Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal gave his press conference on Monday ahead of the Newcastle game and he has given what we view as an almost incredible response to questions about the level of performance during the FA Cup 3rd round tie at Old Trafford on Saturday teatime.
Far from being depressed with the inability to break down third tier opposition, Van Gaal reckons that he is, and Manchester United fans should be, happy. He told MUTV:
“Bastian is injured, that we know,” he explained. “We have seen that because he could not move. In spite of playing more or less with 10 and a half men, we beat Sheffield United and we were very happy with that.”
And when questioned in his press conference he said of the swathes of empty seats inside Old Trafford toward the end of the game:
“It could also be because of the traffic that they left the stadium a few minutes earlier. There are many reasons to leave a stadium at the last minute. Me, as a manager, when I was looking at matches to analyse our opponent, I have done that [left early] also in the beginning of my years as a manager. Then I would leave the stadium five minutes before the end. You never know what is the reason.”
Van Gaal doesn’t seem to ever get used to the idea that visiting teams coming to Old Trafford set out to defend solidly – not that they really need to any more.
And, lest we forget, Sheffield United actually had the first shot on target in the entire game, after 66 minutes.
Many Manchester United fans would like the boss to show more humility instead of regularly giving this stubborn and skewed version of events.
If you didn’t laugh as a Manchester United fan on Saturday you would surely have cried. The idea that there has been progress over the last 18 months is easy to argue against and Van Gaal is really clutching at straws right now.
And we don’t think that it is going to get any easier for Manchester United this week as they have two tough away trips to Newcastle and Liverpool.
Good luck with that Louis.
