Juan Mata recalls Van Gaal's probing questions: "Hi, I'm Louis, tell me about yourself..."
In his book, 'Suddenly a Footballer', Juan Mata recalled an embarrassing first meeting with the Dutch coach when the two crossed paths at Manchester United.
JIn his book, 'Suddenly a Footballer', Juan Mata recalled a strained, first meeting with Louis van Gaal when the two crossed paths at Manchester United. The Asturian forward says at first he felt a little intimidated by Van Gaal's probing, invasive questions but once he got to know him better, he acknowledged that the Dutch coach would go out of his way to help his players however he could and tactically, had great attention to detail.
First meeting with Van Gaal: "Hi, I’m Louis van Gaal, please can you introduce yourself and tell me things about you... The manager, Ryan Giggs, myself and a bottle of Rioja wine - which he suggested we should try, were in that room. It was pre-season, Los Angeles, and I was about to introduce myself - to my new coach".
Feeling intimidated: "Those who know Van Gaal know how intimidating he can be, face-to-face. Things about myself? I thought. What does he mean? I didn’t know where to start. I took the safe route".
Probing questions: "I responded: My name is Juan, I'm 26 and I’ve been playing football since I can remember... 'I know that,' he interrupted. 'Tell me about your personal life. Do you have a wife? Children? What do you like apart from football'?
"He started firing off direct questions about my life and career before moving on to footballing matters: 'Where do you think you can play? What’s your position? Where do you see yourself in this system? Louis wanted to see what we were made of and how we reacted through his interrogation. He simply wanted to get to know his players better on and off the pitch".
Van Gaal, a kind and thoughtful man: "The frightening aura around him soon dissipated to reveal a kind-hearted man. We started to notice how emotional he would get during his briefings".
Proud of his players: "When we had played very well or covered more ground and had more chances than the opposition, you could see the spark in his eyes, portraying how moved he was by his players’ effort.
"He would also tell us about how he had received a letter from a mother thanking him because three players had stopped to sign autographs for her children after waiting for us for hours outside the training ground. He was genuinely moved by those small details".
Acute attention to the smallest details: "On the pitch, he had a very special style of training that was structured in a rather routine manner. You were clear about what you were going to do before each session, which drills you would be doing and how you would prepare for games. He really liked getting us to play on the deck and only opting for long balls as a last resort. His preference was for us to bring the ball out and play a passing game".
Eating together and good timekeeping: "Off the pitch, he was also very structured in matters like all of us having lunch together at the training ground. We divided ourselves into tables and had to wait for one table to finish picking their food before we could pick ours. When we travelled, whoever was one minute late was handed a not insignificant fine".
His last days at United: "At the end of his time at the club, on his ‘farewell’, he let his emotional side take over and opened himself very honestly to us: 'I don’t know if I’m going to be here next season, but I want to tell you anyway how proud I am of every single one of you. We fought together in adversity and we ended up lifting this special trophy. That is something that nobody will be able to change. Thank you to all of you'. We had just won the FA Cup minutes earlier and he was saying ‘goodbye and good luck’. He handed out pieces of paper to each of us with our return date on it, as he had organised the pre-season for next July..."