Louis van Gaal admits he is not the same type of manager as Arsène Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson, having required different challenges throughout his 24-year career. While Ferguson led Manchester United for 26 years and Wenger celebrated his 19th anniversary at Arsenal on Thursday, the Dutchman’s longest tenure at any club is six years.
United, who visit Arsenal on Sunday, are Van Gaal’s fifth club; he took over in the summer of 2014. Van Gaal has previously coached Ajax, Barcelona, AZ and Bayern Munich, and also twice led Holland.
Van Gaal said: “I was in Ajax eight years in a row [at the start of the 1990s; the first two years as assistant manager]. That was a very long time for the position I had, trainer-coach of Ajax. At that time I was young and I wanted more.
“I take that challenge so it’s also dependent on your character, what do you want. I want always more. I have set my aims always in advance. It’s the same thing what I’m doing now. I have said in advance I want to coach the Dutch team. I was invited [to do so]. I want to go back to the Netherlands another time as national coach, I want to go to Germany. I set aims, and I was very lucky, I think, that clubs or national teams want me. Arsène Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson are other types, I think.”
Van Gaal praised Ashley Young as a team player after the 30-year-old slotted into a right-back role for the second half of Wednesday’s 2-1 victory over Wolfsburg at Old Trafford in the Champions League.
“Ashley Young is very important, is a team player,” the manager said. “Not many players are actually team players. He is always thinking about the team. He can play in a lot of positions. For a trainer-coach, manager, it is fantastic that he is willing to do that. Because yesterday [Wednesday] he came in as a right full-back – he didn’t play so much [before] there, I believe. But it starts with him, the second goal. So it was very important that he played there in the second half. I am very happy with him – he accepts his role, that’s also important.”
Van Gaal added that Chris Smalling’s impressive form is all down to the defender’s openness. “I think that the player, when he does things, he does it always by himself,” the 64-year-old said. “I help him with advice and demands in training sessions, showing images to improve him. But he has to be open and he has to perform on the pitch.”
Now that Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand have left, Smalling has taken his opportunity to become a first choice. “Obviously, he gets chances because of that,” said Van Gaal. “That is always like that. As a player you need vacancies in positions.”
