Van Gaal opens up on ‘broken’ United

WASHINGTON — Louis van Gaal has said it would have been easier to succeed Alex Ferguson than David Moyes as Manchester United manager after admitting he has inherited a squad “without confidence”.

Since taking over, Van Gaal has created an instant impression, but the Dutchman has warned that his new team have only started out on their road to redemption following the club’s humiliating campaign last season, when United registered their lowest Premier League finish — seventh — and failed to qualify for Europe.

Van Gaal has introduced a 3-4-1-2 system and twice-daily training sessions with the emphasis on technique over physical condition.

But the former Ajax, Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach insisted that succeeding Ferguson in his pomp would have been a more straightforward proposition than the one he now faces.

“I was already asked in the 1990s by Manchester United if I would join them because Ferguson wanted to quit at that time and then maybe I could succeed him,” Van Gaal said.

“That would have been more easy at that time, I think. When you have to take a club that normally plays from first position, and now you are seventh ... the confidence or something like that is wrong.

“I don’t think it (broken) is a hard word because I think when you are seventh, the team is not happy and unsatisfied and without confidence and, when you are like that, you are broken.

“I had to follow Bobby Robson at Barcelona. He had won three titles. That was easier for me than now.”

Van Gaal insisted, however, that his methods could revive United if the players continue to respond positively on the training ground and 
in games.

“The players under the direction of David Moyes is a lot different to the players under the direction of Alex Ferguson, but also under the direction of me,” Van Gaal said.

“So now they have me: A new manager, so new chances for the players and they want to show themselves unbelievably much. It is nice that they want to do that, but we have to make a way of playing football that is not the same as before and that is difficult for them.”

Van Gaal, whose attention to detail since arriving at United has extended to areas as diverse as the dining arrangements of his players and the installation of cameras on the training pitch, has been well received by his squad, who have embraced his training methods.

The Dutchman admitted, however, that it could be another three months before his methods started to bear fruit.

“Every club where I have been, I have struggled for the first three months,” Van Gaal said. “After that, they know what I want: How I am as a human being and also a manager. I am very direct. I say things as they are, so you have to adapt to that way of coaching. It’s not so easy.

“But the most important thing is they have to know why we do things ... A lot of players are playing intuitively, but I want them to think and know why they do something. That’s a process that is difficult at first, in the first three months, and it takes time.” THE DAILY TELEGRAPH