Van Gaal's Plan Impresses Irwin

Manchester United legend Denis Irwin is looking forward to seeing Louis van Gaal put his own stamp on pre-season this year after arriving late into the fold in summer 2014 following the Netherlands’ impressive run at the World Cup.

The season may have only just finished, but it's a month before the players return to training at the start of July, and van Gaal has already had full input into Tour 2015, presented by Aon, which will see the squad play four matches in the International Champions Cup in the United States.

The team will have two main bases for the majority of the trip with the Dutchman keen to limit the amount of travelling for his players, while rest and recovery will be as high on the agenda as training and matches.

Irwin has been impressed with the Dutchman's attention to detail throughout his first season and says his full involvement in pre-season planning will only benefit the squad.

“Last year he came in late because of how well the Dutch team did at the World Cup so it wasn’t his tour in terms of preparation,” Irwin told ManUtd.com. "This time he’s been able to organise it himself, organise the distances we travel, where we stay, where we train and also organise having the matches four days apart."

“His preparation is unique because of the amount of detail there is to it. He’ll be looking forward to it and the way the games are with Barcelona and PSG as the final two means it’ll get tougher as the tour goes on, but the players’ fitness will also improve so the set-up will be exactly how the manager wants it.

“I’ve been impressed by his organisation and preparation for games throughout his first season – I’ve been impressed by a lot of things really and we’ve progressively got better. During the first couple of months of the season the results and performances weren’t anything to write home about but in the final part of the campaign we’ve had some good results, bar some of the recent ones against Chelsea and Everton for example.

“Our home form has been excellent,” he added. “The away form probably needs to be improved for next season but I certainly think we are on the right track and we’ve got the right manager to carry us forward and challenge next season. This summer will be his first real opportunity in the off-season to get his own players in and I’m sure he’s working hard on that now.”