Over the course of his managerial career, Louis van Gaal has never shied away from expressing his opinion and the Dutchman has continued that trend since his arrival at Old Trafford last summer.

While former United boss Sir Alex Ferguson gained recognition for banning journalists from his press conferences, Van Gaal has not backed down from members of the media who challenge his tactics, team selection and/or man-management skills.

During his pre-match press conference on Thursday, Van Gaal was pressed about his persistence in playing a 3-5-2 formation as opposed to a more attacking 4-4-2 shape. The United manager responded with what will undoubtedly go down as one of the more memorable responses in recent history.

“I know all the stats. I read the stats,” Van Gaal exclaimed. “I know that we have won more with 4-4-2 in a diamond.”

“But when you analyze the game then we have twitched our a** on the bench.”

“I said to the players I was squeezing my a** but it was wrong expression, I have twitched my ass on the bench because we were out of balance.”

“We lost the game against Leicester City 5-3. That was undeserved. The referee gave a penalty for nothing. At that time the results was 3-2, no problem. Then you are a great club. But we lost 5-3.”

“All the matches when we play 4-4-2, like against West Ham United it was always twitching your a**. I don’t like that.”

“We have won nine or 10 in a row then we lose one match and then the discussion about the system is coming. It is ridiculous.”

“Now I have answered your question in a very good way.”