Angel Di Maria’s form a worry for Man United

Manchester United 2 Sunderland 0

While former United defender Brown was clearly dismissed in error by Roger East, despite the referees’ union making a ham-fisted, revisionist attempt to explain why he and not John O’Shea had been red-carded prior to Rooney’s second-half penalty, it was the dire performance of Angel di Maria that dominated post-match analysis as far as the home team was concerned.

The Argentine looked anything but an €82m record signing when Louis van Gaal mercifully cut short his afternoon at half-time, after a display not expected of a player for whom United abandoned their previously cautious transfer policy last summer.