Louis van Gaal has claimed that Manchester United's ability to bounce back from defeat proves that his players are willing to fight for him all the way.
The Red Devils recovered from another Premier League setback at the hands of Tottenham Hotspur last weekend by seeing off West Ham United 2-1 in Wednesday night's FA Cup tie.
United had to hold on for the final few minutes and had star keeper David de Gea to thank for eventually progressing through to the last four, but under-fire boss Van Gaal was delighted by the spirit shown at Upton Park.
"We lost 3-0 [at Spurs] and the next day is 'Manchester United have been lousy' but that was not true," he is quoted as saying by The Sun.
"I am happy in spite of that 3-0 defeat - we had the spirit against West Ham like we did after losing to Liverpool. You cannot deny my team has a lot of fighting spirit.
"We controlled the game for 85 minutes and we could have finished the game much earlier but then they scored against us and it was very nervous. De Gea saved us with a fantastic save but we deserved it."
United, who will now face Everton in the semi-finals of the FA Cup, return to action on Saturday when they take on Aston Villa at Old Trafford.
Daniel Lewis
