Man Utd have to keep fighting for the title – Louis van Gaal

Seldom has a club just three points off the Premier League lead appeared so engulfed by crisis, but then rarely has a club lavished 250 million ($565 million) on star players and fashioned a team so utterly underwhelming.

For Bournemouth, promoted from the Championship last season, this was another stunning result that came on the back of last weekend’s 1-0 win at Chelsea and moved the south-coast club up to 14th position.

But after Jesse Lingard had gone off injured, King restored Bournemouth’s lead early in the second half when he gave Daley Blind the slip and applied an adroit finish to Matt Ritchie’s right-wing corner.

Saying Friday that United will have to get used to losing its status as a European heavyweight will hardly have endeared Van Gaal to the club’s increasingly disillusioned fans.

Does van Gaal really want to play the money game?

It was former United youth team player Joshua King who delivered the knock-out punch, in the second half. Money does not guarantee sporting success – thank goodness – but it gives you very little excuse for failure when you have it and spend it in such quantities as United.

Van Gaal then reiterated his disappointment over set pieces in his conference, saying it also cost United against Wolfsburg on Tuesday.

‘My players are very disappointed because we have given everything and lost both games. Stanislas had 3 shots in this game, getting 2 on target, and has now been involved in 4 goals in his last 4 appearances – scoring 3 times and providing 1 assist. “He was the architect behind the Chelsea goal as well with the corner”. At first, we wondered whether he was about to admit to the difficulties a dogmatic 64-year-old coach faces in keeping up with those changes. “Next year, all the clubs in the Premier League have a bigger budget than most of the clubs in Europe”. And Bournemouth certainly had no time for sob stories, as Howe has had to contend with a fraction of United’s resources and an injury roster just as debilitating. For the second week running they shocked respected opponents despite having a minority share of possession.

Former United trainee Josh King scored a 54th-minute victor to prevent United from bouncing back from their mid-week Champions League exit at Wolfsburg and keep them three points off the pace in the Premier League. Simon Francis topped the clearance count with 9, with 7 of them headed.

Van Gaal is adamant, however, that he is the right man for the job as he looks to sustain a serious title challenge this term. “I can make the difference”, he said, “in tactics and everything, but I cannot score goals”. But this is as bad as it has been at United since the days of David Moyes.

MF Marouane Fellaini, 7 – It’s rare that United fans are calling for Fellaini to see out the full 90 minutes, but there was huge disappointment when he was substituted, as he was one of the few players who worked hard.

Pereira didn’t have a great impact, with only 2 of his 9 crosses successful, while Powell was virtually anonymous – receiving only 2 passes in his 21 minutes on the field, including stoppage time. “And yesterday in training he had a feeling he was not fit enough”, Van Gaal said. This wasn’t the only occasion Blind was a statue in the penalty area either.

“I wanted to try something else because we played 70 minutes in that way”, Van Gaal said.