Tetchy: Van Gaal was not impressed by Neville's comments
Louis van Gaal admitted his side were lucky to move into the top
three but warned Sky pundit Gary Neville: ‘Watch what you say about
Manchester United’.
The Reds boss accepted Robin van Persie, who struck twice against Southampton for their fifth win in a row,
had bailed his team out. But Van Gaal took exception to Gary Neville’s
claim that Sunday’s game against Liverpool will be “the Dog and Duck
against the Red Lion”. The prickly Dutchman snapped: “He can say everything because he’s an ex-legend. But as an ex-legend, you have to know what you’re saying.”
Pressed
further, the United boss appeared to imply Neville should be more
respectful to his former club. He said: “You can interpret that (as you
like). It’s not difficult when I say he has to pay attention to his
words.”
Man United shots vs Southampton
3
Shots
2
On target
2
Goals
United managed just THREE attempts on target - lower than they have
recorded in any Premier League game since August 2003 - as they were
dominated by Ronald Koeman’s Southampton team.
Van Persie put the Red Devils ahead
on 12 minutes but Graziano Pelle equalised on 31 minutes. Shane Long
missed gilt-edged chances either side of half time before Van Persie
struck again on 71 minutes.
Van Gaal said afterwards: “Until now,
this was his best performance. His second was not so easy because the
ball was coming towards his right foot and he connected with his left. A
nice touch.
“It’s fantastic now to be third in the table, but I’d
hope we’d do that with a better performance because, tonight, we were
the lucky team.” VIEW GALLERY
Van Gaal, who withdrew poorly-performing Paddy McNair before half
time, insisted EIGHT players in his team were below par on the night.
“I
think that not only the goals are telling us something about Robin, but
also his performance.” said the United boss. “He was one of the three
players on the pitch of Manchester United who were good, or maybe very
good. He had a great influence on the result. Very positive.
“[McNair]
had no confidence, he had given three chances away. It’s very
disappointing for me and for Paddy, but I had to because as a manager I
am responsible.
“It’s tough but it’s also in his best interests. I
have made a lot of changes and all the boys can survive. It is only one
match, one moment in a lifetime.” PLAYER RATINGS:See Darren Lewis' scores
Mike Hewitt
Rescue act: Van Persie earnt United maximum points despite their poor display
Asked whether Southampton deserved more, Van Gaal said: “When you are
the better team, you deserve more. But believe me, it is always the
goals which count.
“We have played the first six or seven matches
and never won, but we were always the better team. But at that time I
didn’t say anything about that. You have to learn that also.”
Koeman later refused to console himself with the knowledge that his team were the better side.
He
said: “The score is 1-2. You can talk long about who deserved to win,
who played the football, who played the offensive football, which team
did the pressing, but everything is t because we lost.”
Those Neville comments in full
"It's going to be the Dog and Duck versus the Red Lion!
"They
(United) keep getting injuries, two changes in the back four or five
again in the first half and they can't keep defenders fit.
"They
look shaky on the ball and tonight they lacked counter-attack and any
speed. When they were that bad against Arsenal they had a counter-attack
through Di Maria. Tonight they didn’t have anything.
“They have
got away with murder tonight with that performance to win there.
Southampton weren’t very good at all. United are going to have to play
better than that.
“Louis van Gaal will watch the video back and
think they were so bad in their passing at times - it almost got to the
point where you started laughing. Not holding back: Neville was not impressed by United
“It was that bad. It was that frustrating I was laughing. I
couldn’t believe the amount of times they gave it away. In the first
half the amount of times they passed it back.
“You look at the
players and there was £100m quids worth in central midfield and £50m
worth up front - we’re talking about massive players. Forget the back,
the front part of the pitch...Valencia and Young at wing-back and you
have to say they are makeshift wing backs at best.
"Young kids,
players playing out of position, Michael Carrick is playing centre-back
so you can see why it would be bad at the back and disruptive.
"But
in front of that it was so bad in terms of the passing and the accuracy
and that will be the shock. Louis van Gaal will be shocked at how bad
it was at times. I was shocked."
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