Morgan Schneiderlin has given an honest and damning review of life under Louis Van Gaal in an interview with French publication L'Equipe.
Signed for £24m from Southampton in the summer of 2015, Schneiderlin was brought in under Louis Van Gaal in a move that was well received by Man Utd fans as the Frenchman had been one of the standout midfielders in the league the previous season.
Things didn't quite go to plan, and when Jose Mourinho allowed him to leave the club in January of this year, he did so having only made 32 appearances, and few of them will be remembered as particularly good performances.
The fact that Everton were willing to pay £22m to take him in January shows that he was still highly rated around the league, and sure enough he has looked back to his best at Goodison Park, so what was it that make Schneiderlin struggle in the red of United?
Seemingly, it was Louis Van Gaal's management.
The first year with Louis Van Gaal sticks in the throat.
I didn’t take any pleasure on the pitch. He left me little freedom in my game, even though I have quite a lot of experience in the Premier League.
With him, I felt like a robot. They said to me, ‘You must never go and get the ball in this part of the pitch, you must not do this or that’. These instructions may have unsettled me a little.
When a player wonders during a game – ‘But what does the coach want me to do in this situation?’ – he begins to be less efficient. Especially at Manchester United, in a context where all matches are scrutinised by the media and where one can quickly be criticised from everywhere.
The only really notable performance Schneiderlin put in for Man Utd was the 3-2 win against Arsenal where Marcus Rashford scored on his Premier League debut. Given a man-marking job on Mesut Ozil, who was running the Arsenal team at the time, he was everywhere and didn't give the German any time to breathe.
It seems as though Van Gaal's rigid system constantly had Schneiderlin second guessing his decisions, which most fans would agree was symptomatic of many players during the Dutchman's reign.
Seemingly he couldn't do enough to convince Jose Mourinho that he was useful in midfield, but Schneiderlin is clearly a better fit at Everton where it sounds like he is enjoying his football again.
