STOKE-ON-TRENT, Sporting Alert – Stoke City lead Manchester United 2-0 at halftime and manager Louis van Gaal looks like a worried man on his coaching seat at Britannia Stadium.
Things have not been pleasant for Van Gaal and it’s now going from bad to worse for the Dutchman with his team trailing on the road and heading for a fourth successive defeat.
Manchester United have not won a game in the last six completed outings in all competition, and Bojan and Marko Arnautovic have netted first half goals for Stoke City to push the Red Devils towards losing another game.
In addition to that, Van Gaal left striker and club captain Wayne Rooney on the bench to start the game on this Boxing Day fixture, but his experiments have not worked and he needs to quickly find a way to turn things around.
But Rooney was instructed to warm up immediately at halftime as a replacement for Memphis Depay, who once again has been very ineffective in the starting lineup.
Anthony Martial moves left to fit Depay space and Rooney goes straight up front.
According to reports from several reporters who cover Manchester United games, Van Gaal has been given two games to fix things by the club’s hierarchy, with the clash with Chelsea on Monday being the other noticeable game.
But will the former Holland national manager last that long?
In the meantime, while we wait on the future of Van Gaal, here are some stats to keep close to her chest from Opta Stats.
26/12 – The last time that Man Utd came from 2+ goals behind to win a PL game was on Boxing Day 2013 (3-2 v Hull). Memories.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) December 26, 2015
26/12 – The last time that Man Utd came from 2+ goals behind to win a PL game was on Boxing Day 2013 (3-2 v Hull). Memories.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) December 26, 2015
3 – Manchester United have conceded two or more goals in three consecutive PL games for the first time since September 2010. Leaky.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) December 26, 2015
Inconsistency has been the bane of Red Devils. The addition of players past their best has been a liability instead of being asset .