Liverpool felled by Rooney sucker-punch

Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal is considering stepping down from his role at Old Trafford at the end of the season – one year before his contract with the club is due to expire.

Wayne Rooney’s late goal gave his team a crucial 1-0 win against bitter rivals Liverpool at Anfield.

United and Liverpool kicked off lying in sixth and ninth place in the standings, respectively, and the first half showed just why. “There are matches we have played much better than today and in that perspective I can’t say it is a good day because Liverpool dominated in the first half”.

“I didn’t see too many chances for Manchester United and we didn’t take ours”, the manager said.

Rooney has now scored in four successive games and took his league tally for United to 176 – the record by one player for one club in the Premier League era, passing Thierry Henry’s previous mark of 175 for Arsenal. United goalkeeper David de Gea kept out both shots, again demonstrating his importance and Liverpool’s need for a top-quality striker to finish off good build-up play.

With Rooney back in the scoring groove, things look much brighter for the 20-time champions.

“It’s a derby and in a derby you only have one job to do – you have to win it because that’s the only possibility to be satisfied after the game”, Klopp said at his postgame press conference. You can talk about their performance and it wasn’t that good but they won so they are really happy.

Van Gaal has many critics among United fans but has given them at least four reasons to smile since taking over at Old Trafford – four wins in four league games against Liverpool.

The England and United skipper was perfectly placed to hook a powerful volley past keeper Simon Mignolet after 78 minutes when a header from Marouane Fellaini bounced off the crossbar.

It was from a Firmino flick, meanwhile, that Henderson flashed a shot across goal and wide after a neat move involving Adam Lallana.

“I admit, we survived the first half”, Van Gaal said. Of course not everyone can see it, but we need the results and we don’t have them often enough. United haven’t lost a game since then, but their style of play under Van Gaal has attracted severe criticism from various quarters.