Van Gaal doubts Man United’s top-4 chances after latest loss

Sunderland have won for the first time in five games and given their hopes of avoiding relegation a huge boost by defeating Manchester United 2-1 at the Stadium of Light.

Van Gaal again refused to consider quitting as United boss after the game, but his confession that a top four finish may now be out of reach could force United officials to put the Dutchman out of his misery.

“You can only say that we are mentally very strong and that we can cope with the pressure”.

Victory over Sunderland on Saturday would move United within three points of the Champions League places as the top four are all playing the following day.

The Europa League last-32, first leg against the Danish club comes on Thursday, with Van Gaal admitting that the competition could be United’s best route back into the Champions League next season. The way with the Europa League is easier, I think, but also not so easy because there also you have a fantastic European level in that cup, so you have to fight for it. We know in advance that they could score from set plays. We need to win this game because of the big gap between the top four.

However despite United’s return to form they still sit six points off of rivals Manchester City in fourth, and van Gaal insists there is still room for improvement.

United fell behind after three minutes when Tunisian Wahbi Khazri’s speculative free kick from out side drifted into the far corner of David de Gea’s net and the Spanish keeper diverted Lamine Kone’s late header over his own line.

Sky sources understand United remain happy with their manager, who has a contract until 2017, and Van Gaal says his relationship with executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward is so strong he couldn’t imagine his employers had courted Mourinho. That goal summed up a dire performance from Louis Van Gaal’s side. We know that we didn’t win enough second balls.

“The idea of Jose Mourinho coming in as United manager seemed impossible just a few months ago”, BT Sport’s Owen told Independent.ie, ahead of the channel’s coverage of United’s appearance in the Europa League later this month.