He's not responding to big Sam, he's responding to the press hysteria about his comments. The point big Sam was making was that LVG had to resort to 'long' balls with Fellaini as the creative elements had been nullified by his 'superb' midfield and strategy. Sam was complimenting himself but the press have dived on it. To get something out of a match, teams, whoever they are, sometimes have to be physical and basic. So what's the problem? We've seen some bizarre things over the years - Schmeiks coming up for corners, etc. and we've just laughed at all that.
It's a press thing, that's all and LVG was giving stats to the press, not big Sam.