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Louis van Gaal has confessed that the United job is developing into the biggest challenge of his career.

The Dutchman has endured a difficult start to life at Old Trafford, losing three of his first six games this season - including the shock 5-3 defeat at Leicester on Sunday.

He is also in the midst of a crippling injury that leaves him with just one available centre back ahead Saturday's Premier League clash with Leicester.

Injuries to Jonny Evans, Phil Jones and Chris Smalling, combined with the suspension of Tyler Blackett means he may have to partner Darren Fletcher or youth players Patrick McNair or Tom Thorpe with Marcos Rojo.

Asked if the challenge at United was his most testing yet - the former Ajax, Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager said: "At this moment, maybe.

"But you have to see in a year and not in one week when you have nine injuries and a red card.

“As a manager you already know in advance that it’s a big challenge and this club is in a transition.

"We don’t know in advance what difficult moments we will have. When we started we won everything (in pre-season) and in a very difficult circumstances.

"Now we are in very difficult circumstances again and we can win.”

Van Gaal confirmed that Smalling was the latest defensive casuaulty after injuring his thigh in training this week.

Michael Carrick, Marouane Fellaini, Ashley Young and Jesse Lingard are also unavailable.

But Van Gaal insists that even in the face of so many injuries, he will not lower the intensity of his coaching methods.

"I have to admit that I’ve never had this situation before so that’s strange," he said. "For me it’s difficult to understand because we are evaluating what we can do in a different way.

"But you have to train on a certain level because otherwise you can’t play a game. I’ve already said I will adapt to a certain level, but I cannot train lower because then you can’t perform in the right way.

"We have a lot of injuries, nine injuries now, and Blackett suspended, so that means that 10 are off so I have to go to the youth team to pick players and I have also said that in former press conferences.

"The younger players can pick their chances now and that’s also the policy of this club."