• United have not won in five matches and went out of Champions League • ‘I have full confidence of board and players, but we have to win’

Louis van Gaal is desperate to avoid the ignominy of having his contract terminated early by Manchester United. His team are on a poor run, having not won in five matches, during which period they were knocked out of the Champions League and scored only four times.

“I don’t want to finish my career with the club sacking me,” the 64-year-old said before Saturday’s home game against Norwich City. “That would be a great disappointment for me to say goodbye to the football world by being fired. I think my honour is much more pressure for me than the pressure of the media and the fans.”

Despite the poor results recently, however, Van Gaal believes that his glittering CV means he is under no great pressure at United.

He believes the greatest pressure in 24 years as a manager came when he took over at Ajax in 1991 and the fans constantly called for Johan Cruyff to replace him. Van Gaal’s impressive résumé, which includes domestic titles at each of his four previous clubs and a Champions League triumph with Ajax, is also a comfort to him.

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“The pressure when I started as a manager was much higher because I cannot lose now I am at the end of my career,” he said. “What can I lose? If I lose the confidence of the fans that would be very sad. But I have had a career that every starting trainer wants to have. I don’t think that the pressure is now the highest.

“When you start in your first job and the crowd is yelling every week for another coach and that happened to me in my first year at Ajax then that pressure compared to the guy I am now is much higher.”

Van Gaal knows that though the backing of the executive remains, all managers live or die by results. “I have the full confidence of my board and players, that is what I feel,” he said. “But we have to get results, we have to win. We know that, the players know that, I know that and the members of staff know that. There is no doubt that we have to win because when you lose too much then even for me it is the end of the world.”

Asked about José Mourinho’s sacking by Chelsea on Thursday, Van Gaal said: “It was a big surprise for me. A fantastic manager with a record that nobody has in this football world but it is still possible.”

Van Gaal knows no manager is safe. “It’s like that but we know that in advance. It’s this world,” he said.

Wayne Rooney could return for Norwich City’s visit to Old Trafford, having missed three matches with a foot injury. If he features it will be the captain’s 500th appearance for United.

Rooney’s form has been uneven yet his seven goals make him the top scorer and Van Gaal believes the striker can continue at the highest level for at least three more years. “I think so because we are playing like we have played this year – nevertheless he has scored the most goals. It is still Wayne Rooney.

“We were not good against Arsenal or Crystal Palace, or they were better, but all the other games we were not less than our opponents and we could have won every game. Then you would be No1 in the Premier League and the next round of the Champions League but it is not like that. Sport is not like that.

“The best is not always winning. In our case we have lost a lot of points because we could not score from our chances. Maybe we don’t finish a lot of chances but we have always big possibilities created.

“When you see Leicester v Chelsea how many chances did Leicester have? But they scored twice. It is not how many chances you create, you have to score when you have possibilities and when they are great you have to score.”