Boss Has Confidence In His Players

Louis van Gaal has expressed his confidence in his players to ensure Manchester United remain among the leading sides in the Barclays Premier League.

The Reds approach the weekend in fourth place in the table ahead of Monday night's encounter against West Brom and the boss is awaiting confirmation that his footballing philosophy has become immersed within his staff as his training methods reap dividends. The Dutchman feels things are moving in a positive direction after the win against Everton and is anticipating more improvement from his side.

"We will have to wait and see but I think they [the players] do understand the philosophy," he stated. "But they have to perform it. We have to see if it works at a higher level. We need more balance. I am looking for more balance in the team, not just spectactular, attacking football.

"When you lose the ball, you must have a shape as a team and then you can defend more easily. You can kill the game better. That is also a part of the philosophy but that is also because I am choosing more creative, attacking football players. We are looking for that balance and, okay, we shall see if the time I have had is long enough.

"Normally, I am always moving in the right direction," he insisted. "That I have shown already. How do I respond, though? No, I am not moving in the right diection? I have confidence in my players and I think that is very important. But it is much more important that the players have confidence in the manager and his staff. Of course, we could have done better because I don't think that we are in balance now. I am sorry to say that, but it is the truth. You can say you are not fit enough. It is another question but we are moving forward in training sessions, evaluation sessions and in the images [video analysis]. I hope that we shall improve."