Louis van Gaal has said that Manchester United have only themselves to blame for their defeat to Sunderland today.
Lamine Kone’s header eight minutes from time ensured that United would leave Wearside with their top four hopes in tatters after Anthony Martial had cancelled out Wahbi Khazri’s early free-kick.
United remain six points adrift of the top four having played a game more, with all four teams (Manchester City, Arsenal, Tottenham and Leicester City) due to play each other on Sunday.
And van Gaal admitted that United had to win these sorts of games if they were to have any chance of making the top four in his post-match interview on BT Sport.
He said:
You have to win these kinds of games, and we didn’t. We can only blame ourselves. Sunderland had more aggression than us and we could not cope with that aggression.
It [The top four] shall be very difficult now. We have given five points away (at Chelsea and today) and it is too much at this time.
The United manager also said that the best chance that the Red Devils had of getting back in Champions League next season now lies in winning the Europa League:
After this match, the Europa League is our best chance of getting back into the Champions League. But that is not so easy because there are a lot of very good teams that are participating in this event.
Finally, van Gaal said that the defeat would not put him under any more pressure than he currently has:
No, I have to do my work and I do my work to my utmost best and I cannot do more. I shall prepare my players against Midtjylland at 100% and I shall do that always.
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