Wayne Rooney prefers Louis van Gaal to stay at Manchester United

Manchester United’s meeting with Stoke City on Saturday is a must-win game according to Louis van Gaal, as questions linger over his future at Old Trafford.

Louis van Gaal is under an enormous amount of pressure after winning just three of his last 13 matches, a run that saw the club crash out of the Champions League.

Van Gaal walked out of his weekly press conference on Wednesday after accusing the media of trying to undermine him in his position as United manager.

“We’re working hard and fighting for the manger to try to get results and turn the season around”.

“Obviously everyone is disappointed with the last few games but I’ve always said the team spirit we have is fantastic”.

“We’re all working together and come up with the best solution to try and to help us win football matches”.

But the best way for Van Gaal to silence the rumors is by winning matches and Stoke will provide stern opponents for United, having already beaten Chelsea and Manchester City at home this season.

Information from the Press Association was used in this report.

And yesterday in a media briefing ahead of the Boxing Day clash at Stoke, Van Gaal hit out at what he clearly believes is unfair treatment stating he had only turned up to talk to journalists because of Premier League rules. “He’s the captain here and if he doesn’t play it’s an important player we don’t have in our squad”.

He added: “It’s not nice when you’re getting criticised every week, every game”.

“It’s tough for the players to deal with”. We get hurt because we’re proud people and proud to play for Manchester United. “We need to prepare well, concentrate throughout and give our fans the kind of performance they deserve”.

“We all have families and sometimes there’s a lot of stuff that gets written that’s not nice for our families, for your family to see”.

United are without a victory in four Barclays Premier League matches and face another tough test at the Britannia Stadium against Mark Hughes’s men, who will be looking to close the gap between the sides to three points.

“You have to stick by the facts and when I get calls off Alex Ferguson and David Gill and Ed Woodward because you are creating something that is not good, “.