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Van Gaal 6-4 for blank first season

LOUIS VAN GAAL swaggered into his first Manchester United press conference on Thursday and declared that "the challenge is always first not fourth" but bookmakers consider him more likely than not to end the season without a trophy.

Bet365 offer 6-4 that United pick up silverware and Coral go 8-15 that they don't, although that price has already drifted from 1-2 on Thursday morning. Paddy Power are 11-2 that the Red Devils win the Premier League.

Van Gaal is 4-7 to guide the club to a top-four finish, while Hills go 3-1 that he wins his first three games, 5-1 his first four and 6-1 his first five. Ladbrokes are 10-1 that United win their opening six matches.

The former Bayern Munich manager is 1-20 to last longer at the Old Trafford helm than David Moyes, who was in charge for just under ten months. The Premier League, FA Cup and League Cup treble is 250-1.

He said: "I want to look at the players here at present. I know the players but I have not trained and coached them. It will take three or four weeks to see what they can do before we buy other players."

Even so, Ladbrokes are betting on how many of Anderson, Javier Hernandez, Wilfried Zaha, Nani, Tom Cleverley, Chris Smalling and Bebe leave during the transfer window, with five their 15-8 favourite.

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