Despite what you might think of the international break, Louis van Gaal gave out mixed feelings on the subject during his pre-match press conference ahead of the upcoming meeting with Aston Villa.
Inevitably, he shared the opinion that this pause in play ‘was not at the right moment’ for his side, but the boss soon put to bed any concerns over a hungover United squad returning to Old Trafford. By reiterating that he has continued to work with those who held the fortress – while their team mates went to don their countries’ colours and even got ‘a very good training session’ out of it – we can rest assured that we will be faced with a Reds side raring to go.
Speaking of an enhanced self-belief, the manager preceded with: “Every match that a player plays can give them confidence. We trained yesterday not with the total group because they need recovery”.
However, we were hit with van Gaal’s harsh reality that “every team in England can beat you”. But one man that can turn the fortunes in our favour is perhaps the lesser expected Marouane Fellaini. From lacklustre to linchpin, the midfielder’s transformation under his current boss was played down; rather the former Netherlands head coach emphasised it was down to the man himself.
He is rather keen on monitoring players’ progress in less formal situations, divulging “From the first training session, he did what I asked. He was open and he performed”. A factor beyond the 27-year-old’s control was perhaps, how frequently he came on “injured and ill”.
It will be down to personal preference on whether you think Fellaini should reclaim the jersey and start in the heart of United’s line-up but if, following his time with Belgium, our number 31 looks fresh, he could be in with strong contention.
In van Gaal’s words, “When he was fit, he always played for me, more or less. That’s also because I was looking for a balance in the team and he can give us a lot of balance. Of course, I can change him also – it depends on the quality of the opponent.”
Marouane Fellaini is expected to start against Aston Villa at Old Trafford on Saturday afternoon.
