WHY SAY ANYTHING?

A month which saw Manchester United start with an undeserved win against Swansea saw them finish with a deserved defeat against Southampton.

In between these two matches they had undeservedly beaten a first division side in the FA Cup, thrown away the lead twice away at Newcastle and undeservedly beaten Liverpool at Anfield.

The only surprising aspect of the month of January is that United won ANY games. Their play, with the possible exception of the game at Newcastle, was abject throughout and it is amazing that anybody should think the pressure on van Gaal has eased.

I have just sat through yet another 90 minutes of unadulterated boredom. I have watched a Southampton player being given the man of the match award at Old Trafford, not because Southampton won, but because no United player would have been in the first ten!

I have watched an abject performance from Jesse Lingard, yet he stayed on the pitch for the full ninety minutes. Juan Mata started on the bench! Would somebody please explain to me how he can be left out yet Fellaini and Lingard can be selected? Don’t tell me it’s tactical, because van Gaal evidently does not know the meaning of the word.

The fans were booing before half-time and, when Mata was introduced at the start of the second half, there was cheering all around Old Trafford. The usual chants from the fans of “Attack…..Attack…..AttackAttackAttack!” could be heard in the first half and the frustration was very obvious.

Old Trafford is now a ground where visiting teams come expecting to be able to leave with something. Whether that be a point or three depends on the level of rubbish United choose to serve up on the particular day in question.

During today’s game Manchester United showed a complete lack of imagination again resorting to hoofing long balls forward to…….well, nobody, because Fellaini was supposed to be a holding midfielder and Smalling didn’t go forward in open play until the last five minutes.

Wayne Rooney went back into his shell and spent most of his time on the ball ensuring that it went back to Southampton at the earliest available opportunity. Daley Blind had obviously received the same memo because, apart from one excellent through ball in the first half, he did exactly the same as his captain.

The substitutions, apart from Mata, were strange. Matteo Darmian appeared to have suffered an injury serious enough to require a stretcher. so van Gaal sent on Paddy McNair, only for Darmian to get up and walk off unaided, not looking at all like somebody who wanted to come off. Then in the 85th minute the Dutch maestro took off Borthwick-Jackson and sent on Januzaj.

Guess what happened? Southampton attacked down United ‘s left, now minus the recently departed left back, Januzaj impetuously gave away a needless free-kick from which Charlie Austin headed the winner.

Just a quick note to LvG. Yes, that is the same Charlie Austin who scored 18 goals for QPR last season when they were relegated. He was available for around £4 million, so Southampton bought him, why didn’t you? I bet he would have chosen United if the chance had been there!

It is also rumoured that maybe van Gaal isn’t being given funds this transfer window because of the uncertainty over his future. Well, that is a very easy one to solve. Sack him now and the uncertainty ends. It is ridiculous not to attempt to strengthen the team because the manager may leave. Whatever happens he only has another year on his contract so it won’t be that long before he departs anyway.

As far as I am concerned January has been a failure. Out of a possible twelve points United have picked up only seven. When considering that, of the four games played two were at home, the minimum expectation should have been ten points.

What is far more concerning than their points for the month is the fact that the ONLY game they deserved anything from was the game at St. James Park, meaning that their points tally would have been ONE, if based on their performances.