Manchester United: Ander Herrera backs Louis van Gaal but would welcome Jose Mourinho appointment

Manchester United star Ander Herrera believes it would be "unfair" to sack Louis van Gaal while the club can still win the Premier League, Europa League and FA Cup this season. The Spaniard, however, did say that he would welcome Jose Mourinho at Old Trafford, playing down concerns over whether the former Chelsea boss's defensive style would suit the club's philosophy.

Van Gaal's position at Old Trafford has been under question recently, both for the team's goal-shy tactics and poor results, with them already knocked out of the Champions League and ten points off the top of the league table. But Herrera says United should be patient as they can still win a treble.

"The prism is different here [than in Spain]. In England there is more patience, but not only with Van Gaal. Mourinho, being just three points from relegation, was not sacked (by Chelsea)," he said during an interview with Marca. "[Arsene] Wenger has been nine years without titles and continued [at Arsenal]. City can go three weeks without a win and there are no doubts about [Manuel] Pellegrini."

"So back to Van Gaal, I think it would be unfair to sack him because the line of work in England is to give confidence to the manager and because we still have the chance to win three titles: FA Cup, Europa League and the Premier League, despite being 10 points behind Leicester the differences here are lower [than in La Liga]."

It was then put to Herrera that Mourinho's defensive philosophy would cause the same problems that Van Gaal has. But Herrera replied: "It's funny. Mourinho played for Chelsea with Cesc [Fabregas], Willian, Oscar, [Eden] Hazard and [Diego] Costa. Only [Nemanja] Matic as defensive midfielder.

'Is that not attractive? Or his Real Madrid scoring record? I just know that his Chelsea, with how hard it is, won the Premier with four games in advance...

"But then Van Gaal still has one year further in his contract and can stay. Why not? But I don't think Mourinho is a defensive manager. Maybe if you compare him with Paco Jemez [Rayo Vallecano manager, who is famous in Spain for his offensive style] he is but not in the essence. I have seen Chelsea play well under him"