Louis van Gaal Held 'Confronting' Hour-Long Manchester United Team Meeting After Leicester Defeat

Manchester United striker Robin van Persie has revealed the details of an hour-long inquest held by Louis van Gaal following the club's humiliating 5-3 defeat to Leicester City.

United seemed to be cruising towards a second consecutive victory at the King Power Stadium after Ander Herrera put his side 3-1 ahead but a succession of errors allowed Nigel Pearson's side to score four goals within half an hour and clinch a memorable victory.

"It shouldn't be possible [to lose like that]," Van Persie told Fox Sports News. "But it still happened. We have to deal with it. We had a proper look at it next day. Sometimes it was a confronting and it was a long meeting. One hour [or] something.

"We went from there, started again this week [and have put] a couple of really good sessions in. Everybody feels ready to face West Ham."

While United will bemoan the decision that saw Rafael da Silva penalised for a foul on Jamie Vardy for Leicester's first penalty, their second-half capitulation was very much their own doing. But, following the loss, Van Gaal insisted his defenders were not solely to blame, admitting poor performances further up the pitch contributed to his side's downfall.

Wayne Rooney, Radamel Falcao and Van Persie led United's attack that afternoon and the Dutchman admitted everyone on the pitch must work harder to ensure United find improvement.

"When you look at the defensive mistakes, it starts somewhere else," Van Persie continued. "That's where we looked at as well. It is not just the one mistake which happens.

"There is a mistake before the mistake and before the mistake, maybe positional wise. Everyone knows where we have to improve."

United will be wary of more defensive slip ups when they attempt to get their campaign back on track on Saturday 27 September against West Ham United.

Van Gaal has just one fit centre-half in his first team squad in Marcos Rojo, with Jonny Evans, Phil Jones and Chris Smalling unavailable through injury. Youngsters Tom Thorpe and Paddy McNair are in contention to step into the match-day squad.