Van Gaal reflects on ‘very good 2015’ if you ‘forget December’

Louis van Gaal: Not a happy man

Louis van Gaal: KNows he needs a good finish to the season

Louis van Gaal insists he will look back on 2015 as a “very good year” – as long as you “don’t assess” Manchester United’s struggles in December.

The United manager is under increasing pressure following their worst run of form in 26 years, with the club winless in eight and in their lowest position since the 1989-90 season.

However, Van Gaal feels United, aside from their troubles in December, can reflect on a fairly satisfactory 2015, with the club setting out to achieve the targets he set them at this time last year.

“We have fulfilled the wish (to reach the Champions League) and our aim in the first season,” he told a press conference on New Year’s Eve to talk about Saturday’s clash with Swansea.

“After that we have managed to give balance to the team and that resulted in October and November in us being first in the Premier League.

“Then we are out of the Champions League and that gives us a big blow, and we are still in that period, so when you don’t assess December, it was a very good year.”

Van Gaal accepts he’s a man under pressure at the moment, and added: “We need to win because at the end of the season I want to be top, not middle.

“When you win what you say as a manager is more accepted.”

United can claim their first win in nine when they play Swansea on Saturday and Van Gaal insists he won’t prepare for the game any differently: “It’s always the same. You make a game plan to beat your opponent. We have lost three times to Swansea but then you have to analyse why you have lost.

“It’s always like that. And then you continue with the same vicious circle of working. It’s not any magic. It’s looking to what has happened and what you can improve as a team but also as an individual player.”