Louis van Gaal will quit Old Trafford if Manchester United fail to beat Chelsea

LOUIS VAN GAAL is set to quit if Manchester United fail to halt their losing run against Chelsea at Old Trafford on Monday night.

Chelsea could end Louis van Gaal's tenure at Manchester United with victory at Old Trafford

 

Van Gaal could jump before he is pushed after publicly questioning for the first time whether he can still motivate the players.

After United's fourth successive defeat at Stoke on Saturday, Van Gaal said he would hold crisis talks with the club's executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward, and hinted he could offer his resignation.

"It is not always the club that has to fire or sack me," he said. "Sometimes I do that by myself.

 

"But I am the one who wants to speak first with the board and my members of staff and players. I feel the support of my board but we have lost again so there is a new situation."

It is understood that Van Gaal was at United's Carrington training ground yesterday as the players completed their individual recovery sessions ahead of tonight's crucial game. Asked if he will be in charge for that, he added: "You have to wait and see but I think so."

If Van Gaal departs, United look to have two options - promote his No 2 Ryan Giggs or appoint former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho, who is understood to be interested in the job but is also wanted by Real Madrid.

Van Gaal and his coaching staff can hardly watch as Manchester United crash to defeat at Stoke

 

He also accused his team of not coping with the pressure or scrutiny they are under in the defeat at the Britannia that stretched United's win-less run to seven games.

"We didn't dare to play our football in the first half and I have analysed that as a consequence of the pressure that you have to cope with as a group or as an individual player," he said.

"The circumstances now play a bigger role and will do in the next game also. We have to cope with that and look for the solution.

"It is very difficult as I'm also part of four losses and I have to cope with that and I have to manage that. More important is that my players shall manage that because they have to perform."

 

Van Gaal is worried there may not be any improvement against Chelsea - now managed by his fellow Dutchman Guus Hiddink - because of the lack of recovery time.

"It's very difficult to do that but we shall try," he said. "When you lose four matches in a row, it's much more difficult than after the third match. It's like that and the pressure of the environment should increase. There are no artificial ways to solve that."

Skipper Wayne Rooney, dropped to the bench on Saturday, will be recalled to the starting XI while Bastian Schweinsteiger is available after completing a three-game ban.