Louis van Gaal stood his ground on Sunday night amid growing speculation his time as Manchester United manager will be ended early.
Jose Mourinho continues to be linked with the Dutchman’s job, but in the wake of the 1-1 draw at Chelsea which did little to boost his side’s top-four hopes, Van Gaal hit out. He claimed United have no need to deny the reports of his likely early exit, and called his team’s display “sparkling”.
“You have spoken with (United’s executive vice-chairman) Ed Woodward?” asked Van Gaal. “Why do they have to deny? I don’t interfere neither (sic). Why do the club have to deny it when you are creating stories. Okay, okay, so you haven’t spoken to Ed Woodward or the Glazers, so you are inventing this story. I don’t have to answer this question.”
Addressing a reporter, he said: “You are getting the sack tomorrow. What is your name? Then I can announce the name also. (You can) look at your wife, or maybe you have children, or a nephew or something like that.
“We have to do better. We have to improve in that way. But I’m happy with the performance. It was not a ‘boring’ match, so for the third time in a row it was sparkling. So I also hope to get the support of the media this week.”
Van Gaal has regularly been criticised over United’s tactics, but there was little wrong with the display in west London.
United took the lead early in the second half through a fine finish from Jesse Lingard, but as Chelsea responded with increased pressure they secured a deserved equalising goal in added time with Diego Costa’s shot from close range.
Upon his appointment in December, Chelsea’s interim manager Guus Hiddink was confident his team remained capable of reaching the top four. But with 13 league fixtures to play they are 17 points behind fourth-placed Manchester City and suffered the further blow of defender Kurt Zouma being removed on a stretcher with what appeared a serious knee injury.
Hiddink said: “The rest of the season is hopefully too much (for Zouma to be ruled out for), but he will have an examination, so I can’t speculate about that. It’s very bad, when you land with a hyper-extended knee.”
