United can topple Chelsea and City, says Van Gaal
LOUIS VAN GAAL has revealed his New Year’s resolution is to make Manchester United the top team in the country by the end of 2015 but acknowledges their away form must improve for that to happen.
United are at League One side Yeovil today risking an FA Cup giantkilling and while the club are on a 10-match unbeaten run, they have drawn the last three games at Aston Villa, Southampton and Stoke.
Van Gaal, who saw his side dumped out of the Capital One Cup 4-0 at MK Dons, is taking no chances with the trip to Huish Park and has had Gary Johnson’s underdogs scouted three times. But ambitions for his first full calendar year at Old Trafford are far grander.
Having spent £150million on star names including Angel di Maria, Daley Blind, Radamel Falcao and Marcos Rojo, and after six months of imposing his philosophy on the squad, Van Gaal says overtaking Chelsea and Manchester City has
1 to be the target. ‘2014 was very exciting for me and my players,’ he said. ‘I hope, for the fans, we are No 1 in the league at the end of this year.’
‘You always want that perfect game, so we need to improve the process and our displays. You saw at Stoke we did not play the perfect game, we started very badly and lost two points away. We have to improve that because otherwise you cannot be champions.’
Van Gaal promises there will be no cup capitulation this time — even if he shuffles his pack after four matches in 10 days.
‘My players always fight to the end. We showed against Stoke we had the team spirit to fight back and try and get a victory despite a very horrible start,’ he said. ‘It is more difficult to prepare for Yeovil than a Premier League team. We have analysed them because we know it won’t be easy. You win or you are dead.’
United haven’t won the FA Cup for 11 years and Darren Fletcher is the only survivor of the 2004 team that beat Millwall in the final.