Manchester United's style of play has been criticised in all corners.

Fans, journalists and former players have not been at all impressed with the football served up by Louis van Gaal, whose team ended an eight-game spell without a win with a narrow victory over Swansea City at the weekend.

There has been more criticism this week by a rather more worrying party - their man sponsor.


United dominated the headlines in the summer when they ditched American firm Nike for German rival Adidas, signing a 10-year, £750million sponsorship deal with the sportswear giant.

But Herbert Hainer, current Chief Executive Officer revealed in an interview over the weekend that he would like to see better football at Old Trafford - even if the company is enjoying record sales.

Van Gaal, who was said to be close to the sack if he lost against Chelsea on 28 December, said the win over Swansea was a good "signal" to play in a more "risky" style for the rest of the season.

"What we showed is that we can perform the game plan in a risky style under this kind of pressure and this is a very positive signal," he said. "Against Chelsea we played in a very risky way and we did the same here.