Man United used anger to beat Swansea

Van Gaal believes that Rooney’s clever backheel in a 2-1 victory could kickstart the season for both United and their striker after a run of eight games without a win.

“I think you have to give Wayne Rooney massive credit for the second goal”, said the Poland global.

As well as creating the winning goal, Martial headed in the game’s opening goal two minutes into the second half and Ashley Young, who set him up, also stood out.

“They are very angry that we lost so many games in a row”, he said.

“I’m not used to that, losing four matches in a row”.

Speaking to the Daily Mail back in 2013, Sheringham revealed: “The manager told me a couple of times he signed me because he looked at my Dad, and he didn’t have any extra weight, so he thought I’d be OK for a few years”. “So it’s unusual and they are angry also and want to change the situation”.

The game should be another chance to build on the fragile confidence, but the team needs to do much more to get to a level which restores fans’ faith in their manager again.

Van Gaal praised his players’ performance given the pressure of their recent winless run and following the busy festive programme and allowed them to take Sunday and the start of the week off.

The England captain has played 99 more times than Law so his strike-rate is poorer than the Scot’s, but Van Gaal insists nothing should detract from Rooney’s achievement.

Hainer is not the first person to criticise Van Gaal’s playing style this season with former United midfielder Paul Scholes describing the football on display as “boring”.

Van Gaal is now expected to stay in his role at Old Trafford as a result. It was a good start to the year and we can’t afford any more slip-ups now, so we need to make sure we keep playing like this.

“He’s a terrific player and I’m glad we’ve got him”.

Rooney contented himself by tweeting a photograph of him embracing Martial after his goal, accompanied by the message: “Great start to the year”. “I hope it is a fantastic starting point for the team and for him”. You could see how tough it was, but I think we deserved the three points.