Louis van Gaal: I am bored watching Manchester United

“But there are also matches where I’m very bored or angry because we are not disorganising our opponent’s defence – but that is also football”.

“You have to know what they want and how they play and then you can help your players”.

Old Trafford was barely two-thirds full by the time Rooney slotted in his spot-kick, many fans having decided they had seen enough. “But we are in the next round”.

Louis van Gaal was frustrated by a lack of criticism for Sheffield United’s attacking exploits as his Manchester United side continue to be accused of negative tactics following a slim 1-0 win in the FA Cup third round.

“We have won two matches in a row out of a bad period”.

United legend Paul Scholes said after the game that the players, fans and manager had looked bored.

He said: “I don’t think that we shall do business in January”.

In their last FA Cup match on Saturday against Sheffield United, the Red Devils had a tough time trying to find the net.

Scholes added: “I’ve tried to defend this team over recent weeks, but it’s getting more and more hard to do”.

“That they were ironic, I can imagine”.

But Van Gaal insists supporters should be happy with the way their team have returned to winning ways following a run of eight matches without victory. “The players are bored, fans are bored, everyone’s bored”.

Van Gaal has also been criticized for not leaving his seat on the United bench and issuing instructions from the technical area.

But Van Gaal refused to be drawn into a war of words and said: “What do I have to do now?”

“You have to play more quickly than we did in first half and you have to play with wingers”.

And ahead of that fixture, the 64-year-old finally conceded some of the football on display at Old Trafford this season has been boring.

“Mata has played all the games, I think there was only one he didn’t play, so he needed a rest”, he said.

Van Gaal revealed that Bastian Schweinsteiger will be out of the game against Newcastle, while commenting on the current situation with Adnan Januzaj who just returned from a loan spell with Dortmund.