OF BAD BEGINNINGS

One out of 6 is what the report card currently reads for Manchester United this season. Against conventional thought, LVG has not hit the ground running in the Premier League, not least because he faces his biggest injury crisis as a manager. The Dutch boss amitted on Friday that he has never been without as many as 9 players through injury at any of the clubs he has managed n his 30 year managerial career.

News that Ander Herrera joined the list of casualities on Friday suddenly made the trip to the Stadium of Light much trickier than anticipated. Those fears were confirmed when midway through the second half, Adnan Januzaj partnered Tom Cleverely in the most novel of midfield combinations United have come up with in recent times.

Therefore, that in the end we came away with a point was not all doom and gloom moreso because fulltime was greeted by confirmation that the club had agreed a British record £65 fee for perhaps the world's leading out and out winger in Angel Di Maria. It means therein the disappointment of a slow start to the season, lies a hope that LVG will sort it out sooner rather than later.

In the grand scheme of things though, we remain short of incission and precission in the final third of the pitch, a shame really considering its our strongest department. It remains to be seen whether the purchase of a world class winger shall now give the manager the options that he needs to play his favoured 4-3-3.

Manchester United are not unfamiliar with slow starts as we've often started slower than not in the past couple of decades. Two games are therefore unlikely to raffle many a faithful, but it is important that we do not let the smooth start to the season in terms of fixtures pass us by without capitalising. Besides, the squad still knows how to play badly and win.

On the transfer front, a couple more additions especially in midfield and defence could go a long way in restoring a swag about the side ahead of matchday.

Next up is anrather embarrasing Second round tie in the League Cup. The silver lining though is that it presents the boss wity an opportunity to get that first competitive win jinx out of the way ahead of another winnable league fixture on Saturday at Turf Moor.

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