Van Gaal stands firm on Falcao

Premier League

MANCHESTER United boss Louis van Gaal will not bow to fan pressure and persist with Radamel Falcao if his younger, less famous players perform better than the €300,000 a-week loan striker.

The Colombian is on a season-long deal from Monaco and wants to earn a permanent move to Old Trafford but he went about it all the wrong the way at Loftus Road by missing a handful of guilt-edge chances that a player of his calibre, on his salary, should have buried.

Any embarrassment he might have felt after inspired QPR goalkeeper Rob Green saved three of his efforts was compounded when teenage United striker James Wilson rifled home in injury time after coming on as a 57th minute sub. And that was after much-maligned midfielder Marouane Fellaini opened the scoring on 58 minutes, calming the nerves of the visiting fans after Falcao’s profligacy had begun to put them on edge.

“Before this match I had already thought about this shape and to play it,” van Gaal said. “Then I look to my players in a training session and I look to my game plan and then I choose and that’s dependable, also, from what I see at the training ground.

“I’m a manager and you can’t always give the credit to the most expensive player and if a young player never gets a chance then I’m not a very good manager. I have to treat all of the players at the same level with the same rules and same demands.

“Falcao has played and I was very pleased. I have to look at the players and I have to communicate with the players and observe the players. I cannot observe the fans because how many fans do Manchester United have? All over the world we’ve got 600 million. You cannot take into account 600 million opinions. To look at the players, to communicate with the players, to observe, to analyse and so on. That’s my job as a manager.”

Despite the imperious performance of in-form keeper David De Gea, the dire first-half contribution from Juan Mata — who was subbed at the interval — and the decision out of left-field to play Wayne Rooney at left wing-back, all post-match questions were focussed on Falcao, to his manager’s chagrin. “Every players gets his time,” he said. “No matter who you are. We will wait and see.

“We have 29 players so then we have to talk about 29 players, not one player, because Manchester United has a selection of 29 players and maybe tomorrow 28 or 30. Not just one player.”

Van Gaal appears to be enjoying the pressures of juggling a collection of the world’s most exciting and expensive attacking players, even after the average performance they put in the at the weekend against a struggling QPR.

The same cannot be said of his vanquished rival; Harry Redknapp looked hurt and resigned to leaving his future in the hands of fate and chairman Tony Fernandes.

After facing questions on his job security and his suggestion his position is being undermined by a nark inside his camp leaking stories to the media, Redknapp revealed while he doesn’t fear the sack he does feel guilty for the effects his wretched post-defeat moods have on his wife, Sandra.

“I’ve never had it before, never ever,” he said when pressed for a reaction to speculation over his future.

“I never had it at Tottenham, no one ever mentioned me getting the sack at Tottenham. Here, last year I lost a few games in the Championship, I’m going to get the sack someone writes.

“So someone’s written in the paper, an insider, why don’t they put his name in there. Everyone believes this insider has given them good information, but it’s a lot of bollocks isn’t it really? But you’ve got to put up with it.

“Do I take the game home with me? Oh, you wouldn’t like to be my wife tonight. No one cares more than me, no one.

“There ain’t no one in this game who cares more than me. I don’t fear the sack, but I do take results home with me and I feel sorry for my wife. I think ‘she doesn’t deserve this’, it’s not fair, because she’s a fantastic girl. I come in but I’m no use to anybody, I get low, because I want to win, I care.

“The day I don’t care I’ll go okay, I’m not skint, I ain’t got to work, I’ll go and play golf every day. But I care.”

QPR (4-4-2): Green 8; Isla 7, Dunne 6 (Caulker 46, 6), Onouha 6, Hill 6; Vargas 5, Henry 6, Barton 5, Fer 6 (Taarabt 70, 5); Austin 7, Zamora 7 (Kranjcar 71, 4).

Subs not used: McCarthy, Ferdinand, Hoilett, Zarate.

MAN UTD (3-5-2): De Gea 8; Jones 7, Evans 7 (Wilson 57, 8), Rojo 7; Valencia 7, Carrick 7, Mata 4 (Fellaini 46, 8), Blind 7, Rooney 7; Di Maria 7 (Herrera 90, 1), Falcao 5.

Subs not used: Valdes, McNair, Smalling, Januzaj

Referee: Neil Swarbrick 6.