I am very concerned about our team.. I think the main problem in this mess, start in the Managment section... Ed Woodward ruined the club in his 3 years of leadership. I would be in the stars if Woodward and LVG go...
What about the squad?. We must make a good cleanup... some players must go.. I bet on Carrick (thanks for his great job but we need fresh blood), Phil Jones (Once he was the young defender of year, but he is an injury prone, every year only plays 4 months), Bastian would be good if we was playing in CL because of his expirience, he must go.. Fellaini out, Lingard, others Rubbish and old Players out, new ones must come.

Lets rebuild our club, mates...
The problem is that with this crise the WORLD CLASS FOOTBALLERS WILL NOT COME Until we put our badge back to the highest level of european football

Until there we must have other good targets because the TOP-CLASS PLAYERS will not come (lets be realistic)
Bale, Pobga, Kroos, Lewandowski, and others I read everyday on newspapers will not come just for money.. they are already highly payed.

@Amer: You state that Martial will not get into top XI's of Bayern, Barca, or Real. Considering the position he plays, tell me who in the world would replaces Suarez, Neymar, or Messi for Barcelona? Or Ronaldo, Bale, or Benzema for Real? Robben, Ribery, Lewa & Mueller for Bayern? You're comparing the cream of the crop with a youngster who just burst on to the scene and held his own. In fact, considering Pep's style, I see Martial starting over Lewa, and Mueller behind him. I'll say this, Marital may not start, but he will come in as a sub. Every game. And as for your Madrid, they will come for him when he's 23 or 24 unless Martial choses PSG. He's 19. We know that he's not a proven player when he brought him. We expected him to perform very well, which he did. And we're not Real Madrid where we buy only proven players. This is Manchester United, where we develop young players as well. That is the club's philosophy. LVG did that. Now we overpaid for the players. But the moment Fergie retired, we lost the transfer market. The prices will be hiked till we can win the EPL. Changing of coaches year in and year out is not a fix to this issue.

Your points about Nani and Chicharito show that you don't understand the circumstances they were sold in. Chicharito was sold as LVG couldn't accommodate him. He looked out for Chicharito. He was very clear, and it had nothing to do with his performance for United. Simply put, Chicharito didn't fit in LVG's system. United had Rooney, Martial, and Wilson(before he was loaned out). LVG wanted to work with the youngsters. As for his goal scoring ability, no one ever questioned that. Because of Chicharito's sale, we now have Rashford. Can you say that had we kept Chicharito, with our team's form, he would have scored liked he did for Leverkusen? I did not think so.

As for Nani? He was terribly out of form for about 2 years at United. He was loaned out to Sporting for a season where his form only improved marginally. He was sold because he was not in good form. Can you justify his excellent performances are due to the return of this form and not a downgrade to a lower league than the top 4 or 5?It is is probably a mix of the two, but one can never be sure. What I'm sure is however, if Nani were to play in the same team, Untied wouldn't be any better.

And as for your Darmian comment, imagine if I started a discussion about Real saying Benzema plays as a winger. How credible would i look? By the way, you did compare players (their positions not individually, so do not retract that) You say United could have brought Youngsters who were more promising and better players to Splash the cash on. Tell me Amer, which youngsters are better than Martial, who's 20? Rashford who's 18, Jackson who's 18-19, Fosu who's 19 came through the academy. Fosu was signed on at 16 from Ajax. Tell me who at 20 is a better striker than Martial and who at 18 could have saved United with his defensive performances in 3-4 games? Can you guarantee the future performances based on the current? As in can you say that the youngsters who, say, United should buy next year will perform extremely well? If so my friend, Real should hire you as a scout, and people should treat you like Nostradamus.Who do you think Untied should have brought for the prices they paid? i.e. the so called better players. Depay had a very good year, and United brought him. Just because he has had one bad year doesn't make him a failure. He could end up being one, but thats a different story. Once again, will you guarantee that those players will not perform poorly? No one can. Which is why some decisions are good and some are bad. You speak of the big picture, but where is your big picture here?

What I think about the big picture? Your points about LVG and his dutch legacy are totally baseless and invalid. LVG brought 3 dutch players- Depay, Blind, and Fosu. 2 out of the 3 have had very good seasons if not excellent. He sold his favorite - van Persie when he wasn't performing. The only so called failure is Depay. And yet, LVG is blamed for bringing the entire dutch team. LVG is very rigid in his game play, does not allow freedom for the players. If you watched United, you'd see these things. Instead you stake claims that you've probably heard or read somewhere. As for the team quality, this team can challenge for UCL (not win it) if the players were allowed more Freedom, and we sign a RB (we need 2-3 players to win UCL). The players do not have to be exceptional, they just have to be consistent. Consider this team with the team Moyes played in the second half of the year. What you're telling me is that an aged Ferdinand and an aged Evra are better than Smalling, Blind and Shaw/Jackson? Those defenders my friend were slower than my grand mom. I'll defend LVG where credit's due. And you're reasons were all ill informed. This CLUB is not a SACKING club. LVG is on the right track to fix the club for the future, something that a club like Real/PSG will never do or have to do due to their system of buying the Galacticos. As for the game style, it will come once the team gels. Its a work in progress, and will not happen overnight. Real it self didn't start doing well (attractive football) till Ancelotti made a few changes to the Mourinho's squad .Not most fans understand this. People keep forgetting that this is not Fergie's team, and will not play like one.

Lol so Martial, schnederlin and Darmian are dutch ? Wow thats new.
LVG isnt responsible of the transfers at all, the direction is. And for players quality, world class players prefer other destinations than UTD atm.
I just understand the point, btw why not blaming him for not signing Messi ? There are some actual transfer realities that United are obliged to deal with. Di Maria huge mistake, Raphaël average player blind is better. Sometimes its not about players its about the connection And if I have to agree with someone in this case, its Paul Scholes.

LVG signed 3 players from Holland all are youngsters, Blind was followed by Barca, Depay is talented but hype And fame didnt helped him, I personally like lindgaard. if something LVG has to be blamed for is his management, in transfers money is not enough to attract the player you want.

@Amerr30

And a majority of that money was spent on mostly unknown Dutch players

We bought two dutch players,Blind and Depay. LVG has spent roughly 260 million euros and only 38 of that has been on Dutch players so i still don't see your point.

I'll respond to you guys tomorrow, I haven't slept in 18 hours. Also, apologies for my 4 day hiatus. It has been all work and no play.

@ashwin & @lois:

I’ll be honest with you guys. I do not follow EPL as closely as I do La Liga. The argument that I have made is not a well-researched one. I have not looked at facts and figures, nor have I looked at any dates when I made my comment. I have however followed EPL with an interest, just not with an invested one. A true neutral of the English football. I do not really care what happens one way or another, whether the clubs suddenly grow stronger or weaker. On the general scale, it always eventually balances out. There’s only so much talent in the World, not enough to fulfill the hunger of the big 3 leagues. So that is why we have these phases. Sometimes La Liga is the strongest, other times it’s EPL. And every so often, Bundesliga pops up.

However, the amount of time one league spends on top is directly relevant and influenced by how many top clubs that league offers. Anyway, this is not really the point. I’m just really trying to explain the reason why I follow all the leagues. I love football, and I love the fact that it constantly evolves and changes.

No other club embodies the state of English football as much as Manchester United. Their peak and decline is very closely related to the peak and decline of EPL. You can look at United and gauge how EPL is doing. That has been the case for quite some time now, at least as far as European success is concerned. I know this may be unfair to the other top EPL clubs, but that’s just the way it has been lately. At least in the last decade.

So that is how and why I follow Manchester United. Not very closely, just loosely. I look at the big picture, not the little – day to day things.

Now what I have noticed in the past few years is a severe injection of young Dutch talent, to the detriment of many players already in the team.

I am aware of a lot of, a lot of money spent in the market for those players. I remember the head-lines, I don’t remember the exact amounts but I do have a good recollection of reading about many respected opinion-makers considering it to be a criminal over-paying.

Looking closely at the situation, I have noticed that the Dutch players do not really have much challenge in their spots, and that those that would have challenged them have been sold.

Consider Di Maria. Would ANY manager on the planet, after witnessing what he did in the Champions League final sold him after only one season and breaking the clubs record transfer fee to get him? After only one season? I cannot think of anyone but the one that did let it happen. ANY manager in the World would love to have him in the squad. Yes, even Ancelotti.

He wore the legendary number 7, did he not? Who’s wearing it now? Memphis.

It’s an easy conclusion to make.

Now, this is just ONE case. A case like this can be made for every single one of young Dutch players that have been transferred.
One would have to be very very stubborn not to see a certain agenda.

Again, I really do not care what happens. I do not care if this is even true or not. It does not matter to me in the slightest. I only noticed this because it was there to see. You only have to compare the team, before and after.

It is normal for a team to have a player or two from a Country who has such a rich history of producing football talent as Netherlands. They are everywhere, really. However, when you see that number grow and keep growing DESPITE the results on the field – you have to wonder.

It has to be a valid concern for anyone who loves this club.

Again, I am not saying that these players aren’t very talented. They are. But they are not United level, not yet. If United is lucky only ONE of all the Dutch players will be a real star in the future. Only the best one of them deserve to be at United at this point, not the rest. Just like the best young star from some other Country, say France. Or Portugal. Or Brazil. Or.. understand my meaning?
There is too much reliance on that single nation, and there is absolutely no explanation or reason for it – other than the fact that yes, Lois van Gaal is pushing a Nationalistic agenda at United.

@Amer: You state that Martial will not get into top XI's of Bayern, Barca, or Real. Considering the position he plays, tell me who in the world would replaces Suarez, Neymar, or Messi for Barcelona? Or Ronaldo, Bale, or Benzema for Real? Robben, Ribery, Lewa & Mueller for Bayern? You're comparing the cream of the crop with a youngster who just burst on to the scene and held his own.

You're completely missing my point. United is a team that should be looking to be building squads to COMPETE with the three I mentioned. So, why not aggressively try to sign the 'next best thing' like Griezman? How about Reus? How about Aubemeyang?

These are the players that United should be hunting and building a squad from. Not young Dutch players who may or may not repay all the faith and money spent for them.

There's a clear loss of identity happening at the club, ashwin. Denying it will not bring it back. At the very core of that problem is Van Gaal.

Oh well, he is gone now so you don't have to worry about any of this. I answered here because I promised I would, and with the presumption that he was at the club still - for the sake of the discussion.

@Amer: I don't want you to think I'm attacking you. You're an awesome contributor to the form. However, I'm attacking your argument.I need you to understand that.

1. Martial could be the next Griezmann. As I said before, United does not usually go for established players. It goes for players with potential to develop into an extraordinary one. Martial has shown that; thought I made that clear in the last statement. Examples? Ronaldo, Rooney, Van Nistelrooy (RVN) ..etc. RVP was the only established player Fergie went after in the recent times. You could argue that RVN was established too, but we got him for like 5 Mil back in the day due to a surgery; he was very cheap. The other established players I could remember over two decades were Blanc, and Cantona. Keane was semi established in that he was very young.

2. Your argument about Dutch players is baseless as only 3 players are competing for the spots. Fosu is a player for the future. So, it's actually only 2 players competing for starting spots.

3. Agreed about DiMaria. However, he was very inconsistent for us in the second half. He was so inconsistent that Ashley Young was playing better than him. Best example I could give you was Young's game against City last year. You should watch highlights and compare diMaria's game over the latter half of the season with Young's.

4. Make your arguments for the other dutch players who are competing for the current spots. In other words make an argument why Blind and Fosu don't deserve to start. Blind has been very very good this year, and Fosu saved United in several games. Fosu doesn't actually start. I agreed about Depay; he was very bad this year, and we all hope he'll play well next year.

5. Like Louis pointed out, only 38 Mil out of 260 Odd were spent on the dutch players. That is merely about 15% of the purchases. Of the 38 Mil, 25 was spent on one player- Depay. Blind I believe was 12 Mil and Fosu was 1 Mil. For 1 Mil, Fosu was a very good bargain, especially if he becomes a regular starter under Mou. He seems to be Mou's type of player.

So after all this, the only question to you is do you know what United's Identity is? You seem to mistake United's philosophy for Real's in that we only go after Galacticos. And I've said that we do not. So, who's missing the point?

I do not know about other younger fans on this site, but I for one believe there is a United way. Ask you any coach out there, they'll tell you that. Ex? Carlo Ancelotti. And I do not want us to abandon it for the sake of winning. Because, form is temporary, but class is permanent.

I do not mind if we've gotten a manager if he gave us 6th place for the next two years, and then challenged for title for the next decade or so; and that was what LVG was doing. Setting it up for Giggs.

As for Jose? I don't think he's stupid to discard what LVG has started. Considering they've both worked together, Jose would know that the players LVG brought in are not in adequate.

I think this has gone a lot more than I expected; it's ok considering you're one of the sensible chaps here. That's it for me.