Louis van Gaal does not care if Manchester United play dull football in their final five Premier League matches as long as they finish in a Champions League berth.
United play Crystal Palace at home on Wednesday and are in fifth place on 56 points, four behind Arsenal.
Following the drab 1-0 victory over Aston Villa at Old Trafford Van Gaal stated he wanted to give fans “more entertainment”. Yet this will now have to wait as the manager focuses on a top-four finish.
Asked whether it was about entertaining play or just achieving a result in the final games, Van Gaal said: “You give your answer by yourself I think. This game against Crystal Palace is very important. We have to win, we need to win, so it’s much more important to win this game than for example Arsenal or Manchester City [to win their mid-week games]. They have that gap of four points for us. It’s too important to rotate because rotation or freshness for semi, no, we have to win.”
Arsenal dropped two points in their 1-1 draw with Palace, while Manchester City made up ground with an emphatic 3-0 victory at Chelsea before drawing 1-1 with Newcastle.
Van Gaal is not interested in which club may be easier to catch. “I am not interested in who is vulnerable,” he said. “I am only interested that we win our games and then we shall see which team is the most vulnerable, because we have to close that gap.”
United are 12 points behind second-placed Tottenham Hotspur. Yet Van Gaal claims there is no difference in quality between his team and Spurs. “We have beaten Tottenham 1-0 and until the 70th minute [in the return match] I think we were the better team. But then a mis-communication [leading to a 3-0 defeat]. So I don’t think there is a lot of distance between Tottenham and Manchester United but the distance is in points. They have won more, they are scoring more and that’s because they have more creative players.”
Wayne Rooney should make a second start against Palace following a knee injury but whether he will be in the XI for Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final against Everton at Wembley is undecided.
Van Gaal said: “It’s dependable how he plays, like every player. You are presuming that he plays on Saturday. He played very well in the first half [against Villa]. In the second half he was tiring but he has already got 60 minutes in his legs.
“He has trained on Tuesday and he has recovered so we have to see how he is feeling in the second half against Crystal Palace and still he has to play good.”
