Louis van Gaal was not upset after Manchester United were knocked out of the Europa League by Liverpool last night. The Red Devils needed to overturn a 2-0 deficit from the first leg at Old Trafford but could only manage a 1-1 draw.
But the manager was happy with his team’s performance on the night despite not going through. “I'm not angry. I'm not frustrated. I was very proud of my players. They have given everything. The fans applauded at the end and that was remarkable.”
Liverpool were excellent in the first leg of the tie and deserved their 2-0 lead coming into this match but the Dutchman felt his players replicated that performance at Old Trafford tonight.
"We played like Liverpool did in the first leg. We created a lot of chances and scored a penalty -- and then you concede one goal in the last seconds of the half. That's what we did not do in Liverpool; they scored an away goal and that was a difference. A difference was also how the teams felt in the dressing room at half-time.”
United had a mountain to climb after Coutinho’s late goal in the first half and Van Gaal understood how difficult it was saying, "You try to raise them from the disappointment but everyone knows you have to score three goals and that is more difficult.”
The manager was also critical about the amount of time each team had to recover before this game saying, “Liverpool had a week free. That's a big difference and you could see that in the last 50 minutes. Now we have the same problem against Manchester City [in the Premier League on Sunday]. But we keep confidence because Arsenal had the same benefit and we beat them.”
United will now have to shift their focus on the Manchester Derby and the Premier League after the defeat. Finishing in the top four will become their number one priority after their Europa League route to the Champions League was ended.
Paul Scholes unhappy with Van Gaal’s transfer policy
Paul Scholes has been a harsh critic of Van Gaal this season and he wasn’t too pleased after last night's result. The Englishman, who now works as a critic for BT Sport talked about the manager’s transfer policy with one name, in particular being highlighted
Speaking to BT Sport he said, “You are scratching you head thinking about the players that have been allowed leave, Welbeck’s the biggest example of that, he should never have been allowed leave the club.”
Danny Welbeck was sold to Arsenal last season after Van Gaal felt he was surplus to requirements at the club.
