Opening Day Defeat Shattered United's Confidence: van Gaal

Manchester United boss Louis van Gaal claims his side's confidence has plummeted, following their opening day defeat to Swansea at Old Trafford in the Premier League.

Ki Sung-Yeung's first-half strike was cancelled out by Wayne Rooney in the 53rd minute, before Gylfi Sigurdsson scored the winner in the 73rd minute.

After keeping a 100% win record in preseason, beating the likes of Roma, Real Madrid, Inter Milan, Liverpool and Valencia, United suffered defeat in their very first competitive fixture of the season; that too at home.

And the Dutchman, who took full responsibility for the defeat despite criticising his side for not playing as a team, revealed that the players' confidence will now be low again.

"When you have preparation, win everything, then lose your first match, it cannot be worse," van Gaal told BBC.

"We have built up a lot of confidence. It will be smashed because of this. I have said before that I know how big a job I face here. Our wins in the United States and against Valencia meant that the expectation was so high.

"In the first half I saw a lot of my players looking very nervous and making the wrong choices. The players have to get used to that expectation because this is Manchester United and they have to cope with that pressure."

Despite admitting that he was disappointed with the result, the former Barcelona boss is certain that United will bounce back in the next round of fixtures.

"Of course I am very disappointed to lose - for the players and fans and for myself and my staff. But we have to remember this is only one of many games and nobody is champions now. You are the champions in May, not October," van Gaal added.

Meanwhile, former Manchester United boss David Moyes feels that he should have been given more time to prove himself at Old Trafford.

The 51-year-old Scot, who was handpicked by Sir Alex Ferguson to succeed him, was sacked after only 10 months in charge, following a series of poor results that saw United eventually finish in seventh place.

And Moyes claims that he would have made things right, if United had given him more time.

"I was devastated to lose the [United] job because it was something I felt I could make a real success of. We knew it was going to take time to make the necessary changes. It was going to take time to evolve, but we were in the process of making other important changes. In the end, I don't feel I was given time to succeed or fail," Moyes told the Daily Mail.