Louis van Gaal reveals his plans after Manchester United's FA Cup win over Derby

LOUIS VAN GAAL insisted he was ready to toast Manchester United’s return to goalscoring touch with an expensive bottle of wine bought for him by chief executive Ed Woodward.

 

Louis van Gaal's side produced a much-improved performance against Derby

 

The under-pressure United manager praised his side’s performance after they eased past Championship hopefuls Derby County 3-1 to book their place in the fifth round of the FA Cup.

"After the performance against Southampton where there was a lack of confidence now the confidence is back,” said Van Gaal.

“They played with cohesion and they wanted to fight for each other which is nice to see for the manager.”

 

The Dutchman was presented with a bottle of wine by Woodward as a present for beating Liverpool two weeks ago and received a vote of confidence from the board this week.

“I am going to go home and share the nice bottle of wine with my wife now. It was a very good performance at this moment it is more important.”

Goals from Wayne Rooney, Daley Blind and Juan Mata ensured United were the first name in the hat for the fifth round. Derby had equalised through George Thorne but were comfortably despatched by the Premier League side.

 

Mata insisted United are close to refinding their goalscoring touch and praised the creativity and composure in front of goal which the playmaker said bodes well for the immediate future.

“We did a good job today and we played quicker football that we did last week [against Southampton],” Mata said.

“We had more chances to score and we ended up scoring three goals.

“Okay they are a Championship side but they are a very good team and at the end of the day it was a very good performance.

 

“How far can we go? It has to be step by step. It has been a few years since Manchester United have won the FA Cup we have to focus on each round and now we look forward to the draw.”

Derby boss Paul Clement maintained were second best on the night but was pleased with the way they battled in the first half.

“I wish they could have kept it at 1-1 for a little bit longer in the first half but United were the better side,” he said.

“They scored two goals at big moments and you could see the quality of their players. They also did a very good job against us defensively.”