Man United coach Van Gaal pleased by performance of new boys

After wearing nine in pre-season, Depay changed his squad number to seven for the new campaign following the departure of Angel di Maria. Some big names have preceded the Dutchman in the famous jersey – namely Bryan Robson, David Beckham, George Best, Cristiano Ronaldo and Eric Cantona – but Depay showed signs that he can follow in the footsteps of some of United’s finest.

Friedel, who recently retired from the game having served as Lloris’ backup for the last three years, is adamant that the French goalkeeper is not going anywhere. “I think he was wonderful in saving the ball but not in building up situations and that’s logical because he’s only been with us one week”, said Van Gaal.

“I appreciate the history, but I want to be my own man”.

After the game, United fans took to Twitter to make their feelings known.

United continued to press forward without much success. There were also glimpses of link-up play between Rooney, Depay and Ashley Young that will have pleased Van Gaal, but on the whole he must surely be secretly disappointed at the lack of chances his new breed created.

After a bright end to the first half, United failed to maintain the same rhythm after the break and Michel Vorm had little to do in the Spurs goal.

“Of course”, the United manager said when asked if De Gea could play for the club again.

“It is not a special objective for me”. “We need to add more players”.

Van Gaal is not desperate to sign a centre-half either, even though he will be without Phil Jones for at least three weeks because of thrombosis.

Contrary to what Van Gaal said, United didn’t create chances – but one of the few they did create, which resulted in the only goal, should have been gobbled up by an off-colour Rooney. While an own goal from Kyle Walker settled the score, United dominated most of the exchanges following the goal.

The England defender has had a torrid time with injuries over the last year, but this season he is hoping for a clear run in the Spurs first team.

United started nervously as, for 20 minutes, Spurs, who finished fifth last season, one place behind United, were firmly in control until Nabil Bentaleb carelessly gave away possession in midfield allowing United to rampage down the right flank.

“I sacrificed my summer to try and get back fit and hopefully the benefits will pay off this season”.

“Our pressure was very good, and out of our pressure we scored the only goal, so I think it was a deserved win”, he said.