Manchester United's manager Louis van Gaal heaped praise on Marcos Rojo after his impressive performance in a goalless Manchester Derby on Sunday. The Argentine started as the left-back for the third consecutive game in a span of a week.
The injury to Luke Shaw certainly gave an headache to van Gaal about the left-back position, but with Rojo delivering a good performance, it'll certainly help strengthen the side defensively until the teenager makes his long-awaited return next year. There were numerous reports after the summer transfer window closed, that the Argentine actually had a bust-up with van Gaal and was set to leave the club in January - but his recent praise suggests all is well at the Theatre of Dreams.
Rojo was very good in both attack and defence
Rojo did his job perfectly as he kept in-form Belgian midfielder Kevin de Bruyne relatively subdued throughout the match. In his post-match press conference, van Gaal said that the defender played a "very good match", not just against de Bruyne, but also Jesús Navas - when he was introduced in the second-half.
He also hailed Rojo's overall performance as the left-back contributed well whilst going forward. Delivering dangerous crosses in the area, he also linked up well with Anthony Martial, which was "satisifying" for the Dutchman to see.
van Gaal also happy with Rojo's fitness
Rojo was unable to join the team for pre-season in America due to visa issues and van Gaal was furious about it. He spent the initial part of the season solely focussing on regaining his match fitness and rhythm after his exploits with his native Argentina at the Copa América - coming on against PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League as well as featuring in their victory over Southampton, before suffering another injury which kept him out of action for another three weeks.
Van Gaal admitted that it's only his third outing of the campaign, and has "hardly played" for a sustained ninety minutes. So because of this, he's "very happy" that Rojo has the condition to play a full match.