Louis van Gaal convinced he can win trophies with Manchester United

Manager Louis van Gaal says he can not defend himself after coming in for fresh criticism following Manchester United’s early Champions League exit.

Right now, he’s on a downward turn.

And even if the Glazer family, United’s owners, and the club’s board remain firm in their view Van Gaal is still the right man, the club’s considerable fan base is growing increasingly restless.

The FA has banned Manchester United midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger for three matches following his clash with Winston Reid.

However, not getting three points against Bournemouth would see the frustrations intensify and every passing game without a win now will do precisely the same thing.

The Spaniard has three assists to his name, giving him a direct involvement in more than a third of Manchester United’s top-flight goals.

But it was nothing like the heat Louis van Gaal is facing after their failure to navigate a Champions League group considered to be one of the “easiest”.

United clawed their way back thanks to Josuha Guilavogui’s late own goal but Naldo struck again to seal the win, while Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven beat CSKA Moscow 2-1 in the other group fixture to advance at the Premier League side’s expense.

“Just? You think it’s ‘just?’ I’m not thinking like that”, he said sharply. “If you’re out of a competition, you’re going to get critics”.

“At the moment we are in the top four, we are there”. That is because Van Gaal could be without six defenders for the trip to the south coast after Chris Smalling picked up a groin injury and Matteo Darmian a hamstring problem in Germany.

“I have already won the Europa League with Ajax in my first season, and I was very proud of that”.

They join long-term casualties Luke Shaw, who is recovering from a broken leg, and Antonio Valencia, who has an ankle injury, while Marcos Rojo and Phil Jones are also unavailable.

Despite spending £250m in his 18 months in charge, many of Van Gaal’s signings have yet to pay off and the squad lacks real world-class quality.