Van Gaal Wants Dominance Away From Home

Louis van Gaal has challenged his players to dominate away games and improve the Reds' record on the road, starting with a trip to Stoke on New Year's Day.

The Reds travel to the Britannia Stadium unbeaten since early November, but also on the back of consecutive away draws at Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur. United have taken 25 points from a possible 30 at home in the league, compared to 11 points from 27 available on the road.

That is a statistic the Dutchman is keen to improve, so with the visit to the Potteries kicking off 2015 it's as good a place as any to start. And after van Gaal led the Reds to victory over Mark Hughes' men at Old Trafford earlier this month, this will be a comparative test of away form.

"I remember that match [against Stoke], as we were very weak at the end of the game," he told reporters on Tuesday. "You might remember me saying after that game that I needed to change the balance of my team. The balance of my team at that point was not as good as it is now.

"I'm saying every week that we are improving and we have to show that against Stoke. We have won every home game apart from Swansea in the first match of the season and Chelsea [1-1]; away from home, [we have only won at] Arsenal and Southampton. As I've said, against Southampton, we were lucky.

"We have to dominate games away from home. I have been told by Ryan Giggs that Stoke City's pitch is a very difficult one to play on. We have to show that we can dominate, in spite of the fact that it’s difficult in Stoke."