LOUIS VAN GAAL refuted suggestions that his Manchester United team lack attacking quality after they laboured to a 0-0 draw with Newcastle United at Old Trafford.
The build-up to Saturday’s Premier League match was dominated by talk of United captain Wayne Rooney’s poor early-season form and the fact that Van Gaal has failed to add more firepower to his squad following the departures of Robin van Persie, Angel di Maria and Radamel Falcao.
Rooney began the game like a man with a point to prove, but, after a bright opening 20 minutes, his performance fizzled out – much like that of United’s as a whole, barring a late flurry of chances that saw Javier Hernandez and Chris Smalling go close to snatching a winner. But, when questioned about his forward options afterwards, Van Gaal insisted he was happy with the players at his disposal.
“I think we can be satisfied about the performance but not the result because we don’t reward ourselves we have created a lot of chances and we were unlucky,” he told BT Sport.
When that statement was put to Old Trafford legend Paul Scholes, he summed up the mood of every supporter after the uninspiring display.
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“You need luck in football,” Van Gaal added, ”it’s not only what you call ‘quality’.
“The quality in the third and fourth phase, the crossing positions, was not so good [but] I think as a team we played fantastic and we fought to the end, which is fantastic to see.
I like these kind of games, only the result was bad.”
Van Gaal was also quizzed on the saga surrounding David de Gea’s future after the goalkeeper was again omitted from United’s squad amid continued links to Real Madrid. The Dutchman simply replied that the situation remains ‘in the process’ and that he could not say much on the matter.
