Ferdinand Lauds Sir Alex Style

But former England centre-back Ferdinand believes the Old Trafford faithful should have seen this coming when van Gaal was appointed.

And that, Van Gaal will tell you, is the bottom line.

Leicester are first, a point ahead of United and they will be Van Gaal’s opponents at the King Power Stadium in Saturday’s late match. The defender also compared the Dutch tactician’s philosophy with that of the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson.

“However, there was certainly a lot more ambition and threat in our play than there is now with United”.

Ferdinand highlighted the achievements of the Dutchman since the start of his reign at Old Trafford and seemed to be content with the result.

“In many ways, why should there be, given where he has taken the club in 18 months?”

Louis van Gaal has come under fire from supporters this season after some fairly dire showings, but the Red Devils are still second in the Premier League table, and within reach of the Champions League knockout stages.

Germany’s Schweinsteiger and France’s Schneiderlin are essentially the poster boys for Van Gaal’s style as they have combined for one goal and zero assists in 24 appearances between them this season.

“And if there’s a point in the season when I thought, ‘Oh, gotta win this one, is it a nervous time, or are you meant to be remain chilled, or what?’ You’re looking at these lads, and they’re preparing the same every game; they’re just focused every game, every day in training”.

The ex-Manchester United man feels that the club’s current dire performances aren’t all that far removed from a man who was previously in charge at Old Trafford.

He said: “He [Van Gaal] was someone who would stabilise the situation and put the club in with a chance of winning trophies again”.

They certainly haven’t been exciting, and Ferdinand may be right in his assessment that they aren’t unsafe from an attacking perspective, but Schweinsteiger and Schneiderlin have done well to carry out their manager’s game plan.