Van Gaal wants Falcao to get some minutes under his belt.
Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal would like to put big money loanee striker Radamel Falcao in the reserves to get some match fitness under his belt, according to reports from the Daily Star, but he has been unable to do so in recent weeks as the Dutchman remains frustrated with the Colombian’s lack of fitness.
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Falcao appeared for just 20 minutes in the Premier League victory over Stoke City last week, missing a glorious chance to find the back of the net late on, and is likely to be on the bench once again when the Red Devils face Southampton at St. Mary’s on Monday night.
The report suggests that Falcao is becoming frustrated with the situation as he plays third fiddle to strikers Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie in the first team, but van Gaal is not concerned about the Colombian’s frame of mind and seems determined to show his players that he is the boss:
“I’m not interested. He has to follow my philosophy. Do you understand that? I’m here because of that.”
Van Gaal then went on to discuss the match fitness of Falcao and his desire to play him in the reserves – suggesting that the Monaco loanee is not fit enough to feature for a full match in the first team at this stage:
“It’s down to match fitness and I will clarify it with more facts. We had the match against Stoke on Tuesday when he played for 15 minutes. Then we had the training sessions after Tuesday. Then after Tuesday I can train him and we have trained very well on Wednesday.”
“Then Thursday the players are off. I can say to him train but, no, we have trained before that. Then Friday we had a training session. So he has trained in two training sessions what I think is a contribution.”
“But a bigger contribution is to play in the second team for 45 or 60 minutes or even 90 minutes – what Jonny Evans has done already.”