One glaring reason why Manchester United are back to winning ways

Louis van Gaal hopes the floodgates will open for Wayne Rooney after he ended a two-month wait for a goal in the 2-1 win over Swansea.

Many were surprised when Van Gaal opted to play Blind, whose favourite position is in midfield, at the back, but former United left-back Denis Irwin thinks the former Ajax player has done a good job there this season.

“Also against Chelsea we played very risky because we want to press”.

The Reds boss is desperate to solve United’s goalscoring problem after identifying the failure to take chances as the reason behind his team’s eight-match winless streak. I say we have more shots at goal in the first 45 minutes, but we are playing, certainly at home, many matches like that.

Anthony Martial broke Manchester United’s goalless drought with a lovely header in the 48th minute.

Asked if the pressure on him is easing, Van Gaal added: “I don’t know because the pressure is also what you experience by yourself and also by the players because they have to perform in a certain time”.

And while United are only sixth at the moment, he feels the nature of a league where everyone is stumbling offers his side a chance to surge back up the table.

“So that’s football. That’s a season”.

“We’ve started the new year very well”, he told the club’s official website. “It was not voluntary, I changed them because I need to change”.

Third-placed Manchester City, which is three points behind the leaders, faces a tricky trip to Watford.

“We are more or less always pressing”.

The Dutchman was speaking after United held on to secure a first victory since November and end their losing sequence against Swansea.

Ashley Young, who set up Martial’s opener, praised both scorers, saying: “Anthony’s shown that week in, week out. With Herrera, it was because I wanted to waste time, as Swansea did all match”. It was important to get the win, however we did it. It was nice to get the two goals. “It was a sublime finish from Wayne Rooney for his goal”. It was a striker’s instinct to get there and put it away. There was still only a smattering of boos at halftime and the crowd finally came alive when Martial came in off his left-wing position and met a cross from Ashley Young with a downward header into the net. The team have been under a lot of pressure recently, and were desperate to shut off the critics by getting a victory.