Louis van Gaal still remains positive about the Champions League and has backed the side to beat Wolfsburg in their final group game
Manchester United boss Louis van Gaal still believes the Red Devils can progress into the knockout phase of the Champions League despite a 0-0 draw with PSV Eindhoven.
The Red Devils only needed to win against the Dutch side to secure their last-16 birth, however they failed to score at home and left themselves with hard work to do in order to progress.
United will now have to travel to Wolfsburg in two weeks time with only a win guaranteeing them a place in the next round. That is a mammoth task with the Germans unbeaten in over 20 home games with Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund struggling their in the Bundesliga. But with United now under pressure to get the victory, they may yet produce their best performance of the season in Germany.
But after last night, that is unlikely. United were expected to cruise past PSV but they made hard work of it despite an attacking line-up. Anthony Martial and Wayne Rooney returned but the final piece wasn’t there in the final third.
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It’s a worrying time for United despite their league position seeing them close to leaders Leicester City. And despite being criticised for his sides style of play many times, Van Gaal, 64, is still confident that United can progress through the group and beat Wolfsburg in a fortnights time.
"“We are still second and are still in the qualifying position, Van Gaal said as reported by manutd.com. “We have to win in Wolfsburg and that’s a difficult game, but everything is possible, it is never impossible. We won at home against them, so why can’t we win away? We can win everywhere. We prove it this year. Also in the Premier League, our average in away matches is much higher than last year. And we have to do that also in the Champions League.”"
United are a side who score plenty of goals but under the Dutch boss they have failed to do so. Players like Robin van Persie, Radamel Falcao, Angel Di Maria have all played and left under Van Gaal and that’s alarming in itself with Sir Alex Ferguson able to keep hold of his best players.
Martial was signed in the summer and made an instant impact. However, his goals have dried up while Rooney is on a massive decline. And with other senior members failing to chop in, Van Gaal is now concerned by his sides lack of goals.
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"He continued:”Of course I am worried but I know also that goals are not always a consequence of good or bad performances. Today we could have scored at least three goals – they were not the most difficult chances, but we didn’t score. Yet in the next game, we could score out of nothing. That’s football.”"
United’s display was controlling in the first half against PSV and they could have opened the scoring on three occasions. They then returned in the second half and started off strongly.
But as the game grew on the visitors took control and could have taken the win. It was something picked up by Van Gaal and he added that the game got less attractive as it went on.
"He added on the 0-0 draw: “I think the first half was a reasonable performance. We have created three open chances and three other chances and we give only two chances away against a very defensive opponent. But then the second half was not great and I think it is a miracle that we didn’t give chances away in the second half – only one, I believe.”"
Next: Van Gaal's philosophy not working - opinion
United will be looking to get a run of wins going in the Premier League with none of the top five taking on United in the next few weeks. Chelsea will be the Red Devils toughest fixture before 2016 with that game scheduled for December 28.