Louis van Gaal praises "fantastic" Manchester United character

Louis van Gaal has claimed that Manchester United should have gone on to win this evening's meeting with West Ham United, praising his players for showing "fantastic spirit and character" to rescue a point late on.

The Red Devils were heading for just a second Premier League defeat in 14 outings at Upton Park, until Daley Blind struck in injury time to cancel out Cheikhou Kouyate's deflected volley in a 1-1 draw.

United struggled to find their game in a flat opening 45 minutes, and Van Gaal admits that what he saw "simply was not good enough".

"I've seen fantastic spirit and character from my team after going 1-0 behind," the Dutchman told Sky Sports News. "I told my players that and thanked them.

"The first half was not good enough, all first and second balls we lost and that's why we couldn't get out of the pressure of West Ham. In the second half we showed how good we can be in spite of all circumstances here. That's why I am happy with second half and we could have won, but you never start like that."

The draw leaves United sitting in fourth place in the Premier League table, one point ahead of Tottenham Hotspur and two in front of Arsenal as the race for a Champions League berth heats up.