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For the first time in Louis van Gaal’s tenure at Manchester United that brash air of Dutch managerial self-assurance has perhaps shown a few chinks of weakness.
Of all the managers in the Premier League, West Ham United’s Sam Allardyce seems one of the most unlikely to prick Van Gaal’s ego.
But Allardyce’s critical assessment of Van Gaal’s team being a long-ball side who used “thump it forward and see” tactics in the 1-1 draw at Upton Park on Sunday appears to have achieved just that.
Van Gaal waved pieces of paper in a pre-match press conference inside the Jimmy Murphy building at the club’s training complex yesterday afternoon in attempt to hit back at Allardyce.
In his four-page dossier was evidence, in Van Gaal’s eyes at least, that Allardyce’s claims were factually incorrect. What Allardyce has said was wrong – and the United manager had the statistics to show that.
“When a colleague of mine is saying this kind of thing, you have to see the data and you have to put the data in the right context,” said the Dutchman. “But when you see overall the long ball [statistics] you see West Ham have played 71 per cent of the long balls to the forwards and we [played] 49 per cent.
“I give it to you, you can copy it and you can go to Big Sam and he will get a good interpretation.”
The 63-year-old’s response to Allardyce’s comments brought stunned looks among the gathered media and left the club’s press staff shifting uncomfortably as the television pictures readily emphasised.
It is hard not to make comparisons with Rafael Benitez’s infamous “facts” rant in 2009 when he was manager of Liverpool, and indeed it is difficult to think of former United manager Sir Alex Ferguson so readily biting on the bait offered by Allardyce.
The document, compiled by the performance analysis team at United, had diagrams of where every single pass had been intended to reach.
Successful passes were highlighted in blue and unsuccessful in red and also for the time after the introduction of United substitute Marouane Fellaini in the 76th minute.
Van Gaal quipped that anyone who was under the impression United were a long-ball team was “talking in behind” as he went on to elaborate on the difference between his side’s direct play and West Ham’s.
“I will give you this data and you can see that the blue ones are the good ones because long balls are also very difficult,” Van Gaal said. “Of course we play some long balls. But more long balls in the width than to the strikers.
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Manchester United - the latest match in pictures Preston 1 Manchester United 3 Marouane Fellaini scores to put Manchester United 2-1 up
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Manchester United - the latest match in pictures Preston 1 Manchester United 3 Utd's Spanish midfielder Ander Herrera scored the equaliser
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Manchester United - the latest match in pictures Manchester United 3 Burnley 1 Smalling opens the scoring
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Manchester United - the latest match in pictures West Ham 1 Manchester United 1 Cheikhou Kouyate celebrates the opening goal
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Manchester United - the latest match in pictures QPR 0 Manchester United 2 Marouane Fellaini celebrates with his Manchester United team-mates
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Manchester United - the latest match in pictures QPR 0 Manchester United 2 Marouane Fellaini scores to put United ahead
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Manchester United - the latest match in pictures QPR 0 Manchester United 2 Rob Green keeps out an effort by Radamel Falcao
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Manchester United - the latest match in pictures Manchester United 1 Crystal Palace 0 Mata and United players celebrate the goal
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Manchester United - the latest match in pictures West Brom 2 Manchester United 2 Sessegnon celebrates his early goal
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Manchester United - the latest match in pictures West Brom 2 Manchester United 2 Marouane Fellaini celebrates bringing the scores level after his introduction at the break
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Manchester United - the latest match in pictures West Brom 2 Manchester United 2 Daley Blind rescued a late point for Manchester United with a sweet finish
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Manchester United - the latest match in pictures Manchester United 2 Everton 1 Radamel Falcao celebrates scoring the winner
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Manchester United - the latest match in pictures Manchester United 2 Everton 1 Leighton Baines has his penalty saved
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Manchester United - the latest match in pictures Manchester United 2 Everton 1 Angel Di Maria celebrates opening the scoring
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Manchester United - the latest match in pictures Manchester United 2 West Ham 1 Wayne Rooney kicks out at Stewart Downing
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Manchester United - the latest match in pictures Manchester United 2 West Ham 1 Diafra Sakho scores for West Ham as his header loops over Robin van Persie
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Manchester United - the latest match in pictures Manchester United 2 West Ham 1 Radamel Falcao has an effort on goal
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Manchester United - the latest match in pictures Manchester United 2 West Ham 1 Robin van Persie and Luke Shaw go for the double-high-five after the striker scores for United
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Manchester United - the latest match in pictures Manchester United 2 West Ham 1 Robin van Persie doubles United's lead against the Hammers
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Manchester United - the latest match in pictures Manchester United 2 West Ham 1 Wayne Rooney opens the scoring for United
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Manchester United - the latest match in pictures Leicester City 5 Manchester United 3 Livewire striker Jamie Vardy, who only broke into the Stocksbridge first team at the age of 21, put Leicester ahead late on.
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Manchester United - the latest match in pictures Leicester City 5 Manchester United 3 Despite Ander Herrera restoring United's three goal lead, Leicester just would not lie down. Following David Nugent's penalty, Esteban Cambiasso blasted City level.
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Manchester United - the latest match in pictures Leicester City 5 Manchester United 3 Leonardo Ulloa, a sensation since joining the Foxes, got his side back in the clash almost straight away.
Manchester United - the latest match in pictures Leicester City 5 Manchester United 3 Angel di Maria, following Robin van Persie's opener, appeared to have put the game beyond Leicester. Stunning, outrageous chip over Kasper Schmeichel.
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Manchester United - the latest match in pictures Manchester United 4 QPR 0 Radamel Falcao makes his United debut
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Manchester United - the latest match in pictures Manchester United 4 QPR 0 Juan Mata completes the rout at Old Trafford
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Manchester United - the latest match in pictures Manchester United 4 QPR 0 Wayne Rooney celebrates the third
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Manchester United - the latest match in pictures Manchester United 4 QPR 0 Daley Blind and Sandro in action
Manchester United - the latest match in pictures Manchester United 4 QPR 0 Angel Di Maria celebrates his first goal for United against QPR
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Manchester United - the latest match in pictures Burnley 0 Manchester United 0 Juan Mata is crowded out by Burnley defenders - indicative of the home side's effort and work rate for the full 90 minutes
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Manchester United - the latest match in pictures Burnley 0 Manchester United 0 Angel Di Maria made his United debut but couldn't influence the side and eventually limped off with an injury after 70 minutes
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Manchester United - the latest match in pictures Burnley 0 Manchester United 0 Manchester United players react after referee Chris Foy waved away what looked like a handball that would have been a penalty
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Manchester United - the latest match in pictures Burnley 0 Manchester United 0 Former United boss Sir Alex Ferguson looks on in anguish at Turf Moor as United failed to win again
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Manchester United - the latest match in pictures Burnley 0 Manchester United 0 Sean Dyche's team picked up their first point of the season with an excellent performance
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Manchester United - the latest match in pictures Burnley 0 Manchester United 0 Louis van Gaal is still winless as Manchester United manager after three matches in charge of the club
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Manchester United - the latest match in pictures Manchester United 1 Swansea 2 Louis van Gaal was not too disheartened at the full-time whistle, but he will know how much work lies ahead following his first defeat as United manager
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Manchester United - the latest match in pictures Manchester United 1 Swansea 2 The two goalscorers Ki and Sigurdsson were left to celebrate at the end after inflicting United's first opening day defeat since 1972
Manchester United - the latest match in pictures Manchester United 1 Swansea 2 Gylfi Sigurdsson stunned Old Trafford for a second time in the same afternoon as he restored Swansea's lead following a goal-mouth scramble
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Manchester United - the latest match in pictures Manchester United 1 Swansea 2 Gylfi Sigurdsson fires home the winner to secure Swansea a 2-1 win over Manchester United
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Manchester United - the latest match in pictures Manchester United 1 Swansea 2 Wayne Rooney managed to drag United level after he took advantage of a loose ball to smash home a close-range bicycle kick
Manchester United - the latest match in pictures Manchester United 1 Swansea 2 Wayne Rooney acrobatically scores a bicycle kick to level the scores
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Manchester United - the latest match in pictures Manchester United 1 Swansea 2 Ki-Sung-Yeung celebrates after making it 1-0 to the visitors Swansea
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Manchester United - the latest match in pictures Manchester United 1 Swansea 2 Tyler Blackett was handed a shock call-up by Louis van Gaal to start United's opening match against Swansea.
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“A long ball to the forward striker is mainly called long-ball play. When you have nearly 60 per cent ball possession, do you think you can do that with long balls?
“Yes long balls, but it was in the width when you switch the play. I am sorry but we are playing ball-possession play,” he added.
Ahead of this evening’s encounter with Burnley at Old Trafford, Van Gaal admitted that his side will improve their playing style over time which he feels is inherently linked to being able to field a settled team.
Van Gaal said: “You know that when you see my career I think that it is enough answer about the style, but in this world you have to win and play attractive
“But that’s not so simple. We have never played with the same team. I was not allowed to play with the same team as I had to always look for a solution because of the injured players. Now I can play more with the same team.
“Still, when you see the fans against Cambridge United, there were a lot of them so they are obviously enjoying the games.
“When I am on the streets they show that to me, so I don’t think that we are not playing attractive enough for the fans. I always get applause, so I think that everyone is still happy.”
Paddy McNair, the 19-year-old United defender, has signed a new contract which will keep him at Old Trafford until 2017 with the option of an extra year.
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