Newcastle vs Manchester United: John Carver 'understands' why Manchester United fans are frustrated at Louis van Gaal style

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Newcastle head coach John Carver says he "understands the frustrations" of Manchester United fans over the club's style of play under Louis Van Gaal.

Discontent has not been slow to bubble during an indifferent season at Old Trafford with mounting calls for Wayne Rooney to be permanently redeployed as the club's main striker.

Rooney reminded Van Gaal of his worth up front with a brace against Newcastle's north-east rivals Sunderland on Saturday but could drop back into midfield for Wednesday night's trip to St James' Park.

Carver, who finally claimed his first home win in charge over Aston Villa at the weekend, said: "I can see why (Manchester United) fans are getting a little bit frustrated with it.

"They've seen how entertaining they have been.. and now it has changed slightly because the manager's come in and he's got a different style - it's a patient build-up with lots of possession and lots of systems which can sometimes be confusing.

"We looked at their record away from home and it's not great. They have some super players going forward but they are vulnerable in certain areas and hopefully we can exploit that."

Carver dismissed the notion that securing safety from relegation is all his side have left to play for this season and insisted they have every intention of finishing a gruelling season on a high.

The Magpies sit in 11th place in the Barclays Premier League, still five points short of the supposedly safe 40-point mark but Carver added: "Since I've had this position I've never thought about going down - only up.

"There's no way in the world I'm going to allow this club to go flat and not continue to try and get as many points on the board as we can."

Ryan Taylor is expected to return in defence in place of Massadio Haidara, who is almost certain to miss out after picking up a knee injury in the win over Villa.

But there is better news for Carver ahead with longer-term injury victims Remy Cabella, Rolando Aarons and Robbie Elliott all expected to return to training early next week.

The lengthy injury list has hampered Carver's hopes of fielding a full-strength line-up while others such as Taylor, Gabriel Obertan and Sammy Ameobi are having to tread carefully after their recent lay-offs.

Carver added: "We have got four knee injuries which is very, very unusual and a collapsed lung - it is something that we can't do anything about.

"You can make excuses but I am prepared to win with whatever I have got available and I've just got to get on with it."

PA