Manchester United managed to return from St. Jamesa Park with three crucial points after Ashley Young scored a late winner to give Van Gaal a much-needed win. The fixture saw the Manchester United manager snub Radamel Falcao as he hailed his captain Wayne Rooney for his a unbelievable fighting spirita .
Manchester United had plenty of opportunities to take the lead in the game but failed to take their chances as Newcastle United held on to a stalemate. Ultimately it was Wayne Rooney who managed to pressurize the opponents into making a mistake that eventually led to the goal. Manager Van Gaal hailed his captaina s performance and commented that his team was playing a good footballa despite the criticism.
“I have to say that Wayne, how he makes that goal, is unbelievable, because it was a lost ball. But his fighting spirit is unbelievable. I have a fantastic group. They have the spirit and, in spite of all the criticism, they want to win and always play good football. Today I think we played good football.”
The manager also identified David De Geaa s contribution against Newcastle United as the goal-keeper pulled a string of crucial saves to earn a well-deserved clean sheet.
“David De Gea, this year, is unbelievable. In my career I have a lot of good goalkeepers, for example Edwin van der Sar was one of my goalkeepers and [Victor] Valdes also with Barcelona, but De Gea is having a great season.a
Van Gaal appeared to be quite pleased with the performance as he claimed that a win against Newcastle United away from home was a difficult task.
“Newcastle is a difficult ground to win at so I am very pleased. They have won here against the top clubs so I am very happy.”
Meanwhile Ashley Young said that he was confident about earning three points at St. Jamesa Park and went on to defend Manchester United against the criticism levelled at the team.
a It was a hard-fought win. We knew we had to come here and get three points and we got our reward. We had chances in the first half but just couldna t put them away. We knew wea d get another chance – luckily it fell to me and I scored.a
a People are always going to question the biggest club in the world, but we just concentrate on ourselves. We dona t listen to anyone else, we just listen to the manager and the staff at the club. We heard the other results and know that the teams around us are winning. So it was a really crucial win.a