Louis Van Gaal has a new crop of injury concerns after Manchester United’s bruising FA Cup third-round win at Huish Park.
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Louis Van Gaal has a new crop of injury concerns after Manchester United’s bruising FA Cup third-round win at Huish Park.
Rafael da Silva suffered a fractured cheekbone in a first-half aerial duel and had to be taken off at half-time, while his defensive partner Paddy McNair needed staples in his head after a clash with Kieffer Moore.
Van Gaal also revealed that another defender, Luke Shaw, has suffered a fresh ankle problem that saw him withdrawn at the break too after playing through the pain.
The Dutch boss has been plagued by injuries since arriving at Old Trafford and the latest casualties join Ashley Young, Marcos Rojo, Antonio Valencia, Daley Blind and Marouane Fellaini on the treatment table.
Van Gaal said: ‘I think we had a lot of problems in the first half. You noticed that Rafa Da Silva has an injury, a fissure of his bone.
‘It was fantastic that he played through (until half-time) but I had to change him and also Luke Shaw has an ankle problem so I had to change him also.’
United were pushed hard by the League One strugglers at Huish Park but prevailed thanks to goals from Ander Herrera and Angel Di Maria.
Van Gaal was full of praise for Yeovil and their ‘fantastic’ performance: ‘I have to give my highest respect to the managers and the players.
‘In the first half they didn’t give us any time to play the ball, there was a lot of pressure. In the second, you don’t know whether it is us or the tiredness of their players.
‘It was fantastic how they pressed the ball. It is more difficult to beat the pressure. In the second half we played better but it also takes a long time to score the goal because it is not so easy.
‘Everyone thinks “OK, these players are from Manchester United, €100m against €5,000” but it is not like that.
‘We played also with the Netherlands against teams who are much more expensive in the world championship but you can organise your team like the manager of Yeovil has done and when they believe in it, you can do a lot.’
Gary Johnson’s men matched United for long spells, their resistance only broken by Herrera’s sensational volley on 64 minutes.
And Di Maria made sure there would be no upset with a late clincher. Johnson said: ‘The game was bittersweet, I’m so proud of the boys for the effort they put in. We wanted to affect the game and give them a fright.
‘I thought we did that, we had that first chance before we did that. You have to have a high energy when you’re playing a top team like Man United, especially when they have millions of pounds of players.’
When Van Gaal’s compliments were mentioned, Johnson added: ‘He’s a very honest person, he’s not making it up. It was important this club put on this event, so everyone is happy, the supporters are happy. We’re proud of our club.’
Van Gaal added that although the FA Cup would be a nice bonus, especially as United haven’t won the competition since 2004, the Premier League remained the priority.
‘I always want to win a title and the players do also and I have heard of course from my fantastic assistant manager (Ryan Giggs) that Man United have not won the FA Cup for a while so maybe we can do that this year but it is a very long year.
‘Our priority is also the league because nine points (behind leaders Chelsea) is not so many.’ – Daily Mail
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