Van Gaal: Man United players weren't true professionals
The Dutchman replaced David Moyes and went on to Coach the Mancunians for two seasons, with mixed results. He was notoriously unable to get the Northern giants back in the Champions League, and was eventually replaced by Jose Mourinho.
He has recently attacked his former players at Old Trafford, telling Bild that they didn’t open the emails he sent them.
There were supposed to be full of praise and constructive criticism - the Dutchman known for being punctilious and detail-oriented.
Speaking to Bild, he said that he would track whether players opened their emails.
Yes that’s true. I sent emails to the players, in which I pointed out, for example, their strengths and weaknesses.
I developed the digital tracker with my IT man. Each player was able to log in. So I gave everyone the opportunity to prepare for the conversation with me at home and to meet me in dialogue at eye level.
This testifies to their unprofessionalism and I have then addressed them. But I already did that with the emails at Bayern. My conviction is that a full professional also wants to live professionally. Like Arjen Robben. He read the emails.
This criticism certainly rings true right now, when Jose Mourinho and Romelu Lukaku are calling out the dressing room for lacking fight, in the wake of the Red Devils’ Champions League elimination at the hands of Sevilla.