Manchester United mauled by the "panther" as Van Gaal praises Swansea

Bafetimbi Gomis shows off his panther celebration after scoring

BAFETIMBI GOMIS pounced 24 minutes from time to send Swansea soaring above Manchester United for the third time in a row before celebrating in his trademark "panther" style.

 

A Pink Panther would have been more appropriate as Louis van Gaal was outwitted Inspector Clouseau-style by a brilliant "diamond" heist pulled off by Swansea manager Garry Monk.

Van Gaal praised Monk for his cunning, but reacted angrily to a subsequent cross-examination in his press conference insisting he was "smarter" than the journalist in question, at least.

Juan Mata opened the scoring but Swansea responded with two goals in five minutes from Andre Ayew and Gomis after Swansea switched to a midfield diamond to give them a 2-1 victory

 

Van Gaal said: "The benefit of Swansea was the manager and players because they have tried everything to make a good result.

"In the five minutes that they changed the shape they scored two goals. It is a big lesson for us. We have to adapt much more quickly than we have done. They changed compactness and we didn't see that before. They want to have that result."

Stand-in goalkeeper Sergio Romero could have done better with both goals, but Van Gaal defended him, adding that the future with first choice David De Gea was out of his hands.

 

The Spain international has long been linked with a move to Real Madrid, where the transfer window closes today, and Van Gaal said: "I don't want to interfere. As a manager, we have divided our tasks and the task [De Gea's future] is for chief executive Ed Woodward and not me."

And when pressed on the situation, Van Gaal finished the conference by saying: "You are asking things you do not know. What I don't know. You think you are smarter than I but that is not quite true."

Swansea boss Monk said: "It was an amazing atmosphere. The first half Manchester United played very well and made it very difficult for us.

"But we showed our character. I don't think we were at our best, but we were organised and kept our shape. They were causing us problems centrally. I changed it with four midfielders inside and that allowed us to get into the game.".