Louis van Gaal blames negative tactics for Manchester United’s uninspiring play

Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney bemoaned poor concentration after his team-mates were forced to share the spoils with Newcastle United.

Chris Smalling insists he and his teammates must learn from their mistakes as United were twice pegged back in Tuesday night’s draw with Newcastle United.

But, while Paul Dummett’s 90th-minute equaliser for Newcastle took a hefty deflection off Smalling, Steve McClaren arguably had considerably greater cause to be aggrieved by the refereeing.

“Of course it feels like a defeat”, confessed United manager Van Gaal.

“In recent times, we’ve done very well against them – obviously this year at Old Trafford and last season we’ve got very good results, so we’re very confident of going there and causing them a problem”.

“If you take a two-goal lead, we should be taking all three points and killing the game off”, he said.

Rooney hopes that United s rediscovered attacking edge will be on display again at Anfield.

“The heavyweight wrestling between Mitrovic and Smalling, you can clearly see that he [Mitrovic] is pushing the head of Smalling to the ground”.

After Chancel Mbemba conceded a dispute penalty in the first half and the Magpies were denied a spot-kick themselves, Dummett said: “It was a harsh penalty and we should have had a penalty in the first half when Daryl was fouled by Lingard”.

United skipper Wayne Rooney open his side¿s account by scoring a penalty in the ninth minute before midfielder Jesse Lingard doubled the lead in the 38th minute of the match, the Guardian reported. “I have said in all my press conferences that you have to score one more goal than your opponent, and we didn’t do that”.

Louis van Gaal’s outfit have struggled for goals this season, with all five sides above them in the Premier League standings having scored at least six more times.

“We were both jostling for positions throughout the game”. It also represents an upturn in fortunes for Manchester United somewhat. “I think he can play for 10 years more”.

“We have demonstrated for the last eight or nine weeks we have character, it was questioned after Leicester and Crystal Palace, but they have responded after that to show real character”.