Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney: I deserved red... I'm sorry for kicking Stewart Downing 

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An hour after full-time at Old Trafford and Louis van Gaal was standing in a corridor doing what he is paid to do: manage people.

Only two or three months into his first job in English football and already Van Gaal knows how important Wayne Rooney is to his team at Manchester United.

Hence there was no public criticism for the foul that earned his captain a red card against West Ham and a probable three-game ban. The only criticism came from West Ham manager Sam Allardyce, who described Rooney’s hack at Stewart Downing as crazy and irresponsible. Instead, from United’s manager, there was only praise for Rooney and even a half-endorsement for the act itself.

Wayne Rooney saw red for hacking down former England team-mate Stewart Downing 

Wayne Rooney is gutted at referee Lee Mason brandishes a straight red card 

The England and Manchester United skipper chucks the captain's armband to Robin van Persie 

Van Gaal, one sensed, knew exactly what he was doing. As he looks to ease United through this difficult period, he knows he needs to keep Rooney onside.

‘For me, he doesn’t have to change,’ said Van Gaal. ‘He just needed to do it (the foul) in a different manner. He said it to me afterwards. He will be a big miss. He is my captain and he is playing to a good standard in his new role. He is an example to the squad.

‘That I saw in the USA and when he came back he kept that example and that’s why I made him captain. He is also a great player.’

As Van Gaal spoke, Rooney was offering his own mea culpa. The theme was similar. ‘It was probably the right decision to send me off,’ said Rooney. ‘I saw the West Ham player making a counter-attack and tried to break-up the play. I just misjudged it. I am gutted that I am going to miss the next three games. I expect people to say it’s my temper again but I was trying to break up the play. It was a dangerous situation and I just misjudged it.

‘But I have no complaints. I haven’t absolutely volleyed the lad. I have tried to trip him up and he got further away from me and that is why my leg is straighter than it should have been. I have apologised to the lads. I think everyone knew (I was in the wrong). I am just grateful they were able to hold on. It’s always tough against 11 men when you are a man down, especially when they are throwing a lot of balls into the box, so I am grateful that we held out.’

The two sides of Wayne Rooney - third most Premier League goals but in the top-10 all time booked players

This graphic shows how crazy Wayne Rooney's foul on Stewart Downing was - there were four covering defenders 

Rooney confirmed after Saturday’s game that he will not appeal agains the decision. The likelihood is, therefore, that he will receive a ban that will rule him out of matches against Everton, West Brom and Chelsea. Rooney’s next game is likely to be at Manchester City on November 2. By then we will perhaps know a little more about the new United. Here on Saturday, we saw both sides of them.

They scored lovely goals through Rooney and Robin van Persie but then conceded a poor one from a corner and were beginning to look uncertain by the time Rooney was sent off with half an hour left.Allardyce said: ‘It was crazy and irresponsible and it gave us the chance to get something. We all know that lads trip up players but he give him a bit of a swipe. It give us a great chance and that’s why we’re so sick now. After we scored, you could see United get nervous but you can’t do what we did which is gift them two (goals) early on.’

West Ham substitute Kevin Nolan thought he had scored a last-minute equaliser only to be ruled offside but there was enough to encourage Allardyce. His team head into next weekend’s game against QPR with some confidence while United await the visit of Everton sweating on the fitness of Ander Herrera, who left this game injured, and aware that none of their injured centre backs are like to be fit.

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The match started in much more positive fashion for Wayne Rooney, scoring the opening goal 

Kevin Nolan thought he had nicked a point for West Ham but this late goal was disallowed for offside 

VIDEO We fought to the end - Van Gaal