Louis van Gaal branded Chris Smalling "stupid" for picking up a second yellow card that reduced Manchester United to 10 men and contributed to their 1-0 derby defeat, sealed by Sergio Agüero's winner at the Etihad Stadium.
The game was scoreless when Smalling upended James Milner after 39 minutes causing the referee, Michael Oliver, to book him again, the first caution having arrived when the defender attempted to prevent Joe Hart clearing the ball upfield.
United now have 13 points from 10 games, their poorest return since the same point of the 1986-87 campaign. Of Smalling, Van Gaal said: “The sending off is not one of those things. As a player you have to control your aggression. I didn’t see the first yellow but the second, you know as a player you have a yellow, so you have to handle it differently. I said that to the players. In the derby, you have to be careful. The second yellow card was stupid. You cannot do what he has done with the second yellow card. That is not very smart. What can I say?
Big influence
“[The sending off] had a big influence on our opponent but also ourselves. Despite having 10 men, we played better in the second half than the first and that is because of the willpower of the team. We created a lot of chances, they fought until the last moment, but City had a very good goalkeeper. We are very close but we have to improve.”
Smalling apologised to his team-mates afterwards. “He said it very humbly. You can only accept it. But nevertheless it was, in my opinion, not so smart,” added Van Gaal.
The Dutchman started with a defence featuring Antonio Valencia, a winger, at right-back, and following Smalling’s dismissal and Marcos Rojo dislocating his shoulder after falling awkwardly in a challenge, ended up fielding two 19-year-olds, Paddy McNair and Luke Shaw, and a midfielder making a first appearance of the season, Michael Carrick.
Lot of injuries
Yet Van Gaal denied this was a factor in the defeat. “We have a lot of injuries in defence but you have also seen how Michael Carrick came in and also how Paddy McNair came in,” he said. “I don’t think that’s the problem. In spite of all the injuries, we are very close – with Chelsea last week and also this match. We were very close but not close enough and we have to make steps to improve.
“I think our problem is that in the first half we gave too many unnecessary balls away in positions that we can hold the ball easily. What we call a positional game. That we have to do better.”
“I felt for long periods we were the better team, so it’s disappointing to lose the game,” said the United captain, Wayne Rooney.
Of Rojo’s injury, Van Gaal said: I don’t think he’s available next week [for the visit of Crystal Palace].”
When it was put to him that United have only half the amount of Chelsea’s 26 points, the 63-year-old bridled. “Yeah, but I can count also. So that’s not so difficult,” he said.
Little bit of saliva
Regarding whether
Marouane Fellaini
had spat at Agüero during the first half following a challenge from the Belgian that produced a reasonable claim for a penalty, Van Gaal said: “I have heard that it is a question on social media but already the TV has shown that he is shouting and sometimes when you shout there’s a little bit of saliva [that comes out] with it. I don’t think that he’s a spitting figure.”
Fellaini was also accused of spitting at Pablo Zabaleta at Old Trafford last season, although the City manager, Manuel Pellegrini, said of this incident: "No, I don't know about that."
Asked if Agüero had mentioned it, the Chilean added: “Maybe, but it’s something I don’t know about.”
City had failed to win their previous three matches, losing the past two. The win reduced Chelsea’s lead over them to six points and Pellegrini hailed a first clean sheet in five matches. “One of the important things about this game was that we kept clean sheet until we were able to score the goal,” he said.
Central defender Eliaquim Mangala was not available due to injury, but Pellegrini thinks he could be back for Wednesday’s home Champions League encounter with CSKA Moscow. “It is a hip. I don’t think it’s an important problem and hope he’ll be ready for next Wednesday or Saturday,” he said. Guardian Service
