Josh King returned to haunt Manchester United yesterday as his goal earned Bournemouth a memorable 2-1 victory that completed a miserable week for Louis van Gaal’s beleaguered team.
Advertisement
“Again, two set plays, like against Wolfsburg (who beat United 3-2 on Tuesday), and that’s not normal for us”, Van Gaal told Sky Sports.
Louis van Gaal admits Manchester United needs to get back to winning ways fast or risk losing pace in the race for the Premier League title.
“United are nowhere close to being a side that can win the Champions League, so the Premier League and Europa League are more realistic targets”.
Both full-backs, Cameron Borthwick-Jackson and Guillermo Varela, were making their full Premier League debuts, with 20-year-old Paddy McNair and makeshift defender Daley Blind completing their back line.
The calls for Van Gaal to be axed are mounting among United supporters, with Italian tactician Carlo Ancelotti emerging as a popular choice to take over at Old Trafford.
Van Gaal received yet more bad news this week when Bastian Schweinsteiger was suspended for three matches for violent conduct following an elbow on Winston Reid in United’s 0-0 draw against West Ham last weekend.
“I don’t think it is because of that [injuries] we lost”. Everyone is contributing but I think the real feature today was the work ethic of the whole team.
And United soon made them pay as Depay was played in by a typically astute Michael Carrick pass, controlling on his chest before forcing another smart stop out of Boruc – but the Polish goalkeeper could do nothing to prevent Fellaini eventually bundling home the rebound.
“I don’t think we will have many better weeks than this one”, Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe said. “Of course, I am concerned because this is not usual for United”.
“It was an equal game, they scored out of set-plays but defensively we had a big problem with King all the time”, he said.
Leicester, second in table and with a game in hand over United, host Jose Mourinho’s side on Monday and a win for the Foxes would leave Van Gaal’s side five points off the top.
“We have those three competitions so we will see how we do at the end of the season”.
“We have to stay up there in a position to keep fighting but still we are in that position”.
He added: “For me the most important thing is the commitment of the players and for them to play how we agreed”.
Advertisement
When asked about his thoughts of playing in Europa League, he said: “I haven’t thought about that at this moment. It’s a game that we can look back on with a lot of pride”.
