Van Gaal knows United’s season will not be defined by the success or otherwise of the FA Cup campaign – he accepts that a fourth-place finish to secure a Champions League spot is much more important to the club.
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“It was more of a midfield role today, also because of the way Crystal Palace play, and I didn’t want to change [Marcus] Rashford from that [striker] position, so I had to look from another position for Wayne”.
“I said to the players, we had to win, we must close the gap”, Van Gaal said.
“They had a lot of offensive players which caused us a lot of problems, but they made it hard to get up the pitch, get some possession and try to have some game time”.
This performance bodes well for the Red Devils with an upcoming FA Cup semi-final against struggling Everton on Saturday. It was a match of 5-0, I think, but I’m pleased with how we have played.
Van Gaal, who revealed that both Rashford and Chris Smalling suffered knocks that will need to be assessed in the coming days, is now eager for his players to continue their winning run in the FA Cup semi-final against Everton.
Fans, unhappy with Louis van Gaal, voted with their feet and the atmosphere was as flat as the Dutchman’s homeland.
At an empty Old Trafford, Manchester United beat Crystal Palace 2-0 in a more attacking formation, with Matteo Darmian impressing throughout.
“You could see a little bit of that in our play, but I hope you give us a little bit of leeway on that”.
The manager said, “Of course the semi-final is not nothing.
So, I don’t think there is a lot of distance between Tottenham and Manchester United, but the distance is in points”, the former Barcelona manager was quoted as saying by the Independent on Wednesday.
It was a one-sided display against much-changed Palace, whose manager Alan Pardew believes many of his players were distracted by Sunday’s trip to Wembley.
A wayward Emmanuel Adebayor shot was the only effort of note Palace could muster during a half in which the majority of play was at the other end. “I felt the support of them from the first day and I am really happy with them”.
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“We had two or three knocks, Scott Dann being our biggest worry”, he said.
