Louis van Gaal: everything is against Manchester United in FA Cup tie Louis van Gaal felt the pitch was one aspect that went against Manchester United at Cambridge
Louis van Gaal has said that everyone who is not a Manchester United fan will probably want to see his side lose against Cambridge United on Tuesday evening.
United host the League Two side in an FA Cup fourth-round replay following a 0-0 draw at the Abbey Stadium last month and Van Gaal said on Monday: “Everything is against you at Manchester United and everything is in favour of the underdog. Also from you [media] but you shall not do it consciously but unconsciously – it’s human – I forgive you.
“In spite of all the criticism we have had from you and your [media] colleagues, we are still in the FA Cup and a lot of teams are not, so I’m still happy that we can play this match. But you have to win because they are coming also with two rows of four and a goalkeeper and dropping in a striker, and you have to make the first goal because that is the most important goal, so it’s not such an easy game.”
The United manager wants the lessons learned in the Premier League against Leicester to be taken into the FA Cup tie. Leicester defeated United 5-3 in the reverse league fixture at the King Power Stadium in September. Before Saturday’s 3-1 win against Leicester, the captain, Wayne Rooney, reminded the players of that loss and urged them to seek revenge.
Van Gaal wants the same regarding Cambridge. “It was also [against Leicester] everyone wants revenge. Rooney said before the start of the match: ‘Do you remember how we lost that?’” the Dutchman said. “That’s good and it is also the same feeling with Cambridge but I don’t think it’s a great motivation, the motivation is the FA Cup.
“Manchester United have not won it for 11 years, so not always the best team win it – it’s also the underdog. That’s our warning for Tuesday.”
After the draw with Cambridge, Van Gaal complained about the pitch and the opposition’s style, so will United be able to reap the benefit of the conditions at Old Trafford this time? “It is a big advantage, that is true – [but] it was not my purpose to say [exactly] that,” Van Gaal said, to clarify his post-game comments. “It was that everything is against us in general.”
The Cup is one domestic trophy Rooney has never won and Luke Shaw, whose professional debut came in an FA Cup tie against Millwall for Southampton in January 2012, revealed the striker has drummed into the side the need to win it. “Of course he has but the whole team look at it as a trophy we all want to win and especially now it’s, you could say, the main priority because the league – I wouldn’t say it’s gone – but we’re quite far away,” said the left-back.
“So we’re definitely looking to win the FA Cup. Wazza hasn’t won it and he’s definitely going to want to win it this year. We’ve been quite lucky with the draw so far. Obviously we’ve picked up teams in the lower leagues, so maybe it could be our year.
“Hopefully we’ll get past this one but it’s not going to be easy. You can’t go into any game thinking it’s going to be easy, especially the FA Cup. You’ve seen that from the past years that the big teams can get knocked out, so we know it’s not going to be easy and need to be 100% focused.
“There are not so many of the so-called big teams left, so we have to take that as a positive and make sure we get the win. It will help us [having played them once] and they’re coming to Old Trafford, so we need to start making it a fortress against the teams that come here.
“We’ve got a point to prove to get the game [won] because I know how important the FA Cup is to us as a team.”
Guardian
