Football News: Manchester United Season Review

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A true rollercoaster ride of a season for Manchester United, up and down all the way from beginning to end.

The appointment of Louis van Gaal, fresh from leading Holland to 3rd place in the World Cup, saw an increased optimism around the club, following the debacle that was David Moyes short-lived tenure.

Big spending in the transfer window increased that optimism, with the British record transfer of Angel Di Maria standing out as major statement of intent, and he started the season off looking like a record transfer.

Despite that, things were not all rosey in the Red Devils' garden, with performances on the pitch extremely poor and, off the pitch, LVG upsetting key people around the club.

Injuries hampered him as he tried to get the most out of his squad, the players looked like strangers and it was looking like he would be joining Moyes in being discarded.

Producing a print out to prove Sam Allardyce wrong was a particular low point of the season for Van Gaal, and it looked like the pressure was getting to him.

Di Maria was struggling to stay fit, let alone play well, Luke Shaw was accused of being out of shape and also struggling with injury, Falcao was unable to recapture the form he showed before his knee injuries, but results were still coming.

The return of Michael Carrick and the form of Ashley Young and Marouane Fellaini lifted the team that had previously been pretty much singlehandedly kept alive by the truly incredible performances of goalkeeper David De Gea.

Suddenly it became possible to see what LVG wanted from his United team and fourth place was secured, all looked good again for the red half of Manchester as the fans could look forward to a return to the Champions League.

The signs are mixed for next season, with it being certain De Gea will be gone, this summer will require major investment in a team that should not be finishing a season saying that the best outfield players were Fellaini and Young over the course of a season.

The defence is a particular concern, the group are injury prone and simply not good enough when fit, with the notable exception of Shaw.

Still, this season United did enough, they got back in the Champions League, which was the important thing, but it could not really be considered a vintage season by any means.

Written by Tris Burke May 26 2015 09:53:11