Van Gaal: Success Not Guaranteed

Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal has told the club's supporters they must lower their expectations, telling them they have no guarantee of automatic success.

Wednesday's defeat at Wolfsburg saw three-time winners United eliminated from the Champions League and brought heavy criticism from many fans and some former players, including Roy Keane.

United are three points off top spot in the Premier League ahead of the weekend's action and travel to face Bournemouth in the Saturday Night Football, but Van Gaal has admitted that his team are struggling to match the achievements of Sir Alex Ferguson's trophy-laden 27-year reign.

Van Gaal was criticised heavily for failing to lead Barcelona out of the group stages 18 years ago, and he responded by winning the Spanish league.

To achieve the same feat in England with United will be harder according to the Dutchman, who thinks the gap is closing between the clubs at the top and bottom of the Premier League and across Europe.

He said: "In 1997 I was out of the group stages with Barcelona. They are also a big club, there was also a lot of criticism in the media. But then we won the title. That was minor criticism at that time.

"The problem is that we have to meet the expectations - and the expectations at a club like Manchester United are very high, and that's our problem.

"You have to analyse the club as it is now. You cannot compare it with 10 years ago, because there is an evolution in football and in European football.

"Now we have many more clubs who have the money, who also have the structure to - and are able to - win something.

"It's the same in the Premier League. Next year, all the clubs in the Premier League will have a bigger budget than most of the clubs in Europe. That makes a big difference.

"Every club can also buy a player. The difference to buy players now is not so big.

"The confirmation of that is evident every week. The bottom clubs can beat the top teams. There is no other league in which that happens as often as it does in the Premier League.

"So it's very difficult for a Premier League club to match with the other clubs in the Champions League."

Credit: Skysports.com