Boss Hopes For Further Reinforcements

Manchester United have recorded four consecutive wins in all competitions but while Louis van Gaal is naturally delighted by this recent form, he will be even happier when his injured players all return to bolster his squad.

The Reds chalked up victories over Shrewsbury Town, FC Midtjylland, Arsenal and Watford in the space of just nine days with up to 13 players missing through injury during that hectic schedule.

With that in mind, it is remarkable that United’s threadbare squad has secured so many positive results and van Gaal is rightly proud of his players. During his post-match press conference at Old Trafford on Wednesday, the manager spoke positively about his team’s progress in recent weeks but remained cautious, revealing he is taking it one match at a time with senior players still absent.

“We have to go step by step, I think,” van Gaal said. “We now have four victories in a row, which is fantastic, but we have a very small selection at the moment. Players are coming back, but I still have to solve a problem in my line-up every week.

“When players are coming back, they are not fit enough. You’ve seen how [Marcos] Rojo was struggling. I give them 20 minutes and then 50 minutes and today 70 minutes and I have to do that within Premier League matches. It is better to do that in the second team, but I am forced to do that. The last four matches have been great, but we still have to go step by step.”

Wednesday's match against Watford was United's 43rd fixture this season and there are at least 13 more to come in the Barclays Premier League, Europa League and Emirates FA Cup. That number would obviously increase if the Reds progress past Liverpool and West Ham in the knock-out competitions.

Van Gaal is wary of the strain that may place on his squad, but remains optimistic of success. “You can see the statistics, and how many players are injured and from what date. You can see how difficult it has been, but still we have the possibility of finishing in the first four in the league. We’re also in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup and the last 16 of the Europa League. I think that’s not bad.

“We could still have 20 matches to go and we’ve already played 43 matches, so that’s more than 60 matches. When I was trainer-coach at Bayern Munich, we played 55 including the final of the Champions League. It’s very difficult to fulfill the expectation.”