10 Reasons Why It's All Going Wrong For Louis Van Gaal At Man Utd
5. Pressure
There's no doubting Manchester Untied and their manager Louis van Gaal are under a lot of pressure this season, with media opinion of van Gaal like the turning of the tide. As he recently put it - "two weeks ago I was the king of Manchester, but now I am the devil." When he arrived at Old Trafford the Dutchman took the job to much fanfare following his heroics at the World Cup, guiding the Netherlands to a third-place finish. But now, with United still searching for their first win of the season, LVG is realising just how fickle fans and the media can be. The pressure at Old Trafford is almost palpable and is visibly weighing down on the shoulders of the players, who are desperate to avoid the plights of last season. Sunderland manager Gus Poyet cranked up that pressure prior to his side's clash with the Reds over the weekend, observing:
Manchester United have to finish higher than seventh this season. I cannot see United going another year without being in the Champions League. That would be really bad for them. Im expecting them to finish in the top four. The results in the next few weeks will say whether hes right or not, but, like it was for me, or any other foreigner, you need to adapt to where you are. Hes intelligent enough to adapt to England.
With so much pressure to succeed, there's the very real danger United and van Gaal could choke this season with all the spotlights pointed firmly on the Theatre of Dreams. Every draw or defeat is portrayed as a disaster and in that sort of environment, LVG could find it difficult to cope.
Joseph is an accredited football journalist and has interviewed nearly all of the current 20 Barclay's Premier League managers. He is also a correspondent for Bleacher Report and has written for Caught Offside and Give Me Football.
