#MARTIALARTS as I like to call him
Louis van Gaal praised Anthony Martial for his equaliser against CSKA Moscowafter admitting that the attacker had been stupid for the handball that conceded a penalty and led to the Russian club’s opener.
Martial committed the offence on 14 minutes as Mário Fernandes advanced in the area. Carlos Velasco Carballo, the referee, awarded the spot-kick and while David de Gea pushed Roman Eremenko’s penalty on to his right post with a leg, Seydou Doumbia scored from the follow-up.
Martial, though, did not allow his head to drop, Van Gaal said, and the 19-year-old answered with a 65th-minute header. This meant the points were shared at the Arena Khimki and left United second in Group B on four. “I have already said in my TV interview, Martial is a human being,” said Van Gaal. “He reacts and it is a stupid reaction, but sometimes these things happen. He said it is the first time it happens to him, if it always happens with me it’s a pity. But I was very happy with his performance.
“I cannot complain about the spirit of my team. We started bad at Arsenal, 3-0 behind, but which team can play like we have [tonight]? We were 1-0 behind after a present of a goal, against a very organised team, but I only saw spirit towards the end and I am very proud of my players. I am always honest, I say it to my players and I can say it to you when I am disappointed, but we have done everything to win every game.
“I [am] happy with a draw – we now have two home matches and you can say we are very strong at home and I hope we can win these games so we are nearly qualified or qualified, but we also have a game away to Wolfsburg. We are now on schedule after the PSV Eindhoven defeat. I knew in advance that it would be a very difficult game because CSKA are very well-organised and compact. They also had the present of an Anthony Martial penalty, so it was more difficult for us because they could play more compact.”
Van Gaal bristled a little when asked if United’s pedigree meant they should have expected to win. “We came for three points. The last time CSKA played against United, it was 3-3 and that was during the strong period of United, so maybe you should be better informed,” he said.
Van Gaal took off Bastian Schweinsteiger for Marouane Fellaini at half-time as the Dutchman was concerned about his team’s speed of play.
“The tempo was too slow in my opinion, I said that at half-time and improve our tempo and switching the game from side to side,” said Van Gaal. “We did that better in the second half than the first half. We created more chances and could have won, but I think it is a deserved draw.
“We played a little more with the pressing tactics in the second half, which is why I changed with Fellaini. We were too slow in the first half, not just Schweinsteiger, the whole team.”
Despite Martial operating on the left side of attack yet scoring from near the penalty spot in a more traditional centre-forward’s position, Van Gaal had not been tempted to move him there during the match.
“No, I don’t have that idea. It is not the problem of the striker that he doesn’t have the chances in the first half,” the 64-year-old said. “I only had doubt about the wingers, how I have to change the wingers by bringing in Memphis [Depay]. It’s why I changed Jesse [Lingard], who I think played very well.”
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