Manchester United fans impatient with Van Gaal style - Neville

The travelling United support at Loftus Road on Saturday called for a shift to 4-4-2 and more attacking football, and the former right-back says it highlights their weariness

Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville believes the club's fans are impatient rather than unhappy with the style of play employed by manager Louis van Gaal.

The away support at Loftus Road for United's 2-0 victory on Saturday chanted "attack, attack, attack", and called for Van Gaal's 3-5-2 formation to be changed to 4-4-2.

They got their wish in the second half, with the new system producing the two crucial goals, and Neville, who analysed his former side's attacking intent before and after the tactical switch, says it shows that the United faithful were growing weary of the constant passing.

“It’s more impatience than unhappiness,” he said in his role as a pundit on Sky Sports.

“They haven’t been taking risks in the 3-5-2 system and in the first 57 minutes at QPR there were no goals, only five shots, four on target and 68% possession.

"Then, when they go to the back four, there’s less possession but goals, more shots and generally a far better performance from them in the last half hour.

“It’s partly the system but it’s a mentality thing as well. I’m not a fan of 3-5-2, but when you play that, you end up with your centre-backs being the free men and that becomes a careful option, then it kicks into your mentality: ‘I’ve always got a safer pass’.”

Neville also pinpointed the amount of times the United centre-backs passed the ball between each other on Saturday, suggesting that it restricted their attacking opportunities.

“They play the ball out from the back – as most good teams would – but the tempo is too slow. They play too many passes. Those back three players are on the ball far too much,” he added.

“In the first half on Saturday, Manchester United centre-backs had 114 passes of the ball. You look at the other teams that played away from home this weekend, Southampton (57), Chelsea (37), Arsenal (26) and it’s a miraculous difference.

“When they go to the back four in the second half it goes to 54 passes. It’s a big difference. They started looking at diagonal passes, playing risky ones, making QPR work and doing things that are unpredictable.”