Roy Keane criticises Manchester United’s ‘lack of character’

Van Gaal’s critics again railed against the Dutchman in the wake of the defeat.

All three of the remaining English teams can meet each other in the latter stages of the Europa League.

But Van Gaal launched an impassioned defence of his management at his weekly press conference.

Is this the Manchester United starting XI to face Bournemouth on Saturday?

The United manager said: ‘I don’t have any doubts. Van Gaal will be concerned given the number of similar stories that have emerged recently, and only convincing wins in the Premier League over the coming weeks will be able to put an end to them.

Speaking at a news conference in Belgrade, Schmeichel defended Van Gaal’s style, which has been criticised by many fans and pundits as boring.

“Man United have a lot of good players, there’s no getting away from that, I just don’t think they’re good enough for Man United, I really don’t”, Keane told ITV.

Van Gaal now has nine players in the treatment room, but he can not use that as an excuse for flopping in Europe. But can it help the confidence of a player who is seeking to re-establish himself in a more taxing domestic league to hear those words? I think you can see that there were a lot of positive things but when you don’t want to see them, that’s not my problem.

The 30-year-old hopes their exit – and subsequent transfer to the Europa League – will not have a negative effect on their form, with United already on a four-game winless run in all competitions.

“At the moment, I can not defend myself because we are out of the Champions League”, said van Gaal, who has 18 months left on his contract.

United was booted out of this year’s Champions League by Bundesliga’s Vfl Wolfsburg on Tuesday, dropping a 2-3 decision to Dieter Hecking’s side at the Volkswagen Arena.

Indeed, in the 10 games prior to the Wolfsburg defeat, United had played out seven draws-five of which were goalless.

Six of the players are defenders with Chris Smalling and Matteo Darmian joining Phil Jones, Marcos Rojo, Luke Shaw and Antonio Valencia on the side lines for the first-ever League meeting with the Cherries.

Anthony Martial will continue up front in the absence of Rooney, and on the flanks Memphis Depay is expected to start after returning to Van Gaal’s XI against Wolfsburg, with Jesse Lingard the favourite to line up on the right.

He added: “We have to work hard to win that”.