If Louis van Gaal doesn’t know why fans stayed on to applaud, his time at Manchester United has proved worthless

Louis van Gaal believes thousands of United fans stayed on after the final whistle to salute their losing team because they were proud of their effort.

That is taking wishful thinking to deluded extremes. Manchester United fans are now reduced to claims of 'We'll be back' and 'Wait until Jose gets here'. Just about every supporter of the club has given up on van Gaal. He is a dead man walking but stopping to tie his shoelaces and admire the increasingly bleak view. There is no light at the end of this tunnel. There is a sense of hopelessness and disbelief among United fans. Most felt the Dutchman's lowest ebb was the home defeat to Norwich. Instead there have been lower ebbs and ebbing lows. They have lost 13 times this season and have done it all with oodles of possession and hardly any shots on target. The truth of the matter is this - United should have lost their Europa League two-legger against Liverpool by more than 3-1. Were it not for the soon-to-be-departed David De Gea, United could well have shipped eight or nine. There was lots of van Gaal decisions, last night, to be confused, upset, cold and alone about. Marcos Rojo and Marouane Fellaini starting, straight-swapping fullbacks to use up two substitutions, no sign of Ander Herrera, leaving two banks of four in place despite needing three second-half goals. The most galling, however, was van Gaal claiming the fans were so taken with their team failing to have a second-half shot on target that they felt compelled to stick around, say 'sod that train', and applaud their fallen heroes. Bullshit. The only reason most United fans stuck around is because they were playing Liverpool and their fans were creating an almighty din. Lording it over them. Some left early - they'd had enough - but many, many more stuck around. A sign of defiance: We back our club. They might not have truly believed it but they were not blinking in front of the Reds. Had United been eliminated by the likes of Sparta Prague or Brondby [anything is possible these days], there would have been a crescendo of boos. That's what you do when your greatest rivals have come to your ground and stuck it to you. You suck it up and applaud your team off. Last night, United fans across Ireland watched their team dumped out of Europe without ever landing that big blow. 3-1 but humiliated over two legs. The instinct of many would have been to turn for the door but that's not how it's done. You stick around, order that extra drink and tell anyone that cares to listen that you'll be back.