Manchester United beat Bournemouth 3-1 at Old Trafford on Tuesday to secure a fifth-placed finish in the Premier League.
The Reds faced no problems, on and off the pitch, as they cruised to victory in the fixture which had originally been scheduled to take place on Sunday, but had to be re-arranged because of a bomb scare inside the stadium.
Goals from Wayne Rooney, Marcus Rashford and Ashley Young ensured it was a trouble-free win for United, and a triumph which seemed to satisfy manager Louis van Gaal.
Speaking in his post-match interview, the Dutchman said of his side’s performance:
I like the second half, only the last minute I don’t like, because it was unnecessary the goal against us. David de Gea is not the Golden Glove winner and that is a pity I think because it was unnecessary [Bournemouth’s goal]. But we played a very good second half I have to say against a very defensive opponent.
Despite the positive result, the victory was a bittersweet one for United, as it confirmed they would not be involved in next season’s Champions League.
On that failure, Van Gaal added:
We didn’t reach our aim, everybody knows that we have to qualify ourselves for the Champions League and we didn’t qualify. That we have to evaluate, but we have still to go for the final of the FA Cup, and we have still a lot to fight for and then everybody has to make up his mind I think at that time.It’s a big blow because that was our aim and the aim of the club, the board, the players, the manager and his staff, so we didn’t reach that. But then we have to evaluate why that was and that we have to do after the season.
Marcus Rashford put in another impressive performance as he scored his eighth goal in 17 matches for United.
When asked whether his young striker is ready for international football after being selected in England’s provisional Euro 2016 squad on Monday, the Dutchman stated:
Every player who has been selected by the national coach he has a lot of quality and he can prove it on the training session. because it’s a squad i believe with 26 players so still he has to select 23 players. So we have to wait and see if he shall finish in the selection, in the squad of the European Championship, but he has proved already that he is a very talented player.
Van Gaal also said he was confident of remaining the club’s manager for next term:
Yes [I am confident], otherwise I am not the manager anymore, but I’m still the manager, in spite of your questions and your colleagues who are writing that.
I cannot say that [I will be here next season], its always the board who can say that. I can only say I have a contract of three years and I want to fulfill my contract because the transition period is not over yet.
The Dutchman was also asked whether he believed he needed to win the FA Cup to remain in charge, and the United boss was typically challenging in his response, suggesting that journalists were writing that view already.
However, Van Gaal certainly needs to win the FA Cup to have any chance of winning over the club’s fans after his second Premier League campaign in charge came to an underwhelming end with tonight’s result.
