‘Any option’ better than Van Gaal for Man Utd
Manchester United should have sacked Louis van Gaal by now and would be better off taking any of the other options available to them, according to Sam Wallace.
United suffered their seventh Premier League defeat of the season on Saturday, going down 2-1 at Sunderland, and are now only one point clear of sixth-placed Southampton in the race for European places.
“I cannot believe Van Gaal has not been sacked already,” Wallace, chief football writer for the Daily Telegraph, told Sunday Supplement on Sky Sports. “I’m amazed he has survived this long.
“He has got fewer points at this stage of a Premier League season than any other Manchester United manager. They are sleepwalking into sacking him. It should have been done earlier.
“United are still traumatised by the [David] Moyes episode, by the way it happened, the way they did it, the way they stumbled around over it.
“They are so determined for that not to happen again that Ed Woodward is not seeing what is happening in front of his eyes.
“My feeling for United is that any of the options open to them are better than Van Gaal at the moment.”
Sir Alex Ferguson could support Giggs
Jose Mourinho has been strongly linked with Van Gaal’s job, while another option is to give Ryan Giggs the full-time position following his caretaker spell in charge two seasons ago.
Wallace believes Sir Alex Ferguson should consider helping out Giggs should United take the second option.
“I’ve heard fans calling for Fergie to be brought back with Giggs underneath him,” Wallace said.
“Alex Ferguson won’t want to damage his glittering legacy but he attends every game. What would be the material difference to his week to just be an advisor to Giggs?
“Ferguson’s retirement was supposed to be piano lessons and trips around the world but it has turned out to be Manchester United home and away.
“So I don’t see why he couldn’t have an overseeing role as a sounding board for Giggs.
“Something has got to change in there because the players and the club look like they’re going nowhere.”