Manchester United's Louis van Gaal produces dossier to counter 'long-ball' jibe
Louis van Gaal pulled out a dossier full of statistics at his press conference on Tuesday as he hit back at Sam Allardyce's claim that Manchester United are long-ball merchants.
West Ham boss Allardyce described Van Gaal's team as "long-ball United" after they scraped a 1-1 draw at Upton Park on Sunday.
But Van Gaal said Allardyce's "interpretation" was incorrect and the Dutchman produced a pamphlet filled with statistics at his pre-match press conference on Tuesday to support his stance.
— Daniel Taylor (@DTguardian)
February 10, 2025
Van Gaal very indignant. Ended up telling us to take it off him. “Copy it and present it to Big Sam.” Here is one: twitter/kHsc4gjU9s
The statistics quoted in the A4 pamphlet, which were put together by Van Gaal's analysts, claim West Ham sent a higher percentage of their long passes forward than United during the match.
West Ham attempted 200 passes, according to the figures, and United 343.
The pamphlet said 71.1% of West Ham's "long passes" – of over 25 metres – went forward whereas United's percentage was just 49.9%.
Diagrams in the pamphlet claim to show United's passes went sideways or diagonally, rather than forward.
"We had 60% ball possession, you think we can do that with long balls? When a colleague of mine is saying this kind of thing, then you have to see the data and you have to put the data in the right context, I believe," said Van Gaal.
"We are playing ball possession play and after 70 minutes because we do not succeed, in spite of many chances in the second half, than I change my playing style.
"Then of course with the the quality of (Marouane) Fellaini, we played more forward balls. We scored because of that also, so I think it was a very good decision of the manager.
"But when you see overall the long ball and what are the percentages of that, then West Ham United have played 71% of long balls to the forwards and we 49.
"So I give you this, you can see this also. I give it to you and maybe you can go Big Sam and show it to him."
Earlier on Tuesday, Allardyce had reiterated his view that United had adopted long-ball tactics in the game at Upton Park.
"The media love a bit of a tale, something to write about. It (United's long-ball tactic) was a fact and everyone loves facts.
"On Sunday it was Man United playing direct football to try and overcome a defeat and it paid off for them. That's how they got back into the game and sadly for us there wasn't time for us to react.
"We have to pick up from where we left off against United. They gave everything they possibly had and we want
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