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Louis van Gaal ‘We were unlucky in decisions of the referee…’

8 years ago
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Louis van Gaal was playing it for laughs after the final whistle blew on Newcastle United v Manchester United.

The Manchester United boss claiming that his team had been the victims of decisions by the referee.

Chris Smalling wrestled Aleksandar Mitrovic to the ground right in front of the referee, yet Louis van Gaal preferred to see it as simply a ‘duel’.

The modern day tendency of defenders at a corner to simply ignore the ball and try to obstruct the opponent is one thing, but if the Manchester United boss honestly thinks that was a softer penalty than the one his team got, then he should be looking for a vacancy on what I imagine is quite a small Dutch comedy circuit.

As for Fellaini…surely the most annoying player Newcastle come up against these days, a player who has all the charm of former players David Speedie, Robbie Savage and Mark Hughes combined. Like pretty much every match you see him play, Fellaini could and should have been sent off, it took him until the 24th minute before he was booked after three of four other opportunities that ref Mike Dean bottled. Then how the Belgian knacker survived another 66 minutes plus stoppage time without a red card is beyond comprehension.

Most neutrals/pundits appeared to think that a draw was about the right result but not Louis van Gaal, despite Newcastle having more shots, more possession, more corners and more shots on target.

However, he did give credit to Newcastle’s willingness to attack, though when you are behind in a match then even managers like Steve McClaren have to break out of their defensive tendencies.

Talking of defensive tendencies, van Gaal’s praise of Newcastle as an attacking threat was really only used by the Dutch manager to try and defend himself against the recent accusations of boring almost goal-free football.

The Manchester United manager contrasting Newcastle’s attacking play with that of what they regular encounter – opposition teams who only want to ‘wast time and frustrate’ Man Utd.

Louis van Gaal:

“Of course it feels like a defeat, we’re very disappointed, we have lost very expensive points.

“We have only ourselves to blame because we could have won this match – we missed big chances to win it.

“We were the better team. We have scored three goals but only have one point. So now is the defence weak? No.

“We were unlucky in decisions of the referee and a deflected shot, as well we did not finish our chances.

“We have given it away and I have told that to my players. When the referee gives a penalty for nothing… it is a duel I think, you cannot decide who is worse but we gave it (the match) away.

“Newcastle only wanted to attack – you see two teams who want to attack and we saw a fantastic game tonight.

“Only (usually) one team (Man Utd’s opponents) wants to waste time and frustrate opponents.”

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