“I think they lack real quality, you look at the recruitment, they have thrown decent money at it, but there are no special players at the moment”.
Advertisement
“Every word I say is the wrong word”.
Having been in the Europa League just once in the last 19 years, United are certainly not accustomed to it. The hosts answered only four minutes after the fact when left-back Ricardo Rodriguez, who injured himself, let go in a free-kick which center-back Naldo guided into the back of the net. I think only after two minutes he already had a very good chance, it would have been great if he would have scored.
PSV Eindhoven’s 2-1 win at home to CSKA Moscow allowed the Dutch to claim second place at Manchester’s expense as third-placed United now drop into the Europa League.
Manchester United fans overwhelming vote for Louis van Gaal to be sacked before he enters the past year of his contract. Vieirinha regained the lead for Wolfsburg in the 29th, before an own goal by Josuha Guilavogui in the 82nd tied the score.
“This was a tight group so I am not agreeing with any opinion that this was an easy group”, he said. ‘I know that because I am also disappointed and so are my players.
When you see the circumstances in which we had to play with a lot of injuries and also the last 15-20 minutes with 10 players… you have to analyse that also.
“We just need to stay positive”, he said.
But it is make-or-break for Van Gaal and with Carlo Ancelotti fluttering his eyelashes at the Premier League and Pep Guardiola’s Bayern Munich future unresolved, he can not afford many more missteps.
Robin van Persie was sold in the summer by Louis van Gaal because the Manchester United manager believed the striker was not conducive to the team spirit the manager was fostering.
“They didn’t deserve to qualify”, said BT Sports pundit Rio Ferdinand.
“You can look at the goals they conceded – their league form hasn’t been too bad, they’ve kept plenty of clean sheets, but they are certainly lacking some characters”.
However, Hartson feels Van Gaal shouldn’t receive a single penny to spend and wants Manchester United to change managers as soon as possible.
Paul Scholes went even further. “They are an average team and with an average team, you get average performances”.
Advertisement
The club haven’t lost in seven Premier League matches, but they have only scored five goals over this period, which isn’t good enough for a team expected to be challenging for the title.
