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Louis van Gaal: If Man United had lost to Arsenal you would be calling me CRAZY
Arsenal.
Injuries forced Van Gaal to play an unusual three-man defence of Chris Smalling, Tyler Blackett and Paddy McNair, but he had the last laugh as Kieran Gibbs’ own goal and Wayne Rooney’s clinical finish secured a 2-1 victory for the Reds at the Emirates – their first on the road of the season.
Van Gaal said: “When you saw my team before the game, you might think that I was crazy, but I’m not crazy.
“If Arsenal had scored in the first 20 minutes then it would have been a different game and I would be being questioned about why I played with three defenders, but now I can laugh.
“I am confident that I made the right decision.
“When you make the right decision it is a quality decision - I can say that now.
“That is the life of a manager. The result of the game decides whether you are right or not.”
Van Gaal added: “I wasn’t pleased with the way we played in the first half.
“But were playing against a top team and we have won away from home for the first time.
“It was the right moment for us to do that.
“In the first 25 minutes we gave the ball away too easily and that is not possible if you want to be a top team.
“Arsenal created a lot of chances, but after the first 25 minutes we came back and created a few possibilities of our own.
“I told the players at half-time that when we had the ball we had to show more confidence and that if we did that, we would create many chances.”
Olivier Giroud claimed a consolation goal for the Gunners. But Arsene Wenger was left to regret a catalogue of missed chances when Arsenal had United on the rack in the first half.
Wenger said: “We have to keep the faith in what we are doing.
“It was a game that we dominated for 80 per cent of the time.
“But we were not efficient enough offensively and then we made a mistake at the back.
“Their goalkeeper [David De Gea] was man-of-the-match and that was the story of the game."