Louis van Gaal insists he is still the right man to win silverware at Manchester United despite the club’s embarrassing exit from the Champions League.
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United crashed out of Europe’s biggest club competition – one they have won three times – on Tuesday when they lost 3-2 in Wolfsburg.
Van Gaal’s critics again railed against the Dutchman in the wake of the defeat. Paul Scholes labelled United “average” while his former team-mate Rio Ferdinand said dropping into the Europa League was “an embarrassment”. But Van Gaal launched an impassioned defence of his management at his weekly press conference.
When asked if he doubted his ability to win trophies with United, Van Gaal said: “No. I don’t have any doubts.”
The United manager admitted his players were struggling to deal with the expectations on their shoulders, however. He said: “You can lose and you can win in sport, and you have to accept that, as a player and as a manager, but you have to work very hard and I am working very hard and my players are working very hard and doing everything we can do.
“The problem is that we have to meet the expectations and the expectations at a club like Manchester United are very high, and that’s our problem.”
But when asked whether he could make up for the club’s Champions League exit by winning the Premier League the United boss said: “No. It is difficult. You (the media) want to raise the expectations. We shall do everything to win something but it is very difficult.
“For the fans it shall be like that. But I want to manage the expectation. It is not as easy as everybody thinks. You can see what is happening in the Premier League every week. It is not so easy.”
Van Gaal also fairly dismissive of the threat of losing Giggs to the Swansea job. Says he’ll discuss it with Giggs if Giggs comes to him
— Oliver Kay (@OliverKayTimes) December 11, 2015
Van Gaal was visibly annoyed when asked if he would be happy if he just won the Europa League this season.
“Just? You think it’s just? I’m not thinking like that,” he snapped. “I have already won the Europa League with Ajax in my first season, and I was very proud of that. For me, the Euro (Europa) League is a big competition.”
United may be three points off league leaders Leicester, but they have failed to win any of their last four matches in all competitions.
Saturday’s opponents Bournemouth defeated Chelsea at Stamford Bridge last week but manager Eddie Howe is under no illusions about the size of the next task facing the Cherries.
“We will probably need to surpass last week’s performance levels to have any chance of winning this game,” he said. “Manchester United are fourth, and very close to the top. They will consider themselves in very good position to win the league this season so we know how difficult the game will be.”
