Louis van Gaal: Manchester United manager only thinking of Sunday's clash against Arsenal following Wolfsburg win

The hotly-anticipated Premier League fixture takes place this weekend

Thursday 01 October 2015 09:52 BST

Louis van Gaal leaves Old Trafford (Getty Images)

Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal has turned his attentions to the crucial Premier League fixture at Arsenal on Sunday, saying that his squad must "recover" in time for the game following their 2-1 win over Wolfsburg in the Champions League last night.

"We have to recover, recover and recover because Sunday is Arsenal and they played yesterday, so they have one more day of recovery," Van Gaal said.

United, top of England's Premier League, have now won four games in a row in all competitions, scoring 11 goals and conceding three. They avoided a second straight European defeat after coming from behind to beat Wolfsburg 2-1 on Wednesday but Van Gaal says his side must be more ruthless in front of goal if they are to challenge for the Champions League.

United, beaten 2-1 by PSV Eindhoven in the Group B opener, went behind to Daniel Caligiuri's goal in the fourth minute at Old Trafford before Juan Mata equalised with a penalty and Chris Smalling scored a second-half winner.

Despite getting the three points, Van Gaal was not happy with the performance, especially the way his team surrendered control after going ahead.

"In the first half we played very well but we didn't finish our chances, and that was our problem," he said.

"It was 1-1 at halftime but we created chances to be 3-1 ahead. Then you have to continue and we did, but only for the first 15 minutes, I think.

Manchester United vs Wolfsburg player ratings

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1/11Manchester United vs Wolfsburg player ratings

Manchester United vs Wolfsburg player ratings

David De Gea: 6 out of 10

Was never really tested in the match, but did well when called into action although he couldn’t do a lot to keep out Caligiuri’s early goal.

2015 Getty Images

Manchester United vs Wolfsburg player ratings

Valencia: 4 out of 10

His struggles at right-back were highlighted in just the fifth minute after he played Caligiuri onside for the Wolfsburg winger’s opener. Was hauled off at half-time and replaced by Young.

Manchester United vs Wolfsburg player ratings

Blind: 5 out 10

Dragged out of position by Kruse in the build-up to the opener, which allowed Caligiuri the space and time he needed to shoot past De Gea and open the scoring.

Manchester United vs Wolfsburg player ratings

Smalling: 8 out of 10

Should have communicated better with Blind to ensure they both did not try and stop Kruse for Wolfsburg’s first goal but did well to react quickly to Mata’s back-heel pass and give United the lead with his goal.

Manchester United vs Wolfsburg player ratings

Darmian: 7 out of 10

Demonstrated some good attacking play from his left-back position by regularly sending long-range crosses to Mata on the right and did well defensively when called upon, but came under increasing pressure after Schurrle came on.

Manchester United vs Wolfsburg player ratings

Schneiderlin: 4 out of 10

Should have done better to stop Kruse for the opener after failing to pressurise him enough, thereby allowing the winger to set up Caligiuri in the fifth minute. Struggled after Schweinsteiger went off and was lucky not to have been sent off for his needless foul on Draxler in the dying stages of the game while already on a yellow.

Manchester United vs Wolfsburg player ratings

Schweinsteiger: 6 out of 10

Did well to contain the threat of Kruse alongside Schneiderlin in the early stages of the game, but after picking up a yellow card, was brought off in the second half - although his departure allowed Wolfsburg’s creative players much more space to build up attacks.

Manchester United vs Wolfsburg player ratings

Mata: 8 out of 10

The midfielder was United’s best man on the pitch. After winning a penalty with the home side trailing by a goal, Mata then calmly stepped up to the spot and slotted past Benaglio to equalise before his superb back-heel pass set up Smalling for the winner. Aside from these contributions, he regularly set up his teammates with some fine crosses into the area.

Manchester United vs Wolfsburg player ratings

Rooney: 5 out of 10

Should have equalised in the first half, but fired Martial’s superb cross high despite being completely unmarked. The United captain spent much of the game as a bystander but superbly cleared Draxler’s second-half effort that was heading into the goal.

Manchester United vs Wolfsburg player ratings

Depay: 6 out of 10

Was at the end of some fantastic crosses from Mata but couldn’t convert any of those into a goal. Despite not being able to get on the score-sheet, his pace caused Wolfsburg full-back Trasch many problems but his inability to make a real impact resulted in Memphis being taken off and replaced by Pereira on the hour mark.

Manchester United vs Wolfsburg player ratings

Martial: 6 out of 10

Kept dropping to the right in the early stages of the game to find the ball and it worked as the forward got past Rodriguez time and time again. While not being able to score, he played a key role in setting up attacks.

"After the goal it was transforming our team, because we didn't keep the ball anymore and I didn't see Wolfsburg pressing so much, so we gave the ball away," he added.

The Dutchman bemoaned United's lack of killer instinct and said teams do not win the Champions League without it.

"You shall win the Champions League when you are clinical and when you can finish the game much earlier," he added.

"We had the chances to do that in the first half, or to keep the ball in the second half. We didn't do that and I was suffering on the bench, but the fans were also suffering and I have to admit the players were also suffering.

"But they continued with the team spirit."

With CSKA Moscow's 3-2 win over PSV in Russia, all four teams in the group are level on three points after two matches.

Additional reporting by Reuters

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