ANDY COLE EXCLUSVE: Tough times at Old Trafford, and Christmas period will decide Louis van Gaal’s fate

Andy Cole predicts that Louis van Gaal has the Christmas period to save his job at Manchester United before the fans turn on him.

It gives me no pride in saying it, but Manchester United have been a massive disappointment so far this season.

They went out of the Champions League at the group stage; they’re out of the League Cup too. They’re sixth in the league having won none of their last six games and the future of Louis van Gaal is dominating the sports headlines.

The performances of the team have given fans very little to shout about. I understand why. A club of United’s stature, with the calibre of players there, should not be struggling. Struggling to score, to win, to appeal to those who fill Old Trafford to its 75,000 capacity for every home game.

Every team goes through a bad run and I was part of the last United team which went six games without a victory. That was in 1998-99 and we went on to win the treble.

Given United’s current predicament, any trophy this season would be a success, but something is desperately needed to lift the mood.

I live in Manchester, I go to games and speak to fans. I travel the world as a United ambassador and hear what people say to me. Most of them get nostalgic and talk of the great times, then they ask, ‘What is going wrong?’

Life has been hard for van Gaal since he moved to England. He had great attacking teams at Ajax, Barcelona and Bayern Munich, but the current United is struggling to create chances and score.

That affects the mentality of strikers. I know, I’ve been one. If you think that you’re going to get 10 chances in a match then you’re more relaxed than if you think you’re getting one of two.

The pressure is on to score from one or two chances and when your team isn’t playing well, that pressure can be crushing. Antony Martial had one chance on Saturday and took it, but United have gone from being a team which creates to a team which doesn’t.

Given the amount of money spent, it’s just not good enough and everyone knows that, including the manager.

United want to buy the best players in the world. I’ve heard Neymar mentioned, but even he needs chances to score. The current team doesn’t create them.

Even when they went a goal down to Norwich on Saturday, United failed to pepper the Norwich goal. This is Norwich, who were in the relegation zone with one win in 11. They should be petrified of coming to Old Trafford. Instead, they deserved to win against a team whose confidence looked badly depleted.

United have a history and tradition of attacking and entertaining football. That’s not always possible and I played in plenty of games which were a struggle, but we had no option but to attack.

We were told that the players were to get on the ball, not shirk responsibility, enjoy ourselves and play like United players. Entertaining the fans was paramount. There’s not been enough entertainment this season and fans are bored.

So what happens next? There’s speculation around the manager’s position and given the results everyone understands why. The next games will go a long way to determining his future.

United need to start winning now. The fans may be tired of the football, but they’ve not yet turned on him. If he’d still been in Barcelona, the white hankies would have been brought out a long time ago.

I liked the idea of my old team-mate Ryan Giggs replacing Van Gaal after three years. Ryan will make a good manager in a few years and I’m sure his teams would be inclined to play attacking football.

He’s hard, focused, clinical and knows football. He’s done his badges and passed them all. He doesn’t have much experience managing at the top level, but nor did Pep Guardiola when he took over a very good Barcelona team who’d won the European Cup two years previously.

If Ryan was to take over at United tomorrow then he wouldn’t have that luxury. For Ryan to take the job now would be very difficult, but he’s learned a lot since he started coaching.

He’s seen how tough it can be when things aren’t going your way, though his reputation has not been enhanced sitting on the sideline as the players out front have struggled. I’m glad he was off the bench during the Norwich game and encouraging his players. I’d rather see than a coach looking at flip charts.

I can also see why United fans want a Guardiola or Jose Mourinho in charge. They’re used to seeing their team winning and those two are winners. When they hear that City are getting Guardiola, they don’t like the idea of slipping behind City.

These are uncertain times at Manchester United. I just want to see the team start winning again and playing decent football. It’s Manchester United, is that too much to ask?