Manchester United: LVG praises defensive display but wants more pace in offense following West Brom win

Manchester United: LVG praises defensive display but wants more pace in offense following West Brom win

Manchester United: LVG praises defensive display but wants more pace in offense following West Brom win

Manchester United manager refused to
criticise Tony Pulis for setting up his team in a
defensive manner after the Red Devils' 2-0 win
over West Bromwich Albion on 7 November,
and was delighted with his team for breaking
them down in the second-half and securing an
important win. Despite the win, the Old
Trafford club remain in fourth place in the
Premier League owing to high-flying Leicester
City's win over Bournemouth.
Jesse Lingard, who came in for high praise
from the manager in recent days for his eye
catching performances, was the hero yet again
after he finished with aplomb in the 52 nd
minute to give United the lead, before Juan
Mata wrapped up the win with a penalty during
added time at the end of the game. The Dutch
manager was delighted with his team after the
win, but was critical of his players for going
off the boil following the opening goal.
"I expected this line up [from West Brom] with
the holding midfielder. They played with 10
men behind the ball and sometimes the striker
was also defending, so I think we've done very
well. I said at half-time that we had to
continue and be patient, because the goal was
coming," Van Gaal said, as quoted on United's
official site.

"Every manager has the right to choose his
strategy and we have to organise ourselves
against that. We could have played the ball
more quickly in the first half; in the second
half I believe we did better, until the first goal,
after which we forgot to continue to play
football, Nevertheless, that changed the
game."
The Red Devils boss, however, was full of
praise for his defensive unit yet again after
another clean sheet, their fourth on the trot
following the 3-0 debacle at the Emirates
Stadium against Arsenal. The manager
believes his team are defending from the front
and that is the key for their string defensive
organisation during games.
"Goals are always the most important thing in
a game but we're still not giving many
chances away, only Berahino's header. We
have won a difficult game that we lost last
year. Because of that, [West Brom manager]
Tony Pulis chose this strategy but now we
have won and improved again," the Dutchman
added.

"It would be better if we'd also kept one
against Arsenal! It was a clean sheet today,
and I'm very satisfied with our defensive
organisation, but it starts with Anthony Martial
and Wayne Rooney and you've seen that
today. They have pressed a lot and have had
to run a lot because of that, but every player
is doing that, so I'm a happy manager," he
explained.