Van Gaal tears up Carrington pitches

LOS ANGELES — Manchester United are to rip up two training pitches at their Carrington training ground today in order to fast-track Louis van Gaal’s demand for better facilities at the club.

Van Gaal, who takes charge of United for the first time when they face LA Galaxy in Pasadena today (tomorrow morning, Singapore time), has made a series of recommendations for improvements at Carrington.

The first was to have been instigated yesterday, with executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward authorising the installation of two Desso playing surfaces which will exactly replicate the pitch at Old Trafford.

With United currently on tour in the United States, there will be no disruption to the club’s training plans, with the first-team squad undertaking their pre-season preparations in California.

The new surfaces at Carrington are expected to be ready in six weeks, with the squad set to train on one of the many pitches at the training ground until the new Desso turf has settled sufficiently.

United committed £800,000 (S$1.2 million) to a new Wembley-style, part-synthetic surface at Old Trafford at the end of the 2013-14 campaign following claims by former manager Sir Alex Ferguson that the previous pitch had “collapsed” following prolonged winter rainfall in Manchester.

The club enlisted pitch specialists Desso to overhaul the Old Trafford playing surface and the same company will start work at Carrington.

While Old Trafford’s previous pitch was a pure grass surface, the new surface is a fusion of grass and 20 million artificial fibres, which intertwine with the natural grass 20cm beneath the surface to give strengthen the playing area and make it more robust and stable.

The pitch is firmer than a traditional grass surface, prompting Van Gaal to insist on two replicas at Carrington. He has also urged the club to investigate measures which will help shield the training pitches from gusts of wind, with the planting of trees one possibility being considered.

Van Gaal’s squad, bolstered by the arrival in Los Angeles of Javier Hernandez yesterday, face a five-game tour of the US before returning to England in two weeks’ time.

The Dutchman’s methods have impressed Wayne Rooney who, despite having his anticipated four-week summer break cut short by Van Gaal, admits the value of being involved from the outset of pre-season enables him to get to grips with the new manager’s expectations.

“We’ve got a new manager with different ideas. We have to train well and listen to what he wants us to do and take that onto the pitch and show him what we can do,” said Rooney.

“Of course, we all have to go out there and show what we can do and show every day in training what different qualities we have as players and a team. Any player will tell you the most important thing for the season is to get a good pre-season under your belt and that’s what we’re all trying to do.” THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

United’s pre-season tour of the US:

July 23 — Los Angeles Galaxy

July 26 — AS Roma

July 29 — Inter Milan

Aug 2 — Real Madrid

LA Galaxy v Manchester United will be shown live on StarHub TV Ch202 on Thursday (July 24) at 11.00am.