Louis van Gaal expressed his delight at beating Manchester City in a crucial derby last weekend.
Even though United managed only in narrow 1-0 win, it represented three points and a major boost to their aspirations of finishing in the top four. It may still not be enough to save Van Gaal’s job, as the Dutchman is odds-on favourite to get the sack in the summer. However, the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager says that United can build on that performance from now till the end of the season. Marcus Rashford came up with a goal in the 16th minute to give the troubled United manager some respite from the criticism.
United have closed the gap on rivals City to just one point, although they have slipped behind West Ham into the sixth spot. Following the early exit from the Champions League and the aggregate 3-1 loss against Liverpool in the Europa League, Van Gaal was hoping for some good news. Rashford has been an excellent find from the youth academy and the 18-year-old striker has already scored three in four league appearances. Only time will tell if he becomes the next Bobby Charlton or Federico Macheda, who made a similar start only to falter later. One thing is for sure, on his £50,000 a week wages he won’t have to worry about getting a discount card Manchester!?
“We played a very good first-half with a goal and also had more chances and we didn’t receive a lot of chances against us.In the second-half we had to start again, we started well but after that we had to fight till the end because we were tired from playing on Thursday.They played on Tuesday so that is two days more rest which is important. I am a very proud manager today,” said van Gaal, who will be disappointed to see the international break spoil this confidence at the worst possible time.