Manchester United vs. Everton: Key Takeaways from Louis van Gaal's Presser

Manchester United rebounded from an extremely poor defensive showing in a loss to Leicester City to score a victory over West Ham United last week.

Now Louis van Gaal is hoping his squad can build off those positive vibes in a home clash with Everton on Sunday.

It's already been a season of several ups and downs for United. They came out of the gates sluggish before scoring a convincing four-goal triumph over Queens Park Rangers. That strong effort was immediately followed by the defeat at the hands of Leicester in which they gave up five goals.

Van Gaal must find a way to get the side to perform more consistently moving forward. The progress will be tested by an Everton group that's coming off a 1-1 draw with Liverpool. The Toffees have also struggled mightily along the back line at times, though.

Without further ado, let's check out some of the highlights and takeaways from the United manager's pre-match press conference.

The club noted he confirmed 19-year-old defender Paddy McNair will draw his second straight start after a solid showing in his debut:

A major reason McNair is being called on so much is the lack of players fit for 90 minutes of action. Ian Ladyman of The Daily Mail provided Van Gaal's count of how many players are unavailable:

David McDonnell of The Daily Mirror passed along the names of some of those confirmed out:

Former Everton star Marouane Fellaini is also not ready to play a full match, as mentioned by BBC Red Wednesday:

Club captain Wayne Rooney will miss the match through suspension. As expected, the manager stated Juan Mata will likely slide into the playmaking role, as United Report notes:

As for who will take the captain's armband for the match, Van Gaal says he's already informed the players but wasn't ready to go public with the information quite yet:

Chris Winterburn of Metro passed along word that the boss believes United's home-field advantage is a bigger factor than Everton's travels after a Thursday Europa League fixture:

BBC Radio Manchester provided praise from Van Gaal about the style of football Roberto Martinez's side plays:

The good news for United is that even though they still haven't come close to top form, they are just two points out of the top four. Scoring a victory over Everton would be another step in the right direction and ensure they either keep pace or gain ground on the other top clubs.

Van Gaal is clearly concerned about the selection woes, which make the task of filling out a lineup that will gel together extremely difficult. Alas, the biggest question coming out of the press conference is who will assume the role of captain.

His decision not to announce it adds another layer of intrigue to the high-profile match on Sunday.