Sunday, 24th August, 2014
Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal has refused to rule out the club winning the Premier League title this season, despite admitting to do so would constitute a "miracle".
The Red Devils lost the opening match of Van Gaal's reign last weekend, going down to a 2-1 defeat at home against Swansea City.
They are bidding to bounce back today when they lock horns with Sunderland, but have already been written out of the title race in some quarters.
Van Gaal accepts that it is unlikely he will be able to lead the Red Devils to the Premier League crown in his debut campaign, but has refused to completely rule it out.
"To win the title this season would be a miracle. But that isn't to say that it isn't possible", the Dutchman was quoted as saying by the BBC.
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And Van Gaal believes the club's owners, the Glazer family, are under no illusions about the scale of the task in front of him, despite him having won the title in debut campaigns at both Bayern Munich and Barcelona.
"I think the Glazer family understand this or I would not have accepted this job.
"What I did at Bayern Munich was a miracle because the team was not stable when I got there.
"When I took over from Bobby Robson at Barcelona, he had won three titles, so there was stability.
"The problem I have at United is that the selection is not balanced. There are five number nines and six number 10s – and we don't have enough defenders."
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