Burnley 0 - 0 United

DDG

Jones Evans Blackett

Valencia Fletcher Di Maria(Anderson) Young

Mata(Januzaj)

Rooney RVP(Welbeck)

Again, a poor performance from the boys. Some moments of brilliance from new boy Di Maria could do little to inspire his team mates. We could have easily won the game but our strikers look out of shape, our wingbacks couldn't cross a ball if their life depended on it and some of our defending was so appalling that I failed to believe I was watching Manchester United and not some amateur local football team. To make matters worse, the ref failed to give us a stonewall penalty. It was such an obvious handball that even Stevie Wonder would have seen it but, alas, the ref failed to. Anyway, in the end we got a point, our second of the season, and for the first time in my life I'm grateful that there's an international break coming up. We should have our injured players back in a fortnight. 

I've got full faith in LVG but pessimistic about the 3-5-2 

The return of our injured players won't change our fortunes immediately, though. Some of them are new to the club and are probably still adjusting to the much talked about van Gaal 'philosophy'. We were handed what looked like an easy fixture list in August and September but we're still struggling. I don't dare imagine what our results would be if we had some tricky fixtures against top 5 sides. As I said last week, I've got a gut feeling that things will get better and it will probably be sooner than we think. However, at the moment I just can't see this football side being kept playing in this 3-5-2 formation. I don't think I have ever seen United commit some many defensive mistakes as this season. Jones was the best of our 3 defenders. Evans, who I think is our best defender, brought his horrendous form from the game vs MK Dons to today's game. Blackett seems to absolutely love playing the long ball game, I don't know how on earth he didn't realise it wasn't working. 

Valencia and Young, poor, very poor. It's a shame this formation cannot really cater for Januzaj because in any other formation, Adnan would most definitely be ahead of our inept duo. But I hear our Belgian isn't a fan of defending so he's not good for a wingback. In midfield, I thought Di Maria didn't have the spectacular debut we've been dreaming about since he put pen to paper. However, apart from a few instances were he miss-controlled the ball, I though he was our best player. He was later subbed off and replaced by Anderson. I don't think he ever thought he would stoop this low in his career. I mean, even I would get offended if I get replaced by Anderson. That just shows the lack of depth we've got in our squad. Fletcher next. Now, I love Fletcher. He is one of us. He performed a minor miracle to be back playing at this level after a couple of seasons fighting against disease. BUT this level is just too much for him. He's definitely not a player who's got enough quality to be in the starting XI for our side. Would he get in the starting XI of ANY top 6 side? Never. 

Mata wasn't really effective and spurned two decent chances while Roo and RVP both look like they're not match fit. RVP should have scored after a brilliant ball by Di Maria but he shot straight to the goalie. I hope they both rediscover some sort of good form. If we had two fit strikers, we would have won today's game and, dare I say, even the game vs Sunderland. But it wasn't to be.

Every week I grow more appreciative of the genius of Sir Alex Ferguson. OK, he left the squad in this dire state but he was the one who won the league with this same squad. Having been raised a catholic, I've heard my fair share of stories about miracles and what not. If I didn't see Fergie win the Premier League, with this squad, with my very own eyes, I think there would have been a greater chance of me believing that Jesus turned water into wine than the story of Fergie winning the English League using these same players we've been seeing play during the past 15 months.  All of our players, with the exception of De Gea, haven't been themselves ever since the great Man retired.

Blind will know what LVG expects of him

Where to next? We've reached a deal for Daley Blind. I hear he's a very good player who could play in defense and midfield. We'll be needing him. There will probably be a handful of players who'll be shown the exit door and leave our club by Monday. I agree with the list of rumored players who are on their way out with the exception of Welbeck. We need his pace. I also pray to God that Anderson manages to pass through our exit door. Fat bastard, stealing a living. 

We've bought 5 players this window. In any other season, this would be an excellent transfer campaign. However, we probably need more. We need a destructive defensive midfielder. I heard Blind is decent there but we'll probably need him in defence. So, while Woodward has had a decent week in the transfer market, I think he needs to pull off another deal before his work can be really appreciated by the United faithful.

International break next. Thank fuck. COME ON UNITED!