Bournemouth increases heat on Van Gaal

BOURNEMOUTH — Louis van Gaal was left facing growing pressure after Josh King’s goal earned Bournemouth a 2-1 win Saturday and condemned Manchester United to a second costly defeat in a week. Having been forced to defend his record in the face of heavy criticism following his side’s Champions League exit at Wolfsburg, United manager Van Gaal again saw his team undone by alarming defensive lapses. Goalkeeper David de Gea was at fault for Junior Stanislas’s second-minute opener — a corner that went straight in — while Daley Blind allowed former United youngster King to score after Marouane Fellaini had equalised. This was only United’s third defeat of the Premier League season, but it meant that they missed out on the chance to improve on fourth place and close the three-point gap on leader Manchester City. With Van Gaal already coming under fire over his side’s style of play and the limitations of his squad despite heavy investment in new players, it will have done nothing to strengthen the Dutchman’s position. For Bournemouth, promoted from the Championship last season, this was another stunning result that came on the back of last weekend’s 1-0 win at Chelsea and moved the south-coast club up to 14th position. Van Gaal’s efforts to get United’s season back on track were hampered by a number of fresh injuries this week, which, together with Bastian Schweinsteiger’s suspension, left him without nine senior players. That meant both the visiting full-backs — Guillermo Varela and Cameron Borthwick-Jackson — were making their first Premier League starts, while Paddy McNair lined up alongside Blind at the center of a callow back four. The new-look line-up was left exposed when Eddie Howe’s side took the lead inside two minutes after a startling error of judgement by the usually dependable De Gea. Stanislas’s left-wing corner appeared to get caught by the wind, causing it to loop beyond the goalkeeper, whose touch only helped the ball sneak under the bar at the far post. However, the visitors continued to press forward and were rewarded when Fellaini produced an excellent, improvised finish in the 24th minute. Bournemouth remained on level terms until the break and demonstrated more energy and purpose after the restart before once again exposing United’s fragile defense when King struck in the 54th minute. — AFP