STOKE CITY 2, MANCHESTER UNITED 0
Louis van Gaal declared that he could “quit by myself” after United slumped to a fourth successive defeat, going down 2-0 against a talented Stoke side who beat Manchester City by the same scoreline on December 5.
The Reds have now only won three games in 14, with no wins in their last seven games in all competitions including a fourth straight defeat in a row for the first time in a single season in the league since November 1961 and the heat is most certainly on Van Gaal after United dropped to 6th place in the Barclays Premier League ahead of Watford on goal difference.
When asked about his position, Van Gaal was in no mood to comment publicly but indicated that he had the support of the United board and the players but added: “I can quit by myself but that is something I speak about with Ed Woodward by himself.
“We have lost the game in the first 45 minutes because we didn’t play our football
“We had nothing more to lose in the second half. That’s not enough.
“I am also part of the four losses and I have to cope with that and manage that but my players are also a part of that because they have to perform.”
It was another ponderous United performance shorn of captain Wayne Rooney who strangely started at the Britannia Stadium on the bench.
Ander Herrera took his place in the starting lineup in the only change from the Norwich upset at Old Trafford last weekend.
There was no free ride from a fired up home side, though, as an inept headed backpass by Memphis Depay allowed Glen Johnson to snatch the initiative from the Reds after 19 minutes.
Johnson found Bojan Krkic with an easy finish and United were 2-0 down seven minutes later when a hapless handball by Ashley Young gave Krkic a tempting looking free kick which he drove into the United wall but was lashed back in by Marko Arnautovic after a neat touch.
Arnautovic found himself clean through on goal before half time but couldn’t extend Stoke’s lead much to the Red’s relief.
United improved after the break, with the introduction of Rooney for Depay, but despite carving out some opportunities through Marouane Fellaini, Anthony Martial and Juan Mata they couldn’t find the breakthrough they needed with Jack Butland in no mood to let goals in.