Half an hour into the game, everyone decides Van Gaal is sacked

United have slipped to sixth in the Premier League after three consecutive defeats – the second such sequence under Van Gaal – and were knocked out of the Champions League after a 3-2 loss at Wolfsburg earlier this month.

Van Gaal admits that the board have always backed him during his time at Old Trafford, but admits he could encounter a different hierarchy after today’s defeat at the Britannia Stadium.

Asked if was the man to motivate the player’s, Van Gaal said: “That is now the big issue, I have tried to do everything but the pressure shall be higher and higher with every match”.

“I am the one who wants to speak first with the board, the members of my staff and my players and not with the media”.

“That is what I have analysed”, said Van Gaal, whose side’s next game is at home to Chelsea on Monday.

It’s been a miserable season for Manchester United’s under-performing players who were defeated by Stoke City on Saturday.

“First half I thought we were excellent, always looked a threat and whenever we regained possession we were on the front foot looking to be positive, getting in behind their back four and causing them untold problems”.

In another worrying admission, Van Gaal attributed United’s first-half lethargy to an inability to play football.

Leicester topped the Christmas standings, a year after being rooted to the bottom, but they were not at their best against a Liverpool side who had gone four matches without a win.

The biggest indictment of the malaise afflicting England’s biggest club was Van Gaal’s belief his expensive team “did not dare to play football in the first half”.

Wayne Rooney has shown sympathy for his manager and said United’s players were working hard to ease the pressure on van Gaal.

“Originally when Sir Alex Ferguson retired I thought [Mourinho] would have been the best choice to go for then”, Bosnich continued.

“The club doesn’t have to fire or sack me – sometimes I do it by myself”, he told reporters.

His position will be under further scrutiny if he oversees another defeat against the Potters, with fans already beginning to turn against the Dutchman.

“It’s a frightful run, a awful feeling, it hurts a lot”.

As a result of the continued struggles of van Gaal and company, we chose to look at five possible replacements for the Dutch tactician at Manchester United.