Louis van Gaal has described his first six months in England with Manches-ter United as "fantastic" after admitting that warnings about "bad English food" have proved groundless.
The United manager, who replaced David Moyes at Old Trafford fol-lowing the World Cup finals in the summer, cited "Chinese food and red wine" as the positives of his move to England.
But the former Ajax, Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach remains insistent that the downside of managing in England is the workload placed on his players over the Christmas and New Year period.
Off the pitch, however, Van Gaal claims he could not be happier. "English life is fantastic because I have met only friendly people on the streets and in the restaurants where I come," he said.
"My favourite food is Chinese food, and the restaurant is Wing's. The food is fantastic because when I came to England everybody said the food is not good. But [it is] fantastic. Also, the wine list is fantastic.
"I also have very nice neighbours. They are all older than me, but very nice. I live in a surrounding environment that is fantastic."
Van Gaal's love for the English lifestyle is tempered by his concerns over the demands of managing and playing at Christmas. The Dutchman admitted this month that working at Christmas would be a new -experience but, having seen his team play twice in less than 48 hours against New-castle United and Tottenham Hotspur, Van Gaal said that the Football Association was short-changing supporters by allowing such a congested
fixture list.
He said: "Everybody knows that a body cannot recover within 48 hours. Therefore, there is a rule at Uefa and Fifa that you cannot play the games. OK, that I have said. That is scientifically proven, I have said that also.
"Everybody knows that and in spite of that, we have to play. It's the culture of England. I don't mind but it is not good for the players, for the health of the players and it is not good for the game because I think that the FA, but also the fans, want to watch attractive games.
"You have seen the second half against Tottenham. You have seen the second half of Chelsea against Southampton. It's a problem for me to come through these two weeks around Christmas and New Year, all these matches. That is difficult now."
United face Stoke City at 12.45pm tomorrow, with Van Gaal admitting that his fitness concerns are easing. "You have seen that [Chris] Smalling is coming back, [Luke] Shaw is coming back, Rafael Da Silva is coming back," the Dutchman said.
"These are the first signs that we already predicted two weeks ago, that the players shall come back, but they are not back with 100 per cent match rhythm, and now we have to play."