Boss Confident Ahead Of Opener

Louis van Gaal believes Manchester United are approaching the season opener against Swansea City with great confidence.

The Reds rounded off a superb pre-season campaign with a 2-1 victory over Valencia in the manager's first game in charge at Old Trafford. However, the Dutchman was not satisfied with the performance, even if he accepts the success, acquired with Marouane Fellaini's injury-time effort, is a good start to life in England.

"I enjoyed it," he said of his welcome from the fans. "Coming onto the pitch, the fans are shouting and screaming your name. It's also a big pressure.

"They expect a lot and you can't change everything in three or four weeks. And the players can't change either. We have to wait and see and develop. We need time but we have won every game up until now and that's fantastic when you see our opponents. We have great confidence to play against Swansea City."

"I think it was our worst match to date," he informed MUTV in an exclusive post-match interview. "The boys wanted to show the capacity we showed in the United States perhaps a bit too much. There were a lot of wrong passes, wrong choices and we didn't press so well.

"But, in spite of that, I think Valencia are a very good team, very comfortable on the ball, so it's not so easy to press. In spite of that, we have dominated the game - only for 15 minutes in the second half we weren't dominating. In the end, we were the winners because we were fighting until the last minute. That's a good signal, I believe."

The boss was pleased with the impact of goal hero Fellaini and Adnan Januzaj but feels there is room for improvement all round.

"At this moment, we are fitter than our opponent," he declared. "You could see that. But it was also the changes. Fellaini and Januzaj have only been with us training for one week. They can't play any more minutes than they did tonight.

"I had a lot of young players. They did reasonably well but they could do better, I believe. But it's a start. It's not easy to play at Old Trafford for the first time so I'm pleased we've won the game against a very good team. Of course, I think we have to make better choices with our passing - we didn't do that and that's a pity.

"We have a lot of injuries now. Don't forget, Jonny Evans was injured, Luke Shaw was injured, Antonio Valencia was injured. These are three defenders. We have to wait to see if they can play on Saturday. The main thing is that we have won, despite playing our worst game."