Sports
Louis van Gaal blames Mata for 1-0 defeat at West Brom
Louis van Gaal fears Juan Mata’s dismissal will condemn Manchester United to a devastating double whammy after their top-four bid was badly dented.
West Brom earned their first home league win over United for 32 years courtesy of Salomon Rondon’s 66th minute goal. It leaves United sixth after West Ham climbed above them in the race for a top four spot with Man City fourth on 50 points.
Read also: Van Gaal feels the heat as Man Utd suffers home loss
Boss Van Gaal was left to bemoan Mata’s two first half bookings in quick succession which saw referee Mike Dean dismiss him on 26 minutes. Van Gaal now fears the repercussions of United’s four-game winning run being halted and playing 64 minutes with 10 men ahead of Thursday’s Europa League first leg clash with Liverpool.
The Dutchman moaned: “We lost and you lose contact with the first four or five. “This match has also an influence on the next match so for us it is very bad, a bad moment.
“It was in my opinion an unnecessary loss, we don’t deserve to lose. When you see at the end that the chances West Bromwich Albion had in comparison with us it is an unnecessary loss. “It is difficult to create chances with 10 against 11. So I think the decision was for us the turning point in the match. “His second offence was a foul but is that also always a yellow card?
“You saw the first three tackles of West Bromwich Albion to our players – no yellow cards. But the referee gave two yellow cards in five minutes at the same person.”
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