Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal believes that his team is now ready to challenge for the Premier League title. Manchester United’s performance in a 3-2 victory against Southampton was enough for van Gaal to talk up his team’s chances of winning the Premier League title.
Van Gaal told the BBC , “We have made a statement that we shall compete for the title.”
Manchester United found form in the past games with a just one defeat in 6 games which has propelled them into second place.
“You cannot expect a title from a team in transition. But when we are close we shall grab it.”
Louis van Gaal was quick to praise new signing Anthony Martial after his positive start to life at Old Trafford. Van Gaal said,”He is doing great – three matches in a row and three goals.”
“When you are 19, you cannot expect consistency. Emotionally they shall have a lot of dips so that I expect also from him but that is not a big problem for me. He adapts to the system of how we want to play, that is also important. Not every player can but he shows he wants to do that. He scores goals. That is the most important thing, that as a striker he scores goals. He can improve I think but he has a high level of talent.”
Manchester United’s Premier League hopes will be bouyed by Manchester City’s shock defeat at the Etihad against West Ham United. United is now 2 points behind Manchester City.
Speaking to Sky Sports , Manchester United’s Juan Mata dedicated the victory over Southampton to Luke Shaw after the English left-back fractured his leg in a their Champions League to PSV. “We are very sorry for Luke.”
“Obviously what happened to him was very unlucky but he knows we are all with him and this victory is for him.”
Mata went on to describe how Manchester United responded to falling behind to Southampton after Graziano Pelle’s opener at St. Mary’s.
“Southampton are a very difficult team which changes the situation because in the first 30 minutes we played badly. They were the better team and created even more chances to score more goals but with the first goal we changed that. In the second half we started to play well and Martial got his second goal. I scored the third goal for the team and from then we kept good possession and managed the game. Obviously in the Premier League you have to go to the last minute to get the points.”
Manchester United will face Ipswich Town in the Capital One Cup before taking on Sunderland at Old Trafford in the Premier League.
[Photo by Tony Marshall/Getty Images]
