Louis Van
Gaal is determined to be his own man at Manchester United, but this is
one habit he will not mind borrowing from Sir Alex Ferguson.
Late
goals were a hallmark of Ferguson’s teams and how fitting that Van
Gaal’s first appearance as United manager at Old Trafford should end
with a stoppage-time winner from under-fire midfielder Marouane
Fellaini.
It
meant that the Dutchman maintained his winning start as United boss,
adding Valencia to a list of beaten opponents that includes Real Madrid,
Roma, Inter Milan and Liverpool.
Typically, he was still far from happy.
It was, Van Gaal acknowledged, United’s ‘worst game’ under him. They were pedestrian at times and Wayne Rooney missed a penalty.
On
this evidence, he still has a significant amount of work on his hands.
On Saturday lunchtime another team in white will line up against United
... and this side will have to raise their game to beat Swansea City.
‘We
made a lot of wrong choices, wrong passes and we didn’t press too
much,’ said Van Gaal afterwards. ‘We have to choose better the right
time to pass the ball. We haven’t done that and that is a pity.
‘It’s
a big pressure because the fans expect a lot, but you cannot change
everything in three or four weeks and the players cannot change either.
‘We
have to wait and see and develop and we need time, but we have won
every game up to now and that’s fantastic when you see our opponents.’
That Fellaini should be the man to score the winner was somewhat poetic.
The
much-maligned Belgian might not face such a bleak future under Van Gaal
as some might think, but last night Fellaini’s every touch was greeted
with ironic cheers from a section of United fans when he made his first
appearance under the new manager as a late substitute.
However,
the jubilant reaction from United supporters was genuine enough when he
scored with the last kick of the game, chesting the ball down and
despatching it into an empty net after Valencia goalkeeper Diego Alves
had collided with his own defender and completely missed Tyler
Blackett’s high ball into the box.
If Van Gaal can breathe new life into Fellaini’s Old Trafford career, just imagine what he can do for the rest of the team.
The
63-year-old might have worked at Ajax, Barcelona and Bayern Munich but
he seemed genuinely touched by the reception he received last night.
‘Fantastic,’ he said. ‘I came on the pitch and they are shouting and
screaming my name.’
There
had been no great fanfare for Van Gaal, no banner declaring him ‘The
Chosen One’. He doesn’t need reminding why he was brought to United.
Ferguson wasn’t even there for the occasion, choosing instead to watch the Super Cup in Cardiff.
But Van Gaal
walked out at Old Trafford for the first time as United manager looking
every inch a man comfortable in his new surroundings.
There
was a high-five for club mascot Fred the Red as his players warmed up
and a casual, almost nonchalant, wave of the right hand as he strolled
towards a home dugout besieged by photographers before kick-off.
Then
he disappeared from view and got on with what he had been brought here
to do. Old Trafford got its first glimpse of the 3-4-1-2 formation he
has implemented since his arrival last month, with Ander Herrera making
his home debut in a deep midfield role.
The
former Athletic Bilbao midfielder certainly looked at home against his
Spanish countrymen, instigating a lot of United’s best moves.
He
mustered his team’s first effort on goal in the 23rd minute and it was
his pass that released Ashley Young down the right in the build-up to
the incident that saw Rooney throw himself rather dramatically to the
ground under little contact from Antonio Barragan. The Spaniards
certainly felt justice was done when Rooney fired the resulting
spot-kick against the foot of the post.
The England
striker also failed to control a sublime through ball from Darren
Fletcher before the Scotland midfielder gave United the lead four
minutes after half-time.
Young’s
corner was deflected to the edge of the box and Fletcher’s side-footed
finish took a nick off a Valencia defender on its way over Alves. There
was little reaction from Van Gaal, who sat scribbling on a notepad.
Defender
Phil Jones produced a magnificent tackle to deny Rodrigo Moreno, but
the Valencia’s No 20 found an equaliser in the 72nd minute when Tom
Cleverley tried to cut out a free kick from the right.
He
was unfortunate to see it deflect over his own defence towards the back
post where Moreno applied an emphatic left-footed finish into the roof
of the net.
Step forward Fellaini, the man most closely associated with the doomed David Moyes era.
Late
goals never quite fell Moyes’ way in his eight months, but here was Van
Gaal at it in his first game. No wonder he was smiling.
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