Wayne Rooney: We’re fighting to save Louis van Gaal
At least emerging as the points “victors” from this bout between two slumping English football heavyweights means the pressure that has been steadily mounting on the United manager in recent weeks will ease — temporarily, at least — until the next crisis threatens to engulf manager and club.
On current form, that could be as early as the weekend home meeting with Swansea.
For Chelsea, considerably ahead of United on the “crisis curve” this season, given that they have already dispensed with their manager, a point and clean sheet were far better returns from a display which suggested they may well have survived the worst that this campaign has to offer.
“When the players give this performance with this pressure there is no reason for me to resign,” said Van Gaal. “Maybe the media wants that but I shall not do that. I have a contract so it is not a question of staying, it is a question of fulfilling my contract. For me it is not an interesting subject because I can’t have any influence on that, I can only work with my players and I have to say the players are fighting for me and gave a good performance.”
“Of course,” said Wayne Rooney when asked if Van Gaal still had the backing the United players. “A lot of people say different things but we would be letting ourselves down if we didn’t go out onto the pitch and give it our all.
“We wouldn’t be professional players if we did that. We’re having a tough time, everyone knows that, but we will keep fighting and come back.
“But this was just the way it has been going for us at the minute. We created a lot of chances but didn’t manage to take one. I thought we played some great stuff but most of all the crowd was excellent. They could see how much this meant for the players but it was a disappointing result because we dominated the game.”
It had been some years since a meeting between the two giants of the English game had been greeted by such an air of anticipation and unpredictability and never, in the modern era of the Premier League at least, in quite such circumstances.
The spectacular collapses of two great dynasties, and the crumbling reputations of two of the world game’s great managerial characters, have brought us to a point, almost inconceivably, where Van Gaal’s attempts to retain his job and Chelsea’s bid to retain Premier League status are of more concern than where, among the top four elite, the clubs will end the campaign.
For the home team, it led to a recall for Rooney, rested for the St Stephen’s Day defeat at Stoke, and more effective in the first half here than he had been, arguably, at any point over the entire season.
It was Rooney who, after just two minutes, turned Ashley Young’s throw-in into the path of Juan Mata whose amazing first-time shot, from fully 20 yards, struck the Chelsea crossbar.
It was a relatively modest beginning to a game, by historical United standards, but so emphatic has been their decline that it was sufficient to energise the home supporters who have been so critical of Van Gaal’s cautious play in recent weeks. For the neutral, at least, better was to come a couple of minutes later when Chelsea won a corner, following a Daley Blind error, from which Willian picked out John Terry for a powerful, stooping header which was magnificently kept out by David de Gea.
Rooney’s lay-off set up Morgan Schneiderlin for a 20-yard shot which flew just wide while Ander Herrera played in Anthony Martial, the French youngster cutting in past Branislav Ivanovic far too easily before thundering a shot against the foot of the Chelsea post.
These are days in which the Old Trafford empire measures progress and “success” in relative terms and, as such, striking the woodwork twice in the opening 16 minutes of such a high-profile game constituted a major improvement on recent form which had left United facing the prospect of losing a fifth consecutive league game for the first time since 1936.
Martial, whose dip in form has been so symbolic of United’s decline this season, ran into Chelsea traffic and appealed, optimistically, for a penalty but there was more confidence and directness in not only his play, but United’s, than has been the case in weeks.
Television pundit Paul Scholes suggested this was becoming, possibly, his former club’s best half of football in 12 months-plus.
Thibaut Courtois was required to save well from Rooney via a crisp 20-yard right-foot strike, and, while Chelsea were distinctly second best, in comparison with the later days of the Jose Mourinho regime, this was still an improved display from Guus Hiddink’s team, particularly in terms of organisation and commitment.
The fact the new Chelsea manager sent out a line-up without a striker and Eden Hazard in the role of the “false nine,” indicated that his team’s intent was based on a point representing sufficient return in what is now effectively a relegation contest.
Hiddink clearly felt his team may have weathered the best United had to throw at his team over that first 45 minutes because, upon the restart, Chelsea looked more direct and ambitious.
After 48 minutes, an increasingly interested Hazard burst through the middle and slipped Pedro into the United area for a shot which de Gea kept out superbly, the United keeper doing even better by responding to the rebound as full-back Cesar Azpilicueta tried to steer the loose ball into the open net only to be denied by the Spaniard’s outstretched arm.
It was a timely reminder of how much trouble United would be in without de Gea’s excellence this season — and there was soon to be a similar save from Courtois at the other end to underline his worth to Hiddink’s team.
Martial, increasingly effective down the left against Ivanovic, tore to the by-line and crossed into the centre of the goal, where Herrera looked certain to slide the cross into the goal, only for the Belgian keeper to appear with lightning speed and somehow scramble the ball off his line.
Willian clearly handled as he sought to control the ball in his own area seconds later, what should have been a blatant penalty award but an escape that suggested fortune might be with the visitors rather than the hosts.
Despite those scares, Chelsea were still showing more ambition than had been the case in the first period and launched a devastating counter-attack just after the hour, Pedro massaging the ball 70 yards forwards, directly in the path of the unmarked Nemanja Matic who hurried his attempt embarrassingly high and wide of the United goal.
Cameron Borthwick-Jackson was the unlikely source of the last meaningful attack of the game, his cross being volleyed over wastefully by Rooney at the far post, and the England forward was fortunate in injury-time when a high stamp on Oscar went unnoticed when television evidence suggested he should have been shown a red card.
“It was accidental,” said Rooney. “I knew straight away I had caught him and could have caused him a bit of damage. I apologised on the pitch but nothing was meant and I thought the referee saw there was no intention and he gave me a yellow, which was probably deserved.”
De Gea 7; Young 7, Smalling 6, Blind 6 (Jones 80), Darmian 6 (Borthwick-Jackson 70, 7); Schweinsteiger 7, Schneiderlin 6; Mata 7 (Memphis 76, 6), Herrera 7, Martial 7; Rooney 8.
Courtois 8; Ivanovic 5, Zouma 6, Terry 7, Azpilicueta 6; Mikel 7, Matic 6; Willian 7 (Ramires 69, 6), Oscar 5 (Loftus-Cheek 93), Pedro 7; Hazard 6.
M Atkinson 6
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