GOAL

Former Bayern Munich midfielder Mark van Bommel has lifted the lid on Louis van Gaal's coaching methods, and feels the Manchester United manager can be difficult to work with.

The ex-Netherlands international joined AC Milan in January 2011 after falling out with the veteran coach, and feels his Dutch style of management can be detrimental to teams

Van Bommel played under Van Gaal for 18 months with the Bavarians before leaving the club in January 2011 to join AC Milan despite being captain of the Bundesliga outfit.

And he feels the ex-Barcelona boss can sometimes struggle when he first takes over at a club due to his persistent belief in his own philosophy and refusal to be flexible.

"It was a big change for the club," he told Goal. "We had had Jurgen Klinsmann and then Van Gaal came and it was totally different.

"He wanted to change the whole club. It was a change of culture from the German to the Dutch.

"It was totally different and we had slight problems in the beginning especially with the chairman but everything settled down then in October we were winning.

"On the pitch he is good but outside it was a little bit difficult. He has a way and it is his way. He wanted to to straight. He doesn't want to go right or to go go left, only straight. Everybody knows what he wants. I had a little problem with him in 2010 in December and I went to Milan in January.

"I was the captain and it was strange to change clubs in the winter. Ok, it was my decision to go and [I have] no regrets."