Louis van Gaal: 'Manchester United have to be like Netherlands'

New Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal has told his players that they must follow the example of the Netherlands if they are to be successful in the Premier League next season.

The 62-year-old guided the Oranje to third place at the World Cup in Brazil with a 3-0 victory over the hosts on Saturday.

Van Gaal has said that he wants the United squad to have the same spirit as the Dutch did at the World Cup.

"I hope my new group in Manchester will be just like this one," he told ESPN. "We set an objective and we believed in that objective. We wanted first place. And really we were very, very close to doing that - only penalties stopped us.

"Not to be able to achieve that objective was so disappointing but we won third place, we got a medal which is fantastic. And we scored 15 goals in seven matches, so we can look back on a successful tournament and I'm just so proud of my players and my staff.

"Now the first thing we have to do at United is the same, to all start singing from the same hymn sheet. Then we'll see if we do that then all's well that ends well."

United finished seventh in the Premier League last season.