Di Maria only turned up consistently for the past couple of seasons, he was often irrelevant for games prior, I'm not convinced he's going to be a game-changer for United at all.

Agreed, but I think Van Gaal was just a mistake for them just like Moyes, his system clearly does not work and I can't see him budging on it. I wonder if he'll play Di Maria as a WB like he's doing with Young

Yes. Van Gaal has a complex and elaborated system he applies. It's very foolish to say it's not working after just a few matches played.

Playing a 3-5-2 when you have no wing-back available is madness.

How's Cissokho's teeth kurt?

^^ Right. I understand your opinion.

Now Ry4n, if you want to debate, you can stick in and weigh in on the points kurt has presented with your own. But if you wish to go ad hominem on kurt's abilities of perception, I'm afraid that banter will have to go PM.

Thanks guys. Let's get a beer when I'm in town. kurt will arrange the girls. And since he's in Birmingham, there will be plenty of Indian girls with sexy Brit accents for me to go on the rampage.

P.S: Not that I don't like white girls/black girls/Hispanic girls/middle-eastern girls, just that I'm sure kurt's carved up his territory and .....

Liverpool is mostly a large portion of their fans being incredibly disrespectful. They defend Suarez throughout his racism, diving and biting. I browse opposition forums a lot and RAWK, their main one, is a vile place. Even some Liverpool fans who hold a minority opinion have insults hurled at them, it's quite ridiculous.

Redknapp is his lack of loyalty. He's spent silly money (not all his fault) at clubs to serve his own needs. It's easy to look a bit better when you spend a tonne, but when the money goes, he leaves the club. If you get sacked it's one thing, but to jump ship when a club is in trouble and you've helped put them there is just poor form. As for my perceived lack of class by him, it's like when he went to QPR he called out the whole squad saying they're overpaid, not good enough, etc. So he then goes and spends £10m and £100k a week on a centreback who was a pretty medicore EPL defender. The main thing though is his constant talking about other teams players. For starters by rule it's illegal, it's tapping up. He constantly does it and for Odemwingie to turn up at QPR, "uninvited" and say he knew nothing about it is quite ridiculous. The media love-in isn't his fault, it's just hilarious how people think he's good enough for England or a good manager. This is the same manager who needed the playoffs to get a team with one of the highest budgets in World football to get out of the Championship. Some people like him? That's fine, I personally can't stand the bloke or his sidekick Joe Jordan.

I don't know what's worse, us wanting to buy him or United fans being genuinely disappointed at losing him!? Redcafe seems to believe he's a future England star and people that don't rate him "don't really see what he brings to a team".

Moyes was tactically superior to be fair.

Costa, 1-0, 30 seconds.

I only saw a bit from the second half, but United were a mess. Their only weapons were long balls and crosses, most of which were off or easily defendable. And Van Gaal's formation, uh...

Scoring 6 past Everton who're historically defensively solid is a ridiculous achievement. Chelsea should win the league really.

Didn't watch the game, but their squad is easily the most complete and balanced in the league. I think they'll make a serious push for the CL this season

That's what you get for making planned and well-thought signings instead of panic buys like United have done.

Yeah, Jose obviously had a very clear idea of what he wanted this summer to make last season's team into the ideal 11.

Costa is a perfect fit there, Cesc also has slipped in seamlessly it seems

Di Maria, Young, Mata, Valencia, Rooney and van Persie all in the same team. What happened to this "tactical genius" that van Gaal was meant to be? This is genuinely one of the least intelligent lineups I've ever seen by any club. An inexperienced back 3 who aren't used to playing in a back 3, a midfielder with no legs and 6 attackers. You wouldn't even get away with this on FIFA or FM, but the real World!?

If United continue to play like this, they might win the odd game - possibly even todays - but good sides will tear them to pieces.

“Every club where I have been, I’ve struggled for the first three months,” said Van Gaal, speaking in Washington DC in a break from United’s US tour.

“After that, they [the players] know what I want – how I am as a human being and also a manager, because I am very direct.

“I say things as they are, so you have to adapt to that way of coaching. It’s not so easy.

"The way I train and coach is in the brains, not the legs. But the most important thing is they have to know why we do things. When they do, the footballer is not playing intuitively.

"A lot of players are playing intuitively and I want them to think and know why they do something. That process is difficult at first and in the first three months. It takes time.

“When we survive the first three months, it will be the same as for me as it was at Bayern Munich. At Bayern, after the first three months, we were sixth or seventh and we were third in our Champions League group.

"We had to win at Juventus and did – that was the turning point. Now United have me, a new manager, so new chances for the players. But we have to create a way of playing that isn’t the same as before, and that’s difficult for them.

“They have to perform under pressure and have a to decide [what to do with the ball] within one second, and that is not easy.”

Cesc is perfect for the Premier League.

It'll need to be quicker than that if he's gonna have even just a disappointing season (6th-7th). This isn't the Bundesliga where (when he was there) mid-high 60 points was enough to win the league. That won't even get you close to CL football nowadays in the EPL.

Realistically with money spent, winning the league is the minimum. But with it being his first season, just a title challenge should be accepted. Anything less and he should get the sack. You can't spend £200m on top of a pretty much the same squad that won the title no less than 2 years ago and not compete for the title.

van Gaal also has a history of failing really badly at the top level. in 10-11 he got sacked as Bayern weren't even in the CL places, how is that even possible? He did even worse with his most recent spell at Barca, leaving with them 3 points above relegation.

He had a full season at Bayern, then failed. Admittedly he only had 7 months at Barca before getting sacked.

It's not about the Bundesliga, it's about LvG. This is his way of working: he needs the players to accept his philosophy. He's done it at Barcelona, at Bayern. Sometimes he failed.

But the main point is: he needs time. And since he, unlike Moyes, has won silverware in the past to back this up, he'll get it.

7 points in 3 games a necessary start with out next 5 being against last seasons top 5. If we can get out of these games not in relegation it would be a huge plus.

You didn't win today? I checked the scores in the last few minutes and you were still leading 2-1...

We did yes. I just meant that it was very important that we did with the awful fixtures we have coming up. 1 goal conceded in 3 games is the most pleasing stat, seeing how awful we've been at the back these past 4 years.

Our win at Stoke's fortress looks even more impressive now they've gone to Man City and won too!

Hey things are looking up for both of your teams you lucky b@stard! We only get 1!

Happy to see Villa doing well. You have charmed me to always root for them whenever I see they are live on livescore.com

We did yes. I just meant that it was very important that we did with the awful fixtures we have coming up. 1 goal conceded in 3 games is the most pleasing stat, seeing how awful we've been at the back these past 4 years.

Our win at Stoke's fortress looks even more impressive now they've gone to Man City and won too!