adminLONDON. — Swansea City condemned Louis van Gaal to defeat in his first English Premier League game as Manchester United manager on Saturday, while Aaron Ramsey scored a stoppage-time winner for Arsenal. Van Gaal was taking charge of his first competitive match at United, but his new side exhibited many of the same failings from last season — when they finished seventh — as they slumped to a 2-1 loss.
It was Swansea’s second consecutive win at Old Trafford, after an FA Cup third-round success in January, and dealt United their first home defeat on the season’s opening day since 1972.
“It is very disappointing that we have lost our first home match,” said Van Gaal, who handed competitive debuts to 20-year-old Tyler Blackett and 21-year-old Jesse Lingard.
“We were very nervous in the first half, made the wrong choices, and that is a pity. In the second half, we never played as a team. Therefore, I’m responsible.”
Gylfi Sigurdsson, back at Swansea after two years at Tottenham Hotspur, gave his side victory by squeezing a shot past United goalkeeper David de Gea in the 72nd minute after Wayne Routledge miscued a volley.
Sigurdsson had earlier teed up South Korea midfielder Ki Sung-yueng to stroke home a 28th-minute opener, before new United captain Wayne Rooney hooked in an equaliser for the injury-ravaged hosts.
“We have been working hard in pre-season on defensive shape and we can get even better at that,” Swansea manager Garry Monk told BT Sport.
“But there were pleasing signs in the way we stuck together and the goals we scored against a side of Manchester United’s resources.”
FA Cup winners Arsenal opened their campaign with victory after Ramsey gave them a last-gasp 2-1 success at home to Crystal Palace, who are without a manager following Tony Pulis’s shock departure on Friday. — AFP.
Online Reporter