Five things I learnt from the opening weekend of the season
1. LVG is not as infallible as the fans seem to think
I'll admit it, I've been lured in by the prestige of Van Gaal, especially considering United's form in pre-season. He looks the part, and impressive wins against Real Madrid, Liverpool and Valencia seemed to indicate that they would start the league firing on all cylinders, but they lost their opener against Swansea 2-1, leaving them in the unfamiliar position of 15th.
Despite the loss, Swansea are a solid team, and Van Gaal was quick to switch from his preferred 3-5-2 to 4-2-3-1 when he realised it wasn't working. Failure to change tactics on the fly was a criticism levelled at former United manager Moyes during his time with the club, (1) though many have noted that the much-maligned Scot managed to win his opening game of the season last year. This is the first time since 1972 that the club have lost their opening home fixture.
2. Man City should be (at least) joint favourites for the title
As of today, Chelsea are the favourites to win the league, with most bookmakers pricing them at 7/4, despite the Blues yet to kick a ball this season. There's no doubt that Mourinho's little horses have grown into title contenders, but to make them favourites does a disservice to the power, strength and guile of a Man City team that won the League last year in a deserved display over 38 games.
City have also started this season as they finished the last, with their hard-fought 2-0 win against Newcastle enough to see them rise above Arsenal on goal difference at the top of the summit. The worrying thing for their rivals is that Newcastle played well, but couldn't break down the Champions, with every player hungry to make their time count in the star-studded squad.
3. Pitch invasions can still be funny
When a member of the public steps out onto the pitch it's usually a waste of time for everyone, but a fan took a decent free-kick, (forcing a save from Adrian!) after running the length of the field as West Ham faced off against Tottenham in their season opener.
Here's the video:
4. A lot of Twitter users still hate Jack Wilshere
The social media site is awash with users that simply don't rate the Arsenal and England midfielder, with many blasting his display against Crystal Palace. Some have criticised him after he was pictured smoking, although he refuted the claims that he smoked regularly, with a representative arguing that he was dared to do so by a friend when the picture was taken.
Whatever the case, things took a turn for the worse after Jamie Redknapp addressed the smoking rumours, saying:
'Jack Wilshere's problem is Jack Wilshere. He's not performing. He's got to take games by the scruff of the neck like two years ago - there's no excuses anymore.'
'It's nothing to do with smoking. I played with better players who smoked. I think he's competing with Ozil for a place because Ramsey will always score more goals.' (2)
Considering the season is barely two days old, Wilshere has had a pretty tough time of it so far, but he has the whole season to prove his detractors wrong, if he can.
5. Ashley Young bit off more than he could chew
A video is doing the rounds which appears to show bird poo flying into the mouth of Ashley Young in an unprovoked assault which occurred during their loss to Swansea. The video keeps being deleted from YouTube, but it seems that the Daily Star have a dedicated video on their website, available here.
Seriously. You have to watch it more than once.
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