Manchester United boss Louis van Gaal hails “outstanding” Chris Smalling

I set aims and I was very lucky that clubs or national teams want me.

Manchester United defender Daley Blind has taken the time to praise Juan Mata following the Spaniard’s sublime performances in recent weeks.

It’s a big boost for United to have Carrick available again and the 34-year-old could come straight back in to the starting eleven on Sunday with either Morgan Schneiderlin or Bastian Schweinsteiger dropping to the bench.

The highlight of his performance on the night was, undoubtedly, the assist for Chris Smalling’s winning goal.

Van Gaal also confirmed Mata is United’s new designated penalty taker after his successful spot-kick.

The Spanish midfielder won and converted a penalty after 34 minutes. “I will have to do it then“.

So far the season is going well domestically with them leading the Premier League and things are looking more comfortable in the Champions League group.

“Wayne Rooney has missed a penalty”.

“Another solution is to change your squad”, he said.

The victory, coupled with CSKA Moscow’s defeat of Eindhoven in Russian Federation, means all four teams in group B are level on three points. “I think we made it hard for ourselves and we could probably learn to manage and control games a little bit better in those last 10 minutes”, he said.

And Smalling has told his defence they must get better.

The latter was then required at the other end, with United coming out on top thanks to a dogged defensive rearguard.

But Van Gaal is guarding against complacency as he warned his team to expect a response from the Gunners. We created so many chances – but then you don’t finish them, and that is unlucky.

“After the goal it was transforming our team, because we didn’t keep the ball anymore and I didn’t see Wolfsburg pressing so much, so we gave the ball away”, he added.

“A lot of players are very exhausted because of the accumulation of a lot of matches”, Van Gaal was quoted as saying by the BBC on Thursday.