Van Gaal dreaming of FA Cup glory

Wayne Rooney has told Manchester United fans it is not fair to blame Louis van Gaal for all the club’s problems this season.

In their last league game, United were limited to one shot on target in a disappointing 1-0 loss to Southampton at home, after which the crowd made its discontent known to Van Gaal and his players.

Goalscorer Juan Mata felt an increased tempo to Manchester United’s play was the key to their Emirates FA Cup fourth round win at Derby County.

However, with a home clash with Stoke City to prepare for on Tuesday, Rooney has moved to ease the pressure on his manager and is adamant that the players must step up and improve too.

Mata said he was happy to contribute to a job well done, while Blind admitted to “thinking like a striker” when scoring his influential goal during the match. “I think we did what we have to do every game – we were quicker, we created chances and tried to play in a positive way”. We have to stand up and take criticism when it’s there. We played at the right time against the resistance of Derby. “I can not predict. I am not a stupid man, I am an intelligent man and I can not predict the atmosphere”.

Henry explained that Van Gaal has failed to deliver eye-catching football since becoming United’s manager in 2014.

“But I felt our team gave them a good game, it wasn’t all one-way traffic and we scored a good goal in the first half”.

“I get always expensive wine when we beat an opponent of out the top six”. It’s more that they are supporting the players – that’s the most important thing. “Next season will be more hard because the league will know him but I think he has the quality to be a success”.

They continued to dominate and were deservedly ahead on 16 minutes courtesy of a superb 20-yard curling effort from just outside the penalty area from Rooney which gave Derby goalkeeper Scott Carson no chance.

He said: “It was maybe better than we had trained”.

“When I am not so popular anymore, OK”.

“We have been first in the Premier League – you may remember that – but that was one-and-a-half months ago and the injuries are now and that is also a problem”.

Van Gaal’s team have been deemed boring due to their lack of goals but, after scoring three times at the iPro Stadium, he used that term sarcastically as he praised the vocal away fans.