Louis van Gaal ‘shocked’ by Manchester United’s display against Burnley

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/feb/12/louis-van-gaal-shocked-manchester-united-display-burnley-chris-smalling

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Louis van Gaal, the Manchester United manager, was “shocked” by his side’s poor first-half performance against Burnley according to Chris Smalling, who labelled the display their worst of the season.

Smalling scored two and Robin van Persie converted an 82nd-minute penalty on Wednesday as United beat Burnley to move up to third in the Premier League.

Van Gaal’s team have lost only once in 18 matches but a section of United’s fanbase is becoming dissatisfied with the team’s style of play, which is often laboured and unproductive.

“I think the manager was shocked at half-time,” Smalling said. “He said in the dressing room that the first half was unacceptable and all the players know that.

“It wasn’t a 3-1 scoreline game. Especially in that first half, we all let ourselves down. We could have played much better. That first half was probably the worst we’ve had all season – we were lucky to go into the break with a lead. We knew that it wasn’t good enough. We were lucky to get away with it, and we had to stand up and fight in the second half.”

Over the next 24 hours, Van Gaal is set to meet with the club’s co-chairmen Joel and Avram Glazer, who were at the Burnley match, to discuss United’s plans for the summer.

The club have reported revenue down 14% for the second quarter of their financial year as a result of their Champions League absence. United’s revenues for the three months ending 31 December 2014 were £105.7m compared to £122.9m a year ago – which is not as great a drop as some analysts had predicted due to a reduction in costs and a rise in commercial income.

The biggest impact on the finances has been the lack of broadcast income from European football, which dropped 46.9% to £28.4m. However, the wage bill also dropped £2.9m over the three months – mainly due to a reduction in the size of the squad compared to last season.