Fans left early to beat traffic – Van Gaal

MANCHESTER United fans may have left Old Trafford early during the FA Cup game against Sheffield United because of concerns about the traffic, manager Louis van Gaal said yesterday. The United players were booed off at half-time in the third- round tie on Saturday after another insipid display and many fans streamed out of Old Trafford before Wayne Rooney’s late penalty secured a scrappy 1-0 win over the third-tier side. “You have to be happy as a Manchester United fan that we are in next round and we have won the last two games,” Van Gaal told reporters ahead of the Premier League game at Newcastle United today. (See Page 18) “They (the fans) are not thinking that we would score, I think, and maybe also because of the traffic that they leave the stadium a few minutes early.” - Reuters/ANA/DPA/AP