Louis van Gaal: The silence in the dressing room was big

Bournemouth scored in each half via two set plays, with Junior Stanislas breaking the deadlock straight from a corner after just three minutes.

Josh King returned to haunt Manchester United yesterday as his goal earned Bournemouth a memorable 2-1 victory that completed a miserable week for Louis van Gaal’s beleaguered team. “That’s not happening much for Manchester United”, he said.

“It is not new (the pressure), but if you believe in this manager or not because that is the most important thing. Commitment is very high and that is the most important thing”.

“I think he’s handled himself with real dignity throughout the process, and to play the way he did today, with the emotions running through his body, I can’t credit him enough for that”. “The cohesion between the manager and his staff and the players, that’s the most important thing”.

“It definitely gives us belief we can stay up”, he said.

A defiant Van Gaal also claimed he would not need to alter his long-term managerial strategies to guide United back to former glories.

Van Gaal is now third favourite to face the axe after his side’s latest horror show, which came just a few days after they were dumped out of the Champions League.

“We have to stay up there in a position to keep fighting but still we are in that position”.

Asked if he could ever have imagined successive wins over Chelsea and Manchester United, he said: “I could, with the players we’ve got and the manager (Eddie Howe) we’ve got. I’m disappointed that we’re out of the Champions League, of course”.

“But we have to make a revival this week, and that’s always very hard because you have lost two in a row, that doesn’t happen often for Manchester United”. They have done everything, but they have lost.

United lost 3-2 to Wolfsburg on December 8, thus eliminating them from the Champions League. Van Gaal admitted he is “concerned” by United’s poor results but said he will draw on his vast experience to inspire a rapid turnaround, starting at home to Norwich next Saturday.

“You have to try something and we were not the dominant team so you have to change something in the position of the players, so you hope that he contributes to the making of a goal and we have tried that”. When we scored, they scored after two minutes again.

Wilfried Bony, who left Swansea for 25 million pounds ($38 million) in January, put City in front with a 26th-minute header but the title favorites of many pundits again failed to convince. They have created, in the second half, only chances out of set-plays and we have also created chances out of play on the pitch. “I played with [Bournemouth defender Sylvain] Distin for four years [at Everton] so he has talked to me about the club and the players”.

“Now, I am going to challenge my players”.