The first thing I want to say is I have every respect for Louis van Gaal. However, speaking from the experience of years of criticism that teams managed by me alway play the long-ball game, I felt it was right after our match against Manchester United to make the comments I did.

It was, to a certain extent, tongue in cheek but I believe I was also making a factual point.

The fact was I saw United play, for a time against us last weekend, in a way I have never seen them before.

What I didn’t say afterwards was that we played fewer long balls than them — my comment was that United played long-ball football more than I have ever witnessed from them in the past.

As it happens, the statistics seem to bear that out over the season and as far as our game was concerned, it worked with that late equaliser even though it didn’t come directly from a long ball.

It wasn’t Marouane Fellaini who nodded the ball down for Daley Blind to score but a headed clearance from our defender, Carl Jenkinson.

Had I not mentioned the facts after the match, would anyone else have pointed it out? Dare I make those comments because it’s Manchester United? Yes, I dare because it was a fact. Louis’s response created a bit of a furore and he obviously felt he had to protect himself by responding to my comments. It was clear he didn’t want to be saddled with the same sort of tag that has been my lot over the years.

It is a tactic he will use when he thinks fit, the same as any good manager.

The reality is if you continue to play football one way only and it doesn’t bring you the result you need, the supporters will go home miserable. If, towards the end of the game, you change your style of play, go more direct and draw 1-1 — or even better, win 2-1 — they go home happy.

The perception that we all have to play a certain type of football is nonsense. It’s akin to football snobbery.

Look at Everton. Roberto Martinez has turned to Plan B because the A game wasn’t working. Everton are now playing a more direct game, a more defensive game.

Roberto’s doing his job. Louis might have felt I was criticising him but the opposite was true. In fact I was praising the way he changed his team to escape from the predicament they were in against us.

If he hadn’t have done that, we would have gone on to win the game.





Player Ratings: West Ham v Manchester United 11 show all Player Ratings: West Ham v Manchester United 1/11 Carl Jenkinson: 6 Not as effective as he has been recently. He struggled to cope with Radamel Falcao and allowed Adnan Januzaj to get the wrong side of him too often. Came close to scoring when his cross went inches past David de Gea’s goal. Getty 2/11 Cheikhou Kouyate: 8 What a goal. He did excellently to turn and shoot past David de Gea. Alongside the composed figure of James Tomkins he was able to express himself. He was also the most effective at stifling Angel di Maria. Getty 3/11 Antonio Valencia: 6 One of Manchester United’s best players against West Ham. Highly effective on the right. Worked particularly hard to support the attack but made sure to track back when required. Getty 4/11 Phil Jones: 5 Handled the physicality of Diafra Sakho well. He won the majority of 50/50 balls in the air against the Senegal international. A composed performance. Could possibly have done better to stop Cheikhou Kouyate getting his shot away. Getty 5/11 Marcos Rojo: 6 He never stopped grafting. Very quick out of defence but covered for Luke Shaw when the English defender pushed up. He did pick up an unnecessary yellow card for a reckless tackle on Mark Noble. Getty 6/11 Luke Shaw: 5 Caught out of possession a few times by Enner Valencia who never allowed him out of his sights. Pressed forward well. Sent off for a horror tackle on Stewart Downing Getty 7/11 Daley Blind: 7 Not as strong as he has been. Playing in front of the defence you expected him to stay calm and tidy up loose balls. Bypassed a little too easily by Stewart Downing. Scored a beautiful goal to bring his side level. Getty 8/11 Wayne Rooney: 7 A little out position but his ability to link up the midfield and attack is always required. A threat to West Ham after the Hammers took the lead. Very creative from a fairly deep role. Getty 9/11 Adnan Januzaj: 5 50th game for Manchester United three days after he turned 20. Early on his was relatively effective on the left side but as Carl Jenkinson started to read where he was going the Belgian ran out of options. Replaced by Marouane Fellaini after 72 minutes. Getty 10/11 Robin van Persie: 6 Failed to punish Alex Song’s mistake in the first half when the midfielder played across his own box. Didn’t link up with Radamel Falcao as much as he has done previously. Should have levelled the match with minutes remaining. Good movement, though. Getty 11/11 Radamel Falcao: 5 Too often he appears a little too casual. His movement created space but when he got the ball he didn’t progress play often enough. Missed a sitter to level the scores when one-on-one with Adrian. Getty 1/11 Carl Jenkinson: 6 Not as effective as he has been recently. He struggled to cope with Radamel Falcao and allowed Adnan Januzaj to get the wrong side of him too often. Came close to scoring when his cross went inches past David de Gea’s goal. Getty 2/11 Cheikhou Kouyate: 8 What a goal. He did excellently to turn and shoot past David de Gea. Alongside the composed figure of James Tomkins he was able to express himself. He was also the most effective at stifling Angel di Maria. Getty 3/11 Antonio Valencia: 6 One of Manchester United’s best players against West Ham. Highly effective on the right. Worked particularly hard to support the attack but made sure to track back when required. Getty 4/11 Phil Jones: 5 Handled the physicality of Diafra Sakho well. He won the majority of 50/50 balls in the air against the Senegal international. A composed performance. Could possibly have done better to stop Cheikhou Kouyate getting his shot away. Getty 5/11 Marcos Rojo: 6 He never stopped grafting. Very quick out of defence but covered for Luke Shaw when the English defender pushed up. He did pick up an unnecessary yellow card for a reckless tackle on Mark Noble. Getty 6/11 Luke Shaw: 5 Caught out of possession a few times by Enner Valencia who never allowed him out of his sights. Pressed forward well. Sent off for a horror tackle on Stewart Downing Getty 7/11 Daley Blind: 7 Not as strong as he has been. Playing in front of the defence you expected him to stay calm and tidy up loose balls. Bypassed a little too easily by Stewart Downing. Scored a beautiful goal to bring his side level. Getty 8/11 Wayne Rooney: 7 A little out position but his ability to link up the midfield and attack is always required. A threat to West Ham after the Hammers took the lead. Very creative from a fairly deep role. Getty 9/11 Adnan Januzaj: 5 50th game for Manchester United three days after he turned 20. Early on his was relatively effective on the left side but as Carl Jenkinson started to read where he was going the Belgian ran out of options. Replaced by Marouane Fellaini after 72 minutes. Getty 10/11 Robin van Persie: 6 Failed to punish Alex Song’s mistake in the first half when the midfielder played across his own box. Didn’t link up with Radamel Falcao as much as he has done previously. Should have levelled the match with minutes remaining. Good movement, though. Getty 11/11 Radamel Falcao: 5 Too often he appears a little too casual. His movement created space but when he got the ball he didn’t progress play often enough. Missed a sitter to level the scores when one-on-one with Adrian. Getty

Politicians pass buck over grass-roots cash

The new domestic £5.1billion TV deal was unveiled on Tuesday — and brought the usual criticism from some, who considered it ‘obscene’.

I’m not having that. You don’t hear the same sort of emotive stuff directed at golfers, tennis players, and F1 drivers — just footballers.

We’re talking the biggest, financially-based global brand in the history of sport — and we’re exporting it from our insular little island.

Fingers have been pointed at the Premier League and their commitment to grass-roots football but, over the present deal, they are donating £56million a year to exactly that cause.

Let’s not forget that provision for grass-roots sport is principally a government responsibility — rather than an obligation for the Premier League.

Weren’t there promises, after the Olympics, that there would be investment in school sports? Has it happened?

It’s a disgrace that there is a reliance instead on the Premier League and charities to provide the funding. Some blame‑shifting has gone on here.

As for ticket prices, I am clear — bring them down. Keep the fans in the stadiums otherwise we have no brand.

If we don’t lower prices, the danger is we will start losing fans as Italy have. A couple of decades ago they could boast a bigger brand than ourselves but they are now fourth behind us, Germany and Spain, with Holland probably not that far behind Italy.

In fact, some of our Championship clubs pull in bigger crowds than some of those in Serie A.



Blame me for Lassana Diarra deal falling through

I thought it was a simple contract cancellation — but it wasn’t as straightforward as that. Maybe I should have investigated the circumstances more thoroughly before we negotiated for more than three weeks.

It turned out it wasn’t a mutual contract cancellation between Lassana and his previous club, Lokomotiv Moscow, and didn’t fulfil the Fifa criteria on signing players outside the transfer window.

We may well return to him in the summer. Lassana is a fine player who needs to resurrect his career and re-establish himself as the player he used to be.





Recovery race is on

The most pressing challenge for us right now is to recover the players in time for tomorrow’s FA Cup fifth-round tie at West Brom.

It’s going to be very difficult but we’re going to give it our best shot.

Hopefully, we can withstand the rigours of three matches in six days plus the problems we’ve faced along the way, be it injuries or the referee’s decision on Wednesday night at Southampton.

We’ve based our appeal against Adrian’s red card on what the referee has said and the reason for his decision.

Whatever happens, we feel we have a very good case.

I called Jussi Jaaskelainen an “old master” on Wednesday night after his performance at St Mary’s and he won’t let anyone down if called upon at West Brom.

Seeing what he’s done during his time at West Ham, there would be no problem playing him.



Lambert dealt with the cards he was given

What Paul Lambert thought was a great move when he went to Aston Villa ended up as a difficult task because of huge financial restrictions. Few could have handled that successfully and not left Villa in the position they’re in now.



