Whilst more recent memories of his career are ones of strife at Manchester United, Louis van Gaal remains a figure of incredible stature in European football, and the former Barcelona coach believes that the era of the 4-3-3 formation is over.
Having championed the system throughout the best days of his career with Ajax and Barcelona, Van Gaal elected to use the 5-3-2 system in his later years, and he now believes that this system is the way to go.
“The 4-3-3 still carries that Ajax DNA, with classic attackers on the wings and the team always looking to attack, but it’s no longer the Holy Grail,” Van Gaal explained in an interview with De Volkskrant.
“5-3-2 is the method of play that Frank de Boer is trying to apply to the Dutch team for the European Championship.
“The longer I was a coach, the more I learned that I love that system, the 5-3-2, you can attack with it, you can defend with it and you can put pressure on the opponent in any area.”
With Manchester City having lost the Champions League final to Chelsea, Pep Guardiola has come under a lot of criticism for his team selection, and Van Gaal felt the Spaniard made a mistake.
“A team is always stronger than eleven individual players, PSG will never win the Champions League with all those individualists,” he added.
“Chelsea won this year because they were the best team, Bayern Munich were also an excellent team.
“It’s fantastic that Tuchel won, I predicted that City wouldn’t win because Guardiola continues attacking, there’s that Ajax DNA again but it’s about having balance.”
