Manchester United were eliminated from the Champions League after an eventful Tuesday night of European action, with Real Madrid hitting eight at the Bernabéu and Manchester City coming from behind at the Etihad to top their group.
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What’s it got him?
Despite being all but through with eight minutes left on the clock, a late header from Naldo resigned Manchester United to a 3-2 defeat against Wolfsburg in their final Champions League group game and ergo a new life in the Europa League.
Supporters of the increasingly embattled Van Gaal argue he has stabilized United after a period of upheaval following Alex Ferguson’s departure in 2013 and David Moyes’ ill-fated 10-month tenure. Instead they find themselves winless in the last 4 matches.
United now shift focus back to local matters, as they take on Bournemouth in their next Premier league game on Saturday.
Critics counter by saying it would be tough not to be in what appears to be the most open Premier League title race in years – although Chelsea somehow has managed to be out of contention already.
“If you strip it back this squad needs a hard look”, he said on BT Sport.
It’s better to finish first but all important teams will be in Round of 16 – if you want to win the title you have to play against the biggest teams.
After United slipped from second to third, Ferdinand and Scholes were both critical of Van Gaal’s United, especially given their lavish close-season spending.
“When you’re relying on a 20-year-old kid to scoring a goal, it’s just not right”.
Van Gaal refused to lay into his players following the loss in Lower Saxony.
Scholes added his frustrations at the attacking burden falling on opening goalscorer Anthony Martial amid the absence of injured captain Wayne Rooney.
Van Gaal said: “When you give first that it’s a goal, then a few players come over and you change your mind, that is odd”.
Louis van Gaal claimed Manchester United were making good progress under his reign despite their embarrassing Champions League exit.
Van Gaal also spoke about the Juan Mata offside decision, where the Spaniard was deemed to interfere in the play which cost Jesse Lingard an equaliser for United just before half-time.
Meanwhile, PSV scored twice in the last 12 minutes to come from behind and beat CSKA Moscow 2-1, sealing United’s fate. That’s where they’ve failed.
“I haven’t thought about that [the Europa League] at this moment”.
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“It’s going to be a very important time for a lot of clubs and if United were looking to sign players, I think it was going to be a lot easier if they were in the Champions League than the Europa League”.
