Manchester United’s hopes of qualifying for the Champions League knockout stages still hang in the balance after being held to a 0-0 draw by PSV at Old Trafford on Wednesday night.
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PSV will progress if they beat CSKA Moscow at home on Matchday Six, while United know they will likely require a win in Germany to make the Last-16.
“I said in advance that he would be the revelation of this season and he was on his way to doing that”, Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal said about Shaw, according to BBC Sport. “It is not a effect of good or bad performances”, added the Old Trafford boss. United went close to scoring three times in the first half although they lacked sharpness in front of goal.
“We could control the game and they would have to come out a bit more, but it never happened and so they can sit back a bit more and try to hit us on the break, which they almost did a few times”.
Martial had two decent opportunities in the first half, the first when the ball broke to him in the box and the second following a smart turn 15 yards out, but both times he was denied by PSV keeper Jeroen Zoet.
‘We started off with a defeat in the first game, but since then we’ve steadily been picking up points.
Van Gaal’s discussion of the game suggested that his changes should have improved the side in the second half. Fast. In the second half it was noticeable that Davy Propper and Andres Guardado had a growing influence on the game as Morgan Schneiderlin gave the ball away on multiple occasions and Bastian Schweinsteiger was subbed out.
With Anthony Martial returning from injury to line up alongside Depay and Lingard United had pace to burn in attack while Wayne Rooney was also back after missing Saturday’s 2-1 win at Watford through illness.
United knew before Wednesday that a win would be enough to send them through, but the draw leaves them in a very precarious position. Van Gaal asked. “Our away average is much better than past year”.
However, the young France global struggled last night in their Champions League fixture against PSV Eindhoven, in which the Red Devils ended the game once again with a 0-0 result.
“Anything’s possible. We can win anywhere”, said Van Gaal.
“We’ve only got ourselves to blame, but we can do it in Wolfsburg”.
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“They could not find a solution, how to break us down, and towards the end maybe they did not believe they could do it”.
