Anthony Martial of Manchester United
Manager Louis van Gaal has described Manchester United’s 2-1 victory over Swansea City at Old Trafford Saturday as a sign of good things to come for the Reds in 2016.
Wayne Rooney’s brilliant instinctive winner beat Swansea as United ended a run of eight games without a win.
The England striker flicked home Anthony Martial’s cross with 13 minutes to go to settle a close contest.
After a dour first half, Martial had headed United in front, before Gylfi Sigurdsson’s glancing effort set nerves on edge at Old Trafford.
Manchester United move up to fifth, two points behind Tottenham on the Premier League table.
After the match, Van Gaal told the club’s website he was delighted with the quality of his side’s two goals in Saturday’s victory over Swansea City.
“We’ve started the new year very well. I think we played very risky, very attacking, with three defenders, but we wanted to win and scored two fantastic goals today. That’s the difference. Our attacking tactics were because of the quality of the opponent and the shape of the opponent.
“We always look to a game plan that suits us more and also that the opponent doesn’t expect. That’s the reason – it’s not that we want to play risky football. Against Chelsea we played with a lot of space behind us and also today. But we have won and the most important thing is we have scored two fantastic goals,” he said.
Wayne Rooney netted his 238th goal for the club in the 2-1 win over Swansea City. That strike moved him ahead of the great Denis Law into second place.
And this is what the manager said about the English player’s feat: “It’s amazing, and at the age of 30 years. You have to say, of course, now we are playing much more matches but it is still a fantastic achievement. For me, it is more important that he scores now, and he scored today. I hope that it is the fantastic starting point for the team, but also him.”
Meanwhile, Anthony Martial was convincingly voted Manchester United’s Man of the Match after his starring role in the victory over Swansea.
The 20-year-old emphatically headed home an Ashley Young cross two minutes into the second half to break the deadlock and net his eighth goal of the season.
The Frenchman then turned provider for Rooney, after Swansea had equalised, as he burst down the left-hand side and crossed for the skipper to flick home.
Martial received 70 percent of the votes from fans on United’s official Twitter account, @ManUtd.
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