Quality Tells as Louis Van Gaal Steers Manchester United Past Dogged Yeovil

YEOVIL, England — After the disaster that was their League Cup experience earlier in the season, there was to be no similar cup drama this time around for Louis van Gaal and Manchester United.

Held at bay for over an hour by a dogged, determined Yeovil Town side at a sold-out Huish Park on Sunday, a moment of pure inspiration from Ander Herrera—in an otherwise lightweight individual display—set United on their way in this year’s FA Cup, ensuring there would be no repeat of the 4-0 Capital One Cup defeat to MK Dons that sparked the first real crisis of Van Gaal’s United reign.

After Herrera’s brilliant first-time half-volley had found the top corner shortly after the hour mark, Yeovil pushed forward with greater ambition, or at least greater optimism, but their flickering hopes of somehow conjuring up an historic result were finally flushed out when substitute Angel Di Maria latched onto Wayne Rooney’s pinpoint through ball to lift the ball into the net and confirm an ultimately comfortable 2-0 win.

Van Gaal could scarcely of asked for a more quintessential third-round experience as his FA Cup inauguration, even if the giant-killing the neutrals always covet was not to be.

“We gave everything we had, but perhaps we lacked a bit of quality in the end,” the Yeovil captain, Joe Edwards, admitted afterwards. “Our best chances probably came in the first 60 minutes.”

That was when the scoreline remained untouched, when the game remained firmly in the balance. In the first half, Yeovil could not muster a shot of note on David de Gea’s goal, but United were hardly threatening at the other end; Rooney, Herrera and James Wilson all missed the target from distance as the home defence refused to let them into the box. They were applauded off at half-time, the 9,000-plus crowd appreciative of the effort that had been put in.

At half-time, Van Gaal made two changes due to injury (Luke Shaw and Rafael both returning to the waiting list), putting Juan Mata in midfield and changing the shape of his side to give it more options in the middle of the park.

That seemed to unsettle Yeovil, who would slowly run out of steam as the effects of their intense pressing game began to take their toll as the game wore on.

Before that, however, they created a brilliant chance, young striker Kieffer Moore proving unable to get a firm contact on his shot as he was left unmarked six yards out. It felt like a decisive moment in the contest, and so it proved; just moments later, Herrera’s swinger would change the face of the tie.

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The captain, Edwards, would come closest to an equaliser, as his header from a half-cleared corner was knocked away off the line by Di Maria. Van Gaal, however, believed the “simple organization” meant Edwards’ header was always going to be cleared—United were always going to have someone on the line, so such a shot would always be fended off.

There was a clinical logic to that, although he never reflected upon Moore’s gilt-edged chance, where the space seemed to open up for the 22-year-old and any power behind his strike would have asked David de Gea to produce a save of the highest quality.

“We didn’t have the patience in the first half, we want to make the first goal too much, in a hurry,” the Dutchman said. “At half-time, I changed the shape, we had a man more in midfield, and we kept the ball better, and we had more patience. In consequence, we scored a goal.”

“I did look at their subs bench during the game, it looked formidable,” Van Gaal’s opposite number, Gary Johnson, acknowledged. “We knew they could quite comfortably change their shape. That’s what they did in the second half—you expect that from a top manager when his side is not quite performing.

“But they also brought on players that could take control of the ball. All of a sudden we are chasing a bit and they gradually took the energy out of our boys’ legs.“

That was how the game got away from the hosts—one moment of quality and then the persistent retention of the ball. The Yeovil manager, who remains under pressure with the recently relegated side currently rooted to the bottom of League One, expressed a certain amount of frustration at seeing his side let a great chance to scare its illustrious visitors slip through its fingers, but that in itself indicates how well his side did.

Before the game, many Glovers fans were openly wondering whether a repeat of one fifth-round meeting between these two sides in 1949, when United ran out 8-0 winners, could be on the cards, such was the terrible nature of the side’s recent league performances.

Many wondered if United would rotate their options aggressively as a result, fielding an almost unrecognisable team as they dismissed the threat of their struggling opponents. That was not to be the case, however, as Radamel Falcao led a side that contained Rooney, Herrera, De Gea et al. Robin van Persie (rested) was the main absentee.

“If anything, it gave us a boost,” Edwards said, when asked for the Yeovil reaction to the teamsheet announcement. “When we saw the team, we were more excited because you want to play the best.”

Yeovil went on to acquit themselves well, but United always had a measure of control—even if Van Gaal was full of praise for his opposite number.

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“It was fantastic, how they pressed the ball,” he said. “Always the ball was under pressure…and then it is more difficult to beat the pressure. And when you have no patience, like us in the first half, then it is more difficult.

“When you can organize your team like the manager of Yeovil has done, and the players believe in it, then you can achieve a lot.”

The task for Yeovil now is to take that form, that hunger and commitment, back into their league games. Edwards and Johnson both acknowledged that results in that department had not been up to scratch, with both hoping (in different ways) that Sunday’s game would serve as a turning point.

Edwards hoped the performance would imbue the players with greater confidence. Johnson, meanwhile, hoped the reported £500,000 the club has made out of this tie will allow him to bring one or two new faces.

Of greater interest to most, of course, is how United will go on to fare. Clearly, Van Gaal is not taking the FA Cup lightly, with the eleven names in his starting side an indication of his determination to progress through the rounds.

“Towards the end, it was near enough their first-choice team,” Edwards noted. “They obviously want to do well in the competition.”

Van Gaal demurred when asked if the competition is not his priority, considering it gives him his most realistic remaining chance of lifting a trophy in his first season in English football. For now, however, he remains insistent that the Premier League is of equal significance.

"I am very happy that we have won, and that we have survived this festive period,” Van Gaal concluded. “I could not change [players] much [due to injuries], and in spite of that, we have regained ground on Chelsea and are in the fourth round of the FA Cup. What more can a manager wish for?”

All quotes obtained firsthand.