Martial will do even better, says Van Gaal
KEIR RADNEDGE at WEMBLEY: Manchester United manager Lous Van Gaal believes in the outstandingly progressive potential of Anthony Martial far beyond not only his FA Cup semi-final winning goal but his overall performance.
Martial made the first goal for Marouane Fellaini and struck the decisive blow in stoppage time to leave Everton beaten 2-1.
Van Gaal said: “Martial can do even much better because I see a lot of thing he can improve and he shall improve not only by training and playing but you can improve also when you are playing on a higher level.
“Then, when you are older, you kow all the things shall happen again and you have experience and you can decide things much better.”
Van Gaal had no doubt that United deserved to win and he also hd no argument with the penalty awarded against United.
He said: “In the first half we were the better team. We scored first and created more chances and could have finished more. In the second half the referee changed the match and then De Gea stopped a penalty and after that we scored our own goal.
“Then you saw us showing our unbelievable mental spirit because we were out of the game and then we were back in the game and Anthony scored a fantastic goal.
“We were lucky we scored in the last minute but we deserved to win. Everton created a lot of chances so 7-6, it could have been like that.”
‘Heart breaker’
Everton manager Roberto Martinez thought Everton a ‘heart-breaking’ defeat had been undeserved.
He said: “The feeling is as cruel as football can be. It was a terrific game of football. We had a poor start. It took us 45 minutes to get into our rhythm.
We weren’t at our best in the first half but we showed a strong mentality to stay in the game. Saying that, we also created the two best opportunities.
The transformation in the second half was plain. We built an incredible tempo. Then we had the penalty which was a big moment but we scored a goal and then the whole story becomes heart breaking because the winning goal came against the run of play.
I don’t think we deserved to be on the losing side and I was thinking that in extra time we would have been the stronger team.
My ambition is exactly the same as the club. Over the last three years we’ve handled our assets well. We have some very good young players and I share the drive that the club has, which is getting into the Champions League and bringing silverware to the club and I will give everything I have to fulfil those expectations.
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