• Premier League

Van Gaal's tactics too predictable, says Neville

Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville has defended supporters of the Old Trafford club after they chanted tactical advice to manager Louis van Gaal during Saturday's 2-0 win at Queens Park Rangers.

Van Gaal has persisted with a 3-5-2 formation despite increasing criticism this season, with United's breakthrough at Loftus Road last weekend coming after the highly experienced Dutch tactician made a change to his formation and deployed a 4-4-2 alignment.

'I can't listen to every United fan'

Louis van Gaal is frustrated © Getty Images

• Louis van Gaal insists he cannot listen to the opinions of every Manchester United fan after hearing a number of supporters vent their frustrations at his tactics in the win over QPR on Saturday.
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Prior to Marouane Fellaini's opening goal at Loftus Road, United supporters were heard shouting "4-4-2, 4-4-2" and "attack, attack, attack" as their side struggled to create chances and Neville believes their criticism of Van Gaal is justified.

"It's more impatience than unhappiness [from the United fans]," Neville told Sky Sports. "They haven't been taking risks in the 3-5-2 system and in the first 57 minutes at QPR there were no goals, only five shots, four on target and 68 percent possession.

"Then, when they go to the back four, there's less possession but goals, more shots and generally a far better performance from them in the last half hour.

"It's partly the system, but it's a mentality thing as well. I'm not a fan of 3-5-2. When you play that, you end up with your centre backs being the free men and that becomes a careful option, then it kicks into your mentality: 'I've always got a safer pass.'"

Neville went on to suggest the tempo of United's play needs to be increased, with Van Gaal's patient approach not impressing the eight-time Premier League winner.

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"They play the ball out from the back - as most good teams would - but the tempo is too slow," he added. "They play too many passes. Those back three players are on the ball far too much.

"In the first half on Saturday, Manchester United centre-backs had 114 passes of the ball. You look at the other teams that played away from home this weekend, Southampton [57], Chelsea [37], Arsenal [26] and it's a miraculous difference.

"When they go to the back four in the second half it goes to 54 passes. It's a big difference. They started looking at diagonal passes, playing risky ones, making QPR work and doing things that are unpredictable."

Neville's comments may not be welcomed by Van Gaal, who has previously stated the TV pundit needs to "pay attention to his words" after he compared United to a pub team last month.

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