As Louis van Gaal prepares to take United to Shrewsbury Town for tonight’s FA Cup tie, his position continues to be precarious.
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United has failed to win a major trophy since Ferguson retired at the end of the 2012-2013 Premier League season, with only the 2013 Community Shield to its name.
The low morale at the club is reflected in Van Gaal admitting teams may no longer fear facing United, and he faces a challenge to raise his players’ battered confidence to ensure they are not beaten at Shrewsbury. We can do that again, it is just a question of winning matches in a row. The hosts are 21st in League One, and it has been widely suggested that another surprise defeat would cost Van Gaal his job.
A United source has revealed the agreement is for him to take over at Old Trafford in the summer, not before.
“To be brutally honest I can’t tell the board how to act if we beat them”.
The 64-year-old, who has a lengthy list of players unavailable for the tie, has emphasised the importance of his side being mentally prepared to raise their performance level significantly after the poor showing at Midtjylland, against opponents he feels could pose them similar problems.
“We have to keep the ball better and not give unnecessary losses away, because I think the first goal [against Midtjylland] was an unnecessary loss and the second goal we could have won that duel much easier”.
Van Gaal’s future remains uncertain as there are reports suggesting that he could be shown the exit door before the end of the season.
Instead I’m going to have a nice go at Manchester United -1, the cup can be magic sometimes but more often than not the gap between the teams in the Premier League and those in League One proves to be too wide.
United have not lifted the FA Cup since 2004.
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“It is a question of you having to see every match as a match that you have to win”.
