Van Gaal has defended his philosophy after repeated criticism from former Old Trafford midfielder Paul Scholes this season, and said on Friday that he has no doubts about his ability to manage United or meet the club’s “very high” expectations.
Advertisement
An injury-ravaged United lost 2-1 at Bournemouth to compound a miserable seven days in which they drew 0-0 with West Ham United and exited the UEFA Champions League after defeat to Wolfsburg.
“Whenever you play Manchester United and Chelsea you know you won’t have much of the ball, but I think we were very good in two games”.
“There were some emotional scenes in the dressing room afterwards”.
“Of course I’m concerned because we have lost two matches in a row, and that is not a usual thing, so we have to stick together and prepare for our match against Norwich”.
Bournemouth picked up a second prized Premier League scalp in a week as they beat Manchester United at the Vitality Stadium.
“It is always very disappointing when you are at the top of the table when you lose to a club at the bottom of the table”, he added.
“Going out of the Champions League was obviously tough to take and we were very disappointed”, he said. “‘We have now to win three matches in a row for example, to be there still after Christmas”.
Fans have started to become fed up with the way United are playing, with some calling for Van Gaal’s job but the Dutchman continues to remain optimistic about his players’ performances.
With this in mind, we’ve taken this moment to devise a list of the five biggest gripes Manchester United have with manager Louis van Gaal at the moment. “It’s a game that we can look back on with a lot of pride”.
Jesse Lingard and Paddy McNair joined the Manchester United wounded by picking up injuries during their humiliating 2-1 defeat to Bournemouth yesterday. We didn’t do that in the first half but we had the feeling in the players, the management and the staff that we could win this game.
“The attitude of the players I liked”, Van Gaal said, “but that is not the only important thing. It is also hard for Manchester City and Liverpool, Arsenal or Chelsea or Leicester”. That’s always important for us as players and that’s all we can focus on. “They don’t want to hear me because a club like United has to win”. I said that to the players because I liked the attitude. Comparisons have already been drawn between Sir Alex Ferguson and the kind of attacking football he practised with Van Gaal’s composed game of posession.
Advertisement
“I mean, we’ve had a few injuries, I’m not making any excuses but if you look at the injuries”.
