Manchester United have a game-changer now in Louis van Gaal

Holland win in Fergie time with a controversial penalty

Dutch come from behind three times in four games at the World Cup to win

Manchester United came from behind to win on just four of twenty occasions under David Moyes

Van Gaal hooks captain Van Persie while Moyes always remained fearful

It was rather fitting that the first coach to use the World Cup drinks break to dramatic effect was Louis van Gaal of Holland.

Van Gaal is what is known as a game-changer. That is the role Manchester United have set out for him, as the successor to the forlorn David Moyes. They want the new coach to arrest last season's decline, to rebuild Sir Alex Ferguson's team and restore the club to the pinnacle of English football.

Yet Van Gaal is a game-changer in a literal sense, too. He intervenes, he inspires, he diverts the course of the matches his teams play.

VIDEO Scroll down to watch fiery Van Gaal lose his temper during Holland training

The comeback kings: Louis van Gaal celebrates as Holland beat Mexico late on to progress to the last eight

Not his day: Robin van Persie's performance mirrored one of his poor displays for United last season VIDEO Dutch party rumbles on

He is a 12th man, a non-playing substitute, whose intrusions into the action are, if not always a guarantee of success, then certainly worthwhile.

There is a lazy presumption in the English game that once the team enter the field there is little the manager can do about proceedings. Van Gaal challenges that. He certainly did in Fortaleza on Sunday.

In searing heat, the most hostile conditions of the World Cup so far, he used the opportunity of a second-half drinks break to alter Holland's shape against Mexico.

He took off Robin van Persie and replaced him with Klaas-Jan Huntelaar; he moved Dirk Kuyt from left wing back to a supporting striker role; he went long on his route to goal. The Van Persie decision was brave. This is, after all, his captain and the player who it is said will smooth his path at Manchester United next summer. Van Gaal needs Van Persie to help sell his often-confrontational style and methods to the rest of the dressing room. Yet it was the direct approach in moving the ball forward that was his greatest risk.

Already derided by the grandees of Dutch football, including Johan Cruyff, had Van Gaal played in a less sophisticated way in the final minutes against Mexico and lost, he would have been decried as a philistine. Instead, the end justified the means.



Mexico wilted under the pressure, Holland won, Van Gaal's intervention was successful. It is this decisiveness that United are hoping to bottle next season, having faltered under Moyes, who seemed to struggle with the big calls. Moyes failed to replace Van Persie during a poor performance against Newcastle United. 'If I'd brought him off some people would say, "What are you doing? You are 1-0 down and you're taking off your top goalscorer",' Moyes admitted.



Feeling down: David Moyes looks dejected on the sidelines as he sees United lose again

Making a difference: Van Gaal gives instructions as Holland came from behind to win

Famous pose: United were known for stunning late comebacks in Sir Alex Ferguson's time at the club

It is unlikely Van Gaal would ever factor public reaction into a decision.

'This trainer wants to win,' he said after the match in Fortaleza. 'He makes the changes and the substitutions he needs. Nothing else matters. It's simple.'

He says he will have no qualms about dropping Van Persie entirely if he feels fitness issues have affected the performances of his captain.

The way football is developing, Van Gaal's hands-on approach is more important than ever. Huntelaar's injury-time winner from the penalty spot was the 25th goal scored at this World Cup by a substitute.

The ratio going into Monday's fixtures was a goal in every 2.08 games from a player coming off the bench, meaning football can no longer be considered 11 against 11.

At World Cups in particular, when a coach has 12 options on the sideline, game management is vital. As rugby union has its invasion of replacements in the second half, baseball its relief pitchers to close out the match, and hockey its rolling substitutes, so football is increasingly demanding of the coaches.

One of the reasons Norwich City grew dissatisfied with Chris Hughton was his substitutions. In these days of constant statistical analysis, it was noted that almost a season had passed without any of the players he had introduced scoring, or creating, a goal.

Jose Mourinho is regarded as one of the most inspired game managers in football and Van Gaal is the coach who he says was his greatest influence. Ferguson, the man whose feats the Dutchman must aspire to as Manchester United manager, was never shy of the bold gesture either.

In this way, already, Van Gaal seems a more natural fit than the instinctively cautious Moyes. United fell behind 20 times and recovered to win on four occasions under Moyes. By contrast, Holland have come back from behind three times already just at this World Cup.

It would appear United have found their man.