Manchester United's manager Louis van Gaal leaves the pitch following their English Premier League soccer match defeat against Swansea City at Old Trafford in Manchester, northern England August 16, 2014.
Manchester United's manager Louis van Gaal leaves the pitch following their English Premier League soccer match defeat against Swansea City at Old Trafford in Manchester, northern England August 16, 2014. REUTERS/Darren Staples

Ruud Gullit had some strong words for his compatriot Louis van Gaal, after the latter failed to steer Manchester United to victory during the Premier League's opening weekend.

The former Chelsea and Newcastle United manager was critical of the tactics being employed by the 63-year-old, citing that such won't work in England's top-flight.

"Fellow Dutchman Van Gaal has a big job. The Premier League is different. You can see during the game the United players were thinking about where they had to be," Gullit told BBC Sport.

Van Gaal opted to adapt the 3-5-2 that he often used during his stint witth the Dutch national team, but instead of coming up with a positive result, disaster ensued.

The Red Devils suffered a narrow 2-1 defeat in the hands of the Garry Monk-led Swansea City, whose quality of players were not even close to that of United's.

"When he played 3-5-2 for Netherlands it was necessity because we had bad defenders," he added.

"He played 4-3-3 at Ajax, Barcelona and Bayern Munich, but always played attacking football."

"It was a surprise he played 3-5-2 to start with against Swansea, but then he changed it. If you were a Swansea player would you have been afraid of that line-up?"

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