Louis Van Gaal did say that a regeneration might take three months. And even though, the Dutchman also says he was not surprised by the 4 - 0 defeat to League One MK Dons in the League Cup last night, surely he cannot have expected that scoreline.
Either way, Van Gaal's start at Man United has been quite underwhelming with no competitive wins as of yet and a shocked United We Stand fanzine editor Andy Mitten says missing out on the Top 4 again this season will be disastrous for the club.
"United can't lose too many games because they need to finish in the Top 4 this season. Failure to finish in the Top 4 would be an absolute failure because the club has spent that much money to be in the Champions League. Missing out on European football this season is already ridiculous. I was looking at stats for games over the last five years in September and October. In each of those five years, Manchester United played 12 matches. This year they'll play six. You're thinking if there's fewer games, why did [Van Gaal] start with such a weak squad last night?" said Mitten.
Of course there was some good news this week with the arrival of Angel Di Maria from Real Madrid but many of the fringe players will need to be pushed out the door.
"There are players like Hernandez, Kagawa and Anderson where you're thinking 'you've got a chance, take it' against a team that plays two leagues lower. They didn't take it. They didn't come close. Some of the errors from some of the other players confirmed that they're not going to have a future at Manchester United and Van Gaal is juggling all these balls at the moment," said Mitten, who also hinted that new signings are not a given, due to the groundwork needed to pull off the necessary moves. He also added that some of the players marked for exits are on two much money which is putting off buyers.
But Mitten remains confident that Van Gaal will eventually turn the club's fortunes around once his ideas set in.
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