But you have Klopp so at least you get some entertaining interviews.

He just about makes things bearable, and makes it possible to look forward to next season, sort of.

Don't be so glum. You're in the EPL and you have an exciting future. My club is literally being told by the courts they have to play because the owner is trying to break up the revenue sharing agreement by boycotting games (to be fair Sky does like to screw with our scheduling). This is already after this same owner has sacked half a dozen or so coaches in the past couple of years and was temporarily banned for tax evasion.

Things could always be worse!

Could things be worse for Leeds, though?

Everton's season is defying the norms of this season by being totally unremarkable. The fight for the bottom is quite intense, with several teams making a real effort to be as dire as they can possibly be.

As far as the leadership battle goes, I'd like to see the Foxes get it. If not them, then Spurs. I would say anyone but the Arses if it wasn't for the fact that anyone includes Man City.

I'm not sure what Liverpool fans are complaining about. Surely they're used to being mid table by now, or did that fluke second place a couple of years ago revive delusions of grandeur?

Sunderland pretended like they're not going to be relegated by abusing poor old LVG's hapless team.

" or did that fluke second place a couple of years ago revive delusions of grandeur?"

Seems to be a Merseyside pathology.

I wouldn't say that there has been revived delusions of grandeur, but before the season, if you had told me that this would be a ridiculous season, where chelsea were bottom half, and united were a fair few points out of the champions league spots, well then I would have been like, "hmm, maybe we are scraping fourth". A season like this when so many 'top' teams are struggling is a season to be taken advantage of, not to loiter around the mid table. And place wise we are a worse mid table than usual, "lol".

Also, that second place wasn't a "fluke", it was a "suarez".

Sacking clubs deserve their mediocrity.

sacking clubs????

Clubs who sack their manager for no reason, yes.

Is that an acceptance that you don't deserve promotion under Cellino, Putin? :P

I dislike sacking clubs too, but that being said, LVG's time is up. The results are bad but it's the philosophy that's just incompatible with United and with the Premier League in general. Mourinho is not a solution I'd like to see but even he's looking like an improvement at this point. I hope Leicester win the league. And I'd love us to snatch Pochettino at the end of the season and actually put in a great coach with lots of PL experience who isn't a total wanker.

"Is that an acceptance that you don't deserve promotion under Cellino, Putin? :P"

We barely deserve to exist under Cellino.

"I dislike sacking clubs too, but that being said, LVG's time is up"

The guy is one of the most successful coaches in Europe. You don't have the talent especially on defense and there isn't any good talent to be bought. MU needs patience but their fans are spoiled.

It's not about the signings (though some are pretty crap). His philosophy might have worked in Europe, but after one and a half seasons in the PL we're even worse than when he first came. Passing sideways forever before hoofing it up to Fellaini out of impatience is not a philosophy that has worked, and his rigidity is not how United play. I don't care that we're not winning the league (though we should be top 4), but Manchester United should never be a 'boring' team to watch.

1.5 seasons is not exactly a long period of time. It took him a while to get things going at Ajax. They should have never fired Moyes to begin with and now they've turned into a sacking club. If they bring Mourinho he's never lasted anywhere longer than a couple of years.

When did liverpool sack someone for no reason? They kept with Rodgers for a lot lot lot longer than most clubs would have, and the owners fully backed him in the summer in the transfer market. With things not working, and Klopp being available, it's above you should make.

Dalglish's sacking was harsh though.

Oh, for sure that was harsh, I was against that. That bothered me a lot. But I think the owners making one harsh sacking doesn't make the club a 'sacking' club. I can't think of another recent sacking that wasn't reasonable.

Go Leicester! Fuck the system!

(Also, Klopp should be good. LFC bought a young player from my club Red Star Belgrade a month ago, Grujic. The kid won U20 world cup last summer with Serbia, so I guess next season Liverpool will finally get that title! :)

Roy Hodgson was sacked pretty quickly by Liverpool too, to be fair.

Though I don't have that much sympathy for Rodgers, but that 2nd place was a fluke and expecting him to repeat it was ridiculous.

FSG's decision-making has been completely erratic. You spend all that money in the summer and then you fire the guy after 7 games. You know Suarez was why you finished in 2nd and yet you heap all the blame on the manager for not repeating, esp. when you handcuff your managers ability to actually build a team with with your transfer committee.

The problem for Klopp is his running style is not suited to the absurdly fixture packed schedule of the EPL. He has completely mishandled Benteke who I truly feel bad for. Klopp is probably not the instant savior Liverpool are looking for and he'll probably be sacked in another year.

Hodgson is a poor manager that shouldn't manage any decent team. His record, style of play and signings show that. How he's last so long as England bemuses me, and only doesn't annoy me because I enjoy their failings.

Rodgers had more than 7 games after the summer no? They backed him for a long time. The transfer committee isn't too different from anywhere else, and they've by all accounts spent a lot of money on players he wanted. A repeat would never have happened but we played too poorly.

Klopps style can work in the premier league if the squad is deep enough; it's just about giving players a chance, and also not pushing it as much. He's a great manager (obviously), and there's no chance he's fired next year. I also don't think he's expected to make instant miracles.

Benteke is a shame and a complicated case, we should have never bought him, but that's what happens when the transfer committee does their thing. Oh, no, he was definitely a Rodgers signing :p

I'll probably leave it at that, I get enough Liverpool stick in rl

That fucking last minute goal :(

LVG, Pellegrini and Mourinho are great too doesn't seem to have helped much. Good luck, anyway. Of the traditional EPL powers I have the least amount of dislike for Liverpool. I also really like Klopp because he could beat Bayern and is generally an interesting person.

LVG and Mourinho suck, I don't know Pellegrini enough

Who is a good coach, then?

Juergen Klinsmann!

Ferguson? well he doesn't coach anymore, but he was a good coach.
Pep is not bad either, a bit overrated, but not bad

Your standards are rather lofty.

lol, well, actually I didn't attacked Mourinho and LVG for being bad coaches, but just because they suck

NBC posted a graphic that put LVG a point behind Moyes at this time in the latter's season. For the sake of consistency, LVG should go. He isn't a fit for United's program and doesn't seem to have a clue as to what to do next.

Fergie is mainly to blame for why Man Utd haven't managed to do succeed after he left and are on the brink of firing two coaches. He left Man Utd completely threadbare with an aging team. You bring in two different coaches with two completely different tactics and expect overnight results.

Oh well I'm happy to see Man Utd suffer from their own stupidity.

I've run the most advanced simulators known to man (a single Football manager save) and I've determined the best way for Man Utd to fix their chances are for some idiotic bellend to take control of City and misunderstand that he was signing players wages per week not per year because his settings got deleted, and has to sell all his players to them to avoid complete financial ruin.

And thus I went back to my "start unemployed with no credentials" save where I'm managing some godforsaken 2nd tier North Irish team.

Benteke was no more a Rodgers player than he is a Klopp one. He's a more expensive and less controversial Mario Balotelli signing... it makes no sense with the supposed philosophies of the manager of the time.

7 games is hardly a long period in a season. I can understand Mourinho's sacking this season when Chelsea were *that* diabolical and he was getting more and more erratic, but Rodgers' sacking showed they had no faith in him, and that didn't happen overnight.

I think Mourinho, Pellegrini, Pochettino and Klopp are all on top coaches. Pellegrini at United is unlikely because of obvious reasons, but I wouldn't actually mind if he did come here. Unlike Mancini he actually seems like a nice guy... Mancini was an arrogant tosser. I loved Klopp at Borussia Dortmund, and I was disappointed that Liverpool got him.

I do not think that success elsewhere automatically means you will be successful in the BPL though. Van Gaal has undoubtedly had a fantastically successful career, but he has had failures in it before (Netherlands the first time, Barcelona the second time, and arguably Bayern Munich too), and I simply don't think his philosophy is suited to the Premier League. There have been other examples of very successful foreign coaches who've struggled badly in the BPL in the past (Felix Magath, Luiz Felipe Scolari, Juande Ramos... arguably Andre Villas-Boas too). Sometimes it just doesn't work.

If I had to list the top 10 current managers in Europe, I'd probably give the following names:

Pep Guardiola
Jose Mourinho
Carlo Ancelotti
Jurgen Klopp
Max Allegri
Antonio Conte
Diego Simeone
Luis Enrique (easy to argue he's flattered by his players, but he was a good coach before Barca and he's taken them to another level)
Manuel Pellegrini
Mauricio Pochettino

Laurent Blanc might be knocking on the door, but PSG are in such a one-team league that it's hard to really judge him. And Arsene Wenger could be put up there for historical success, but it's hard to really say he is based on recent years.

So, I'd like United to take one of those names, preferably a younger one, and really let them build a philosophy at the club. Fergie was already one of the best rated young manager in Europe when he took over at United thanks to his miraculous exploits at Aberdeen... let's have someone else performing heroics like that.

Going through them:
Guardiola/Klopp/Ancelotti/Enrique are out due to recent changes/realism
Simeone is out because his style of football just isn't compatible with United, despite my great respect for him (I always cheer on Atletico as underdogs there)
Pellegrini is probably out because he's a City manager and I don't think he wants to be hated there.
Mourinho is not a good option, because he is not especially young now, and he isn't the guy to lead you for a generation. I also think he's been quite tainted by two jobs in a row now (Real Madrid and Chelsea). Mourinho 10 years ago would've been a very different prospect.

Allegri did an average job at AC Milan before his miracles at Juventus taking them to the CL final last year, but I don't really think one decent season with an already good club is enough, and I don't think he has much of a playing style.

Conte has been in international management and before that had never managed outside Serie A as far as I know. He'd be quite a risk as a result. However, he probably could be prized away from Italy after Euro '16 this year, so he is an option.

Pochettino performed brilliantly at Southampton, in the PL, and is now performing similarly brilliantly at Tottenham. He's brought through talented young players at both clubs, made them into some of the hardest working and hungriest teams in the league with the highest work rates, and has them playing nice possession football. He's young, he's ambitious, and with some funds behind him, I think he could be magnificent. He should be priority #1 for us to get.

Laurent Blanc has the United connection going for him, but like Conte, he's not managed outside internationals & his national league, and while his job at Bordeaux was very good, his time at France was not. Then again, the French national team is a bit of a poisoned chalice.

So Plan A) Should be Pochettino without doubt. Conte or Blanc are reasonable backups. And Mourinho is a short-term move that just isn't right.

"Benteke was no more a Rodgers player than he is a Klopp one. He's a more expensive and less controversial Mario Balotelli signing."

Rodgers actually tried to use Benteke, in sharp contrast to Klopp. The problem for Liverpool has been they can't cross worth a damn, and Benteke feeds off of crosses and his aerial skills. Benteke looked pretty good at the beginning of the season before he got injured.

"and I simply don't think his philosophy is suited to the Premier League"

His philosophy is not suited to the Scholes's of the world and the fans who listen to him, who want a free flowing attacking style of play. If possession football doesn't work in the EPL then somebody better inform Arsene Wenger, who has played that style for two decades.

I think I'm defending LvG here because I think he's a breath of fresh air among managers. He doesn't scream and shout on the touchline. He doesn't try to intimidate referees. He's respectful of opponents. He's pretty honest about the mistakes that are made and the problems that need to be worked on. He accepts blame when things go wrong. He's the anti-Mourinho.

Possession football does work in the Premier League.

Sideways possession football that's built solely around boring your opposition to sleep... not so much. Wenger and Pochettino both play possession football which is far more ruthless and has players actually move around. Van Gaal's system gives the players no freedom and forces rigidity onto them. Just look at what he did to Angel Di Maria, whilst his own supposed Dutch prodigal son Memphis Depay has been lacklustre too. If it wasn't for Anthony Martial I shudder to think how bereft of invention this United side would be, and that's despite having plenty previously creative players like Juan Mata, Ander Herrera, Adnan Januzaj and even Rooney.

As for Rodgers/Benteke... I'm pretty sure Rodgers was forced to use him. After the money splashed out on a signing that really made no sense with BR, his last few months stank of boardroom interference almost to the level of Real Madrid. Frankly, I think Danny Ings is the best striker Liverpool have right now (though Divock Origi certainly deserves more time too). Sturridge was made to look better than he was by Suarez, and has never been one to lead the line... his constant injuries just make him a joke. And Benteke is just a typical target man/poacher who belongs at a mid-table PL side.

I appreciate Van Gaal's respect of opponents & referees, but I don't believe he has acknowledged the fundamental problems his approach has brought with the rigidity of United. United's fast flowing style is a thing of the past, and was even under the last few years of Fergie (we won that last title pretty much entirely through the combination of Ferguson's willpower & management and the goals of Robin Van Persie)... but playing with freedom is not something unheard of in this day and age.

When it comes to fresh air amongst managers, I think Claudio Ranieri has provided far more of that. But Pochettino is hardly bad there, and frankly neither is Pellegrini. The whining of Mourinho, Wenger, and the average managers below them has always annoyed me, too.

On the other hand, Sky Football's website has just made me piss myself laughing at the top article.

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11667/10170006/man-utd-should-replace-louis-van-gaal-with-tim-sherwood-says-paul-parker

The system LvG had in Ajax was one of constant movement. Di Maria couldn't fit with LvG because LvG demands positional play. Di Maria wanted to go whereever he wants. You can call that rigidity or you can call that collective-minded football organization and tactics. You have to have the personnel that will accept your style though. LvG doesn't get along well with star players who don't like to be coached. That's clear enough. He is more suited to a team of younger players more willing to listen. If given enough time he could do that for Man Utd.

@Riot reading the actual interview, I actually like his thinking. Hire the team essentially a yes man who will make them feel good about themselves, then fire him and hire a real manager for next season. It's like a triage medic. You don't call the top surgeon to the car accident site, he's just gonna sit there and watch the guy bleed out while asking how he's supposed to operate on someone with a steering wheel still in his jaw.

Can he though, Putin? The two youngsters who were already coming through before he took over... Januzaj and Wilson... have stalled and barely featured under him before being loaned out.

The main product of the United academy in recent years: Welbeck. Sold.

The main defender brought through last year and who did a very solid job: Paddy McNair... barely featured at all this year.

Tyler Blackett got a run of games, then never featured again.

Jesse Lingard is literally the only success Van Gaal has had at bringing through youngsters here. Borthwick-Jackson doesn't really count because he was literally the only left back who could actually play, though he has been good. Varela came in and disappeared, and I'm sure the latest guy, Donald Love, will probably do the same. And how Will Keane is rated as better than James Wilson for chucking on as a youngster up front I am really not sure.