Louis van Gaal will rest his tired players tomorrow before they prepare for Sunday’s Premier League clash with Arsenal following a taxing night in the Champions League against Wolfsburg.
Advertisement
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger feels that Manchester United’s lead at the top of the Premier League doesn’t mean much at this point of the season. “His development as a player is fantastic, so I am very happy with him“.
In the first half we played very well but we didn’t finish our chances, and that was our problem. “He now does not have the feeling for the situation in which he can be successful”. “That will benefit them but we shall manage it”, Van Gaal said.
And Van Gaal admits he could be forced to change his team, despite four straight wins in all competitions, due to concerns over the freshness of his squad.
“I don’t speak about individual performances, but I have seen Mata playing better than today”, he said. “That’s my ambition. I like to win a lot as a manager“.
But United endured several nervy moments before the final whistle, with Andre Schuerrle and Ricardo Rodriguez going close, and Van Gaal was dismayed by his side’s momentary loss of defensive wherewithal.
The Premier League is lauded as the best league in the world, but this is not supported by the records of the national team or clubs on the European stage.
“There are referees who are not whistling for such an incident so then you are lucky that he is whistling”, Van Gaal said of the handball. We have beaten Wolfsburg and I am very happy about that. So I have said that to the players.
United face CSKA in Europe next and Jones admitted that the win against Wolfsburg was mightily important having gone behind so early on.
The Dutchman said Smalling’s goal would give the player the confidence to find the back of the net more often.
But the 34-year-old was named in Roy Hodgson’s England squad on Thursday afternoon.
Advertisement
But Van Gaal is guarding against complacency as he warned his team to expect a response from the Gunners. He was not really injured – it was a minor injury of tiredness. He’ll need to protect the defence and make sure Arsenal don’t get too much space in attack. “That is why I brought Schweinsteiger here and Schneiderlin because they give composure to the team”.
