Manchester United 1-2 Swansea: 5 talking points

Manchester United started their Premier League campaign with a defeat at home to Swansea, who won thanks to goals from Ki Sung-yueng and Gylfi Sigurdsson.Although United enjoyed much of the possession, they managed to do precious little with it as they started their campaign with a loss. Even an overhead kick from Wayne Rooney wasnt enough for the Red Devils as they started their season in disappointing fashion.Here are the five major talking points from the game:

#1 Van Gaals reign handed a reality check by the Swans

Six wins out of six from their pre-season meant that Manchester United started the 2014/15 Premier League campaign with a lot of belief and confidence. But Swansea’s win over the Red Devils showed that all of that counts for nothing if they can’t go on and win games in the Premier League.

Pre-season and the Premier League are worlds apart in terms of the quality and commitment shown by the opposition and that proved to be the case as they lost their opening home game in the League for the first time since 1972. Whilst defeat in the opening game isn’t the end of the world, the manner in which the side showed little or no fight doesn’t augur well for the season ahead.

#2 Injuries make Van Gaals task even harder

Ahead of their season opener with Swansea, the Dutchman already had a plethora of injuries to contend with. Michael Carrick was ruled out even before the start of pre-season and ever since then injuries have only kept on mounting. Injuries to seven first-team regulars meant that he had to hand debuts to youngster Tyler Blackett in defense and Jesse Lingard at wing back.

It got even worse for him when Lingard had his debut cut short by injury. The worrying thing for United is that the season has only just started and if they don’t curb this worrying trend of players picking up injuries they might be down to the bare bones even before Christmas.

#3 Ki will be key to the Swans survival

Last season, Sunderland managed to miraculously beat the drop and one of the main reasons for that was the form of the South Korean midfielder Ki Sung-yeung. The South Korean was marginalised under Laudrup and was loaned out to Wearside in a move that would’ve puzzled anyone who has observed the progress of the midfielder.

Now under Garry Monk, the midfielder feels wanted again and showed why Laudrup was wrong. Not only did he score the opening goal of this season but was also the main conductor of the midfield and ensured that the ball was always on the move. If the Welsh outfit are to beat the drop and show their capabilities once more, Ki will be a vital part of their plans.

#4 Rooney shines but the rest were unable to keep up

If there was one recurring theme last season, it was the sight of United’s talismanic striker, Wayne Rooney orchestrating the attacks, scoring and creating goals but finding out that the rest of his team were unable to keep up with him. Against Swansea that certainly seemed to continue as the now United captain showcased flashes of brilliance only to see that the others weren’t as clued in as him.

Rooney scored once and hit the post once and showed that he was well worth his place in the side, but the same cannot be said for the rest of the attack and that is certainly something that has to change if United are to challenge for the top four, let alone harbour any hopes of claiming the title.

#5 Red Devils show tactical flexibility

If anyone had any doubt about Louis van Gaal’s tactical genius, then the World Cup showed that the Dutchman has still got it. When he started out at Manchester United, he always stressed on the fact that he could always switch to a four-man defence, even during the course of a game if the situation demands it.

Against Swansea, he started with a 3-4-1-2 but he changed it around in the second half thanks to an injury and the ineffective first-half performance. Although United didn’t go onto win the game, their transition into a 4-4-1-1 shows promise for the season ahead and provides them with a Plan B if their three-man defence doesn’t work out.