Given the level of criticism, a lot of it deserved, that has come Louis van Gaal’s way, you would be forgiven for thinking Manchester United were fighting a relegation battle this season.
Last month the Dutchman acknowledged he still did not know his best side, and they have relied heavily on the brilliance of goalkeeper David de Gea to make up for one of the worst defensive line-ups the club has had in recent times.
Yet, despite all of that, Sunday’s impressive 3-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford, the first 45 minutes of which was easily United’s best of the season, has left them only eight points off Chelsea at the top of the table.
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While catching Chelsea is unlikely – Jose Mourinho’s side still have a game in hand on their rivals – second place is very much a possibility, with fourth-place United just two points behind misfiring Manchester City, and one behind Arsenal, with United still to play those two sides at home before the end of the season.
It is easy to forget that this is Van Gaal’s first season in English football. He did not have a full pre-season with United either with his duties as the Netherlands coach running through to early July as they reached the semi-finals of the World Cup in Brazil.
Yes, his domineering manner makes him hard to empathise with at times, but the fact he has struggled to make immediate riches out of the resources he inherited demonstrates there was more to United’s malaise then just David Moyes’s underwhelming stewardship last season.
But they still have a great chance of finishing in the top four and getting back into the Uefa Champions League. The fact that Van Gaal could achieve this in such a fractured first season in charge should scare the other top clubs, and their chairmen.
United will almost certainly spend heavily this summer to address their inadequacies on the pitch. But if Van Gaal can put United in a position to challenge with a squad he is not even satisfied with, what can he achieve with the players he actually wants, with the benefit of a whole summer and pre-season in which to work on those deficiencies, for the 2015/16 season?
That is not a prospect likely to help Jose Mourinho, Brendon Rodgers and Arsene Wenger and Manuel Pellegrini sleep well at night.
Burnley still fighting
They may well still end up going down, but Burnley thoroughly deserved their 1-0 victory over Manchester City on Saturday.
They had been threatening a result like this for weeks. They drew at City in December and their 1-1 draw at Chelsea last month was overshadowed by the furore over Ashley Barnes’s controversial coming together with Nemanja Matic.
Sean Dyche’s side have played with a determined spirit all season as well as playing good football, and that was all on show in beating City at Turf Moor.
They have proven you do not have to spend big to compete in the top flight, and, even if they are relegated, they are well set up on the pitch – and financially off it – for a bid at bouncing straight back in the Championship next season.
Dyche’s men have nine games to secure survival. They are one point from safety and few people, other than their main rivals at the bottom, will begrudge them if they stay up.
gcaygill@thenational.ae
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