Pickens looks to rack second midget win
would be replaced by Jose Mourinho.
He also talked about rallying the players at a Christmas lunch, but yesterday he had nowhere to go after another inept performance.
Asked if he would be in charge against Chelsea, he said: “We will have to wait and see but I think so.”
The decision may be taken out of his hands in the next 24 hours, with midfielder Michael Carrick admitting: “It is a horrible run, a horrible feeling. It hurts a lot. We aren’t playing well enough as a team. It is Manchester United we are playing for and it is a privilege.”
Van Gaal said the pressure was getting to his players.
“We didn’t dare to play football,” he said. “I’ve tried to do everything but the pressure shall be every match higher and higher and we have to solve that problem.” Auckland speedway hero Michael Pickens will start tonight’s World 30-lap derby as favourite, having reeled in American Bryan Clauson on Boxing Night’s opening round of the United Truck Parts International Midget Series at WXC Speedway — Western Springs.
Former six-time national midget champion Pickens is now mainly a sprintcar driver in New Zealand but he clearly hasn’t lost his touch in the midget division, making it a two-man race before taking advantage of a misfiring Clauson to claim victory.
“It is pretty special. Clauson dropped a cylinder with about 10 laps to go but that’s the way the cookie crumbles and we’ll take what we can get,” said Pickens.
“For much of the race, we were sort of running at 80 per cent not making any mistakes. I felt if I pushed a bit harder, I may have made a mistake and lost some distance on Clauson.
“I felt like I was catching him little by little each lap. Then when he dropped a cylinder, he seemed to just come straight back to me.”
Clauson held on for second place ahead of national champion Brad Mosen in third.
Tonight’s meeting also features the 63rd running of the New Zealand TQ Midget Championship, as drivers from around the country converge on Western Springs to fight for the right to wear the coveted #1NZ badge in 2016.
Three-quarter midget veteran Lawrence Baker will line-up as Auckland’s in-form contender having taken the win on Saturday night over Ricky Brett and Jeremy Webb.
“Anything can happen on a championship night but it’s great to have got the win on Saturday to give me some good momentum leading into the big one,” said the 54-year-old.
If not Lawrence, either of his two sons Ryan or Scott may grab tonight’s TQ glory, with the TAB starting them both at $10 each to win, while Lawrence is set at $12. The shared race favourites, according to the bookies, are Napier cousins Duane and Craig Todd, each offering $7 for victory.
Also in action tonight are sprintcars, F2 midgets and Kiwi Kidz. Gates open at 4pm with the first race starting at 6.15pm. For more information, including ticketing, visit www.springsspeedway.com.
It is not always the club that has to sack me. Sometimes
I do it by myself. Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal