Manchester United walked away from Old Trafford having comfortably eased past Leicester City who failed to replicate their performance from the reverse fixture earlier this season. Keeping pace with Chelsea and Manchester City, Van Gaal has earned three crucial points that keeps him within touching distance of the other two clubs running away with the Premier League title.
Manchester United came into the game following a disappointing goaless draw against Cambridge United and Van Gaal switched to the a ass-twitchinga 4-4-2 formation in search of goals at Old Trafford. And goals he did find as Robin Van Persie, Radamel Falcao and Daley Bind each scored a goal to give Manchester United a 3-1 win over Leicester City.
Having lost the reverse fixture rather dramatically earlier this season, Manchester United manager Van Gaal believes that his side were able to extract a revengea after humbling Leicester City at Old Trafford.
a I’m always happy when we win and when we win with three goals. Two goals’ difference so Ia m very pleased. We lost the away match and we have taken revenge of that. We have dominated the game, especially in the first half. In the second half, I wanted to kill the game but I have to admit my players did kill the game too much! They played backwards too much. I think you have to wait for the moment you can play forwards and then play it forwards. Nevertheless, we could have scored two goals more and they scored out of nothing.”
Van Gaal revealed that it playing against Leicester City was not easy as they defended in a determined manner, pushing most of their players back. He reiterated that his side had to be patient in order to break down their defence and could not rely in high-speed attacks to see them through.
“Sometimes but not in every attack. That is also not possible, though, because you have seen our opponent has defended with two rows of four and also one of the strikers dropping into his own half. Then ita s very difficult to continue with high-speed attacks so you have to be patient. Today, we were patient enough in the first half and I think we scored three fantastic goals. I’m happy as we have a great result.”
Van Gaal also revealed that he is in the dark regarding the future of Darren Fletcher as the deal with West Ham United has apparently fallen through.
“I don’t know what is happening. When you allow your player to go to London for a medical and there is no problem and at the end there is no agreement, that’s strange.a
“We want to help Fletcher. That’s my only concern. I am very happy as a manager that he is coming back. He is my third captain. But because of the competition he is not playing so much. That is why I want to help him. I don’t know what is happening. The agreement was different on Friday and now on Saturday it is off. I don’t know. I cannot say anything about it.”