Van Gaal's Reaction On Victory

Louis van Gaal declared himself a "happy manager" following Manchester United's 2-0 win over West Bromwich Albion on Saturday, which was secured by Jesse Lingard's first goal for the club and a late Juan Mata penalty.

The Reds stay fourth in the Barclays Premier League table and, following the final whistle at Old Trafford, the manager discussed a number of the key talking points from the game on MUTV and in his press conference…

ON THE MATCH...

"I expected this line up [from West Brom] with the holding midfielder. They played with 10 men behind the ball and sometimes the striker was also defending, so I think we’ve done very well. I said at half-time that we had to continue and be patient, because the goal was coming.

"Every manager has the right to choose his strategy and we have to organise ourselves against that. We could have played the ball more quickly in the first half; in the second half I believe we did better, until the first goal, after which we forgot to continue to play football, Nevertheless, that changed the game.

"Goals are always the most important thing in a game but we're still not giving many chances away, only Berahino's header. We have won a difficult game that we lost last year. Because of that, [West Brom manager] Tony Pulis chose this strategy but now we have won and improved again."

ON JESSE LINGARD...

"Of course, it was again a fantastic goal because Jesse Lingard scored his first goal today. In the training session earlier this week, he had these chances but shot directly, I told him to control the ball first because with that touch you have more of a feel of the ball - he did today it and scored a fantastic goal. I’m very happy for him, he deserves it because I think he played very well. I’m a happy manager today.

"We played three games in a row without scoring a goal, though we had more than enough chances. That’s why you look for solutions and one of those was to bring Jesse into the team."

ON RECENT CLEAN SHEETS...

"It would be better if we’d also kept one against Arsenal! It was a clean sheet today, and I’m very satisfied with our defensive organisation, but it starts with Anthony Martial and Wayne Rooney and you’ve seen that today. They have pressed a lot and have had to run a lot because of that, but every player is doing that, so I’m a happy manager."