Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal is not keen to talk about his feud with Southampton counterpart Ronald Koeman ahead of the two sides' match tonight.

The Dutch pair fell out at Ajax a decade ago. Van Gaal's former Barcelona assistant was in charge of the Amsterdam side with the current Man United boss operating as technical director.

But the two clashed with Koeman feeling that Van Gaal was interfering with his coaching and transfer strategy.

For example, Van Gaal used to place his chair on the side of the training pitch to watch Koeman's training sessions, while the latter was reportedly unhappy when Van Gaal sanctioned Zlatan Ibrahimovic's transfer from Ajax to Juventus on the last day of the 2004 summer window.

A win would move United above the south coast side into third, but Van Gaal was keen to avoid talk of the feud as he praised the former Feyenoord manager who had been tipped to succeed him as Holland boss after the World Cup.

"Ronald Koeman is a very good coach. It's also surprising that Southampton are in that position now. But that's always a matter of a trainer, coach, manager, players and staff," said Van Gaal.