I could quit, says embattled Van Gaal

Manchester United went down to yet another defeat yesterday when they lost 2-0 at Stoke City, a result which piled further pressure on Van Gaal.

Stoke’s Marko Arnautovic, right, turns to celebrate after scoring Stoke’s second goal against Manchester United, during the English Premier League soccer match between Stoke City and Manchester United at the Britannia Stadium, Stoke on Trent, England, Saturday, Dec. 26, 2015.

Before the game Van Gaal accused the media of making up stories of his sack and reacted by walking out of his press conference.

“You can say we can quickly get over this defeat by playing against Chelsea but in the time in between, you have to recover because the players have given everything”, Van Gaal told MUTV. “I try to do everything, but the pressure shall be higher and higher every match, and we have to solve that problem”. “I have to deal with that but more important is the players have to deal with it”.

Rooney came on at the break for Memphis Depay, whose error led to Stoke’s first goal.

Sacked Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho and Bayern Munich coach Pep Guardiola, who is leaving his job in the summer, have been mooted as potential successors to Van Gaal.

They continued to look the more threatening going forward, with David de Gea making crucial saves to prevent both Arnautovic and Bojan getting on the scoresheet again.

He will replace Louis Van Gaal should the Manchester United board dismiss the Dutch tactician or he (Van Gaal) leaves at the end of his contract with the club (Manchester United). I have said they have to stick by the facts.

When Van Gaal spoke to the BBC, he was asked about Rooney spending the first 45 minutes on the bench and the continuing speculation about his future.

“And in the second half, in half time, I have said that to my players, we had nothing to lose and then you can cope better with that and that you have seen in the second half that it was not good enough”, he added. He left his captain out as well and that is a big statement.

Rooney, 30, has scored just two Premier League goals all season and hasn’t found the net for United since heading the victor in the Champions League win over CSKA Moscow on 3 November.