Manchester United boss Louis van Gaal has admitted that constant changes in formation and tactics resulted in the Red Devils' inconsistent performances this season.
The Dutch boss tried to implement a 3-5-2 formation, which he had used with Holland in the 2014 World Cup, when he first arrived at Old Trafford.
Despite doing well in preseason with that formation, United failed to adapt to the new system and this resulted in some shocking defeats in the opening stages of the season.
The former Barcelona boss then deployed a 4-1-2-1-2 (diamond) formation but that too did not work out after a few games, following an injury of Ander Herrera.
Now, van Gaal is using the 4-5-1 formation, and United seem to be gradually adapting to this system, even though they changed to 4-1-4-1, during their 1-0 win over Crystal Palace at the weekend.
And van Gaal says he has been constantly experimenting with formations, to bring a balance to the team.
"It's too much [change to formation], I agree," Goal quoted van Gaal. "But I'm looking for the balance and when you see the last four matches, we have had more balance because we haven't conceded many goals. Nevertheless, we don't score so much. With the other system, we scored a lot of goals."
The former Bayern Munich boss will also be worried with the recent performances of his record signing Angel di Maria, who seem to be finding it hard to adapt to the new system after doing well in the earlier formations, scoring three goals in his first four appearances for the Red Devils.
And van Gaal claims the Argentine is finding it hard due to him not being able to play his natural game, which involves dribbling rather than passing.
"He has played in a very small space and he is a dribbler but sometimes you cannot dribble. You have to make it a pass game, and Di Maria is not a player who wants to give a pass every time he gets the ball."
"But in this case we needed that and not dribbles. Therefore he lost the ball a lot of times and that was not good for the balance of the team."
Finally, van Gaal feels United will start getting positive results once they find the balance and shake off injuries.
"It's a matter of time but it's also a matter of getting over a lot of injuries."
