Posted on: 06:31 Sun, 14 Feb 2016



L o u i s van Gaal admitted that his side could not cope with Sunderland’s aggression as they slipped to a 2-1 defeat at the Stadium of Light.

Lamine Kone’s header helped Sunderland to
the win as he powered Wahbi Khazri’s 82nd-
minute corner towards David de Gea. The ball
then ricocheted between the goalkeeper and
Anthony Martial on the line before ending up in
the back of the net. It was officially credited
as a De Gea own goal.

Earlier Martial had cancelled out Khazri’s third-
minute opener.

It was the Black Cats’ first league victory over
United on Wearside since March 1997 and left a
crowd of 41,687 with fresh belief that Sam
Allardyce can lead the club to safety, while the
visitors’ hopes of a top-four finish suffered a
major blow.

“You have to win this kind of game,” Van Gaal
said. “We can only blame ourselves. We could
not cope with Sunderland’s aggression.

“Top four will be very difficult now. We have
given five points away. I have told the players
the top four will be very difficult. You cannot
close your eyes to that.”