LVG: Too much too soon for players

Louis van Gaal thinks he may have bamboozled his players with too much information in the opening two months of his reign as Manchester United manager.

Van Gaal enjoyed a near-perfect tour of the United States, but since the competitive season began, the Dutchman has endured a miserable set of results.

United go into today’s match against West Ham having collected just five points from five matches — their worst start in Premier League history.

Van Gaal has implemented many changes on and off the pitch since he took charge on July 16. He has tinkered with the team’s formation, he has been at pains to implement his “philosophy”, and he has also made several alterations at the club’s training ground.

Van Gaal insists all his changes will benefit the team in the long run, but he accepts he may have over-loaded the players with too much information too quickly.

“We give [the players] a lot of information and you have to work out that information,” said the United manager, who watched his team crumble to a 5-3 defeat at Leicester last weekend.

“There shall be a moment in the season that this information is not too much. At this moment maybe it is too much for the players. ”

Although the season is just six weeks old, Van Gaal believes United’s fans are already “very tired” of hearing their manager plead for patience.

Ahead of the game against Sam Allardyce’s team, Van Gaal hit back at suggestions he was wrong to spend the majority of his budget on attacking players.

Ruud Gullit and Gary Neville suggested last week that Van Gaal had made a mistake in defence by just buying Luke Shaw and Marcos Rojo when experienced heads like Patrice Evra, Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic were allowed to leave.

United’s defence now looks even weaker as Jonny Evans, Chris Smalling and Phil Jones are all injured while Tyler Blackett is suspended.

United were interested in signing Mats Hummels earlier this summer, but they were quickly warned off making a bid by Borussia Dortmund.

Van Gaal noted: “There are a lot of defenders in this world, but I don’t want to buy [just] any defenders.”

Van Gaal, who may have to hand a debut to 19-year-old defender Paddy McNair today, said he was aware that Evans and Jones both had a history with injuries before he took the job.

The United boss claims his training methods will make them less susceptible to fitness problems.

“I have been told [about their injury history], and now they are confirming [it] but I have good hopes that we shall improve in that matter because normally I don’t have any injury problems,” he said.

“For a good example I had Arjen Robben [at Bayern Munich]. He had injuries before but not under me.”

United held a deep hour-long inquest into their dismal 5-3 defeat to Leicester, Robin van Persie has revealed.

Van Gaal met for a detailed debrief 24 hours later after the debacle.

Van Persie said: “We have to deal with it. We had a proper look at it the next day. Sometimes it was a bit confronting. It was a really good meeting as everyone spoke up and shared their feelings. It was a long meeting, but we went from there, started again this week and a couple of really good sessions in and everyone feels ready to face West Ham.”

Allardyce, for one, is expecting a reaction from United.

“I think there’ll be a backlash,” he said. “The determination of the Manchester United players and the demand on them means I’m sure they will be fired up. They’ll be hurting after the Leicester game and they’ll know the only way they can put it right is go out and put on a good performance.”