Ryan Giggs says infectious Louis van Gaal has same aura as Alex Ferguson

Posted Friday, July 25, 2014 by theguardian.com

The new manager Louis van Gaal has quickly made his mark at Manchester United in a manner similar to Sir Alex Ferguson, according to his assistant Ryan Giggs

Ryan Giggs, left, has been impressed by Louis van Gaal's methods
since his arrival at Manchester United.

Ryan Giggs believes Louis van Gaal has the same "aura" as Sir Alex Ferguson, the most successful manager in English football.

Van Gaal, who flew with the squad to Denver following Wednesday evening’s 7-0 hammering of LA Galaxy for the second leg of the summer tour, has been working with Manchester United only since last Wednesday, having taken Holland to third place in the World Cup. Yet he has already made an impact, with Giggs, who played 23 seasons under Ferguson, believing there are similarities between the Scot and the Dutchman.

"They have an aura about them," said Van Gaal’s assistant. "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."

On what has most impressed about Van Gaal, Giggs said: "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."

Giggs revealed Van Gaal is doing more ball work in training than either Ferguson or David Moyes did when in charge of United. "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, who has won league titles at Ajax, Barcelona, AZ Alkmaar and Bayern Munich, is asking United players to treat the game like chess by thinking ahead during matches. “It’s his philosophy but a lot of it is common sense and he tells you that,” said the Welshman. “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."

Van Gaal’s Dutch coaching assistants, Albert Stuivenberg and Marcel Bout, have guided Giggs as he has settled into implementing the manager’s ideas. "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," he said.

"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."