FORMER MANCHESTER UNITED coach Rene Meulensteen claims the club has an identity crisis and has predicted that manager Louis van Gaal will ‘blow up at some point’.
Speaking to The Telegraph’s Henry Winter, the Dutchman says he sees little in the way of a pattern with his former club and that performances remain below-par.
“I find it a big surprise that Van Gaal has not managed yet to make the team play better. We are nearly at Christmas now and look at the performances. I still don’t see a flow, a rhythm. They win five on the spin but they were absolutely pummelled at Arsenal and should have lost against Southampton.”
The 50 year-old, who spent eleven years at Old Trafford in a variety of coaching roles, also feels Van Gaal won’t be able to keep calm and composed for long, considering the consistency of United’s patchy performances.
“He will blow up at some point. That’s part of his make-up. Remember these words. If I’m speaking to you, I’m exchanging information over what I feel passionate about but I don’t lecture you. I’m not preaching to you.”
If you go and sit with Van Gaal, you’ll come out thinking ‘I’m 12 years old’. He will speak to you as if you have no clue. He will look at you and be thinking ‘what are you asking me? I’m Louis van Gaal’. He’s not my cup of tea. It’s one of the reasons I quite like Ronald (Koeman) as a person – he doesn’t preach or lecture people like the other guy does.”
Meulensteen claims United need a dominant presence in central midfield and expressed doubts about Marouane Fellaini, who has enjoyed his best football at the club under Van Gaal.
“Every team can still create a lot of problems for United. Look at Stoke in the last 10 minutes. They need a general in the midfield, a leader like Roy Keane. Kevin Strootman is like Michael Carrick with a left foot.”
