Walcott: player meeting sparked United performance

“He has a little groin problem and unfortunately he goes to Chile”, said Wenger.

Van Gaal admitted he was “shocked” by the capitulation, criticising his team for allowing Santi Cazorla and Ozil the freedom to dominate the game in the first half. The 26-year-old was out for over a year with an anterior cruciate ligament injury and only returned to the first team earlier in 2015. The remainder of the game was mostly uneventful, as Arsenal was easily able to hang onto their lead and secure a key 3-0 victory.

“He didn’t score but he was a threat”. The Emirates is a very tough place to play, so a loss or draw was certainly not expected.

Van Gaal, who left Morgan Scheiderlin on the bench, made a double change at the break by replacing Matteo Darmian and Memphis Depay with Antonio Valencia and Marouane Fellaini and his side improved in the second half.

“We started strong and pressed very high, explained Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, who had spent the past few days defending his team and his coaching after the Olympiakos game”.

Former Barcelona manager and legendary Ajax player Johan Cruyff has questioned Louis van Gaal’s slightly less dominant style at Manchester United, as per Sky Sports. It’s not easy to beat Arsenal at their stadium, but when you lose 3-0 after the first 20 minutes then it’s nearly impossible.

“It is hard for me to answer and also for the players as they are all in an emotional moment”.

“We have lost, we have lost in a way that you can not lose when you are top of the bill or top of the league – you can not start like we have started and they know that”.

“We were top of the league so I was surprised – maybe “amazed” is a better word”.

The chart is surely impressive, especially considering Coquelin has played between 22 and 182 minutes less than his Premier League rivals.

However, we’ve criticised Ozil in the past for failing to show up in the big games – so let’s give credit where it’s due. But we [took it in] perspective and focused on what it is important. “We are in it. We are two points off the leaders Manchester City so I hope that result today gives us the belief and ambition we need”. We should be playing like that every week.