Louis van Gaal says he and his Manchester United players “dream of victory” over Manchester City in Sunday’s 169th derby, with the Dutch manager adding that victory can help the club exceed the pre-season goal of fourth position.
United are currently third on 62 points, a place and a point better than City going into the match at Old Trafford. Van Gaal, who admitted Robin van Persie and Luke Shaw are not yet match fit, was asked how much he wants to beat City to please fans. “Of course I dream of it, that is not the problem,” he said. “Every player dreams of victory. I have to think with my staff and my players, already a lot of days, how we have to beat Manchester City.
“You go through that process to win against your next opponent,” Van Gaal added. “Of course you want to win. It is a big step in the table also. When you win, third place is reachable and a month ago nobody was thinking about that, besides me of course. That is good because then you are certainly in the Champions League and then we do it better than the goal we had in the pre-season.”
United have won their past five league games while City have lost three of their previous five. Does this momentum give Van Gaal confidence for Sunday’s encounter? “I am always confident, because I always believe in my team in our game-plan,” the Dutchman said. “There are not many differences [between the sides] because I know that also a match between teams of the same city is always very special. In spite that Man City lost several games in the last few [matches] I don’t think that shall have a big influence.
“It is a special game and we have to show it and they do also. That is also when you have lost. We have lost against Arsenal in the FA Cup, it was also very disappointing for us, but nevertheless we continued our form in the Premier League.”
United have lost the previous four derbies although Van Gaal was in charge for only the most recent of those defeats. “It is not my story,” he said. “What can I say? We have lost 1-0 [in November] that is my history, the last game. We had already a red card in the 40th minute [Chris Smalling]. It was a special game. I say always in such games, always, you have to control your aggression. We did not do that at that time. So I hope we have learned from that moment.”
Van Gaal added that he could countenance losing twice to City as this would not represent the “failure” of being beaten home and away by Swansea City this season. “I am always saying it is very bad of Man United to lose against Swansea twice. In my opinion you can lose to Manchester City two times. That is possible. As Man United you cannot lose two times to Swansea. That is a bigger failure than when we lose against Manchester City twice.”
Of the squad’s injury situation, Van Gaal said: “Most of the players are fit. But fit for me is a different situation. So I don’t think every player is fit – Robin van Persie is not fit enough to play. I don’t think Shaw is fit enough to play. But I cannot say they are not fit but in my opinion they are not fit to play.”
