Still Following the Trawler

If it wasn't obvious already prior to yesterday’s game against Chelsea - United’s ninth goalless draw of 2015 and our eighth winless game in a row - something is not quite right at United, and it hasn't been for a while. Van Gaal watches on as United fail to win for the eighth consecutive game against Chelsea. Image via Mail Online . Louis van Gaal has epitomised everything that has gone wrong since Sir Alex left in 2013 - the anti-United, if you will. During his first season in charge we saw glimpses of brilliance while the fans (and board of directors) were content with the fourth-place finish that saw us re-enter the Champions League. We were also fooled into a sense of giddiness as the likes of Angel di Maria, Falcao and a host of World Cup stars were brought into the club, with spending exceeding £250million+ and rivaling the buying patterns that so many United fans have ridiculed Chelsea and Manchester City about. However this approach hasn't worked at all...

GOAL  | David de Gea DEFENSE  | Matteo Darmian, Chris Smalling, Paddy McNair, Daley Blind As we were for last Saturday's draw away to Leicester I presume... Rojo is out with a dislocated shoulder, so Blind will continue at LB. Jones is also still out so McNair will carry on in the centre partnering big Mike Smalling . Darmian , of course, will play on the right in defence. MIDFIELD  | Jesse Lingard,  Morgan Schneiderlin,   Juan Mata, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Ashley Young Now recovered from his brief injury, Lingard has to start again on the left for me. Every time he picks up the ball in midfield he looks bright, energetic and fills us with hope that something decent is about to happen. He's definitely been United's most adventurous player during this rather dreary spell we're currently in the midst of. Now onto the rest of the midfield... Reader's of my blog will know my thoughts on the one-dimensional, oppressive system t...

GOAL  | David de Gea DEFENSE  | Matteo Darmian, Chris Smalling, Daley Blind, Marcos Rojo This is the same back four that started during the week against PSV. Jones is sitting this one out due to injury, but even still Blind is steadily growing into the role of centre-back, alongside Smalling , as is Rojo as replacement to Shaw at left back. Darmian will more than likely start his first league game since the Palace draw at the end of October. MIDFIELD  | Jesse Lingard,  Morgan Schneiderlin,   Juan Mata, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Memphis Depay I give up trying to reinvent van Gaal's midfield, or suggest that - even in light of the consistently unimaginative football being played and serious lack of creativity produced game-after-game - he finally start playing a different system. Against a poor Watford side, as he did against the equally poor West Brom, he continued to play the rigid 4-2-3-1 system with two holding midfielders sitting in front of the back four. Wit...

Yep, that's right - United and Brighton & Hove Albion have agreed a loan deal for 19-year-old James Wilson until the end of the 2015/16 season. Unlike last year where Wilson was firmly considered one of United's main striking options - playing 17 times (the majority of those appearances coming from the bench) and scoring twice - he has been virtually anonymous this time round; starting only once and that was in the Capital One cup defeat vs. Middlesbrough last month. Wilson joins van Persie (Fenerbahce), Hernandez (Bayer Leverkusen) and Falcao (Chelsea) as the fourth striker to leave United this season, while Welbeck (Arsenal) left the team in the summer of 2014. Along with attacking-midfielder Januzaj, who left in the summer to play for Borrusia Dortmund throughout 2015/16, United's attacking options have seriously diminished in the past 18 months to say the least. Don't get me wrong, the move could certainly serve to improve the young striker who will hopefully b...

There was a strong sense prior to kick off that United would struggle in Saturday's early kick off against Watford. The starting line-up, devoid of Martial and Rooney, looked peculiar without the presence of a natural striker, and if we needed that final push past the finish line and to turn to the bench for inspiration, then it would have to come in the form of 18 year old Marcus Rashford or 20 year old Sean Goss - neither of whom had kicked a ball for United's first team before. However Memphis, starting his first game since the Arsenal defeat in October and with a point to prove, set the pace after just 10 minutes when he volleyed Herrera's cross beautifully into the roof of the net. From then on, we bossed the game and actually produced one of our most confident attacking displays of the season. Although the opposition hardly threatened and struggled to break United's resilient defense (until Rojo's moment of madness that lead to the penalty, of course) this was...

GOAL  | David de Gea DEFENSE  | Matteo Darmian, Chris Smalling, Daley Blind, Marcos Rojo Poor Antonio Valencia's time at United may well be up after the latest set back that has seen him ruled out for five months . Love him or hate him however, there's no denying that the 30 year old has been a reliable, loyal servant. He was United's player of the season in 2012, a year after coming back from the serious ankle break he suffered during a Champions League group game with Rangers, and happily played the majority of last season out of position at right back. Still, with the signing of Darmian in the summer his opportunities are now limited to a reserve role while his reputation as a flying winger known for producing incredible crosses from the right (in that United PotY winning season he produced an impressive 13 assists in 22 starts) seems long gone. The young  Darmian has indeed been impressive in his first season at United, so he'll look to resume his duties in defense...

Reports today in the national press have suggestion Antonio Valencia, who picked up an injury in the Manchester City game at Old Trafford 18 days ago, will be out for around five months as a result of an operation he has had on his injured foot. Now, whether I have just been completely oblivious to the extent of the injury or the club have massively held back reports of it's seriousness, the amount of time he is now being forced to sit out has come as a HUGE surprise to me! Regarding the impact to the side however, thankfully Matteo Darmian will be back in contention for the Watford game next Saturday following his one game ban that kept him out of the West Brom win, while Ashley Young (not a natural right-back by any means) has filled in well during the absence of both Darmian and Valencia. Still, a big loss and of course I wish him all the best in his recovery. The United winger/right-back has given this reassuring message to the fans on his Twitter page: Thank God came out well...