During an exclusive interview with MUTV ahead of this weekend’s trip to West Bromwich Albion, van Gaal provided an insight into his relationship with the more experienced players at United and admitted it was a straightforward call to appoint Mata as his leader on the pitch.
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Making his first Premier League start was 18-year old defender Timothy Fosu-Mensah as he slotted in the centre of defense along with compatriot Daley Blind.
“When you see that we close the gap a little bit then your belief shall rise, of course”, says Van Gaal. “No. Rashford is thanks to my policy and the club, of course, has proved that”.
“He is there because of that and the same thing for [Cameron] Borthwick-Jackson, [Guillermo] Varela and a lot of other players”.
“There’s always a group of supporters within every club that won’t be happy with what’s going on unless you’re top of the league or doing something very, very special”. Youngsters are not consistent, we are talking about consistency.
Anthony Martial returned from injury to feature as the right winger opposite Memphis, relegating Jesse Lingard to the bench.
“We know that a few weeks ago we weren’t playing so well and losing matches we shouldn’t have lost”. It is better to do in the second team but I am forced to do that.
The match offers United the chance to go on a five-match winning run for the first time in this topsy-turvy season – a result that would ratchet up the pressure on faltering rivals Manchester City.
It now makes qualifying for the Champions League via the Premier League a genuine possibility, which would no doubt make it easier to attract players to Old Trafford this summer.
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The Dutchman has also filled in at left back following Luke Shaw’s horrific leg break in September and since when Rojo was KO’d after shoulder surgery. They were pressing us and we gave too many balls away.
