Louis van Gaal has snapped back at Virgil van Dijk over his comments on the Netherlands' formation following their win against Denmark.
The Netherlands produced an impressive attacking display to beat Denmark 4-2 in a friendly clash at Johan Cruyff ArenA on Saturday, with Steven Bergwijn hitting a brace and Nathan Ake and Memphis Depay also getting on the scoresheet.
Van Gaal has recorded six wins and two draws since returning to coach his country for the third time last September, but his captain is not a big fan of his preferred system.
What did Van Dijk say?
Liverpool star Van Dijk voiced his opinion after the win over Denmark, telling reporters: "Until today we have been training hard, with lots of tactics and meetings. There are good times but also things to improve. We will analyse this.
"Of course, we are playing in a new system, different things are required of the players. I think we showed a lot of good things.
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"Do I like the system? Well, I'm still in favour of 4-3-3 but I'm not the national coach and the national coach has a very strong opinion about it."
Van Gaal's response
Van Gaal says he had previously sat down to Van Dijk to discuss his concerns over the formation, but won't be changing his methods in order to appease the Liverpool man.
Speaking ahead of the Netherlands' next friendly against Germany on Tuesday, the 70-year-old told a press conference: "I know he has that preference, he always said this publicly. We already had this debate when I came here. The manager decides the tactics."