Louis van Gaal criticized new signing Bastian Schweinsteiger and his Manchester United teammates after the English Premier League giants eased to a 3-1 victory over the San Jose Earthquakes.
United recorded a second straight victory on their US tour and never really looked troubled against their Major League Soccer opponents.
Juan Mata and man-of-the-match Memphis Depay scored first-half goals for United before Brazilian youngster Andreas Pereira added a third in the second half.
Photo: EPA
However, United boss Van Gaal was furious at his team’s performance after the break when he made 10 changes, including the introduction of Schweinsteiger.
“The first half I was satisfied — the players have performed what we wanted in the defensive organization, and they have created a lot of chances, 10, and they scored two goals,” Van Gaal said.
“In the second half I thought we played very bad — a lot of ball losses, very unnecessary. The only highlight was the goal from Pereira,” he added.
“He was also bad,” he said of new signing Schweinsteiger, adding that it would take time for the World Cup winner to settle in. “Everybody can think it is easy to step in, but it is not easy. I thought the first match [Schweinsteiger] played very well and now he played bad, but that is also a process.”
However, Van Gaal is likely to have drawn encouragement from the display of Depay, who completed a US$38.9 million move to Old Trafford last month.
Former United coach Alex Ferguson was part of an 18,000-capacity sell-out at San Jose’s Avaya Stadium, who watched United ease into their attacking stride quickly. They created a promising opening after only four minutes when Depay broke forward menacingly before whipping in a low shot, which was parried clear by San Jose goalkeeper David Bingham.
Four minutes later, United threatened again when Luke Shaw powered down the left flank and crossed for Wayne Rooney, who was just unable to make contact.
United finally broke through on 32 minutes. Ashley Young fed Mata, who cut into the penalty area and chipped across goal to beat Bingham off the far post. Five minutes later, United were 2-0 up when Depay, by far the sharpest of United’s attackers on display, pounced on a poor back-pass by Jean Baptist Pierazzi to coolly tuck away his finish.
However, a largely trouble-free opening 45 minutes was blotted shortly before the end of the first half as San Jose pulled a goal back through Fatai Alashe. Shea Salinas embarrassed Morgan Schneiderlin down the right flank, feinting past the midfielder far too easily before picking out Alashe with a low cross to finish past United goalkeeper Sam Johnstone.
The mass of substitutions at the break disrupted United’s rhythm, but they were soon back in the goalscoring groove with Pereira making it 3-1 in the 61st minute.
Jesse Lingard chipped in a pinpoint cross from the right flank for Brazilian youngster Pereira, who lost his marker and steered home past Bingham.
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