MANCHESTER UNITED MANAGER Louis van Gaal claimed West Brom “parked the bus” after his side lost 1-0 to the Baggies at Old Trafford.
A deflected strike from Chris Brunt was enough for Tony Pulis’ side to claim victory although Robin van Persie missed a gilt-edged chance to equalise but his spot-kick was saved by Boaz Myhill.
The result leaves the Red Devils in fourth place, four points ahead of Liverpool with United to play Crystal Palace, Arsenal and Hull in their final three games.
“We knew that they would park the bus. We have to deal with that. I think in the first half, we didn’t create enough chances but we had chances to score,” he told Sky Sports.
“In the second half we had enough chances to score. You have to finish. It’s now the third match in a row. We have to take care of that.
“It’s very difficult. You are attacking all the match and you are not scoring – it’s very disappointing.”
Myhill also made two superb late stops from Van Persie and substitute Angel Di Maria to preserve a clean sheet, but Van Gaal insisted his team must be more clinical in front of goal having failed to score for the third game in a row.
“Also the defending of West Brom and a fantastic goalkeeper today [stopped Manchester United scoring],” he added.
“The finishing was not good enough. You can say a lot of things but I’ve seen a team that fights till the end. That attacks for 90 minutes. And one free-kick is enough to beat us.
“You know in advance that teams are doing that [parking the bus]. It’s not the first time. We were a little bit unlucky.
“But that’s not enough. You have to score out of your possibilities and the chances today were great enough for me.
“Only by communicating [can Manchester United recover]. They [the players] are now very disappointed but the manager is also disappointed.
“We have to evaluate what we are doing good, what we are doing bad, what we can improve and how the opponents shall play next week. We can play football that we showed also this match but we were unlucky.”
