Slaven Bilic: Manchester United play “very effective” football

Slaven Bilic has described Manchester United’s playing style as “very effective” ahead of his side’s match against Louis van Gaal’s team in the Premier League.

West Ham United travel to Old Trafford on Saturday looking for their first win in four matches, where they will face a side that have been accused of being boring this season.

The manager told reporters: “Well they are different than, let’s say, the [Sir Alex] Ferguson era, when especially at home they were electric, playing more vertically, but you say narrow victories, but they are victories. So they are winning, they’re not conceding goals and somebody said they are boring, but they having the ball.

“They are not a team that is giving you the ball and defending, you can call that kind of football, sometimes, boring. They have the ball possession, they are controlling the game and trying to win every game.

Especially at home, when the opponents are defending with numbers and are compact, you can’t play very vertically. “You need gaps and space behind or in between the lines of the opponent.

That’s hard to find. We can call it controlled football, we can call it patient football, but it is so far very effective because they are sitting good in the table.”

Man Utd sit third in the table heading into this weekend, while West Ham are eighth.