Manchester United 0-0 Chelsea: Was this enough for Louis van Gaal?
Tuesday 29 December 2015 09:15, UK
Man Utd improved against Chelsea but did Louis van Gaal need more than another goalless draw?
The Jose Mourinho scarves on sale outside Old Trafford set the stage. The build-up to this game indicated that it wouldn't take much to topple Louis van Gaal, so a sixth goalless draw from 12 home games might have left him doomed. But an improved performance - and the sight of supporters applauding the manager down the tunnel - summed up a strange evening at Old Trafford.
Man Utd produced a better performance but could not find a goal against Chelsea.
Van Gaal had suggested immediately before United's previous home game against Norwich that when the fans call for their team to attack what they actually mean is that they want goals. There was some evidence here of the difference between those two demands - despite not finding the net, United supporters were at least encouraged by their team's intent.
The signs of purpose were apparent from the outset with Juan Mata crashing a long-range shot against the crossbar early on, before Anthony Martial hit a post soon after. Even the out-of-form Wayne Rooney, restored to the starting line-up having been dropped for the first time by Van Gaal at Stoke, shone in the first half.
This was only the fourth time that Van Gaal had gone with this front four of Mata, Martial, Rooney and Ander Herrera in a Premier League game. On the previous three occasions, they'd also had the pairing of Bastian Schweinsteiger and Morgan Schneiderlin behind them, and while United are unbeaten without conceding in those four games, three of them have now ended goalless.
Nobody who'd witnessed the previous games could have anticipated the movement shown on Monday. What was missing was the goal. It might have come in the second half had Thibaut Courtois not pulled off an extraordinary save to deny Herrera. Soon after, Willian was fortunate not to concede a penalty for handball. There was even a late chance for Rooney but he volleyed over from Cameron Borthwick-Jackson's fizzed cross.
It was an encouraging response from a group of players acutely aware of the pressure on their manager. It was Chelsea who were cowed by comparison, the visitors failing to produce anything resembling pressure on the ball. Their own issues raised a key question for United fans to wrestle with. How much was this improvement about United and how much were they allowed to play?
After all, Van Gaal's men are only the second side this season to fail to score against Chelsea on their own pitch. Their dominance was apparent in the passing stats but not the scoreline. United completed more passes in their own half than in any game this season with their best overall passing accuracy too. You have to go back to the visit to Stamford Bridge in April to find a game in which United passed it so accurately.
This time, like last time, United did not score. Indeed, there were broad similarities with Chelsea's 1-0 win over United in the spring - a game in which United enjoyed more than 70 per cent of the ball but found themselves punished nevertheless.
Back then, Eden Hazard scored the game's only goal. Here, Nemanja Matic wasted a clear-cut opportunity to deliver the decisive blow on the counter-attack in the second half.
During that period, the game - and Van Gaal's future - appeared in the balance. And while the Dutchman will have taken comfort with the fans' reaction as he walked down the tunnel, there were times in those final 20 minutes when the old issues were aired. Loud groans greeted one Schweinsteiger back pass to his goalkeeper.
For all the improvement, United mustered only two shots on target in the match. David de Gea was forced into two saves in a matter of seconds after the break. That would indicate that the lack of cutting edge remains a problem. With Memphis Depay struggling for form, this would seem the best forward line at Van Gaal's disposal and it still isn't clicking. The coach cannot wait much longer.
Van Gaal went into the Christmas fixtures amid talk of having two games in which to save his job. Those games have yielded one point and the winless streak stretches to eight games - United's worst run for a quarter of a century. Meanwhile, the gap to the top four and the Champions League football that the club demands has opened to five points. Given current form, it's the group just one point behind, one that includes the likes of Stoke and West Ham, that might be of greater concern.
Like that of their manager, United's position remains precarious. But after their Boxing Day no-show at the Britannia Stadium, the team showed the supporters something. They showed it Van Gaal too. "You have seen that the players are fighting for me," he said afterwards. Results will need to follow before the traders outside Old Trafford are persuaded to bin those Mourinho scarves for good.
