Van Gaal leads United training as club deny resignation offer

Just when it seemed Louis van Gaal had steadied the ship at Manchester United, briefly silencing talk about his future, a 1-0 loss to Southampton at Old Trafford on Saturday has him firmly in the spotlight once more.

According to reports, Van Gaal told players and staff not to report to Carrington on Sunday for post-game drills – and that Monday’s training day was also postponed.

After suffering a sixth league defeat of the season, Van Gaal must also lift his players for Friday’s FA Cup fourth round trip to Derby County.

Britain’s Guardian newspaper earlier reported that the club’s executive vice-chairman, Ed Woodward, had persuaded the Dutchman to stay following the 1-0 defeat which resulted in fans booing the team and Van Gaal off the pitch.

The Red Devils – frequently derided of late for playing in a tiresome, uninspiring way – had just one shot on target in a match that was settled by Charlie Austin’s late header.

United are five points off the Champions League places and could miss out on the top four altogether should their form not pick up soon.

With 15 matches remaining in the season, pressure is mounting on Van Gaal and the Dutchman admits he is struggling to live up to standards demanded by the United faithful. “They had great expectations of me and I can not fulfil them, so I am very frustrated because of that”. We had to win this game and we could have won – but it’s not happening.

Jose Mourinho’s agent Jorge Mendes has responded to the claims that the Portuguese manager wrote a six-page letter to Manchester United regarding the manager’s job. We must get better results for you.

This coupled with the fact that Van Gaal is heading back to Netherlands after the demoralizing loss, ostensibly to be there for his daughters birthday, has lead to speculation that this could be curtains for Van Gaal’s career at Manchester United.

“You can not say it is that aspect or that aspect, because there are different aspects that play a role and we are not very lucky with our injuries”, he said.