Chapter 0021: Facing the Gunslinger
What worries Van Gaal is not only Depay, but also Manchester United's results.
Despite United's recent big wins in the FA Cup and Europa League, there has been no substantial change in Louis van Gaal's situation, at most changing his position from death to death.
Only by leading Manchester United to a good performance in the league will he be able to change his embarrassing situation in the position of Manchester United.
After all, for a world-class giant like Manchester United, what they really care about is not only their performance in the Champions League, but also the competitiveness of the league for the title.
This season, Manchester United in the Champions League, originally drew a good draw, and in the Bundesliga Wolfsburg, Eredivisie Eindhoven, Russian Premier League CSKA Moscow composed of Group B, everyone thought that Manchester United could be sent to the knockout round with the first place in the group, but as a result, Manchester United was eliminated in the group stage and could only play the Europa League with the third place in the group, which is simply too bad to be worse.
In the league, Manchester United have also been extremely poor, with only 41 points from 26 games, not to mention the Ferguson era, even in the post-Ferguson era, which is the worst, one point lower than the same period in the 2013-14 season when David Moyes was in charge of Manchester United.
Not only that, Manchester United's 33 goals are also the worst since Manchester United entered the Premier League era.
It can be said that what really made Van Gaal's position shaky, in addition to his early exit in the Champions League, was his poor performance in the league.
Therefore, despite Manchester United's 3-0 and 6-1 wins in the FA Cup and Europa League, there are still many media assertions that Louis van Gaal will still be sacked if he cannot win the next Premier League match against Arsenal in the 27th round.
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In fact, it's not just the media that says so, Van Gaal is also feeling the heavy pressure and if he loses this game, the club could really sack him immediately.
Because once Manchester United loses this game, then Manchester United may be 9 points behind the fourth-place city rival Manchester City in the standings, 13 points behind Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur in front, and 15 points behind Leicester City at the top of the table, which means that Manchester United basically bid farewell to the competition for a Champions League place.
However, Manchester United's current form has left Van Gaal completely uncertain, and the long list of injuries has not diminished except for De Gea's return to play.
As for the opponent Arsenal, because of the 0-2 defeat at home to Barcelona in the first leg of the Champions League 1/8 final in midweek, there is little hope of qualifying. After the game, the Gunners boss admitted that the focus of future games will shift to the English game, with the Premier League and FA Cup as the focus.
In the Premier League table, Arsenal are currently in third place, two points behind Leicester City at the top of the table. Arsenal will face Manchester United, Swansea City and Tottenham Hotspur in the next few Premier League games, and the Gunners will have to try to beat Manchester United away if they are to keep their title hopes alive.
Arsenal have missed out on the Premier League title for 11 consecutive years, and in recent years, with the decline of the Red Devils, the Premier League has fallen into a state of chaos, and Arsenal's good results in the league this season have undoubtedly doubled the hopes of the Gunners.
And in the first leg of this season's competition, Manchester United conceded three goals in the first 20 minutes, which made Van Gaal full of worries about the second leg.
Because of the anxiety in his heart, Van Gaal was a little worried and reluctant to give up in the next two days of training.
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After the training session on the afternoon of 27 February, Louis van Gaal called a meeting with all the players. At the meeting, Louis van Gaal issued a must-kill order, demanding that United must win the home game against Arsenal to avenge the heavy defeat at the Emirates Stadium in the first half of the fixture.
That being said, most of the players know that the real reason is that the old guy is really in a hurry.
At this time, if anyone dares to get along with the old guy, he will definitely be sacrificed to the flag by the old guy, so no one dares to take it lightly, and they have said that they will do their best in the game.
Subsequently, Van Gaal confirmed the 18-man squad and the starting 11 according to his performance in the previous period and the form of the two days of training, and Rashford, who had an eye-catching performance in the Europa League, was undoubtedly among them.
Afterwards, all the players of the Manchester United team took the bus and checked into the hotel that had been booked for a long time.
This is basically the norm for Manchester United before the game, and it is also a last resort to avoid players messing around the night before the game, resulting in a lack of energy on the pitch.
After arriving at the hotel to secure a room, Van Gaal let the players move around for a while and return to the hotel to sleep at the appointed time in the evening, while he himself went to the pre-match press conference.
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Rashford was still assigned to share a room with Lingard, and after this guy entered the room, he took the phone into the bathroom, and when he came out, he just told Rashford that he wanted to go out, and then left in a hurry.
Rashford was a little speechless, this guy is really racing against time, and at such a time before going to bed at night, he has to go to his mature * female ticket to get two shots. The so-called love * rape * love * heat is nothing more than this.
But it's okay for Lingard to leave, he just happened to be quietly doing his homework.
In the past two days, because the team has been training, he doesn't have much time to do his homework, and tomorrow is the game, and there is no time, so tonight is a good opportunity.
What's more, at this time, writing homework to practice your brain can be regarded as a combination of work and rest.
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While Rashford was alone in his hotel room, silently writing his homework, in the press center of Old Trafford, Van Gaal was in a fight with the media and the rival manager Arsene Wenger.
It was Marcus Rashford, who knew nothing about this, that led to all this.
As a newcomer who has just made history in the Europa League, Marcus Rashford has undoubtedly been in the spotlight lately. Therefore, at the press conference, reporters also frequently fired at the coaches of both sides, and the focus of the problem was Rashford.
Wenger was very dissatisfied with this, saying that this is a duel between the two giants of Arsenal and Manchester United, not a duel between a stinky hairy boy and Arsenal. Although Rashford has excelled in the Europa League, Arsenal are not a small team in Denmark, so don't confuse the two sides. And also said that if Van Gaal put his hopes on a young guy who has just come of age, he is doomed to fail.
Originally, Van Gaal didn't want to put Rashford in too important a position, but when Wenger said this, he was also angry and naturally wanted to fight back.
In the end, the two old commanders were angry and broke up unhappily.