Louis van Gaal has welcomed Wayne Rooney’s decision to admit he had a poor game against Aston Villa, with the Manchester United manager saying the comments were an acknowledgement from his captain that he knew he was “very bad”.

Earlier this week Rooney said he had not played well in United’s 1-0 win at Villa last Friday. Van Gaal, preparing for the early kick-off against Newcastle Unitedon Saturday, said: “It starts always with the player himself. When you are saying so publicly that you are bad, then you know that you are very bad at that time. I think that’s fantastic that a player will admit that.”

Van Gaal, though, conceded that Rooney’s candour could lead to him being reminded about the comments later in the season. “It’s also for me unbelievable because he is one of the few players who is saying those things because it can, after a few weeks, be a threat of the media again, or pressure from the media,” the Dutchman said. “He takes a risk, I think, but he is very confident that he will make the goals that we expect from him and I am confident also.

“My standards he knows already. He knows my philosophy and what I want from a striker. He thinks that he can perform that and I think that also, otherwise I would not put him in the striker position.

“I have tried last year all the positions and he can play in various positions – he is multifunctional. I think his best position is the striker position and he agreed with that conclusion and the second position is the No10.”

Van Gaal said the first step for any player to improve is self-honesty. “It starts with the player himself as he has to admit that he is bad and then he can improve. When you don’t admit, you cannot improve.”