Man United 0-0 Newcastle
by Simon Williams
at Old Trafford

COULD Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal’s stubbornness over his striking options cost his side a shot at the Premier League title?

The Reds drew a blank in their game against Newcastle United on Saturday, ending their 100 per cent start to the season.

Wayne Rooney had a goal ruled out for offside after four minutes before Aleksandar Mitrovic saw a towering header crash off the bar for the visitors.

Javier Hernandez had a good effort saved by Tim Krul and Chris Smalling headed against against the post late on as the home side mounted a late onslaught.

Newcastle were close to stealing the points in injury time, but Florian Thauvin failed to connect with Papiss Cisse’s ball across the six-yard box.

United have now scored just two goals in three league games, one of which was on own goal in their opening game of the season, yet Van Gaal doesn’t believe that goal scoring is the problem.

He said: “We have been three times the better team. My worry is that we have to dominate the opponent.

“We did it today, we did it against Aston Villa and against Tottenham. Against Tottenham was less but against Villa, Brugge and today we dominate.”

However, in recent days United have been linked with the Brazilian Neymar whose international agent, Pini Zahavi, was spotted in the Old Trafford director’s box during Saturday’s match.

But Van Gaal refused to be drawn on the rumours. He said: “I don’t enter in this discussion.

“You can ask about all the players in the world and you are doing it every press conference and every press conference I have to say the same.

“I have to protect the interests of Manchester United, I have to protect the players in my selection, I have to protect the people in my organisation and you can say anything, you can mention every player but I cannot answer these questions.

“So that’s the difficulty. I know your problem because the media wants to know that but I cannot say that.”

For Newcastle, manager Steve McClaren was pleased with his side’s performance, believing they could have taken all three points from the game.

He said: “With more belief and better football we could have won the game. We had a good attitude, discipline, all the things you need to get a result away from home — especially here at Old Trafford.”