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It's not certain what's more puzzling: Manchester United boss Louis van Gaal's apparent inability to turn his team into title contenders; or his increasingly bizarre post-match press conferences.
"We don't speak any more about Wayne Rooney," video shows the former coach of Ajax, Barcelona and Bayern Munich telling journalists.
"You have criticized him; I don't. You," he says, pointing at an off-camera reporter.
As he gets up to leave he turns and says, "You too! Fat man! There," again pointing at the assembled hacks.
The comment is greeted with laughter from the members of the press, and one voice, apparently belonging to the singled-out reporter, replies, "Thank you!"
While his team may not be playing the expressive, attacking football that the storied club's fans came to expect under former boss Alex Ferguson, Van Gaal is doing his best to replicate it post-game.
The latest eruption came after the team again dropped points -- this time at strugglers Newcastle United, who equalized in the 90th minute to deny Van Gaal and Manchester United a win.
Rooney, who has endured an abysmal season, showed flickers of his old form, scoring two and generally putting in an invigorated performance.
The reaction is by no means an isolated case, with incidents throughout this season and last showing similar spikiness.
The Dutch master has offered to quit his post, bristled at questions about his relationship with assistant manager Ryan Giggs (sarcastically saying, "No, no, we have a very bad relationship,") lashed out at former United player Gary Neviile's analysis ("Gary Neville needs to pay attention to his words") and lambasted a journalist for questions about goalkeeper David de Gea ("You think you are smarter than I, but it is not like that.") [Source]
