Terrace Talk: Man United - Van Gaal in danger of overseeing a circus act

Before Sunday’s game, and perhaps over-giddy from beating a bunch of injury-ravaged second-rate Belgians, LVG tempted fate in a way that reminded me of a showboating lion-tamer sticking his head inside the big cat’s mouth.

“The first match that I played was against Swansea, we lost [1-2], and now I have to play the 50th match. I hope we can show our fans that we have improved, because that’s the main thing.”

Having then watched United lose 2-1 to the same opponents again, despite all that interim spending, one may feel entitled to wonder whether LVG’s circus vocation lies more in the clown direction, especially given our defence’s impressive essaying of that old big-top classic, The Exploding Car.