Ander Herrera has spoken on playing under Louis Van Gaal with Spanish paper El Pais.
Herrera quickly became a fan favourite after joining Manchester United but it seemed that manager Louis Van Gaal wasn’t a fan of his, relegating the Spaniard to the bench and cameo appearances.
But Herrera has fought his way back into Van Gaal’s plans and has consistently shown how important he is to United with his goals, assists and overall performances.
Yesterday his combination play with countryman Juan Mata earned the 25 year old rave reviews as he set up Mata for United’s opener against Liverpool.
Now speaking to El Pais, Herrera has revealed perhaps why Van Gaal wasn’t too enthused when it came to him early on in his United career:
“Van Gaal loves possession and doesn’t like to risk [losing] the ball. He wants long possessions and to keep the ball because he believes you create spaces staying in the right place, because the team have the quality to find you.
“At the beginning he used to tell me off because I always looked for the ball, I wanted to have it, and I must wait for it.”
Herrera went on to add about Van Gaal in comparison to former Athletic Bilbao manager Marcelo Bielsa:
“Van Gaal is opposite to Bielsa because he believes in numerical superiorities in the wings, in triangles, in not running with ball.”
These comments go some way to clearing up the confusion surrounding Herrera’s use by Van Gaal, and with yesterday’s performance in mind I’m sure we are all thankful that Herrera has made the necessary adjustments to become a part of Van Gaal’s side.
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