled for the first three months. After that, [the players] know what I want – how I am as a human being and also a manager, because I am very direct. I say things as they are, so you have to adapt to that way of coaching. It's not so easy."

That may be a simple way of keeping expectations in check, or buying time for the supposedly inevitable bedding-in period. But it could also be seen as a subtle challenge to the players, which they appear to be taking to with gusto.

"He said the same to us, 'You will find it hard'," Jonny Evans has said an interview with the UK daily press on Friday. "He said we would find it hard mentally because he wants us all to push ourselves to the limit."

So does that mean they're willing to wait until November before it all clicks? Hardly. "We want to be winning as soon as the Swansea game comes on 16 August," he adds. "We don't want to be thinking, 'Right, that's three months now, we are ready to go'. People are saying Manchester United can’t win the league. That is a big motivation for us."

Motivation. It's a key component in any sport, and by all accounts Louis van Gaal is inspiring it in his players ahead of what could be an exciting, intriguing season at Old Trafford.

Credit: Manutd.com