Captain Wayne Rooney was dropped for the Boxing Day defeat at Stoke but has bounced back and produced a delightful finish to secure victory over Swansea.
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Van Gaal hopes this win will kick-start United’s season too.
United have come under scrutiny for a lack of creativity and chances in the final third this season but Smalling says he was impressed with the performances from United’s front men.
The United playmaker wrote on his weekly blog: “At last I can write a post feeling that we’ve done our duty during the weekend”.
To mark Rooney’s Premier League achievement, we’re taking a look at some of the club captain’s milestone goals in the English top flight…
United’s players flatly denied they were not playing for their manager, who walked out of a press conference in a huff 11 days ago following reports he was about to be replaced by Jose Mourinho.
It is unclear if this is a tried and tested method of Van Gaal, but legendary United boss Sir Alex Ferguson did something similar back in the 1990s.
At United, players dare not be a minute late for a meal – before a home game there’s one in late afternoon at the training ground and then a 10 p.m. supper at the team hotel – or his many meetings.
“They’re not used to that and I’m not used to that – losing four matches in succession”. They sit in fifth at present, and his position as manager remains in danger with the club also exiting the Champions League at the group stage.
Martial powered home Ashley Young’s cross less than two minutes after the restart to ease the tension that had built inside Old Trafford following yet another tiresome display in the first half.
Martial’s second game-changing moment came after Swansea equalised on one of their rare forays into United’s penalty area.
Van Gaal’s cautious style of football has drawn criticism from several quarters and now Adidas have also stuck the boot into the Dutchman’s tactics. “But you can not always do that”. With the game locked at 1-1, Martial gathered the ball on the left, effortlessly coasted past Federico Fernandez before playing a pinpoint cross into Wayne Rooney’s path for the winning goal.
Rooney moved above Denis Law into second place in United’s all-time scorers list with his second-half flick.
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Van Gaal, who had overseen United’s longest sequences of matches without victory since 1990, said: “It is fantastic and that at the age of 30 years”.
