United toppled as Van Gaal awaits call

13 April 2012

Danny Murphy breathed fresh life into the Premiership title race last night with the goal that gave Liverpool a 1-0 win at Manchester United.

On the night Louis van Gaal emerged as the favourite to take over from United manager Sir Alex Ferguson in the summer, Murphy warned the champions that their two-point lead at the top of the table is about to come under pressure.

He said: 'It's nice that we have beaten United again but the most important thing is that we are right back in it.'

Murphy, who also scored the winner in last year's fixture, lifted Liverpool to third in the table, two points behind United. Arsenal can close the gap at the top to one point if they win at Leicester tonight.

But a bitter Ferguson sniped: 'It was the same last year. They just came here and kicked the ball forwards and hoped to get a break. 'Again, they got it. They came for a 1-0 win and they got it.

We played good football and lost. We were just desperately unlucky.'

Liverpool's assistant manager Phil Thompson said:'No title is ever won in January but we will be there at the end.'

Former Ajax and Barcelona coach Van Gaal leaves his job with the Holland team today and United are so confident they will get their man that they hope to be in a position to make an official announcement within weeks. Chief executive Peter Kenyon said last summer that Ferguson's successor must have a record of European success, the ability to develop young players and have good English.

Van Gaal first came to prominence with his team of home-grown players at Ajax, where he nursed the likes of Patrick Kluivert and the De Boer brothers through the youth system to claim the Champions League in 1995.

If appointed, Van Gaal will bring recently-sacked Ajax boss Co Adriaanse to Old Trafford as head of his youth set-up, a move United have already approved. Kenyon is well acquainted with Van Gaal, a fluent English speaker, through the links he formed with Ajax during his previous career at sportswear company Umbro.

Crucially, the Dutchman is also favoured by Ferguson, whom he impressed during their meetings through Europe's G14 organisation and United's games against Barcelona in Europe.

In his autobiography, Ferguson named Van Gaal as one the three coaches he respects most, along with Marcelo Lippi of Juventus and Bayern's Ottmar Hitzfeld.

MATCH REPORT: Murphy's law
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Man Utd v Liverpool - match stats

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