Van Gaal frustrated by defeat

Wayne Rooney could return for Norwich City’s visit to Old Trafford today, having missed three matches due to a foot problem.

Van Gaal, under whom Mourinho worked at Barcelona, hailed the Portuguese’s record as a coach and says he did not expect to see him leave, despite Chelsea’s dismal first half of the season. “It’s like that, managers know in advance, it’s this world”.

However, Van Gaal insists that morale remains high in his squad and dismissed claims that he is under more pressure now than he’s ever experienced in his managerial career.

“But I said last week is that the main thing is results and the second thing is the chemistry between the players and the manager and his staff. I can not judge what was happening there but was very surprised”.

Louis van Gaal’s Manchester United are without a win in five games.

The injury list is slowly, but surely growing shorter for Van Gaal as Chris Smalling and Ander Herrera are edging closer, but it could prove too soon for Jesse Lingard and Matteo Darmian who picked up injuries against Bournemouth and Wolfsburg respectively.

Norwich City players celebrate Cameron Jerome’s opener in a famous 2-1 Premier League win at Manchester United.

Van Gaal is conscious that, while he retains the backing of the club’s executives, all managers live or die by results. “I think so because we are playing like we have played this year – nevertheless he has scored the most goals. We have to win against Norwich and we know that”.

“If I lose the confidence of the fans, that for me would be very sad”, Van Gaal admitted.

“What I learned there did me nothing but good as a player but I knew I needed to go and play somewhere else if I wanted to play regularly and in the end going to Hull was the right move for me”.

United didn’t score until more than an hour into the game with its first shot on target, and couldn’t prevent falling to Norwich at Old Trafford for the first time since August 30, 1989, three years before the English Premier League began.

Asked about that disgruntlement and whether he felt the supporters were still with him, Van Gaal said: “It’s always like that when you lose”.

The return of captain Wayne Rooney, following a three-match absence with an ankle injury, will increase their attacking options with Van Gaal hoping the England striker is back to his best.