Author : Conor Kelly
Manchester United take on Sheffield United
in the third round of the FA cup at Old Trafford, looking to secure a place in
the next round and to build momentum started with the win against Swansea.
Louis Van Gaal has been fortunate recently
as the pressure has cooled surrounding his job and talk of Jose Mourinho as his
successor appears to have stopped. However, for the remainder of this season, he will
be under some intense scrutiny to deliver results and prove that he’s the correct
man to take forward into the 2016/17 season.
A defeat here may condemn him to the same fate David Moyes suffered, as
they’re strong favourites against the league one side Sheffield United.
A trophy should be high on the agenda of
Louis Van Gaal. The title challenge took a serious hit throughout December and
now looks highly unlikely, and the Capital One Cup exit was another blight on his record. The FA cup is long overdue at Old Trafford and Van Gaal
should be looking to establish success there to win the supporters around, and
instil a winning mentality at Old Trafford.
When Sir Alex Ferguson’s side were
struggling behind Chelsea in the Premier League, and behind the likes of Milan
in Europe, between 2004-2006, two cup trophies (FA cup 2004, Capital one cup
2006) helped keep morale up and lead
them to a golden era of success in the following years 2007-2009. Players such
as Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Edwin Van der Sar and Nemanja Vidic all got their first taste of success with the
FA Cup. Only seven players of the current squad (De Gea, Young, Valencia,
Carrick, Smalling, Jones and Rooney) were around for United’s most recent
trophy success in 2013. This current squad needs a trophy to lift morale and
get them into the winning habit. Youngsters touted as the future of United (Martial,
Memphis, and Januzaj, amongst others) would benefit from the trophy as it may
be the foundations to kickstart a domestic and European assault. Van Gaal may
rue last year’s home exit against Arsenal, as it may have laid out better
foundations for this current crop of players. This year he has the opportunity
to turn t around.
With the importance of the cup in mind, it
will be interesting to see what Van Gaal does with the team, whether he
will use Memphis and Pereira as
attacking options, or include McNair, Borthwick Jackson and Varela at the back.
A promising youngster has been midfielder Sean Goss, whose been included as a
substitute and in and around the squad, but is yet to make a debut. With Januzaj’s
recent recall in mind, Van Gaal may want to see how he links up with Martial.
All of these possibilities suggest Van Gaal will field a young side, as this is
a tendency of his, yet he may include players such as Schneiderlin, Herrera and
Darmian to help the youngsters ease into the match. On the contrary, Van Gaal
may wish to rest Daley Blind, Ashley Young and Wayne Rooney, the players who have
played the most in recent weeks. With a congested schedule upcoming, squad
rotation will be important and this is traditionally what the big clubs have
been doing in the FA Cup the last few years.
Ultimately, Van Gaal has to balance youth
with enough experience to qualify for the next round and get past Sheffield
United. The consequences for Van Gaal may be huge if he fails to do so; there
is little patience left and not much margin for error. However a victory could
be used for kickstarting the club’s potential long-term fortunes for the better.
Here's a video of the preview by Nate Hyatt
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