Manchester United will look to kick-start their Champions League campaign when they take on Wolfsburg at Old Trafford tomorrow night.
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Shaw’s injury has obliged Van Gaal to reconfigure his defence, however, and with Marcos Rojo sidelined by a hamstring injury, Matteo Darmian was switched to left-back against Sunderland. “That is realistic, because I did it everywhere”.
Louis van Gaal claims his ruthless summer cull is behind Manchester United’s remarkable rise to the top of the Premier League.
“I came off the tour and felt a tightness in my calves and had a scan on it and found a blood clot in my leg”.
“You never know what Louis will do”.
“I have seen it when I was at Barcelona and we play Valencia and we lost 3-4 having been leading 3-0, but that was in 15 minutes”.
Van Gaal – whose side are top of the Premier League – insisted that United have progressed from last season, but that they needed to maintain their improvement if they were to realise his goals.
Asked if could stay at the club beyond his current contract which ends in 2017, van Gaal replied: “Normally I shall leave after next year but what is normal in our football world?”
“I think Michael Carrick shall not play”, Van Gaal said.
“But I promised my wife to go to our (Portuguese) paradise and it would be hard to break that promise”. “You can say we were well organised against a good team like United but we gave the game away in two minutes”.
He said: “The Premier League is a very hard league”.
“Yes, I think so [we have the strength to win the Champions League]”.
“Our current position is a outcome of the good work, but right now, still in September, it doesn’t mean anything if we don’t keep working, and we do know that”.
And while the one-time France worldwide was not amongst the scorers this weekend, he was still able to provide the assist for Wayne Rooney’s strike, while playing a vital role throughout the game as United went top of the Premier League table.
The £36million Frenchman is now residing in the Lowry Hotel after completing his deadline day move to Manchester United.
Asked what could be the decisive factor for United, the midfielder replied: “The spirit of the players”. The big step will come when he settles with his wife in a new house and a new environment.
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“They have a great team, they’ve improved a lot in the last few years”.
