Teenage striker Anthony Martial further endeared himself to Manchester United’s supporters with a nerveless brace as his side came from behind to win 3-2 at Southampton on Sunday.
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When Koeman’s opinion was put to Van Gaal, the Dutchman was dismissive of his compatriots claims.
“Of course, we shall always strive for it, we also did past year, but you can’t expect from a team in transition already a title, but when we are close we shall grab it”, he said.
Louis van Gaal: “I am very happy with him but we and he have to keep our feet on the ground”. “His talent is at a high level and he adapts to the system of how we want to play – that is also important”.
“It is a fantastic result away at Southampton and we have made a statement that we shall compete for the title”, he said.
The 19-year-old Frenchman has netted three goals in his first two appearances for United and is now third favourite with many bookmakers to finish the season as Premier League top scorer.
Schneiderlin knows that “in the Premier League it is never finished and you have to be careful until the end.” .
Louis van Gaal’s side were given a torrid time by the Saints in the opening half an hour but were once again clinical in front of goal.
Juan Mata added a third and while Pelle headed a late second, United held on.
Manchester United legend Paul Scholes has let his frustrations be known after seeing his former club suffer a 2-1 reverse in their opening group stage fixture of the Champions League against PSV Eindhoven.
David de Gea, who nearly left Man Utd 24 hours before Martial arrived, was on hand to make two good saves, but Martial was the one receiving Van Gaal’s praise.
Asked if the team were defensively good, he said: “I think so yes but not in the last 15 minutes”.
“I will tell them tomorrow the same story, it is always a risk”.
Twitter was awash with musings on Martial’s performance, which took his total to three goals in three games for United, and it doesn’t look like the doubters have a leg to stand on anymore.
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His second goal was credited to his attacking awareness as a weak back-pass from Maya Yoshida was intercepted by Anthony Martial, who calmly slid the ball past the goalie for Manchester United’s lead.
