Shearer says FA Cup giving Van Gaal ‘time’ at Man Utd

Andy Mitten, editor with fanzine United We Stand, joined Off The Ball on Friday night ahead of the fixture and gave an indication of the feeling around the manager and the club at the moment.

When it seemed that the match was again set to be a stalemate, goals from Daley Blind and Juan Mata at the 65th minute and 83rd minute respectively to help United bounce back to a victory.

“We haven’t won it for a long time so we dream of it. But after two wins you can’t say that we will win it”.

“The performance was also very good and I said that at half-time; that we can continue with the way we had played in the first half”. I hope that we can give the same level of performance as against Derby but we have to play Stoke, another opponent.

Despite the backlash from fans and critics, Gaal remains confident he can guide the most decorated team in EPL back to promise land, insisting that everything is a process.

“Even though they are not in the Premier League they are a good team, they press, they are physically very strong and I think we did a good job today”. In fact, they probably relaxed a little bit too much, because they soon stopped creating chances or carving open the Derby defense in the manner done so for the first 1/6 of the match.

The Rams posed dangers against United as Nick Blackman looked lively on the wing, but it was the former West Brom midfielder who proved to be the Thorne in the first half for Van Gaal’s men.

Buoyed by more than 5,000 visiting fans, much of United’s improvement centred around Anthony Martial, who captured some of his early season form with a superb performance.

The FA Cup win inevitably prompted plenty of activity on social media from United’s players – and here are some of our favourite post-match updates.

Van Gaal’s side have managed only 12 Premier League goals at home this season and fans have become increasingly disgruntled by the style of football being produced.

Louis van Gaal has come under mounting pressure this term and rumours have been rife that Mourinho is in line to replace the Dutchman. For you (it is) obvious (there is) more freedom?

“It’s unfair to say it’s the manager – we’re on the pitch”, Rooney said at Pride Park. “Next season will be more hard because the league will know him but I think he has the quality to be a success”. “I am very happy that he is a Manchester United player because I think he shall be a great player for Manchester United for a long time”.