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Soccer

Louis Van Gaal: Flawed or genius?

For the next three years - on paper at least - Louis Van Gaal will preside over Manchester United...



Louis Van Gaal: Flawed or geni...
Soccer

Louis Van Gaal: Flawed or genius?

For the next three years - on paper at least - Louis Van Gaal will preside over Manchester United.

While his track record for success is well-documented, he has also had fallouts at Bayern Munich and Barcelona which makes it hard to predict what impact he will have at Old Trafford.

For Gabriele Marcotti, Van Gaal has the reputation as a genius but also has "a lot of warts to go with the beauty".

"One of the different Van Gaal's could pop up like the one who was sacked by Barcelona with his team near the relegation zone or the one who fell out with everybody and had to be sacked with Bayern Munich in danger of not making the Champions League in 2010 or the one who failed to get Holland to the World Cup in 2002," said Marcotti, who also added that a director of football should also be appointed. 

But for United to succeed under Van Gaal, Marcotti believes the club must adapt to the Dutchman rather than the other way round.

"I do think that where Van Gaal has succeeded in the past, there was a lot of conflict but also a lot of people running through brick walls for him. I think the tricky thing at United is that you're coming to a club which has such a distinct culture. For this to succeed, it has to become Van Gaal United and the club has to adapt to him rather than him adapting to the club." 

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