Manchester United

Louis van Gaal undecided on Manchester United back four

By Daniel Lewis, Senior Reporter | 30 July 2015

Louis van Gaal hints that Phil Jones's place in the Manchester United defence is not yet certain, despite the Englishman featuring heavily during pre-season.

Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal has admitted that he is still not yet certain of his defensive set-up for the coming season.

The Dutchman has made a decision over three of the four places at the back, but one position in the heart of defence remains up for grabs.

Phil Jones was expected to land that right-sided role, having started all of United's pre-season games to date, yet Van Gaal seemingly remains unconvinced.

"I have to start with the formation and when the formation is doing well, I let them play in that formation," he is quoted as saying by ESPN. "I think I shall play [Luke] Shaw with [Matteo] Darmian, and with Daley Blind.

"The right central position I have to consider. I am very pleased with the performance of Darmian, and you can see he can play on the right and left. Also, a benefit of this year's tour is that we don't have any injuries. Last year I was forced to use, for example, Tyler Blackett and Jesse Lingard in the first Premier League match.

"Now, I have a wider selection and I can use everybody who I think I have to use. There is more competition now and there is more balance in the selection. I have a lot of confidence to start the competition."

Man United lost 2-0 to Paris Saint-Germain in their final pre-season outing in the early hours of Thursday morning.