Van Gaal Lauds Impressive Display

Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal has commended the Reds on a comfortable 3-1 win against Newcastle, making particular reference to the excellent first-half showing.

The manager was pleased to see his charges return to winning ways ahead of a busy spell of fixtures and – with that in mind – believes the Reds handled Boxing Day’s game with superb professionalism.

“I think we have dominated the game for 90 minutes and scored fantastic goals - we should have scored much more,” Van Gaal told MUTV.

“The first-half was, of course, the better half and, during the second, we were already thinking of the match against Tottenham, which is why we did not dominate – I am very pleased with the performance today.”

Two-goal hero Wayne Rooney was also the focus of praise from the boss who was happy to see the forward take up a more attacking position than during the Aston Villa game last weekend.

"Against Villa, he was a little bit too defensive and I asked for him to be more attacking," the boss added. "He then scores two goals and gets and assist, what more can you demand as a manager?"