LOUIS VAN GAAL insists 2015 has been a good year for Manchester United – apart from the last month.
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| Louis van Gaal says Manchester United had a good year apart from Decemeber |
Van Gaal believes his team have made progress and he has more balanced squad but admits the last month when they lost four successive games and drew the other two fixtures – the worst December in the club’s entire history - has set them back.
Asked to assess the calendar year, he said: “I think we have fulfilled the wish and our aim in the first season - and that ends half way through in 2015.
“After that we have managed to give balance to the team and that resulted in us being top in October and November. Then we went out of the Champions League and that was a big blow.
“When you don't assess December it was a very good year, 2015. But you cannot do that because a year has 12 months. So I speak more about that period because we are living in that period, not January 2015.”
United are without a win in their last eight games, the club’s worst run since 1989-90 season. And although Van Gaal saw some encouraging signs in the goal-less draw against Chelsea he admits the they’re big problem remains a lack of goals. United’s tally of 22 in 19 games is their lowest at the half-way mark than ever before in the Premier League era.
“I think we have played many matches like that [the Chelsea game] he added. “The way we have played this season, we are usually the dominant team, we are mostly always pressing and I have to say we had more shots at the goal - only we don't score at this time and that is our problem.
“Our problem is not dominating matches, but scoring. It is not only the Chelsea game. Goals are the most important thing because then you can continue in your mind, your mental state. But I was surprised [at the level of performance against Chelsea] that the players could give so much because of the big pressure they were under.
“I don't know if the pressure has eased because pressure is also what you experience by yourself and also by the players.
“Most important are the players of course because they have to perform at a certain time. They have to give everything and that is the most difficult aspect. That is the players' function.
“You have to show it for 90 minutes against the resistance of the opponent and also under the pressure of the environment and the pressure you put yourself under. And you have to cope with that. That is what I am explaining, the way we played under that pressure in the style we want to play, yeah that was fantastic.”
Asked how he is coping with the pressure, Van Gaal said he is simply trusting in the managerial methods that have served him over the last three decades.
“I am doing my work,” he said. “You have to do what you have to do. There are members of staff saying 'boss, can I can help you more?’ I say you help me by doing the things you have to as good as possible, and then I am satisfied and that I expect also from my players.
“This is not the first club where I have a bad period – although it is maybe my last. I have had bad periods at all my clubs and I have to say the best fans are at Manchester United. In such a difficult period, they are applauding the performance of the players and that is fantastic.
“But still we need to win because we want to be at the top of the league and not in the middle. We have to get points otherwise the gap is too big and that is why we have to do what we have to do.
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| Van Gaal pondering during the 3-2 defeat to Wolfsburg which knocked them out of the Champions League |
“Work, do the things, prepare the game, perform and then evaluate the game again. That is of course much more difficult when you don't win than when you win. All the things you say as a manager is more accepted (when you win).”
United take on bogey team Swansea at Old Trafford in their first game of 2016 on Saturday.
Asked why the Welsh club have proved so difficult for them to beat, Van Gaal said: “I have three times lost against Swansea and you have to evaluate why you lost. It is always like that.
"You make a game plan to beat your opponent and then you have to convince your players. Then you have to train and then you have to be convinced. Then you can be committed and try to perform it.
“There is no magic, it is looking at what has happened and what can improve, as a team but also as an individual player.”
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