Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal will have had a baptism of fire in his introduction to the British media. In reality it may not be much more fierce than in other countries. But, famously, Luis Felipe Scolari accepted and then did a U-turn on the England job when he discovered just how chicken oriental the media could be.
Having managed in so many top football countries you would imagine that it’s water off a duck’s back to Louis now. But he certainly won’t be any more enamoured by the British press after the latest decanting of his quotes.
One tabloid lead with the headline
Louis van Gaal: Why I might have to DROP Wayne Rooney
Louis van Gaal admits Man Utd captain Wayne Rooney could be DROPPED
But that’s not how we read it at all. What the Manchester United manager actually said was:
“It’s dependable on how the balance in the team is. I need balance in the team. I’m looking for the balance,” Van Gaal told MUTV.
“I hope to perform better because then the game shall be more attractive. I don’t know if I shall use him always because it’s also dependable of the form of the strikers.
“He’s also a very good striker so I can use him on different positions and I like that because I like multi-functional players. I normally buy more multi-functional players than specialists.”
It’s the I don’t know if I shall use him always part which has been picked up on. But we feel that what he meant was that he doesn’t know HOW he will use Rooney ‘because it’s also dependable of the form of the strikers’.
What LvG means is that he may use Rooney in attack as well as in his current midfield role. Unless Rooney is knackered then the boss will pick him as he has already said in a very clear way earlier in the season.
So all this nonsense about dropping Rooney is plain and simple sensationalism. He’s still the main man at Manchester United.
We hope that we have cleared that one up for you.
