Even allowing for the injuries, youth and inexperience which were all factors in their 3-2 defeat to Wolfsburg, United can have no complaints about a result which, ultimately, cast a harsh and unforgiving light on the sheer mind-numbing ordinariness of the current side.
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However, Van Gaal was adamant that his players still believed in him, despite this latest defeat.
Manchester United needs to get it together.
In two of their three wins, the Old Trafford crowd booed Van Gaal for replacing Anthony Martial with Marouane Fellaini against CSKA Moscow and jeered the team at half-time against West Brom.
It remains to be seen whether the United board will be tempted to end the Van Gaal era now, but it is clear that the concern surrounding his tenure as manager is now exploding into a fully blown crisis.
Asked if he could ever have imagined successive wins over Chelsea and Manchester United, he said: “I could, with the players we’ve got and the manager (Eddie Howe) we’ve got”.
“So the problem is that we have to meet with the expectations, and the expectations at a club like United are very high”. “I’m not thinking like that”, he snapped.
“I have read already in the media that I am 64 and I am too old. For me, it is a big competition”.
“I could say excuses but you get injuries and you have to deal with them”, he said.
“I understand the Dutch way of playing the game is you have to be in certain positions at certain times but in the last third you have to let the genius and the guy that can make the difference express himself”. United’s defending all game was so poor which is just not acceptable for a team competing for the Premier League title.
“For me the most important thing is the commitment of my players to perform as we have agreed and I can only tell they want to do that”.
The Sun’s Lipton, speaking on Sunday Supplement, says United’s current squad is lacking in quality, and that Van Gaal’s side are not realistic contenders like Arsenal and Manchester City, despite being just three points off leaders Leicester City.
Matteo Darmian and Chris Smalling are also unavailable after suffering hamstring and groin injuries respectively at Wolfsburg. “And yesterday in training he had a feeling he was not fit enough”, Van Gaal said. Bournemouth completely dominated the second half and earned a famous victory in front of their home crowd.
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“Back in that time, Barcelona had great money, Real Madrid had great money”. La Liga outfits, Valencia and Sevilla, are also competing for the trophy and thus it will be a very interesting tournament this season.
