COMMENT: United now realising it’s a long way back from the fall

ONLY 15 months after they won the league and three years after they reached the Champions League final for the third time in four years, it is already hard to fathom a way back for Manchester United after their humbling 4-0 defeat to League One MK Dons.

So much has come together at the same time, from the departure of Alex Ferguson and chief executive David Gill, the transfer bungling of Gill’s replacement Ed Woodward, the failure of the appointment of David Moyes to all of the downsides of the Glazers’ debt-laden ownership coming home to roost, leaving a squad desperately short on both quality and leadership.

The Glazers have been masters of making a huge club pay for the privilege of being owned by them but now the true costs of that are starting to be felt.

That Ferguson managed to paper over the cracks for so long is perhaps his greatest achievement but he also left Moyes with a squad that required major surgery and his fellow Scot never had the chance to perform it.

Former player Lee Sharpe is hopeful that Van Gaal, who has one point from his opening two matches, will be given more time and said: “He has only been there five or six weeks so it’s too early to judge him.

“A little bit of patience is needed. It is a long-term approach for Van Gaal and I think you have got to trust him.

“It is just going to take a bit of time to get the team he wants and get them to play the way he wants them to play and to produce the standards he sets. I don’ think they are a million miles away.”

After years of making do in relative terms in comparison to the rest of Europe’s elite, United have been left so far behind, that even the frantic spending of this summer — the arrival of Angel Di Maria took the spending of the last 12 months to €247 million — will not be enough for them to catch up. There may be even more arrivals before Monday’s transfer deadline, with Juventus midfielder Arturo Vidal and Ajax’s Daley Blind potentially on their way, but United are now throwing money at players that are largely unwanted by Europe’s elite and who need to be crowbarred into an ill-suited 3-5-2 system.

Other than Marouane Fellaini, Ander Herrera, the first senior central midfield signing since 2007, will improve them but Van Gaal is underwhelmed by Luke Shaw, and defender Marcos Rojo’s €20m price tag was cause for some celebration at Sporting Lisbon.

In the even earlier days of his reign, it was clear that Van Gaal believed he could have Mats Hummels and Thomas Vermaelen join Jonny Evans as the anchor to his 3-5-2 system.

While Vermaelen joined Barcelona instead when he left Arsenal, Hummels has remained in Germany and been made captain of Dortmund.

Van Gaal has persisted with his three-man defence despite those major additions being made and the team lacking authority and the centre-back he likes the most, Jonny Evans, looked a shell against MK Dons.

Instead of World Cup winners, he has a player, Tyler Blackett, whose solid start to the campaign comes after his loan was ended early by Blackpool last season.

An upside of Van Gaal’s tactics is that at least Juan Mata was to be able to play behind Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney after being stuck out wide by Moyes but after playing in the same team as the two strikers for just the seventh time at Sunderland, he looks to be the victim of Di Maria’s arrival.

Impressed as he is by the signing of Di Maria, United legend Lou Macari is shocked that defence is not seen as the key area for strengthening.

“We’re all hoping Di Maria will be a great signing. I hope has enough in him to help turn things around for Man United,” Macari said. “But the club have plenty of players in the midfield and up front who can do the damage and that why I thought more defenders would be coming in as a priority. I was a little bit surprised when it was Di Maria who they announced.”