Van Gaal tells United fans to jeer him, not team
Louis van Gaal has responded to growing
criticism from Manchester United
supporters by asking them to take out
their frustration on him rather than his
under-pressure players.
United are in the midst of a difficult
period which saw them fail to score in
successive games against Manchester
City, Middlesbrough and Crystal Palace.
To compound matters, the
Middlesbrough stalemate led to a penalty
shoot-out defeat for Van Gaal’s side and
an exit from the English League Cup.
Matters improved slightly with a 1-0
Champions League win over CSKA
Moscow in midweek but supporters
remain frustrated and have been widely
critical of what is seen as a lack of
ambition and attacking intent from Van
Gaal’s side.
The United manager admitted on Friday
that he was surprised to discover the
amount of pressure being placed on his
stars in home games at the start of last
season and claimed he could “taste” the
apprehension among his side.
– Fans ‘never unfair’ –
“I think the supporters have to support
the players, otherwise they make it very
difficult for the players to play at Old
Trafford,” the Dutch boss said.
“Until now they were fantastic so I
cannot complain about the fans.
“When I came here as a manager, the
first match we have played here after the
America tour we played against
Valencia, a friendly game to present our
new Manchester United to the fans.
“We won that game but we didn’t play as
well as in the United States. And the
second game was against Swansea City
and we didn’t play so good and then I
spoke with the players because I was
amazed.
“It was not like I faced something like
that before,” said the veteran manager.
“I could taste something!
“So I can only advise the fans to criticise
the manager and not the players. It’s
very difficult to play for Manchester
United with a lot of pressure and when it
is also that you can taste that at Old
Trafford because of all the yelling then
it’s not good for all my players.
“It’s better to whistle at the manager. I
can cope with it because I have had a lot
of experience in it as my life as a
manager,” he added.
At half-time of the CSKA game, Van Gaal
reportedly instructed his players to
ignore the chants of “attack” coming
from supporters at Old Trafford, but he
insisted he will never deny the United
faithful’s right to air their anger.
“Criticism by the fans is never unfair,”
he said.
“It’s the feeling of the fans and you can’t
criticise the feeling of the fans.
“I think we have to play for the fans but,
as I’ve already said, the fans also have to
understand the game and the resistance
of our opponent. They have to analyse
that.”
Van Gaal’s saviour against Moscow was
Wayne Rooney, the player who has been
criticised more widely than any other by
his own supporters, and the manager
said he has still to decide where best to
play the England forward.
“It’s dependent on the quality of the
opponent and dependent on the qualities
of his fellow players who are in the line-
up,” he said.
“I have to make a balance in the line-up
and look for it and that’s also when I
change players so we can hurt the
opponent.
“It’s only because of that I want to try
that. He’s playing this season only as a
number nine or 10, more or less… and
(as a) 10, he is a second striker, not as a
third midfielder.”
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