There have been many wonderful years in Manchester United's glorious history. It is safe to say 2014 was not one of them. The story of a troubled 12 months can be told in many ways. One is simply to study their meetings with Sunderland.
There was the League Cup semi-final, which seemed to sum up their haplessness under the luckless David Moyes. United missed four of their five penalties in the shootout to contrive to miss out on the Wembley showpiece.
There was Ryan Giggs’s sole defeat as interim manager, an otherwise inconsequential affair which in effect confirmed the inevitable but remarkable: that, for the first time in a quarter of a century, United would not qualify for Europe.
It proved the final Old Trafford appearances of Rio Ferdinand and Patrice Evra and an anti-climactic ending for both fine servants. Giggs’s team seemed a late-era Alex Ferguson selection.
Then, in Louis van Gaal's stuttering start, his first Premier League point was earned at Sunderland in August. Tom Cleverley, Michael Keane and Danny Welbeck all took the field for United. It was not Van Gaal's team then. It ought to be now.
Then, as they now, United face Sunderland on the back of a 2-1 defeat to Swansea City. The difference is that an expensive overhaul has been conducted, if not yet completed, since then.
Half of the outfield starters at the Liberty Stadium last week were Van Gaal’s recruits. Should Robin van Persie miss Saturday’s game and Radamel Falcao replace him, that proportion will go up to 60 per cent. It would also be the first league game all six summer signings have started together. The £152 million (Dh864.4m) men have figured in twos, threes, fours and fives, but never as a sextet in the initial 11.
That reflects their respective injury problems and the alternative options in Van Gaal’s squad. They are also an indication of a more damning reality.
While Chelsea, Southampton and West Ham United have progressed because of their business, and while Liverpool and Arsenal can point to transfer-market triumphs, so far, none of United’s additions qualifies as a success.
Perhaps only Falcao can be dismissed as a failure, but each of the others has much to prove. The most recent addition, Victor Valdes, has yet to debut and cannot be judged, but a strike rate of no genuine hits from the first six reflects poorly on Van Gaal and United.
Ander Herrera represents the greatest mystery. He is a box-to-box midfielder, something United have lacked for years, and has delivered five goals in nine starts, but he has only begun two league games since October. Van Gaal has confirmed a midfielder is his top priority in the summer but has yet to properly explain why Herrera fell out of favour.
Angel Di Maria had a wonderful start, whether everything he touched, or even mishit, turned to goals, but now he rarely resembles the Uefa Champions League final’s man of the match. It scarcely helps that Van Gaal has misused him as a striker, or that his impatience with United’s ponderous play has resulted in the Argentine giving the ball away in ever more ambitious attempts to make anything happen.
Daley Blind and Marcos Rojo have been solid additions, but the Dutchman needs to show that, when Michael Carrick is available, he has the creativity to merit a place in the strongest side. The Argentine has been United’s finest defender this season, but that is not saying much. They still require a commanding centre-back.
Luke Shaw has the potential to prove the best signing but struggled at Swansea. While he was named in the PFA Team of the Year last season, he does not look the league’s best left-back.
Then there is Falcao, who has plumbed new depths with every appearance. He has mustered a mere four goals, and it is a sign of his decline that Sunderland should be pleased to see him in the starting 11.
The mighty have fallen. They have done before when United have met Sunderland.
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