Inherited a "broken squad" at Manchester United, says Louis van Gaal

Zee Media Bureau/Dattaraj Thaly

New Delhi: New Manchester United manager has said he inherited a “broken squad” from his predecessor David Moyes at Manchester United. During the club`s pre-season US tour, the Dutchman has been often critical of the balance of his squad. On being asked if taking over from Sir Alex Ferguson would have been more tougher than the former Everton manager, the Guardian quoted him saying: “No. I don’t agree. I had to follow Bobby Robson at Barcelona the year after he won three titles and there wasn’t a problem. When there is success you have a very good squad and now I have to follow and the squad was broken I think When you look at the squad, there is quality. There is Rooney, van Persie, Hernández, Welbeck but you also see Juan Mata, Fellaini and you see Herrera. There are a lot of players that can play in the same position. It is not in balance. It’s more difficult to succeed in a difficult situation than in a fantastic situation.” This is becoming a bit of a pattern with the new manager as he has repeatedly been critical of his team since taking over. First instance of Van Gaal`s criticism was directed at the schedule of club`s US tour. He said the rigorous fixture list disturbs the preparation of his team for the Premier League season. He also went on to say the team needed to adapt to his methods of preparation. Van Gaal fired a second salvo when he said his team does not have the right balance that was required to adapt to his preferred formation. He also pin-pointed to the fact United have three or four number 10 players that led to too many options in the free-role and lack of depth in other positions. And most recently, the the 62-year-old came down heavily on this play-makers after United beat AS Roma 3-2 in a pre-season match in Denver He said: "I am pleased that we have won but it was not a good performance. 54,000 people came to watch us but we can perform much better. All my good passers failed today. I think it was because of the height and the air. Mata, Herrera and Kagawa - these are the best passers and everything went wrong. In the second half we forgot to keep the ball. When you are 3-0 ahead, the only thing you have to do is keep the ball in possession and the opponent has to run and run and run. We forgot to do that. We brought Roma back into the match." It is widely known that Van Gaal has a firm yet authoritarian personality. There are already signs that unlike David Moyes, the Dutchman will impose his philosophy on the club, especially in terms of the brand of football that United play. The initial interactions of Van Gaal with the British media have asserted that fact.