Louis van Gaal: Swansea win is 'fantastic starting point' for 2016

Louis van Gaal has hailed Manchester United's tight victory over Swansea City on Saturday, appreciating the additional adventure in his side and marking it as a "fantastic starting point" for 2016.

Goals from Anthony Martial and Wayne Rooney - the latter of which was a deft backheel into the top corner - were enough to engineer a 2-1 win at Old Trafford and alleviate the pressure on the Dutchman.

"I think we played a very risky system against Swansea because they had a shape with four midfielders in a diamond," Van Gaal told BBC Sport.

"We played with three defenders but we did very well and created a lot of chances. We didn't score, though, and that's our problem. When we scored, there was not a problem any more. We scored two beautiful goals."

He praised the performance of his players while under "big pressure", but it could have been a very different story with Swans goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski - brought forward for a late set-piece - nodding just wide in the closing move of the match.

It gives the Red Devils some renewed belief though, particularly for the previously misfiring striking duo of Martial and Rooney, ahead of their FA Cup third-round tie next Saturday.

"I hope this is a fantastic starting point for us in the New Year and we can continue against Sheffield United."

Ashley Young revelled in playing in a more advanced position on the right and believes the team as a whole enjoyed the extra freedom. The English international sees the performance as a statement for the second half of the campaign.

"I think today we showed the way we want to attack teams," he said. "A lot of teams come here to defend. We want to be on the front foot and play the way we want to."