Van Gaal needs more time to build his United empire

Paul Hirst 12:00 08/11/2014
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  • Three-year plan: Louis van Gaal.

    Louis van Gaal may be feeling “lousy” at the moment, but he remains convinced his methods will bring success back to Manches­ter United in the long term.

    Van Gaal’s appointment was greeted with great fanfare at Old Trafford this summer, and a near-perfect pre-season tour raised hopes of a tilt at the title.

    But after 10 matches United are 10th having gained just 13 points and take on Crystal Palace today without any senior centre-backs.

    The fact that David Moyes, who was eventually sacked after just 10 months in charge, had four more points at this stage last year shows just how poor United have been in the first quarter of the season.

    “It’s not good enough,’’ he said. ‘I feel, myself, very lousy for the fans firstly, but also for the board because they have a great belief in me and my players and my staff.

    “We are in a process and that process shall take more than one year.

    "It shall take three years.

    “But at the end, when they know it and they are doing the things with conscience, the results shall come.”

    Jonny Evans, Phil Jones and Marcos Rojo, who is out for up to 12 weeks with a dislocated shoul­der, are all unavailable today, while Chris Smalling is suspended.

    Meanwhile, Morgan Schneider­lin wants to carry the feel-good fac­tor at Southampton into the inter­national break as Saints continue to fight at the top of the table.

    Ronald Koeman’s side have won seven of their last eight Premier League fixtures and are just four points adrift of unbeaten Chelsea.

    In contrast Leicester, the visi­tors to St Mary’s this weekend, have dropped into the relegation zone having mustered just one draw from their previous five games.

    “For a few games now there has been a lot of expectation and we responded well,” Schneiderlin said.

    “We are ready to kick on, we know that after Saturday we are going to have another break, the mood is very good but we know it can change very quickly.

    “It is important to us before the international break to have a good result against Leicester.”

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