Louis van Gaal hopes to end as a hero at Manchester United by bringing trophies to the club. The manager brushed off current criticism by pointing to how he suffered similar doubts when in charge of Ajax, Barcelona and Bayern Munich.

During Tuesday evening’s 1-0 win over CSKA Moscow at Old Trafford the home crowd voiced their disquiet at the Dutchman’s tactics.

When Van Gaal took charge of Holland during the 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign he was also questioned. But after taking the nation to third place at the tournament he returned to his homeland to acclaim.

Asked if the same might occur at United and he would become a hero to supporters, Van Gaal said: “I hope that your words make it true. My first year when I started as a 39-year-old coach with Ajax, all the fans were shouting, from the very first day, the name Johan Cruyff, until we won the Uefa Cup and then it was finished.

“In Barça we had white handkerchiefs –my second period in Barcelona [2002-03] it was always the white handkerchiefs. In Bayern Munich, I had the same in my second year [2010-11] so I, as a manager, am used to these negative things, I think. But the number of fans is, of course, much higher with Manchester United, because we have the most fans in the world.”

Van Gaal asked supporters to aim criticism at him and not at his team. “I think the supporters have to support the players, otherwise they make it very difficult for the players to play at Old Trafford,” he said. “Until now they were fantastic, so I cannot complain about the fans. I can only advise the fans to criticise the manager and not the players. It’s very difficult to play for Manchester United with a lot of pressure and when you can taste that in Old Trafford because of all the yelling then it’s not good for all my players.

“It’s better to whistle at the manager. I can cope with it because I have had a lot of experience in it in my life as a manager.”

Van Gaal is clear supporters have the right to voice their opinion. “Criticism of the fans is never unfair because it is a feeling of the fans and you cannot criticise the feeling of the fans,” the Dutchman said. “I think we have to play for the fans. The fans have to understand also the game and the resistance of our opponent and they also have to analyse.”

Wayne Rooney scored the winner against CSKA. It was United’s first goal for 404 minutes and broke a sequence of three goalless draws.

Van Gaal accepts his side need to score more. “We have to score more goals, I agree with that, but only one more than the opponent,” he said. “That’s what I am thinking. And, of course, we still need players with more creativity and pace on the wings. That I have said five months ago, three months ago and now I am saying it again, but we need that, so we are still in a process.”

United host West Bromwich Albion on Saturday before the next international break. Prior to the previous two Van Gaal’s side lost, 2-1 at Swansea City and 3-0 at Arsenal. “It is awful and it has happened to us twice now,” he said. “Now we are playing at home, but we are playing at home against a team who we lost against last season here [0-1], so it shall be difficult. But I hope we win, then we can have a fortnight after we have won, and not lost. The players are flying out on Sunday and so I cannot evaluate. It’s the same as what happened in the previous international breaks.”

Why did they lose the games at Swansea and Arsenal? “Of course, it’s not logical, but you can analyse it,” said Van Gaal. “It’s the end of seven matches in three weeks, they were two away games, so it’s different. Now we play at home and I hope we can make a victory out of it.”

Van Gaal took over at the start of last season when United had previously finished seventh. The side now head their Champions League group and are contenders for the title again.

Van Gaal said restoring the players’ confidence and helping them to cope with the pressure were key. “I think when you play for Manchester United you believe that you have to be top of the league,” he said. “That’s the culture of the club also. All the players who are coming here feel that but it is also a pressure. You have to cope with that pressure.

“But, of course, when I came here we were seventh and last year we were very close [to winning the title]. And also, this year we are closer than last year. We still have to play a lot of matches, but we have much more points, we are more stable, we are having less goals against us than last season.”