Van Gaal: Conditions Affected Us

Louis van Gaal was not completely satisfied with his Manchester United team’s performance in the 3-2 win over Roma, which he attributed to the playing conditions in mile-high Denver.

The Reds claimed three points in the opening game of the pre-season International Champions Cup at the Sports Authority Field, thanks to goals from Wayne Rooney (2) and Juan Mata.

Van Gaal made 10 changes in the second half and the Reds’ performance became gradually more disjointed, as Roma rallied through goals from Miralem Pjanic and Francesco Totti.

The Reds held out but van Gaal cut a disgruntled figure afterwards, bemoaning the heat, altitude and 14:00 kick-off time.

"I am pleased that we have won but it was not a good performance," the Dutchman said. "54,000 people came to watch us but we can perform much better.

"We are not used to this hot weather. I think we didn't play a good match because of the height of the stadium, the air, because all my good passers failed today.

"I said when the World Cup was here in ‘94 it wasn't wise to play here at noon. America has a top sports climate but you have to play football at the right time.

"When you are 3-0 ahead, the only thing you have to do is keep the ball in possession and then the opponent has to run and run and run. It’s very difficult in this hot weather to do that.

"But we forgot to do that [keep possession] and we brought Roma into the game ourselves."

Van Gaal was nevertheless delighted with Rooney’s delicious curled strike and Mata’s impish control and lob. He also praised Miralem Pjanic’s incredible long-range effort for Roma, but disagreed with the decision to award a penalty against Michael Keane for handball.

"Some of our passes failed, the ball was bobbling all the time and we didn’t create so much, but we scored three fantastic goals," he added.

"The pass from Rooney to Mata was unbelievable, despite the heat and the height. Mata was running with his brain at the right moment.

"They also scored one fantastic goal, so then it was 3-1. But the penalty was not right: you cannot award a penalty when a shot hits your hand or arm from two metres away."