Van Gaal insisted that, defensively, United were showing signs of progress. “Until now, our defensive organisation has pleased me most,” the Dutchman said. “I divide football in four main moments and we have two moments where the opponent has ball and then we are at our best, I think. We proved that last year and now we are continuing with a lot of clean sheets, so that is very important. But we have to improve when we have the ball.