Louis van Gaal has hinted that he will eschew a late transfer window move for attacking reinforcements by confirming that Marouane -Fellaini will operate as a forward this season.
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That can in part be explained by his plan for Fellaini, which was revealed on the eve of the second leg of United’s Champions League play-off against Club Brugge.
Manchester United boss Louis van Gaal has insisted his side does not need a striker, despite only scoring one goal in three league matches.
On the team front, United will again be without Phil Jones (thrombosis), while Van Gaal must decide whether to stick with Bastian Schweinsteiger, who made his full debut against the Magpies, or revert to Michael Carrick in the holding midfield position.
“This year he will play more as a no. 9 and no. 10 rather than 6 and 8 because there we have other players”.
“Maybe we had to finish it a lot earlier in that game“.
“I don’t think my players will take it easy”.
“So now seven or eight players have to play against a young Ajax second team on Thursday because they need also to play 90 minutes and Rojo shall play 60 minutes”.
“When you see Manchester United, and how many young players we have and play, we are starting with Luke Shaw, Memphis Depay, Adnan Januzaj, then Jesse Lingard, Paddy McNair… I can play there”, the midfielder said. I look forward. Last season I did quite well and I want to continue.
“In the past I have played number 10 and number nine sometimes so I can play there and help my team-mates and my team”.
“I know my team-mates, the manager and the philosophy of the manager, so I’m just looking to do well and score some goals”.
“We have had the same preparation and I don’t think that they shall start differently to last week”.
Recent history favours his team, however, with Club Brugge unbeaten in their last 10 European home matches and United having lost their last two away games in the Champions League, against Olympiakos and Bayern Munich in 2014.
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“It’s dependable also on the quality of our opponents, but first we have to beat Bruges and that is hard enough”, he added.
