COMMENT: Defeat at Mark Hughes' Stoke City on Boxing Day and that could be it: the Louis van Gaal era at Manchester United over.
Whatever happens over Christmas, Van Gaal deserves a significant place in the United annals. He was the right personality for United at this stage in their history.
Football-wise, his possession game simply did not suit the Premier League - nor resemble United's playing principles. But in terms of putting in foundations for future success, Van Gaal deserves the club's gratitude.
He smashed the cliques. The self-entitled players' group which had so undermined David Moyes was torn apart. The underachievers also offloaded.
Where Moyes arrived showing deference to a locker room of title winners (and this respect was thrown back in his face), Van Gaal was the complete opposite. Out they went: Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, Patrice Evra - even good friend, Robin van Persie. After the manner of Moyes' demise. The whispering campaign. The pathetic tweeting. Van Gaal crashed through the dressing room, raising it to the ground.
For all the talk of player power in the Premier League these days, its one thing you cannot level at Van Gaal's squad. The next United manager, if the Dutchman is to go, will walk into a locker room where the players will be seeking his respect - and not vice-versa.
Van Gaal effectively stopped United becoming 'a Chelsea' dead in its tracks. We still get the leaks from Carrington today, but it's nothing like the childish mocking and complaining which swirled around Moyes from virtually his first days of preseason.
Now it's more about players being 'frightened' of having their name marked down in the manager's nasty notebook. The personal stuff is gone. The worst being LVG and his slow driving - with the squad dubbing him 'Miss Daisy'.
Where it's all gone wrong has been Van Gaal's methods. A great manager. A great coach. But not one for the Premier League. And certainly not one for United.
The possession game of LVG is simply anti-Premier League. It is everything the English game is not. The adventure. The individuality. The willingness to risk and lose possession. That's the polar opposite of Van Gaal's 'philosophy'. And while the pundits and soccer snobs have kept telling us we're wrong, the reaction of United's hardcore support, those who follow the team home-and-away, have proved these doubts true. You'll win games keeping the ball, sure. But you won't win fans.
The passion has gone. Defeat at home to Norwich City was a shock for some, but what was truly alarming was the silence of the Old Trafford support. The place used to be heaving. But with Van Gaal refusing to move from his seat, with that clipboard on his lap, it's an image which has become symbolic of United today.
Again, like his possession game, Van Gaal's lack of touchline bravado is anti-English football. Its part of his management style - and it's served him well throughout his career. But in England, passion, beyond all else, is what drives the game.
It's what Jurgen Klopp has embraced at Liverpool. They're not exactly pulling up trees at Anfield. But with Klopp, all 6' 4" of him, jumping around in his technical area, no matter how his team is performing, at least the Reds support can bounce off that. It's a unifier. But at United, the fans have been become more and more detached from what is happening on the pitch. Van Gaal's self-imposed touchline ban just does not square with the English game.
Ronald Koeman, the Southampton manager, and those on the board at Bayern Munich warned United: inside three years, there'll be carnage with LVG. But Van Gaal has proved them wrong. Those claims of bullying the press just hasn't happened in England.
He's been charming. He's been open. We're more likely to have LVG singing his own name at a media conference than monstering some young reporter. Indeed, after the Norwich result, the dejected, almost defeatist, manner of his post-match delivery produced a mood of sympathy for a manager perhaps sensing his time is up.
Van Gaal's had his moments with fans this season. But, again, this is more about a culture clash than personalities. Van Gaal's bewilderment with the away fans' chants of 'attack, attack, attack', really says it all. He's never experienced such protests before. But on the continent, as Klopp has recognised, attending a game is like going to the theatre. In England, it's a rock concert. Everyone's involved. The reason there's no choreographed support in England is because the football is so enthralling. There's no time to be messing around with rehearsed hand claps. Unless, of course, you're a season ticket holder at Old Trafford...
If he is to go in the coming week, Van Gaal should be remembered as the right personality at the right time at United.
The football didn't work. But Van Gaal's management has rescued the club from a destructive locker room culture.
