The reasons behind his two yellow cards, though, were perhaps an indication of the state of Smalling’s career; his first yellow a result of foolishly impeding on Joe Hart’s kick while a second was awarded for recklessly challenging Sergio Aguero for the ball in a position which posed no particular threat with full knowledge that he had been cautioned earlier.
“The sending-off isn’t ‘one of those things.’ As a player you have to control your aggression,” Van Gaal said. “You know as a player you have a yellow and you can’t do what he did for the second one.