We could have an hours long debate discussing what went wrong for the few top notch English premier league sides who failed in the current season and one of them is, of course, Manchester United who, despite spending money like nothing in signing players, manager, could not make any impression in the English topflight. Although, they are at number five on the board and hoping to have at least a Champions League qualification by the end, but if we look at their gameplay in last few games, they seemed to be more attacking against high profile sides rather bottom third clubs which is strange to many since most of the sides often deliver brilliantly when they are up to low profile sides, but Van Gaal is behaving different in this sense. The 64-year-old Dutchman blames it to the opponents ‘parking the bus’ approach where they try not to lose the game rather attempting to win it hence United is not having a good record against small sides. However, talking about the showdown against top notch sides, Van gaal applauded his side performance during games with teams like Manchester City and Arsenal.
Explicitly talking about the issue and what is going wrong for the Red Devils that they are playing good only against big sides, former Real Madrid boss said, “I think that that is a very intelligent question because I have said a lot of times that we need more creative players, more fast players and more quick-thinking players, because the lower teams are mostly parking the bus, as the Englishmen say. That makes things more difficult, as the top teams want to play against us, which means that we can play, which makes a big difference.”
Adding about their chances to finish among top four and if upcoming Sunday’s faceoff with Tottenham can make them a confident qualifier for next UEFA tourney, he said, “We still have to close a gap of one point, so we must win. It is very difficult because the pressure is also for Tottenham Hotspur now because they have to close the gap on Leicester City. He has made a team of this squad, a team that presses high with a good positional game and they score a lot of goals.
“They also have a lot of clean sheets though, which show they are a well-organised and structured team. I think you can give credit to Mauricio Pochettino.”