Van Gaal’s failure to win a trophy so far, coupled with the availability of former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho, has left United’s board with a tough decision to make at the end of the season. We are all very close friends. Ten years ago, he was even closer to collecting the Cup when his West Ham side led Liverpool 3-2 in injury time.
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Pardew etched his name in Palace folklore by netting an extra-time victor against Liverpool in the semi-finals and 26 years later, he is seeking to steer the club to their first major trophy. “I always said to Sir Alex Ferguson he had a secret ingredient – and it was luck”.
“With Leicester’s title triumph and us making it to the FA Cup final, I believe that Palace have it in themselves to spring a surprise against a vulnerable United”. It is the start of two incredible months, but I have to focus on the FA Cup final. Shaw’s return to training is a massive step for the young Englishman after he broke his leg back in a Champions League match at PSV Eindhoven in the group stage of the tournament.
They proved that you don’t have to have a $158million midfield, or an 80,000 seater stadium or a billion dollar franchise worldwide, you just need to play good quality football and knock the big boys off. Having failed to get Manchester United into the Champions League, speculation continues to be rife about whether Van Gaal will see out the final year of his three-year contract. We didn’t do that with the Premier League.
“As players at a big club, we have to look for success and we have to be demanding of ourselves and with the club”, Herrera added.
Joel Ward is also often seen by many as an attacking threat down the right flank of Palace, and with Wilfried Zaha could leave United in trouble with Martial sometimes unreliable in tracking back and helping out his full back, this could be an area Palace could exploit? It took a replay for United to get home, a luxury neither club has in the 21st century. After the semi-final win, on Twitter, Instagram and everywhere, they were showing their happiness and celebrations and leaving messages of support and encouragement for us. It did not save Louis van Gaal from an underwhelming reaction from the audience when he reached for the mic at Old Trafford to give thanks for their support. I still don’t know how we ended up losing that one.
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“I don’t think the team could have given any more, we just weren’t good enough, but this team I think are good enough”. They have managed only two clean sheets in their last 19 games and would find it hard to contain a Manchester United side stoked up by goals and a victory against Bournemouth in mid-week.
