Manchester - For the first time in 2015, Old Trafford's flood lights were lit and gates opened, even the public address system was subdu...
The news of the availability a full strength squad to choose from, the unfortunate exception being Ashley Young (he even beat Anderson to it).
Many have argued that an eleven match unbeaten run largely masked the frailties and the short comings of LVG and his team.
The defence serving as the easiest aim for critics, even though prior to the Southampton game, the red devils let in only 6 goals in 11 matches whilst league leaders Chelsea conceded 8 goals over the same period.
Not bad for a side heavily scrutinised for their defensive frailty.
An honest United fan on the street will largely agree that their teams' problem lies in attack.
Prior to the Southampton defeat a lot was made of five (players) fitting into four (positions).
It would have created the sort of hype on paper enough to send trepidation down the spines of the Saints defenders.
With Angel Di Maria marking his comeback with a goal against Yeovil there was no way LVG was going to leave him out of the starting 11.
Like playing a Micheal Carrick at the heart of a 3 man defence as opposed to stepping him up to his preferred midfield position.
It seems as though LVG hasn't gotten over the successful run his dutch side experienced at the 2014 world cup in Brasil.
This is evident in his relentless attempt to reproduce at Old trafford a similar playing system to the type shown by the Dutch team.
Angel Di Maria, an all action left midfielder whom the knowledge of his best position seems have to eluded everyone including the Argentine himself.
Observers would say his ability requires yards of space ahead for him to gallop into. Fair enough!
On Sunday particularly, Van Gaal started Di Maria in the striker role, a similar role to that which Arjen Robben excelled in at Brasil.
Devoid of space to run into and failing to register any shot on goal. It was glaring Di maria is no Arjen Robben, and though there similarities in the qualities of both players, they posses entirely different skill sets.
Given the astronomical injury rate experienced by the 20 times champions, Van Gaal has had to provide weekly updates on injured players as well as returning ones.
In this time, Journalists have become accustomed to words like philosophy, match fitness and match rhythm to mention a few.
Surprisingly for all of Van Gaal's insistence on how returning players must be eased back into action in order to acquire match-fitness and rhythm it was a surprise to see Daley Blind, Di Maria, and Valencia all included in the starting line-up, even though the most notable fuss about the starting XI was the absence of Radamel Falcao on the substitutes bench.
The aforementioned by LVG's standards had no business in the first eleven against Southamption. One can only begin to notice that even Van Gaal has exceptions to his much heralded philosophy.
More worryingly is what seems to be a developing personal campaign against Radamel Falcao. The colombian has scored 5 goals in 13 matches for United, 8 of those in which he's (Falcao) started.
After spending nearly 8 months on the sidelines Falcao was always going to struggle to live up to his usual high standards. One thing's sure they're more twists in what is still an unfolding series of events in the relationship between Falcao and Van Gaal.
Paul Scholes was seen as overly criticising Manchester United performances early on in the season. One time he stated the 3-5-2 was "too slow and lacked intensity".
The writer of this piece YubbyThePundit is the author of Counter Attack Ng, and is a manchester united correspondent for the outfit.
Follow @YubbyThePundit on twitter.
