Manchester United’s Louis Van Gaal blasts Sam Allardyce long-ball claims

David Cooper - Writer 18:16 11/02/2015
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  • War of words: Louis Van Gaal and Sam Allardyce shake hands earlier this season at Old Trafford.

    Louis van Gaal pulled out a dossier full of statistics at a press conference yesterday as he hit back at Sam Allardyce’s claim that Manchester United are long-ball merchants.

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    West Ham boss Allardyce described Van Gaal’s team as “long-ball United” after they scraped a 1-1 draw at Upton Park on Sunday.

    But Van Gaal said Allardyce’s “interpretation” was incorrect and the Dutchman, speaking ahead of tonight’s home game with Burnley, produced a pamphlet filled with statistics to support his stance.

    The statistics quoted in the A4 pamphlet, which were put together by Van Gaal’s analysts, claim West Ham sent a higher percentage of their long passes forward than United during the match. West Ham attempted 200 passes, according to the figures, and United 343.

    The pamphlet said 71.1 per cent of West Ham’s “long passes”  went forward whereas United’s percentage was just 49.9 per cent. 

    Van Gaal talks regularly about the fact that he wants his teams to play attractive football. He was clearly, therefore, annoyed at Allardyce’s comments and he had the pamphlet on his desk waiting when he fielded the first question about the West Ham boss’ jibe.

    “Because I expected this question, I have made an interpretation of the data for this game and then I have to say that it is not a good interpretation from Big Sam,” Van Gaal said.  

    He then insisted his team only started launching balls forward after 6ft 4in Marouane Fellaini came on in the 76th minute of the draw in east London.

    “Then, of course, with the quality of Fellaini we played more forward balls and we scored from that, so I think it was a very good decision of the manager,” he said.

    After reeling off the statistics, Van Gaal rose from his chair and added to the bizarre feel of the press conference by handing the pamphlet to the reporter who asked the question about Allardyce.

    “I give it to you, you can copy it and then maybe you can go to Big Sam and he will get a good interpretation,” he added.

    In a busy day for the United boss he announced a new deal for defender Paddy McNair and denied a misconduct charge relating to comments made about referee Chris Foy after their 0-0 FA Cup draw at Cambridge.

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