DUBLIN -- Former Manchester United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar has backed Louis Van Gaal to win over the fans at Old Trafford -- just like he did at Ajax before leading them to European glory.
Van Gaal, 64, has come under fire from fans after United failed to score in their past three matches and in four of their last six.
The Dutchman has also had to defend his team's style in the face of criticism from ex-players like Andrei Kanchelskis, Gary Neville and Paul Scholes.
Van der Sar, 45, was part of the Ajax side that won the European Cup in 1995, but he remembers that Van Gaal had a rocky spell after first stepping up from assistant manager to take the top job in Amsterdam.
"In Ajax he came in 1991 as the manger and the first year was difficult," Van der Sar said at the Web Summit event in Dublin.
"We had a great run in Europe and won the UEFA Cup in '92, but we finished fourth in the league and by December people were waving white flags [to protest against the team's poor play].
"I'm sure with the results he had with Bayern Munich and Barcelona, he's the guy who can bring United back to the success we had while I was at the club."
Van der Sar joined United from Fulham in 2005 and went on to win four Premier League titles and the 2007-08 Champions League.
Van Gaal succeeded in qualifying the club for the Champions League at the end of his first year in charge, but Van der Sar believes they are now suffering from a lack of experience after the break up of the side that he played on.
"He came in last year after a difficult period for the club," Van der Sar said. "He was unlucky with some players he had in the first year, as an example [Angel] Di Maria.
"The team has transformed a lot with a lot of new players, without the backbone of a [Ryan] Giggs, Scholes, Neville, [Nemanja] Vidic, [Rio] Ferdinand, [Patrice] Evra or myself.
"Hopefully with [Wayne] Rooney and [Michael] Carrick, with [Chris] Smalling and [Phil] Jones who have come through in the last few years, hopefully they can build a new backbone to bring success to United."
In a later interview with ESPN FC, the Ajax marketing director said older players were vital to helping younger players fulfil their potential.
"You not only get paid for playing 90 minutes," Van der Sar said. "I think you're getting paid to help the club in all different ways.
"We always had a strong backbone at United. Ex-players -- Scholes, Giggs, Neville, Ferdinand playing there for 10, 12 years. Vidic, myself playing there for six years, and Evra.
"That's missing I think at Ajax. I think we have 77 players from our academy playing all over Europe. That's the highest amount of players from any academy, so we're very proud of that.
"But we'd rather if, whatever, 10 percent of those players were still playing in our team.
"We would have a fantastic mix of young, exciting, talented players who want to conquer the world combined with players who have done things already and are bringing their experience to the team."