Sir Alex Ferguson has no doubts over the capabilities of Louis Van Gaal, and the former Manchester United manager believes the current man at the helm at Old Trafford will kick on in the second half of the season and get the club back where they belong.
When Ferguson was manager, Manchester United were rarely out of contention for the English Premier League title, and the extent of the Scot's genius only became clear when David Moyes struggled to keep the same standards, or even anything remotely resembling those standards, when he took over last season.
Van Gaal also struggled to get Manchester United playing the way he would have liked and getting the right results he would have wanted early on, with injuries playing a major part, but now that he has had some time to inculcate his philosophy to the players while also seeing his injury woes ease to a certain extent, the results have followed, with Manchester United winning six of their last seven matches in the Premier League.
Those results have pushed Manchester United up to third in the table, and Ferguson believes it will only get better, especially once he gets all his injured players back.
"First of all, Louis Van Gaal, I don't know how he can expect to get the best results with the injuries he's had," Ferguson told BT Sport in an exclusive interview. "And when he gets the best players back, you watch United, because he's a great coach, he'll do well.
"Once they get the players back they'll be fine."
Ferguson backed the senior players at Manchester United, the ones who were there much before Van Gaal took over, to help their team over the line in the second half of the season.
"They've still got great players, I think Michael Carrick is the best centre midfield player in English football," added Ferguson. "I think he's the best English player in the game.
"I think Robin Van Persie, the World Cup has maybe taken a little bit out of him, but you watch him in the second half, he'll be fine.
"Rooney is back flying and Rooney will always get you a goal and that's always an advantage when a team has got a goal scorer in a team.
"And the one that's most pleasing to me of the present lot is David De Gea. When we bought him he was a kid. He was skinny, but he had an ability. He's got special talents, and it's shown."
Ferguson also believes the new players that Van Gaal has brought in during the summer – and there have been plenty – need to be given time to bed in, with the former Manchester United manager citing some examples of players from his own time who took their time to find their feet in the always-difficult Premier League.
"I'm not interested in what's happening with the players he's brought in because they'll need time," said Ferguson. "When I took Patrice Evra and Nemanja Vidic in the January of the same year, they were all over the place.
"It took five months to get used to playing for Manchester United, the culture, the history of the club, and these new players will be exactly the same."
Van Gaal bought Marcos Rojo, Luke Shaw, Ander Herrera, Radamel Falcao, Angel Di Maria and Daley Blind this season, and they have all had some injury problem or the other disrupt their season so far.
