Louis Van Gaal: The Biography by Maarten Meijer, out in July.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0...tpmanunblog-21
“We had a bit of luck with the cooling break, so that I could implement plan B. That saved us.”
“I first changed to a 4-3-3 and then we created a lot of opportunities with a shot on the post and a fantastic save. Then I moved to plan B and yes, I did that in the cooling break, that is a clever way of benefiting from these breaks. Did you see what I did?! Van Gaal brought on target man Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, took Dirk Kuyt out of defence to partner him in attack and had his team pump long balls into the Mexico penalty area. It's a big compliment that my players picked up on it immediately. We have a modest group of players but they have outstanding team spirit and this is ultimately what led to the victory. They had faith and believed till the very end. The humidity was not in our favour. We were fresher and fitter than the Mexicans. Not only did my players have belief that they could perform today, they also were fit for this match. Yes, it was an escape but in the second half we showed that we could create more opportunities and we played three different systems."
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0...tpmanunblog-21
“We had a bit of luck with the cooling break, so that I could implement plan B. That saved us.”
“I first changed to a 4-3-3 and then we created a lot of opportunities with a shot on the post and a fantastic save. Then I moved to plan B and yes, I did that in the cooling break, that is a clever way of benefiting from these breaks. Did you see what I did?! Van Gaal brought on target man Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, took Dirk Kuyt out of defence to partner him in attack and had his team pump long balls into the Mexico penalty area. It's a big compliment that my players picked up on it immediately. We have a modest group of players but they have outstanding team spirit and this is ultimately what led to the victory. They had faith and believed till the very end. The humidity was not in our favour. We were fresher and fitter than the Mexicans. Not only did my players have belief that they could perform today, they also were fit for this match. Yes, it was an escape but in the second half we showed that we could create more opportunities and we played three different systems."