Reuters Louis van Gaal has been forced to play several young players

An injury crisis at Old Trafford has forced Van Gaal to hand debuts to several academy players including Marcus Rashford, Jesse Lingard, Timothy Fosu-Mensah, Guillermo Varela and Cameron Borthwick-Jackson. And each of them have impressed after being thrust into the limelight, in particular Rashford who scored his sixth goal of the season in their 2-1 win over West Ham in the FA Cup last night. Murphy, who made 249 appearances for Liverpool, praised Van Gaal's courage to play his inexperienced players ahead of more established stars.

Man United's FA Cup win over West Ham in pictures Tue, May 17, 2016 Express Sport brings you the best pictures from the Boleyn Ground as Manchester United beat West Ham United 2-1 in their FA Cup quarter-final replay Play slideshow Man Utd via Getty Images 1 of 21 Express Sport brings you the best pictures from the Boleyn Ground as Manchester United beat West Ham United 2-1 in their FA Cup quarter-final replay

He said: “There are some obvious deficiencies in that United squad, and they have underperformed across the board, especially in Europe. “That’s not good enough for the expenditure of the club, so I get what United fans are frustrated about. “But what I would say is that, this is a man under enormous pressure, managing one of the biggest clubs in the world, and he’s still had the courage to play and blood the likes of Marcus Rashford, Jesse Lingard, Timothy Fosu-Mensah, Guillermo Varela and Cameron Borthwick-Jackson. “He’s also admitted his own mistakes in a way, by binning Memphis Depay – whose attitude and performances have not been good enough – and Matteo Darmian.