Van Gaal defends tactics after loss

Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal was forced to defend both his tactics and squad management following a disjointed 1-0 home defeat by Southampton in the Premier League.

Substitute Dusan Tadic’s 69th-minute goal earned Southampton a first victory at Old Trafford since January 1988, which allowed Ronald Koeman’s side to climb above United to third place in the table.

Victory was the visitors’ reward for a disciplined and intelligent display, but United misfired badly in attack, failing to muster a shot on target in a home league game for the first time since a 0-0 draw with Arsenal in May 2009.

Sunday’s defeat left them with 37 points from 21 games — the same amount as van Gaal’s hapless predecessor David Moyes had mustered at this stage last season.

Koeman suggested that United were having trouble adapting to van Gaal’s preference for a three-man defence, opining that “they have difficulties to build up with three centre-backs”.

But van Gaal, whose side have taken six points from a possible 15, rejected the claim and argued that Southampton had been “lucky” to avenge their 2-1 loss to United in December.

Asked if United had struggled to bring the ball out of defence, he replied: “I don’t think so, because we were the dominating team. You have seen that today (Sunday). That for me is not any question.”