Top 50 Louis van Gaal Quotes

It is not normal that one team dominates for 20 years in a row as the champion.

Every coach wants to train Manchester United; it’s one of the biggest clubs in the world.

Preparing your tactical formation is essential. Each player needs to know where he has to be, and that is why there needs to be mutual understanding: because you need absolute discipline.

You need always guts to put youngsters in the squad and also in the line-up.

I think it’s fantastic to be here in England. They live football: football is living, and living is football.

The media do not analyse the game. They analyse the result.

A World Cup is always special because it is the highest podium on which you can show your abilities as an individual player or coach, and as a team.

As coaches, we have to give a lot of information. Too much, I think.

You always need the hunger to play in the first team.

Of course I have ambition to become World Champions with Oranje.

I always tried to defend high up the pitch, to be in the opposition’s half and play the game there.

I think, always, the form of the players is a decisive factor. And a game-plan and the referee. He can influence the game. And in a derby, a cool head is also very important.

I think it is always a success when you win the title.

I speak English my way, but people understand it. You can understand everything I say, and that’s the most important thing.

Having coached Ajax, Barcelona, the Netherlands, FC Bayern, and Manchester United like I did, it is difficult for any offer to be interesting.

I have a philosophy. I was convinced of it, and by winning trophies in four countries, I proved the philosophy worked.

Rashford’s pace is incredible. You don’t catch him when he breaks away.

I am not a dictator; I am a communicator.

I criticize the media for inventing stories.

In the football world, you have to deliver. However, as an ex-player, you always have more credit.

If you ask me how did I do at United, I will say it was my best year ever, given the circumstances I was working under. We played football that was quite alright. But it’s not football that is appreciated in England.

Every player gets his time, no matter who you are.

It cannot be a good thing when a club is run solely from a commercially-driven perspective.

You have to live in the present, I think.

When you have an older group of players, they play on automatic pilot a lot of the time, but with youngsters, you have more intuition.

Winning the FA Cup with Manchester United was my biggest achievement.

Players can play bad, and certainly when you have only three days or six days training sessions in your legs, and you have to play 45 minutes. Everybody can say that it’s easy to step in, but it is not easy.

It was very difficult to succeed Bert van Marwijk because, two years before, he was second in the World Cup, and then he left a broken-up team behind – so that was much more difficult than you think.

I am immensely proud to have helped United win the FA Cup for the 12th time in the club’s history.

The pitch is the most important material for a football player.

I thought always Manchester United can buy every player because they have a lot of power.

A player needs to focus on one thing to be successful, while a coach is thinking about the whole process.

The most important thing is they have to know why we do things and when. A lot of players are playing intuitively, and I want them to think and know why they do something.

I always played attacking football.

I like it if a coach enjoys himself and is passionate.

When I speak, I am well articulated.

I hope at Manchester United I can do my best. I will do my best.

I think you have to refresh the squad every year, and I have done it with all my clubs.

Players count for nothing. The team is everything.

In the Netherlands, the press writes what they want.

I’m always honest.

I look for players who do not just score goals but provide an attacking point, linking with other players and able to see the third man as well. Van Persie is one of the best strikers around at that.

It’s not always the fault of the manager when a player is not performing well, I can tell you.

When I was coach at Ajax, in the first half of the season, the players needed time to adapt to me, to know who I am as a person and as a coach.

I watch the Premier League, the Spanish and Dutch leagues, and a little bit of the German league.

It has been an honor to manage such a magnificent club as Manchester United FC, and in doing so, I have fulfilled a long-held ambition.

I was 11 when my father died, so I didn’t know my father so well.

I was a fan of Henk Groot, former striker of Ajax, who scored many goals with his head. I thought, ‘I can do that also,’ but I couldn’t.

Yes, I have a philosophy, and you have to come with good arguments to change that philosophy, but, if someone has a better argument than me, then I will change.

The accommodation for the players to dress themselves, to change into their club shirts, are in most stadiums not so good.