You have to compare players before the match, and after the match you can say ‘if a player should participate then you could have won’, but you shall never know,” said Van Gaal.
“I have to see and I have to compare players in my selection and that’s what I’m doing when we train. Then I have to look through the composition of my selection, what I can do during the match and what players I have.
“I knew in advance I had to to change Luke Shaw and Angel Di Maria. Normally I would change Di Maria for James Wilson, because I know I want speed in attack.