One of Van Gaal’s more bemusing instructions was for his strikers not to shoot first-time from balls coming across the penalty area. Instead they were under orders to take a touch in front of goal, even if the relevant players felt confident enough to go for goal straight away. One example goes back to the opening day of the season when Tottenham Hotspur were the opposition and Antonio Valencia sent in a low cross from the right to pick out Rooney, unmarked, in the middle of the penalty area. It seemed like a relatively straightforward finish but Rooney took an extra touch because that was what Van Gaal had drummed into his players. Kyle Walker made a saving tackle only to turn the ball into his own net and Rooney looked almost sheepish as he headed back to the centre circle.
All of which might help to explain why Van Gaal had misgivings about whether Gareth Bale, a long-time target of the club’s executive vice-chairman, Ed Woodward, was a natural fit for the team system. Van Gaal talked at Wembley about United needing “fast, creative players” but this was the manager who came out with a line in one of his first press conferences –” – that seemed so extraordinary the journalists in his company had to go over the tape to check they had not misheard.“I do not want players to be intuitive
The GuardianOther sources have revealed how players became so frustrated with Van Gaal’s instructions they took matters into their own hands and told him they wanted to play their own way. In one case, that player is said to have improved markedly as a result.
