Louis Van Gaal has said that Radamel Falcao must adapt to his substitute role until he regains full fitness and that he will not start at Southampton tonight.
The Colombian has scored just once since arriving on loan from Monaco and was only used as a substitute against Hull and Stoke City after missing over a month with a calf injury.
Some have suggested that the Colombian could be growing frustrated at the lack of first team opportunities, but Van Gaal dismissed the rumours and insisted the former Atletico Madrid man will only start when he’s deemed fit enough to do so.
“He has trained now maybe two days after the match [with Hull]. So we had the match against Stoke on Tuesday when he played for 15 minutes,” said Van Gaal.
“Then we had the training sessions after Tuesday. And before Tuesday I didn’t train – I trained the box exercise. You know the box exercise? Yeah? It is not a training session.
“We had to play again within two days after the Hull City game, then I have to recover the players. Then I cannot train him. After Tuesday I can train him. And we have trained very well on Wednesday. Then Thursday they are off. I can say to him to train but, no, we have trained before that.
“Then on Friday we had a training session. So he has trained in two training sessions. But a bigger contribution is to play in the second team for 45 or 60 minutes or even 90 minutes – what Jonny Evans has done already,” continued the United manager.
“But I cannot do that because I need him because Rooney was injured [for Stoke]. James Wilson was injured also [for Hull]. I have to adapt to the needs of the selection. Then I selected him in spite of the fact he can only play 20 minutes at that level because the rhythm of the game in the Premier League is the highest.”
