DARYL JANMAAT has warned his Newcastle United team-mates to beware Louis van Gaal’s tactical mastery tomorrow night, and has backed his former national team boss to return silverware to Manchester United.

For all that they have been criticised at various stages of the season, Manchester United still head to St James’ Park in fourth position in the Premier League table and with every chance of qualifying for next season’s Champions League.

A return to European football’s elite competition would represent a decent return from van Gaal’s first season at Old Trafford, although the Dutchman has come in for considerable criticism as he has wrestled with how to get the best out of a squad that features some world-class players, but also some obvious deficiencies in certain areas.

His attempts to introduce a 3-5-2 system in the early stages of the season were roundly condemned, but while he has subsequently backtracked and reverted to 4-4-2, Janmaat feels it would be wrong to question van Gaal’s tactical acumen.

The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss switched formations repeatedly as Holland made the World Cup semi-finals last summer, and having been part of the side that eventually went out to Argentina on penalties, Janmaat is a staunch admirer of van Gaal’s methods.

“He is a fantastic trainer and he has had a magnificent career,” said the full-back, who was one of the Magpies’ stand-out performers in Saturday’s win over Aston Villa, with his cross to Papiss Cisse setting up the only goal of the game. “I have been very fortunate to work with him and I cannot say a bad word about him.

“He is one of the best trainers I have ever worked with, and if you see how he works tactically, it is great. He always seems to know what to do to win a game.

“Both me and Tim (Krul) have experience of working under him, but he is so adaptable that it is still hard to know what he is going to do. It will be hard to second guess him, but we really want to win Wednesday’s game and I think we are capable of dealing with whatever he comes up with.”

For all that Manchester United are perceived to have struggled this season, they remain just a point behind third-placed Arsenal, who they meet in the FA Cup quarter-finals next Monday.

Their away form, which has seen them win just three of their 13 Premier League games away from Old Trafford, is a major source of concern, but with another spending spree likely in the summer, they are likely to be even stronger next season.

Whereas David Moyes was dismissed before the end of his first year in charge, van Gaal will almost certainly be given time to develop his own methods, and Janmaat is confident he will be winning trophies provided his board remain patient.

“He is still fairly new there, and once he gets that time, I am sure he will win prizes for Manchester United,” he said. “He is a fantastic trainer, and he has a great team with some fantastic players.

“We got a good win at the weekend ourselves though and we will be going into the game full of confidence. It is a fantastic game to be able to look forward to.”

Newcastle’s victory over Aston Villa took them to 35 points, meaning another win tomorrow would take the club to the 38-point mark which is traditionally seen as the benchmark for Premier League safety.

Clearly, the club’s ambitions should be much higher than simply remaining in the top-flight, but given the disruption caused by Alan Pardew’s departure to Crystal Palace and the criticism that has accompanied a number of performances this term, hitting the safety mark with ten games remaining would still be a notable achievement.

A win over Manchester United would also ensure the recent capitulation at Manchester City was conclusively forgotten, and help atone for the Boxing Day defeat at Old Trafford which saw Newcastle produce one of their limpest performances of the campaign.

“It was important to show a good reaction at the weekend, and I think we did that,” said Janmaat. “I don’t think the game was necessarily the best we’ve played, but we won.

“We had some decent possession and showed some fight, and we just needed to get the victory. That was the really important thing. We knew it was important to get the right result, and that was the perfect way to set ourselves up for what is going to be a very big game.”