“But you saw that because you wanted to see it”.
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“I said to the players, we had to win, we must close the gap”, Van Gaal said. A potential preview of next months FA Cup Final saw Manchester United full-back Matteo Darmian emerge as their attacking salvation, a fact that neatly sums up so numerous frustrations that have afflicted Louis van Gaals season.
Playing in an adventurous formation with Wayne Rooney deployed in a deeper role behind the front four, United were denied a bigger win by a string of superb saves from visiting goalkeeper Julian Speroni.
“They have won more, they are scoring more and that’s because they have more creative players”. For me, now, the most important thing is to beat Crystal Palace.
Teenager Marcus Rashford has enjoyed a great season since bursting through the scenes in February. He played there also a year ago.
Saturday’s semifinal opponent, Everton, is in turmoil after being crushed 4-0 by Liverpool in the Merseyside derby.
Van Gaal insists he was pleased with the way Rooney performed against Palace, and suggested the England skipper will continue to play in a similar position as long as Rashord’s form continues. “That is much more important”, the former Barcelona manager said.
“You need always guts to put youngsters in the squad and also in the line-up but, of course, the academy and all the academy coaches have credit for these players, also the scouts who discovered these boys”.
Louis van Gaal’s side take on Everton in the other FA Cup semi-final on Saturday and were rarely troubled by a lacklustre Palace side, who didn’t register a single shot on target in the game.
“We have to work very hard to reach this level because we have had a very full season”.
“It will just be nice to go out there and play the football we know”.
“After the Arsenal performance it was hard to get the same energy”.
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Though Rashford has settled into the first team straight away and has hit seven goals in 13 appearances, Van Gaal has warned the 18-year-old is not the finished article.
