10 Reasons Why It's All Going Wrong For Louis Van Gaal At Man Utd

9. A Wafer Thin Defence

Injuries to Chris Smalling, Jonny Evans and new signing Luke Shaw and a mishap that left Marcos Rojo ineligible to play against Sunderland due to his lack of a work permit have left United's defence looking paper thin. Louis van Gaal currently has at his disposal seven fully-fit defenders and four of those are rookies Tyler Blackett, Guillermo Varela, Reece James and Michael Keane. To call United's back line depleted would be an understatement, and their current predicament in defence could have been avoided had van Gaal not sanctioned a fire sale of defensive players earlier this summer. More should have been done to persuade Alexander Buttner to stay and Patrice Evra should never have been allowed to leave. Their departures leave the Reds looking fragile at left-back while captain Nemanja Vidic is yet to be replaced. Rojo is a good signing and will provide options in defence once he's cleared to play but United need at least one more centre-back before the transfer window slams shut a week today because mounting injuries and a distinct lack of faith in Phil Jones, Smalling and Evans leave van Gaal's side looking extremely brittle at the back.