We are fighting for our manager: Wayne Rooney

The Ukraine-born former Russian Federation global insists that Van Gaal lacks an understanding of English football and that is why he is facing the current problems at United.

Wayne Rooney says Manchester United’s players are fully behind Louis van Gaal and will fight hard to turn their season around.

With Mourinho on the market, and United looking like they have forgotten how to win – and play attractive football – Van Gaal’s position is looking more precarious than ever.

Prickly exchanges with reporters have become commonplace for Van Gaal but he was not willing to entertain question for long as his pre-match media duties were cut short on Wednesday afternoon. “You have a lot of people talking about things they believe are happening, when in reality the people writing that stuff don’t know anything that is happening”.

The Dutchman is under increasing pressure at Old Trafford following a six game winless run which has seen United crash out of the Champions League and fall nine points behind Premier League leaders Leicester.

“We haven’t won games the last few weeks and it’s normal [that] confidence will be a bit low and we need to lift it”.

In the old days, United would come back from going behind, but now they rarely even look like getting back into a game. And, crucially, the most important fixtures are our own – the trip to Stoke City on Boxing Day and the home clash with Chelsea on Monday tea-time.

Information from the Press Association was used in this report.

“I held meetings with the players with my members of staff, I hold a Christmas lunch, I did a speech and I feel the warmth and support of everybody in Carrington, at this training complex”, he added.

Van Gaal has overseen four wins in the last 15 games amid growing criticism of the team’s style of play, and his win ratio – 50.7% – is now below David Moyes’s 52.95% from his time at the club. “I’m working hard to try to improve them”. It is tough for the players to deal with.

“Four weeks ago we were first in the Premier League and in about four weeks we could be back in that position”.

James: I’ll say fourth for United, while for the title I’d better stick to my original prediction of Man City.

“There’s a responsibility to perform well at Manchester United”, Hughes said.

“I don’t know if that’s their mentality at the moment”.