Ryan Giggs has compared new Manchester United manager, Louis Van Gaal, to Sir Alex Ferguson, claiming both men have a special aura about them and both understand what it takes to make a team successful.
Van Gaal has only been in charge for nine days but that didn’t prevent him from getting his United career off to a flying start as the Reds trounced Los Angeles Galaxy 7-0 in their first pre-season friendly on Thursday, and Giggs believes what he’s seen of the Dutchman so far has a lot in common with what he experienced during the 23 years he played under Fergie.
“They have an aura about them,” said Giggs in an long interview published on the Guardian.
“That comes from the success they have had. They demand the players respond and they demand respect. In the short space of time I have worked with him you can see why he has been a success.
“He is infectious. He wants everything right from the first minute of training to the last. Everything we are working from is the blueprint he sent over from the World Cup, every minute of every session is laid down. He has now taken over.”
Giggs has so far been particularly impressed with Van Gaal’s methods: “Just everything he does is clear and everyone gets it straight away. He has got a unique way of putting it over but it’s brilliant to see. To see it first-hand is great for my experience and the players.
“It’s quite simple but if you make a mistake he will tell you and if you do something good he will tell you. You know what you are doing wrong and you know what you are doing right.”
United are now doing a lot more work with the ball in training than they did under David Moyes and Giggs explained the players seem to be very happy about the change.
“It’s good and they are enjoying it. It’s perhaps a little bit different to what they are used to. But it’s a different manager with different ideas and a different philosophy.
“We have done a lot with the ball. This is a philosophy the manager believes in and that he has had a lot of success with – his CV speaks for itself.
“He has managed at big clubs and he is coming in to the job off a successful World Cup so already, recently, he has shown what he can do and I think the players have responded to that.”
Van Gaal has asked his players to take decisions during the game as if they were playing chess and Giggs insists Van Gaal’s ability to keep things as simple as possible will benefit United immensely this season.
“It’s his philosophy but a lot of it is common sense and he tells you that,” said the United assistant manager.
“A lot of it is very simple. Why complicate things? Its great how he puts it over. It’s a clear message and the players are taking it on board. We have lost a lot of experience and we have a lot of young players, good pros, who want to get better. They are really listening and they really want to improve.
“He wants to attack, score goals, be aggressive and play attractive football. He is willing to give young players a chance, which ticks the majority of the boxes in terms of what it takes to be a Manchester United player.”
The former United number 11 has also been thoroughly impressed with Van Gaal’s coaching staff so far, heaping praise on Albert Stuivenberg and Marcel Bout.
“Albert and Marcel had all the information. I already had it emailed so I was looking through it. A lot of the practices I hadn’t done before and they had. So they just walked me through it and away we went, really. It was all – not simple – but stuff you can do,” said Giggs.
“It’s interesting to see the lads who’ve started the training and the lads at the World Cup. It’s new to the World Cup lads but the others have been doing it for 10 days. You would argue that the quality of the [World Cup players] should be a lot better but the ones who’ve been doing it [longer] are better. It was the same for them when they started. They will get better the more and more they do it.”
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