adminLONDON. – Manchester United’s under-performing forwards forced manager Louis van Gaal into adopting long-ball tactics, the Dutchman said after his side snatched a 1-1 draw at West Ham.
United started with Radamel Falcao, Robin van Persie, Wayne Rooney, Angel di Maria and Adnan Januzaj at Upton Park on Sunday, but it took a stoppage-time volley from Daley Blind to earn the visitors a point after Cheikhou Kouyate had given West Ham a deserved 49th-minute lead.
West Ham manager Sam Allardyce said United’s strategy was “thump it forward and see what happens”, and Van Gaal admitted that the introduction of gangly Belgian midfielder Marouane Fellaini as a 72nd-minute substitute had heralded a change of tack.
“I’ve done that already a lot of times with Fellaini, so that is not new,” said Van Gaal, who lost Luke Shaw to a late red card after the United left-back received a second booking for a lunge at Stewart Downing. — AFP.
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