All the rhetoric suggested that the build-up had been close to perfect as Manchester United prepared for one of their most crucial games under Louis van Gaal against Stoke on Saturday. 

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Yet at half-time it is looking like it could be the very last in the Dutchman’s spell at Old Trafford.

A 2-0 half-time deficit is the last thing Van Gaal needed after a week which started with a third successive defeat at home to Norwich and featured his stroppy five-minute press conference appearance at Carrington on Wednesday. It was the act of a manager who knew he was very much under pressure.

With no wins in six, three straight defeats and only two victories in 13 matches since the middle of October, the manager who has won in every job he has ever had is suddenly looking like a beaten man. United’s board were claiming just a couple of weeks ago that a contract renewal was on the cards. Now his days are looking increasingly numbered.


He claimed before kick-off at the Britannia Stadium that the players had shown a fantastic attitude in training this week, but the collective performance in the opening 45 minutes smacked of a side without the hunger, desire or belief to put their bodies on the line for their under-pressure boss. This was certainly not a team fighting for their fellow comrade.

Memphis Depay’s misdirected header back to David de Gea started the slide, teeing up Glen Johnson to square for Bojan Krkic to side-foot home. Marko Arnautovic’s explosive second seven minutes later left United looking a shell of the side that topped the league three months ago.

Stoke should have had a third when Arnautovic walked through the middle of the United defence shortly before the break but fired just wide of De Gea’s right-hand post. A third would not have been harsh on a United side who were easily second-best to that point.

It doesn’t get any better for United. There are only new levels they seem to plumb to. The Van Gaal era is sliding quickly into the mire, and only a vastly-improved second-half showing can keep the wolves from the door as his future comes under ever-greater scrutiny.

Defeat after defeat would be bad enough, but with Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola suddenly strutting around the managerial market looking for work there is no lack of attractive potential replacements to whom United's board could turn.

Van Gaal was seen nodding to Wayne Rooney just before half-time. The club captain had been benched for the first time in the league this season, but he looks set for a big role in the second half. The last-chance saloon is seemingly approaching.