Club legends Rio Ferdinand and Paul Scholes have criticised Manchester United and Louis van Gaal on their poor showing in the UEFA Champions League this season.
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PSV Eindhoven’s 2-1 win over CSKA Moscow on the same night meant United tumbled out of the Champions League for an unwanted reunion with the Europa League.
Van Gaal admitted that Schweinsteiger, who was substituted by Michael Carrick in the 69th minute of the match, was not the same player he had seen at Bayern Munich.
United’s next six league games are all against teams in the bottom half of the table, even if that list includes champions Chelsea, while they host third-tier Sheffield United in the FA Cup third round.
“The luck was not there today”, Fellaini was quoted as saying by club’s official website on Tuesday.
“But you two times give away a goal within two minutes of scoring, that’s hard to understand when you defend so well normally”. However, United then conceded nearly immediately while PSV went on to win with ten men.
On his team’s chances in the Europa League, Van Gaal said: “I haven’t thought about that at this moment”.
Wolfsburg sporting director Klaus Allofs says it was “special” to eliminate Manchester United from the Champions League.
Hecking added: “We knew it was not going to be easy [after losing De Bruyne and Perisic] and we’d need time to get back on track, and I think we have deserved some criticism”.
“The facts say we are better than a year ago”.
While the club are expecting a £5m drop in their annual income because of their Champions League elimination, the Manchester United hierarchy are more concerned about the team’s ability to compete at the highest level.
Gaal’s tactics surprise on important night: With already having several key players in the injured list, United lost Matteo Darmian (hamstring) and the manager introduced Borthwick-Jackson, rather than experienced Ashley Young.
“The goalkeeper was not influenced by Mata because the ball was turning into the goal and I don’t think he can reach the ball”.
Manchester United’s fledgling European campaign finally came to an end as they were dumped out of the competition after suffering a 3-2 defeat to Wolfsburg at the Volkswagon Arena on Tuesday.
“But the last weeks have shown that United is not that strong yet, that is why we were definitely aware of our chances for the match”.
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But late winners for Wolfsburg and PSV knocked out Van Gaal’s team. The Portuguese captain also becomes the first player in history to score 10 goals or more in the group stage, with the 30-year-old finishing with 11 goals in 6 group games.
