Van Gaal defends his tactics
Boss says Sheffield United game was difficult due to opponents style.
Van Gaal repeated his claim that it was always going to be hard playing against Sheffield United despite the fact that they are ninth in League One having lost to the likes of Crewe, Bury and Colchester this season.
“I think that you always need to take into account how your opponent plays,''he said.“They defended with 10 behind the ball. It is not easy.''
The 64-year-old used a well-worn phrase to illustrate his claim that United are steadily heading in the right direction under his leadership.
“It is a process,'' he added. “I have said many times.
“We are in that process. We have ups and downs. We have won two times in a row.''
Van Gaal's hopes of registering a third win in succession have been hit by an injury to Bastian Schweinsteiger, who will miss Tuesday's game at Newcastle because of a knee injury he suffered in the dying stages of Saturday's game.
The United boss told MUTV: “Bastian is injured, that we know. We have seen that because he could not move at the end of the game against the Blades.''
Marcos Rojo, Luke Shaw and Antonio Valencia are unavailable because of
long-term injuries while Phil Jones is likely to miss out because of an ankleproblem he sustained in the 2-1 win over Swansea on January 2nd.
Ashley Young, Morgan Schneiderlin and Michael Carrick were rested for
Saturday's game because they had played too many matches and were “in the red zone'', according to Van Gaal, but they could return for the trip to Newcastle.
“We have to see if the other players are still overloaded or not,” Van Gaal said.