Van Gaal close to leaving Manchester United – Charlie Wyett

Louis Van Gaal has hinted that he could quit Manchester United before the board sacks him.

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.

Considering they’ve gone seven matches now without a victory, questions around van Gaal’s position with the club only continue to intensify.

“But to I think to say we are not trying for certain people is quite disrespectful and it hurts us a lot”. “But in the end my players have to do that by themselves”.

Monday night will be highly essential for Gaal and his troops as the players need to step up against Chelsea which can save their manager from facing the cull.

Goals from Stoke forwards Bojan Krkic and Marko Arnautovic punished United for a terrible start at a blustery Britannia Stadium and although the visitors improved in the second half they could not fix the damage.

Van Gaal, who dropped captain Wayne Rooney to the bench, had described the fixture as “must-win”, having stormed out of his pre-match media conference due to the speculation about his future.

In a subsequent interview with MUTV, he acknowledged that the trip to Stoke was a “must-win game”. But Van Gaal knows the champions will provide tough opposition.

“The scrutiny is all right for me, I am used to that”, the United manager said.

“A month ago we were first in the Premier League but we lost important games and now we have to come back in more hard situations than last year because last year everyone believed and there was progression, now there is a fallback and that is different and everybody is judging also different, ” he said. “But I think so”. “He was unlucky in that moment when he went to shoot”.

Cuco Martina’s half-volley put Southampton in front and Shane Long scored twice either side of Jose Fonte’s header as the hosts rose to 12th place.

Arsenal stayed two points behind Leicester, which lost 1-0 at Liverpool after conceding from Christian Benteke.

“Stoke City have won against Manchester City, for example, and it’s a special ground”.

“Football can change quickly”, Carrick explained.

Guus Hiddink’s first game in charge ended in a 2-2 draw against Watford and the Chelsea interim boss wants his team to be ambitious when they face United.