Van Gaal deserved better than to have FA Cup win marred by Mourinho talk
Manchester United lifted a joint-record 12th FA Cup Saturday at Wembley, though all of the discussion focused not on Louis van Gaal's accomplishment, but speculation surrounding his replacement.
Speaking with the media after a 2-1 extra-time win over Crystal Palace, the club's first FA Cup since 2003-04, a noticeably perturbed Van Gaal fielded queries about his reported successor, Jose Mourinho.
"I show you the Cup. The media already sacked me for six months," said the boss who had just won his fourth domestic cup in four different leagues.
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To the victor, go the spoils, or in Van Gaal's case, questions not deserving of a manager who just won a major trophy.
That's not to say that the former Dutch national team gaffer doesn't deserve some criticism after an underwhelming season saw the two-time Champions League winners miss the top-tier continental tournament.
United finished 15 points adrift of Leicester City, scoring a dismal 49 league goals along the way. To put that into perspective, goal-starved Sunderland scored 48 and only one team in the top 10 besides United failed to score 50 (Stoke City, who netted 41 tallies).
The tactics were at times as fraught as the attack, as Manchester United played a brand of utterly stodgy and stuffy football to the dismay of supporters. It was nothing short of humdrum.
The fallacies of the well-travelled bench boss, who won a Champions League crown at Ajax, weren't limited to what happened on the pitch.
Van Gaal spent €146 million in the summer on Anthony Martial, Morgan Schneiderlin, Memphis Depay, Matteo Darmian, and Bastian Schweinsteiger. Only Martial has snatched a regular first-team spot, while Schneiderlin inexplicably sits on the bench next to €34 million of Dutch destitution in Memphis. Darmian has loads of potential, but continues to play musical chairs with World Cup winner Schweinsteiger on the treatment table.
A portion of the €146 million was recouped when United sold Angel Di Maria to Paris Saint-Germain for €63 million, €12 million less than the €75 million that was paid for the erratic Argentine a year earlier. Di Maria went on to star at PSG, coming second only to Arsenal's Mesut Ozil for most chances created in Europe's top leagues.
That failure is on Van Gaal, and should be considered when evaluating his two-year tenure at Old Trafford, as should the €185.4 million spent the previous summer on Di Maria, Luke Shaw, Ander Herrera, Marcos Rojo, and Daley Blind. That doesn't even take into account the head-scratching €7.6-million fee paid for the Falcao loan move.
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Shaw had his season destroyed by the Hector Moreno leg break, and Herrera, Rojo, and Blind have made 67 Premier League starts together - though the trio would have a hard time getting into a top-four side.
And that's where criticism of Van Gaal carries weight: Simply put, he and executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward erred in not addressing the squad's shortcomings.
That said, even in finishing fifth amid an erratic campaign, a manager of the magnitude of Van Gaal at a club the size of United shouldn't be pushed out the door while grasping at a trophy with still-fresh etchings that read his name.
Van Gaal fielded the post-match questions with aplomb and deference, but not before leaving the room with a comment deservedly steeped in sarcasm.
"Thank you for the congratulations."
No, thank you, Louis, you deserved better. Far better.