Louis van Gaal's career as Manchester United manager has seen him swing from apparent entrenched stubbornness to adaptable, fan-friendly changes, and nowhere is this more evident than in his treatment of Ander Herrera.
The subject of Van Gaal's ability to listen to the fans is something of a sore spot for supporters at the moment, given that Manchester United's travelling fans at Crystal Palace on Saturday urged a change of approach by singing "We're Man United, we want to attack."
However, in the brief history of his time in charge, there have been plenty of occasions when his changes have mirrored the prevailing hope from supporters. Firstly, there was the switch from a back three to a back four.
The passage of time in football is distorted by the continuous forensic coverage it receives, so this feels like a lifetime ago, but in the first six months of his tenure at United, Van Gaal tried 3-5-2, then switched to a diamond, briefly dipped his toe back into the back-three waters, then gave up on it for good.
Fans chanted "4-4-2" at him during the peak back-three moments, and eventually he moved on.
Ander Herrera's first spell on the sidelines came during this period. Between August and Christmas of 2014, he was a peripheral figure, often on the bench while others struggled to make an impact in United's midfield.
Herrera celebrates with fans against Yeovil Town
His remarkable goal against Yeovil Town was something of a turning point. Eventually he became central to United's side, pivotal as they—very briefly—played the best football of Van Gaal's tenure so far.
The strengthening of the midfield that took place this summer seemed to have sidelined Herrera once again.
However, once again, accusations of stubbornness aimed at Van Gaal were proved misguided when, after a trip back to the drawing board following Arsenal's 3-0 decimation of United at the beginning of October, Van Gaal turned to Herrera.
It proved an apposite change as an Herrera-inspired United brushedEverton aside. The former Bilbao man racked up a goal and an assist, and all seemed well in the world. Since then, the sailing has been considerably less than plain, though.
Van Gaal has kept the faith with Herrera so far, not only keeping him in the first XI but also keeping him on the pitch for all 90 minutes againstCSKA Moscow, Manchester City and Crystal Palace. Unlike his friendJuan Mata, Herrera does not seem to be built into Van Gaal's in-game rotation policy.
Herrera and Mata training in the Manchester fog
Retaining him at No. 10 has clearly not been a cure-all for United's attacking play. Three nil-nil draws in a row tell their own story on that front—although, of course, Herrera was not involved againstMiddlesbrough.
While his footballing intelligence means he is able to function well in the role, his best period at United has come as one of two attacking midfielders in a midfield three, rather than as the lone link between midfield and attack.
Against Everton he excelled from No. 10, but even that was an example of him being a midfielder playing in an advanced role rather than an attacker playing in his natural spot.
David Silva in action against Everton
A comparison with David Silva, the division's standout authentic No. 10 is telling. When Manchester City travelled to Goodison Park on 23 August, they won 2-0. Silva had 91 touches of the ball, the most of any City player. During United's 3-0 win there, Herrera had 59.
Phil Jones, Matteo Darmian, Morgan Schneiderlin and Bastian Schweinsteiger had more, which tells us something about where United's attacking build-up play takes place in relation to City's.
A look at the relative heat maps for Herrera and Silva is also telling. In spite of their teams enjoying reasonably similar amounts of possession in the game—48.3 per cent in United's case and 53.2 per cent in City's case—Herrera's heat map is much more spread-out between the two halves, Silva's impact appears to have taken place further up the pitch.
Herrera maximised his chance against Everton
This is reflected in the defensive statistics of the two players. Herrera made four tackles to Silva's two. The background of the former as a box-to-box midfielder clearly influences his approach as a No. 10.
It worked beautifully against Everton, when the home side's lack of form and the effectiveness of United's passing game combined to give the Red Devils a big edge.
Herrera has been less effective in the past few games when United have been slow to get players ahead of the ball. However, the solution to this is not to drop Herrera. Indeed, in any formation Van Gaal can dream up, he should ensure that there is a place for the Basque.
Back in March, Herrera gave an interview to Spanish newspaper El Pais(h/t ESPN FC), in which he said of Van Gaal:
He loves possession and doesn't like to risk the ball. He likes long spells of possession and to keep the ball because he believes space will be created by keeping to positional play because the team has the quality to find you. He got angry with me at the start because I went to look for the ball, because I always wanted to have it. I should have waited.
In attack, [he is the opposite of Marcelo Bielsa] because Van Gaal believes in greater numbers out wide, in triangles, and to not run with the ball. Bielsa liked to have the ball to attack. But he believes in the movement of the player, in getting behind the lines and breaking space. We know Bielsa's perfect goal was one full-back crossing for the other full-back to arrive. He likes to arrive with six or seven. But come on, both are football maestros.
Herrera proved toward the back end of last season that he can adapt to Van Gaal's methods. While fans may be getting fed up with those methods, they will nonetheless remain central to United's approach.
And, of course, possession football does not necessarily mean dull football. Changing the pace of the passing, keeping players rotating and moving ahead of the ball is clear to creating the space about which Herrera speaks above.
One of the primary solutions to United's toothlessness in front of goal could, paradoxically, involve moving Herrera to a deeper role. Having him as an attack-minded deep-lying midfielder rather than a midfield-minded No. 10 could shift the balance of the team for the better.
Could Schneiderlin make way for Herrera?
With Morgan Schneiderlin reportedly doubtful for the visit of CSKA Moscow to Old Trafford on Tuesday night, per Mark Ogden of theTelegraph, this could be the perfect time to experiment with this system.
Assuming Van Gaal will not drop Wayne Rooney on the basis of poor form—speaking of the Dutchman's propensity for the odd stubborn streak—then dropping Herrera deeper would at least allow for a system in which Anthony Martial plays at centre-forward.
While Van Gaal said in his post-match press conference that no one can yet be certain of Martial's best position, given his age, for United it is clear that his maximum impact has come with him playing at centre-forward.
With Herrera playing alongside, say, Bastian Schweinsteiger in midfield, United would likely have more players breaking ahead of the ball from midfield. While this may make the side a little more defensively permeable than they have been of late, it should at least ensure that chants of "We're Man United, we want to attack" are a thing of the past.
Van Gaal watches training ahead of the visit of CSKA Moscow
Keeping faith with Herrera should be a key part of Van Gaal's attempts to get United back to winning ways. After all, the midfielder has been a part of almost everything good that has happened to United under during Van Gaal's reign.
For all his perceived stubbornness, the Dutchman has no doubt noticed this.
