Man Utd's millionaire miseries: Why there's NO way back for LVG

COMMENT: Wait a minute. Wait a minute. So is Louis van Gaal saying he could quit Manchester United today?

Because it wasn't 48 hours ago that he was chastising everyone within earshot about claiming he was for the high jump. Apparently, it was the rotten English media to blame for upsetting his wife, kids, grandkids, the dog... you name it.

So did Stoke City on Saturday hit him like a bolt from the blue? Or was the media right all along? You can't have it both ways, Louie. Or should that be sideways?

The wind didn't help. Blowing that bouffant of his in every direction. But Van Gaal looked a beaten man on Saturday.

Perhaps it did all come at once? It wasn't just the abject performance of his players, in contrast with Stoke's high tempo, flashy football. But the deliberate and routine mocking from the Brit fans must have grated. "Boring, boring" could be heard loudly - and routinely - whenever United were in possession. And Anthony Martial was 'serenaded' with "That's just embarrassing" when clearly diving under threat from Ryan Shawcross. Remember, this is Stoke City. Once of Tony Pulis and Rory Delap. But not now. This is the Stoke of Mark Hughes. The one of Xherdan Shaqiri, Marko Arnautovic and Bojan Krkic. And they played United off the park in that first-half.

But Van Gaal didn't help himself dropping his captain to the bench.

You don't play to win at the Brit. You fight - and keeping fighting - for the right to play your football. The personnel have changed under Hughes. As has the style. But the conditions haven't. Wayne Rooney describes it as "horrible". Which is why Hughes will have that wonderful attacking trio of his playing in front of Geoff Cameron and the snarling Glenn Whelan.

The one fighter United had was dumped to the bench. The ramifications of Saturday's result have relegated the Rooney story to an afterthought. But this decision by Van Gaal deserves greater scrutiny.

While Van Gaal went silent after his meltdown on Thursday, the one member of United to come out swinging in defence of the manager was Rooney. No other senior players piped up. Sure, we had the 'educated' leaks about the players being behind the gaffer, impressed by how he fought his corner in that media conference. But the only one to go on record was Rooney. There was nothing from the board. Not Ed Woodward nor Sir Bobby Charlton. The one to stick his neck out, with the hostility coming from fans clear to all, except - apparently - the manager, was Rooney.

And how was he rewarded for such loyalty? Dropped to the bench. Made the scapegoat. Humiliated. Van Gaal didn't even attempt to mask the decision before kickoff. It was for "tactical reasons". But the one game you want Rooney on the pitch for, no matter how poor his form, is away at Stoke.

In the end, the result and the dire performance has helped obscure the reasoning for Van Gaal's decision. But if United had nicked a win, with Rooney deliberately sidelined, what would have been the consequences? Particularly with the fans? Would there have been any way back for the United No10?

The most damning factor for Van Gaal on Saturday was United went into the game rank, outside underdogs. Stoke were always going win. It was just a matter of by how much.

United were out-fought. Out-played. And out-classed. That possession game of Van Gaal, the paint-by-numbers system, simply disintegrated in front of his lying eyes. Hughes, once of Barcelona, showed up Van Gaal - and his old club - with a style full of pace, power and individual flair. It was proper, proper Premier League football and laid bare what United fans have been suffering through, particularly those who care about such things, ever since that first tour of the US last year.

For LVG, the fight's gone. All that bravado on Thursday just a show. By admitting he could walk, he's virtually inviting Woodward to sack him. How are young players inspired by a manager talking like he already has one foot out the door? And making your most senior player, the one trying to keep it altogether, your fall guy? How can he come back from this?

"Multi-million pound miseries" is a great headline to describe Van Gaal's flops. Only this was used once before, some 29 years ago, when Big Ron Atkinson made his last stand at Southampton. Within 48 hours he was sacked and in walked a Scot. The game has never been the same.

There's a certain Portuguese, with that same touch of magic, waiting in London for a call. It's now a matter of when, not if.

INJURY TIME

Speaking of scapegoats. How is Memphis Depay feeling today?

Yeah, he was directly to blame for Stoke's opening goal. But he wasn't the worst player on the pitch in that first-half.

Did Louis van Gaal hook him over his performance? Or was it specifically for that soft header? It's difficult to argue against the latter. Memphis had his moments in the first 45, turning the Stoke defence around when United managed to get hold of the ball.

So to dump the young Dutchman at halftime for an error, with his confidence already fragile, has to be a questionable piece of man-management.

We've already had the leaks of his staff getting on Memphis' case about his tricks and flicks, demanding that he not only rein them in, but eliminate them altogether. Now we have the lad being made the stooge for a simple defensive mistake? How does that help him?

Could Van Gaal get a tune out of Marko Arnautovic - as Mark Hughes has clearly been able to do - with such an approach? Of course not.

PENALTY KICKS

Marko Arnautovic. What a player! For those United fans too young to have seen or appreciate Eric Cantona, the Austrian is the nearest thing the Premier League has to the famous No7 today.

Of course, Potters boss Mark Hughes knows all about Cantona, having formed one of the great strike-partnerships in United history with the Frenchman. He must see similarities with Arnautovic.

The power. The flair. The eccentricity. It was all on show at the Brit. Performing flicks deep in his own defensive half. Leaving United defenders on their backside with a dip of the shoulder. Producing perhaps the most powerful shot we'll see this season. If Arnautovic was wearing Red, there's no doubt comparisons with Cantona would be drawn.