EPL: Swansea City 2-1 Man Utd
Swansea City’s third successive 2;1 victory over Manchester United took them above Louis van Gaal’s side, who have lost for the first time this season in the EPL.
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Louis van Gaal’s 50th game in charge of Manchester United proved to be much like his first. Much like his 31st, too, for that matter, as Van Gaal watched his team lost 2-1 against Swansea for the third time in little more than a year.
Andre Ayew and Bafetimbi Gomis scored the goals which turned the game after Juan Mata had fired the visitors ahead, early in the second half.
By the end, the crowd in south Wales felt confident enough to jeer United stars who ran out of ideas and hit pass after pass into touch.
The thing for Van Gaal is that you take the thrill and flair from Manchester United at your peril.
Without the thrill and flair, you have to win, which they did against Tottenham and Aston Villa in the Barclays Premier League, and against FC Bruges, in Europe. But which they did not against Newcastle.
Against Swansea, they neither won nor drew not entertained and functioned like two disconnected units – a solid back six and four up front, who were able to create very little against a well organised Swansea side.
By way of an escape plan, Van Gaal resorted once against to sending on Marouane Fellaini at centre-forward and launching it long.
Javier Hernandez did not come off the bench and, with the transfer market closing soon, there must be concern at Old Trafford.
Fellaini had the usual unsettling effect, but Swansea held out without too much fuss, but for one wonderful recovery tackle by Ashley Williams on Wayne Rooney.
Captain Rooney was isolated and frustrated for most of the game. He scored a hat-trick in Bruges but has now gone 10 games without a Premier League goal for the first time as a United player.
Buoyed by the trip to Belgium, United started well. Lukasz Fabianski was called into action to beat out a free-kick from Memphis Depay which skidded from the slippery surface.
Mata lashed one over from just outside the penalty box and then screwed an excellent opening wide, midway through the first half. Ander Herrera poked a pass to Mata but, coming onto the ball from United’s right, he pulled it wide with his left foot.
'We weren't at our best' - Monk
In an interview with BBC Sport after the game, Swansea boss Garry Monk had this to say, "It was an amazing atmosphere. The first half, Manchester United played very well and made it very difficult for us.
"We showed our character. I don't think we were at our best, but we were organised and kept our shape.
"They were causing us problems centrally. I changed it with four midfielders inside and that allowed us to get into the game.
"It is three points."
'We lost in five minutes' - van Gaal
Man Utd boss Louis van Gaal on his part told BBC Sport: "We controlled the game for 85 minutes but we lost in five minutes and that cannot happen.
"They changed the shape and we had to be compact. We forgot that maybe because we are too dominant. We have to learn from that.
"First you have to create chances, with scoring goals you need luck, that we don't have at the moment.
"I have enjoyed our football but you need the result and we lost again. All the players were very motivated to beat them."
