MANCHESTER UNITED MANAGER Louis van Gaal is dreaming of winning the FA Cup after a 3-1 fourth-round win at Derby County eased the immediate pressure on his shoulders.
The Dutchman’s side are already out of the Champions League and League Cup, while they sit fifth in the Premier League, but goals from Wayne Rooney, Daley Blind and Juan Mata on Friday kept their hopes of a first FA Cup trophy since 2004 alive.
Van Gaal was thrilled with the way his team performed against their Championship opponents and talked up the importance of the competition after the match.
“The Premier League is very important but the FA Cup is the greatest cup in England with a long and important history,” he told BBC Sport. “We have not won it for a long time so we dream of it, but after two wins you can’t say that we will win it.
“It [the performance] was maybe better than we had trained. We played at the right time against the resistance of Derby.
“We gave their goal away but at half-time I said that it was a good performance, keep it up and we will win – and we did.”
The goal from centre-back Blind with 25 minutes remaining restored United’s lead after George Thorne had struck for Derby in the first half and Van Gaal praised his player’s desire.
“Blind’s goal? You have to sniff it and he sniffed it,” said the manager. “It was a great goal.”
United looked something like their former selves as they put the Championship outfit to the sword in an impressive second-half performance.
The performance of Frenchman Anthony Martial, who assisted Rooney and Mata for their goals, was another subject of delight for the Dutch manager, even if the forward did disappoint in his opening 20 minutes.
“He started not so good, I think, but I said that to him and after the first 20 minutes he came into the match and he was fabulous,” he said.
“I am very happy that he is a Manchester United player because I think he shall be a great player for Manchester United for a long time.”
When asked by reporters at his post-game news conference about how he would celebrate the victory, Van Gaal said he would enjoy some fine wine given him to by the club’s chief-executive Ed Woodward after United beat Liverpool in the Premier League earlier in January.
“We drink a nice bottle of wine, probably the most expensive wine, because I have received that from Ed Woodward,” said Van Gaal.
“I get always expensive wine when we beat an opponent of out the top six. I don’t want to mention the name because it is a little bit extravagant.”
Van Gaal said his future was never riding on the result of one game in particular.
“It is not a question of one match. It is difficult to understand but it is a process. It is a period of three years. This board is very intelligent to understand that. It is not a question of one match,” the Dutchman said.
