Louis van Gaal has admitted that it will take “a miracle” for Manchester United to win the Premier League this season. But the super-confident Dutchman is quick to add that miracles do actually happen.
In fact, he reckons he’s performed one himself!
Van Gaal takes his team to Sunderland today, trying to avoid back-to-back defeats in his first week as a Premier League manager.
The disappointing home loss to Swansea has poured cold water over all the optimism generated by an unbeaten pre-season. It confirmed Van Gaal’s warning when he got the job that the first three months would be difficult for players, fans and the club’s hierarchy alike.
“Yes, it would be a miracle to win the League, but it’s also possible,” he says. “I was a champion in my first season at Barcelona and at Bayern Munich but it is very difficult.
“When I took over the job from Bobby Robson, he’d won three titles so the selection was stable at that time. When I got to Bayern, the selection was not stable. The squad was not balanced so what we did was a miracle.
“Now at United, this selection is not in balance either. There are five No. 9s and six No. 10s and so on. And we don’t have defenders.”
When Jose Mourinho returned to Chelsea last season, he asked to be judged on his second campaign, when he’d got his own team together, not his first. Van Gaal makes a similar point, saying: “I think that is always the case.
“The owners understand, or I would not have accepted this job. That’s why we discussed three years, not one year.
“And what are the consequences when you hire me? I have told them. My experience at my former clubs was that the start was always difficult. I give a lot of information to players. I load the brain and the players have to adapt to that situation. That is not so easy. We have to change the way of playing football and I must transfer my methods. So they have to think a lot.”
Van Gaal admits his preparations have been damaged by United’s long, commercially-driven tour of the United States and the late availability of players because of the World Cup.
He’s aware, for instance, that while United had 16 players on duty in Brazil, today’s opponents, Sunderland, had just one.
“When I admit that, then I have an excuse and I don’t want one,” he says. “But it’s true that they have full preparation with the whole squad, and that is better than my preparation.
“All the players who played at the World Cup are starting in a League without having a big rest. I gave Robin van Persie three weeks’ rest, and I let him train for three weeks, so in many ways he is more prepared than the players I had in the United States.
“Within one week of returning, they had to play and you have seen all the injuries. I am thinking about the long term, so I am not taking any risks with Van Persie.”
The Dutchman is likely to figure at the Stadium of Light, but new Argentinean signing Marcos Rojo is unavailable because he’s still awaiting a work permit.
Midfielders Marouane Fellaini, Ander Herrera and Jesse Lingard are all out after picking up injuries this week.
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