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Louis van Gaal on back-passes: 'The goalkeeper is also the 11th player for us'

Carl Recine / Reuters

Oh, boo yourself.

After defender Jonny Evans was subjected to booing from supporters for playing a back-pass to 'keeper David de Gea during Manchester United's 2-0 win over Sunderland on Saturday, manager Louis van Gaal defended Evans's decision, indicating that such a pass can sometimes be interpreted as a means of attack.

"That, at that moment is the solution for the player," Van Gaal told reporters, continuing: 

Sometimes, in spite of there being another solution, the player has not seen that solution. You have to give credit of your doubt to your player and you have to support him. When you make a mistake in defense it is more or less always a goal against us. You have to see that also, the fans have to see that.

But I agree with the fans that we don't have to use so much the goalkeeper because I have seen also moments where we can play a higher tempo without interfering with the goalkeeper. But the goalkeeper is also the 11th player for us.

He can accelerate our game also and sometimes the solution is, via de Gea, to play forward. Of course it is more the English style of playing a match (to attack), but I think the fans have also enjoyed Manchester playing a position game, so it is always a mix of both.

Chants of "Attack, attack, attack" also consumed the first half of United's match Saturday, as the team failed to generate much in the way of goal-scoring chances before the interval.

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