Strange times these at Manchester United. Not only is United’s side distinctly average, but the Glazer family has sanctioned more than £120 million in spending during this summer’s window to correct the failure; £200 million over the past 12 months. The world turn on its head. While the Americans’ relatively loose purse-strings has much to do with the family’s under-investment over the past eight years, United’s distinct mediocrity is a sight absent for a quarter-century.
The League Cup’s second round is a case in point: it is almost two decades since United last entered the tournament at a stage reserved for England’s lesser lights and clubs not in European competition. The last time United played at this stage was October 1995 versus York City. The Reds lost.
It is some come down for a manager as decorated as Louis van Gaal. Still, the match at stadium:mk proffers opportunity to a clutch of young players not yet given matches under Van Gaal’s leadership. More important, perhaps, a chance for the Reds to claim a first victory during the Dutchman’s tenure. United’s draw with Sunderland and the loss to Swansea City have come at the expense of intense national debate.
Better results will come of course, not least when a handful of players return from injury. Van Gaal is without Chris Smalling for the trip south after the England international suffered a groin injury against Sunderland at the weekend. Meanwhile Ander Herrera will not be risked despite returning to training this week. Rafael da Silva, Luke Shaw, Michael Carrick, Jesse Lingard and Marouane Fellaini remain on the sidelines.
New signing Marcos Rojo is yet to receive a work permit, although United should push through a £59 million deal for Angel Di Maria before the weekend’s Premier League fixture with Burnley at Turf Moor. The Argentinian holds an Italian passport and will be cleared to play as soon as the international paperwork is filed with FIFA.
Michael Keane, Tyler Blackett and Tom Thorpe could all feature in an inexperienced defence, while dynamic striker James Wilson will find a place on the bench at a minimum. Van Gaal may also include Javier Hernández, Shinji Kagawa and Danny Welbeck in the team to face MK Dons – none of the trio appears to feature in the Dutchman’s preferred XI.
Meanwhile, Milton Keynes manager Karl Robinson is without first choice goalkeeper David Martin and full-back Lee Hodson, although midfielder Samir Carruthers could play after recovering from a thigh problem. Robinson has built a reputation for playing good football over fours years in charge of Milton Keynes. The Scouser is just 33, but took over at MK Dons in his late 20s twenties after spending time as Paul Ince’s assistant.
The Dons formed when Wimbledon relocated to Milton Keynes in September 2003, more than a year after receiving clearance from the Football Association. It was a decision that many supporters find as disgraceful today as it was more than a decade years ago. Initially called “Wimbledon,” MK Dons renamed in 2004 and eventually relinquished records and trophies to the reformed AFC Wimbledon in 2007.
The convoluted history means that United is yet to face MK Dons in the club’s current guise, although the Glazer family might find some level of simpatico with MK Dons’ predatory chairman Pete Winkelman. The businessman forced through the relocation in 2003 and spent years refusing to ‘hand back Wimbledon’s history’. The debate rages on, with Milton Keynes unwilling to drop the “Dons” moniker despite a long-running supporter-led campaign. The reward: on Tuesday Winkelman’s side will face United in front of a sell-out 29,000 capacity crowd.
“Will I feel vindicated? It’s not about feeling vindicated, I’ll feel pleased,” Winkelman told The Independent.
“I would like to have done something that could be respected rather than upsetting. But it was always about a stadium for Milton Keynes. I knew that and being able to fill the stadium for this match shows other people that the idea of top-flight football in Milton Keynes is still alive.”
“Do I still feel the same way as I did 10 years ago? No. I understand the culture of English football much more, so I have many different feelings about how we got here. But what is clear is that there had to be football here. Tonight is a dream come true.”
For Wimbledon it is anything but a dream – and there is no little irony in Milton Keynes having beaten AFC Wimbledon in round one of this year’s League Cup competition.
United’s challenge is different. The global fanbase and blue chip sponsors are already in place, but it means little without success on the pitch. This is a goal Van Gaal is striving towards, albeit one that has hit two significant roadblocks over the past 10 days.
“It is a process,” claimed the Dutcman last week. One in which victory in Milton Keynes will contribute much – not least to a squad’s confidence, which appears little more than paperthin.
Teams
MK Dons (4-4-1-1): McLoughlin; Baldock, Lewington, Kay, McFadzean; Alli, Potter, Powell, Reeves, Bowditch; Grigg.
United (3-4-1-2): Amos; Thorpe, Keane, Blackett; Valencia, Cleverley, Januzaj, James; Kagawa; Welbeck, Hernández
Subs from
MK Dons: Flanagan, Spence, Randall, Hitchcock, Carruthers, Afobe, Burns
United: Johnstone, de Gea, Smalling, Jones, Zaha, Powell, Blackett, Fletcher, Young, Mata, Rooney, Van Persie, Wilson.
Head-to-head
n/a
Officials
Referee: Stuart Attwell
Assistant referees: Ryan T Atkin and Ian Cooper
Fourth Official: Keith Hill
Prediction
MK Dons 1 – 2 United
£1 bet club
Javier Hernandez & 1-2 @ 22/1
Running total: £(-)2
love how you always use the old crest. Nice touch
man win by two goals
Evans supposedly fit. Should make a difference at the back…why else do you think Pique won everything lol
with confidence low I don’t know if we should be too experimental. Yes it is only MK Dons but a poor performance will only rattle our seemingly fragile players even more. Mix it up a little, sure but make sure we win the game. A 4-nil would do nicely, and with some winnable games coming up and Di Maria coming in hopefully we can get this season going.
4 nil – great prediction!
hence the ‘I don’t know if we should be too experimental’ part of my comment. This squad is devoid of confidence, any win even against MK Dons would have helped but this is a disaster. We should play our best 11, until we can put a couple of results together, after Swansea and Sunderland, no team should be taken for granted. Now Burnley can’t wait for the weekend.
not what I had in mind!
We are losing 4-0 to MK Dons.
van Gaal’s days are numbered.
Fans are asking, who would you like to see to replace van Gaal once he is fired?
Joe Royle
even though it’s more or less the youth team, it was shite. Would never have happened under Fergurson. Wilson and Januzaj the only two players fit for use the rest should be moved on (bar De Gea – it wasn’t his fault)
United need to find the winning mentality and fast. Everyone from the top down look clueless
Man Utd 0-3 York City
West Ham 4-0 Man Utd
Man Utd 0-2 Coventry
Man Utd 1-2 Crystal Palace
Burton Albion 0-0 Man Utd
These results all happened under Ferguson. Aberrations happen.
what I meant was that 3 losses in a row wouldn’t have happened (but that probably isn’t true either). Your point is taken – I stand corrected.
2 losses and a draw even 😉
game started at 4;30am in australia…….i dragged myself out of bed hoping to see something….anything. i did….great effort mk dons…..fuck off hernandez, anderson, kagawa, evans and get us back to 4-3-3.
The things I see wrong with van Gaal is that one, he is too old for this job. Too set in his ways. Example, why does he continuously play 3-5-2 when he knows its not working.
Two, why is it that under his training, 8 players are out injured?
Three, why did he not immediately identify the central defenders, midfielders, wingers that he wanted to bring in before he came to Old Trafford.
The new mangers now when they come in, they have a list of players already drawn up that they want before they even get to look at the present team. We need a new young manager with new ideas like a Antonio Conte or the manager of Athletico Madrid. Brendon Rogers or Roberto Martinez for example.
Possiblywith United playing away at Sunderland in the last game to kick off on Sunday and then away at MK on Tuesday, this influenced van Gaal’s team choice..
Resting all the ten outfield starters from the Sunderland game might have seemed like a good idea. I think though that he underestimated the challenge ahead when he picked a cobbled -together second string. A few experienced first-teamers plus kids did not look at all cohesive.
Oh and why was Anderson back as centre-midfield?
LVG’s learning curve is getting rather steep.
“why was Anderson back as centre-midfield?”
Because there was no one else – and FatBoyAndo didn’t look too fat or too bad. The real dross was provided by DannyTheLad, Chicharito, KagawaBunga and the two kids who were “wing backs”.
The way LvG has TheLads playing is not quite as interesting as watching the grass grow on my front lawn.
Playing Anderson was an attempt to showcase him before the transfer deadline. Will he figure again come September?
Are you on crack? Kagawa was bright going forward until his collision.
I must have been “concussed” because I saw nothing from him – and I look for positives from him.
I’m a big fan of KagawaBunga. I was delighted when he was bought from Borussia Dortmund where he had been fantastic for two years. But he’s been marginalized @ UTD and seems to have no confidence which is not surprising since SAF gazumped him with RVP, Agent Moyes never played him, and LvG has publicly dressed-him-down. What a waste !
I’ve got thousands of very very angry man utd fans on talk shows and websites that want van Gaal OUT by tomorrow morning.
One is saying that he hopes the bus leaves the team all in Milton Keynes and they walk back to Manchester but for van Gaal to never make it back.
No player in his right mind is going to be interested in playing for man utd. This is worst then a nightmare!
And now van Gaal is saying that he had no idea that this job would be so difficult?
He sounds just like Moyes now.
At 63 years old, this is a job that is too big for van Gaal. We need to find a fresh young manager that can get the team back on track. I do believe that if we do not get positive results very soon, van Gaal will just quit this job and walk away.
” I do believe that if we do not get positive results very soon, van Gaal will just quit this job and walk away.”
Does that mean Ryan Giggs in the hot seat, backed by Scholes-y, Butt-y, Phill-y and the rest of the “class of ’92”. If so then we’re nowhere near rock=bottom.
When van Gaal was chosen as manager, I thought it was the wrong choice only because the man is 63 years old and I would have thought they would have gone for a much younger man, one who can give you 10 plus good years like SAF did.
van Gaal is only on a two year contract so what good is that? Yes, van Gaal is a good manager but when people get up in age, they become stubborn and stupid. It is stupid for him to keep playing this 3-5-2 system and what I heard from di Maria today, looks like he is now going to use his favourite 4-3-3. In an interview today, di Maria said he was told by van Gaal that his postion will be left central midfield in a 3 man midfield. Also, Herrera started back training yesterday and Rojo and di Maria will have their permits before the Burnley game.
” the man is 63 years old and I would have thought they would have gone for a much younger man, one who can give you 10 plus good years like SAF did.
van Gaal is only on a two year contract so what good is that?”
Jo$e couldn’t have done more to piss all over SAF’s “Legacy”, eh ?
“..when people get up in age, they become stubborn and stupid..”
Speak for yourself.
“van Gaal is only on a two year contract so what good is that?”
Better than a six year Moyes contract.
Actually, it’s a 3 year contract.
Given how he changed the NL set up right before the World Cup, it’s clear he’s not against innovation.
No matter who was picked this was going to happen, our squad is seriously lacking.
Some people say “LVG is too old”
If we had a younger manager in and the same thing happened the same people would say “He isn’t experienced enough”.
We obviously weren’t going back to winning ways straight away. The squad needs rebuilding not only physically but mentally. I don’t want the board to make the same mistake and sack LVG after one season. Give him his contract and let us see what happens. We have been spoilt with victory for the last 25 years and some people have forgotten that already.
This issues are not only with the squad, but with the board, budget and owners.
Why do we so consistently underestimate the value of the Capital One Cup and, apparently, the quality of the squad to cope in early rounds? Without Europe this would have been an ideal opportunity to gain confidence with a fullish ‘A team’ supplemented by a few less experienced players. Although I do have my doubts that even that would have been successful against a very lively MK.
Shouldn’t Ryan Giggs have told LVG not to underestimate such opposition in England?
Midweeks empty until spring now.
“Midweeks empty until spring now.”
Possibly the best news for LvG – he can have plenty of time to put his stamp on this collection of misfits and square-pegs.
Or, he can’t do anything with Young/Valencia/and Welbeck/Chicharito etc., etc., etc.
Of the vaunted youngsters, so far only James Wilson and Tyler Blackett look-the-business. Saidy Janko and Reece James and the KeaneTwins and Perreira all looked suitable for MK Dons – not Manchester United.
There’s a lot of sorting-out to do and a lot of prayers are needed to keep the first-eleven healthy, too.
This really is a cluster-fuck – and we thought it couldn’t be worse than last year !
These results are unacceptable against mediocre teams. If we lose to Burnley, this could be the end of the road for van Gaal.
Bookmakers are already predicting that van Gaal could be the first EPL manager to be sacked. The problem I see with van Gaal is this 3-5-2 system that the players are struggling to cope with. Yes, this is going to take time but he should be smart enough to know when something is not working. Its not all about the average or no quality players that we have. This squad was quite capable to win all the games that we’ve played so far and look what happened. It all goes back to the manager and if this was Chelsea, Mourinho would be gone already, the bus would have left Mourinho in Milton Keynes and made him walk back to london.
If this man had any common sense, should have played 4-4-1-1 from the beginning and with all the injuries before the Swansea game, the team should have looked like this.
DeGea
Valencia Smalling Evans Blackett
Zaha Young Jones Januzaj
Kagawa
Rooney
Subs: Mata, Fletcher, Cleverley, Powell,
Wilson, Keane, Amos
There is no need to play Hernandez Wellbeck, Nani and Anderson because these players had been told to find another club, so if you do play them, they are not going to give you 100% because their heart is not with the club. This is the reason why Anderson, Hernandez and Wellbeck looked so terrible against MK Dons because they just did not care whether they played or not, they no they are not wanted at Man Utd. It was a very bad move to play them.
Van Gaal:
“OK lads, Everyone knows we’re having a rough start. We’re short on pace and confidence. So if any of you lads want to play in the first team this season, go out there and show me.”
I think he got his answer.
Van Gaal is planing for the long term, and everyone has been calling for these players to have a chance.
Imagine those youngsters against MK. At United they spend their developmental years being coached a 4-4-2 system and variations of it, only to make their first team debuts in a system of wing-backs and a trio of centre-backs.
So much for cohesion and a seamless transition.
Three years ago today United put 8 past Arsenal with this team:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BwHQhzWCIAAawOJ.jpg
Sir Alex Feruson!!!!