“We know that it is not good enough for us, the players know that, I know that, the board knows that and the fans know that”, former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager Van Gaal said.
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“That is happening now, and I can not close my eyes to that”.
With 90 seconds of stoppage time remaining there was one chance for United to deny Norwich the victory the grit of their defensive work had deserved. “But that is what I believe and maybe in this matter that is not so interesting”. “We kept them to just two shots on target and that’s to our credit”, the Norwich manager said. But in 25 years of management I evaluate myself, the philosophy is also about making an evolution. Today it was very hard to say something, but I said something that will stay with the players.
Cameron Jerome put Norwich in front before halftime and when Alex Tettey made it 2-0 the atmosphere inside Old Trafford was mutinous. With a fixture at Stoke and against a Chelsea side rejuvenated by the excising of the poison of Mourinho it could be an uncomfortable and terminal Christmas, although Van Gaal thought the club would gain nothing by removing him now.
Norwich had taken a two-goal lead either side of the break before Anthony Martial halved the deficit with a well-shot goal in the 66th minute.
United had peppered the Norwich penalty area with unsuccessful crosses, but one finally proved telling midway through the second half, as Martial pounced on Rooney’s flicked header from a Mata delivery before firing high past Declan Rudd from 12 yards out.
Or should supporters be patient and give Van Gaal more time to turn the clubs fortunes around? We know that it (losing to Norwich) is not good enough for us. The problem is how do you manage to come out of a bad period.
United have now gone six matches without a win and their next home game, a week on Monday, is against Chelsea! We did that this season until now.
As seen above, van Gaal gets frustrated with the pen, looks at it, and hands it back to where it came from without signing the young fan’s jersey. And when you lose the belief in the manager decreases. Victory took Chelsea up to 15th place, four points clear of the relegation zone.
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“But Van Gaal, they’re fifth in the league still, he’s not going to get the sack here”.
