Start quick and Bournemouth stand a good chance against Man United

To that, he can only say, “At a club like Manchester United, they are very high”.

United lost 2-3 in Wolfsburg to finish third in their group and fail to progress from the initial stage of the competition for only the second time in the last decade.

Marouane Fellaini equalised in the 24th minute, but King exploited inattentive defending at a corner to tuck away what proved to be the decisive goal.

But Bournemouth sealed the win through Joshua King’s strike from a well-worked corner which lifts the Cherries to 14th in the table, three points above the relegation zone.

United have now slumped to five matches without a win, but under-fire Van Gaal still maintains he can reverse the Old Trafford fortunes, which also saw them go out of the Champions League in midweek.

“Of course I’m concerned because we have lost two matches in a row, and that is not a usual thing, so we have to stick together and prepare our match against Norwich. We have to win three matches in a row, for example, to be still there after Christmas”.

Junior Stanislas opened the scoring by curling home direct from a corner at Dean Court.

Yet as the pressure continued to be cranked up on Van Gaal, already beleaguered over the supporters’ dissatisfaction with United’s perceived sterile playing style, he again shrugged off the growing discontent, saying he was used to it.

“I thought the first half we played well, we have created chances and scored a goal”.

“But then again a set play and there you are behind in the score and it is very hard to have a revival and I think the players have done everything”.

“When you say that I am hired to make the difference, you are right”. When you see the facts, we were further in the Capital One Cup, we qualified for the Champions League group; we have played all these matches and are still in a very good position in the league.

“Still they scored and also against Wolfsburg that was the reason we lost so it is a very strong lesson for us”.

The Cherries won 2-1 at the Vitality Stadium – and deserved to claim the spoils – but, afterwards, Van Gaal said he was proud of how his injury-ravaged team performed just days after being eliminated from the Champions League.

The former Everton player feels Saturday evening is a great opportunity for the club to close the gap at the top and, as such, help to re-build the confidence in the squad after the mid-week heartbreak in Germany.

Manchester United turned heads with their starting line up by bringing in young Cameron Borthwick-Jackson for his Premier League debut to complete a defence which also included Paddy McNair and Guillermo Varela.

Crystal Palace beat Southampton 1-0 thanks to France midfielder Yohan Cabaye’s first-half goal, while West Ham and Stoke drew 0-0. “I don’t think it is because of that [injuries] we lost”.