Following Manchester United’s 2-1 defeat against Norwich at home, Louis van Gaal has admitted that he is now worried about keeping his job. With Pep Guardiola available at the end of the season and Jose Mourinho looking for a new club, Van Gaal has acknowledged that the belief in him is on the decline.

What you have seen today is what a lack of confidence can do. It was not good enough and it was our first defeat at Old Trafford [this season] and that makes it remarkable. It is also confirmation that we are in a very bad period which we have to come out of. This is difficult or we would have done that today.

You have to win against Norwich City, you have to win every home match. The problem is how we come out of this bad period. That can be done when we stick together, not just the players, manager and staff but the fans – that is very important. Everything I say about the defeat is one word too much because the expectation is that we beat Norwich and we didn’t do that.

To show your professional attitude is the only way you can get our confidence back. Of course we have to evaluate what we have done today and how we have prepared for this match and so on. Tomorrow we shall do that as staff, as a team, to make it better for Stoke City in the next game, then the same for two days later against Chelsea. I am always evaluating myself because that is an aspect of my philosophy. In the 25 years of management I evaluate myself every day. I am not the same coach of 25 years ago and I always evaluate. This is why I am, or maybe I now have to say was, a very successful manager.

Yes I worry about my job because I know that belief in a manager is very important and when you lose the games, the belief in the manager will decrease. That is happening now. I cannot close my eyes to that.