Louis van Gaal praises ''beautiful'' Man United performance as he promises to stick with new 3-5-2 formation

 

Louis van Gaal last night insisted he will stick with the 3-5-2 system that brought him a "fantastic" 7-0 win in his first game in charge of Manchester United.

The Dutchman led his side to a comfortable victory over the MLS outfit, with Wayne Rooney, Ashley Young and Reece James all bagging braces.



And the former Netherlands boss believes his charges got off to the best possible start in their new shape:

“The result always matters," revealed the 62-year-old. "With such a result you get confidence and confidence in a new system.
“We introduced a new system and played just two times on the training pitch eleven v eleven. It is no so much, but the boys are willing to pick up the information.
“It is fantastic how they have performed today."



With a glut of internationals in his squad, Van Gaal and his coaching staff have been forced to work without their full compliment of players so far in pre-season. Nevertheless, the new United coach remained happy - if not a little surprised - with his side after such a comfortable win.

“Last week, ten players who played tonight were not even in our training complex.
“But when you see us train, you can expect something but not 7-0. It was a surprise, but they were also beautiful goals.
“It was not just the goals, but the beautiful attacks."



New signings Luke Shaw and Ander Herrera both started in the Dutchman's new-look 3-5-2 shape, with the latter particularly impressing, and Van Gaal insists he had no time to waste in switching formations - even if the unbalanced squad he inherited makes things tricky.



“When you want to change a system, you must start at once. We don’t have time to prepare for other things.
“The other system they can play is 4-3-3 and they have played it for many years.
“I can change back if the system doesn’t work. With the quality of the players we have,  I can play 4-3-3 with three strikers on the bench, bit I want to play with two strikers.
“We have four number tens, so the selection is not balanced in my eyes. I have decided to play this system because of the quality of the players.
"But if we lose, I can change back to another system.”