Source: manutd.com
-Andi Janaqi
Exactly one year to this day, heading into Louis Van Gaal's second international break as United boss, morale was high in the Dutchman's camp, with Man United having just claimed back-to-back wins for the first time under Van Gaal. You may remember highly-anticipated new signings Angel Di Maria and Radamel Falcao each grabbing a goal in a 2-1 win over Everton at Old Trafford, with goalkeeper David De Gea stealing the show with numerous breathtaking saves. At the time, we had just broken into the top 4 for the first time in over a year. Things were looking up after a sluggish start for the Red Devils.
One year on, minus Di Maria, Falcao and much of the rest of last year's squad, preparing to face Everton after this season's second international break, there doesn't seem to be that high sense of morale in the United camp. There seems to be disappointment in the Mancunian air, though much of this seems to be down to a rather disappointing 3-0 defeat to the Gunners, though the less said about this, the better.
Having been fourth this time last season and finishing fourth at the end of the campaign, with no trophy for our new Dutch boss, there were mixed feelings about his debut season at Old Trafford, having still fulfilled his target of putting us back into the Champions League.
In truth, we passed the first test of this competition with flying colors, with a 7-1 aggregate win over Club Brugge, with Memphis and Wayne Rooney stealing the show, with the latter impressively grabbing a hat-trick in the away leg to silence his critics. Having been a handed a tricky Champions League group, but one we were expected to qualify from, we started our group campaign off to the worst possible start in Eindhoven. Not only did we lose 2-1 to PSV, but we lost arguably our best player of the season thus far in left-back Luke Shaw to a horrific leg-break, which will keep him out for at least the next 6 months. Things improved greatly in a nervy 2-1 home win over Wolfsburg, with spaniard Juan Mata stealing the show with a penalty and an outrageous assist for Chris Smalling's winning goal, who himself has had an outstanding season thus far. With now every team in our group on 3 points and the same goal-difference, we can most definitely start again in the Champions League, starting off with a tricky and cold away trip to CSKA Moscow, just days before we host our noisy neighbors, City.
Domestically, it has been a mixed start to the season to say the least. With new signings Bastian Schweinsteiger, Morgan Schneiderlin and Matteo Darmian settling in seamlessly with young striker Anthony Martial particularly having a huge impact already with a rather surprising four goals in his brief time with the club. Combined with improvement to the likes of Mike Smalling (sorry Chris) and Luke Shaw (who we all wish a speedy recovery), it is no doubt our squad has vastly improved, despite another twenty exits. However, the likes of Memphis have had mixed starts to the season, much like our club form, with 3 goals in the Champions League but only one in the Premiership, something we all hope and expect he'll improve upon.
We started off with back-to-back 1-0 wins over Tottenham and Aston Villa respectively, in what can only be described as "getting the job done". Though one main positive to take from these results would be our defense surprisingly enough, with Daley Blind forming a surprising partnership with Smalling, despite new signing Sergio Romero taking De Gea's place in between the sticks.
Up until the first international break, our season took an unexpected and disappointing twist, being frustrated at home to Newcastle (0-0) and losing 2-1 in south-Wales to Swansea, with questions being raised over Sergio Romero. Luckily enough, one international break and a failed transfer to Real Madrid later and fan-favorite David De Gea was back between the sticks for our home clash with Liverpool, having unexpectedly just signed a new five-year contract. However, it was new boy Anthony Martial who stole the show, coming off the bench to score the third of the game in a 3-1 win. He then started the next five games and hasn't looked back since, adding a further three goals and an assist as United scored three in their next three games and wins over Southampton, Ipswich (Capital One Cup) and Sunderland, as United moved top of the league. Then we played Arsenal...
So one year on and just one place in the table better off and more than £250 million spent on new players, has there been any improvement to Louis Van Gaal's Red Army? In a word, yes. So what's been the difference? To put it simply, we have gone from top-4 challengers to title challengers in the sole year LvG has been with the club, whether you're a fan of his or not, one certainly can't deny he has improved the team and done everything expected of him. In my opinion, the main difference comes down to trust. One year on and having all witnessed LvG for a year now, it is clear that us Red Devils are well and truly behind Louis van Gaal's Red Army.
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