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Angel Di Maria’s red card against Arsenal
When a player breaks the British transfer record, big things are expected of him right from the word go. But Angel Di Maria has endured a sluggish season and has been subjected heavy criticism due to his lacklustre performances in the second half of the season.
It looked like Van Gaal wouldn’t drop Di Maria to the bench under any circumstances and he persisted with the struggling Argentine for many games despite having options like Juan Mata and Adnan Januzaj on the bench.
However, another incident, which looked like a setback at the time, turned out to be a blessing for United. Di Maria was sent off in a stupid manner during the FA Cup match against Arsenal and, therefore, had to sit out of the club’s next game against Tottenham Hotspur. Van Gaal was once again forced to make a change and the Dutch boss gave Juan Mata a rare start in the absence of the Argentine.
Juan Mata grabbed his chance with both hands and produced an impressive performance in a 3-0 victory against Spurs. As a reward for his good outing in that game, he was given another start in the next crucial league game against Liverpool and he repaid his manager’s faith in full with a brace that won the game for his side. Di Maria, on the other hand, is yet to start a game for United after his red card.
Robin van Persie’s injury against Swansea
It is clear as daylight that Louis van Gaal favours Robin van Persie as Manchester United’s main striker and that slight favouritism had a bad impact on the club’s results during the second half of the season. Van Gaal used Wayne Rooney in central midfield despite the United captain being in better form in front of goal than Van Persie.
The Dutchman was deployed in his preferred role as a striker and between the New Year’s Day game against Stoke and the away game against Swansea on February 21, Van Persie scored just two goals in eight games. On the other hand, Rooney became very ineffective in midfield and contributed very little to United in terms of goals and he could only manage one goal (a penalty against Preston) in the same period.
The injury to Van Persie forced Van Gaal to bring back Rooney as a striker and the Englishman responded with a brace in the very next game after the defeat to Swansea. Since Rooney was moved out of midfield, Ander Herrera was also given a run of games and the Spaniard impressed from midfield with some very important goals.
The injury to Van Persie and the red card to Di Maria came at a crucial point when United were starting a tough run of fixtures, but the changes Van Gaal was forced to make due to these events proved to be the biggest blessings in disguise as United got their team selection right by a stroke of luck and hit their best form at the right time.
