COMMENT: Bournemouth wouldn't be a problem for Louis van Gaal. Nor would the Europe League - if he could end the finger wagging.
The possession football. The tiny squads. The baffling transfer policy. Manchester United fans would still be unhappy, sure. But the growing rift between the manager and the support wouldn't be where it is today if Van Gaal showed a little more humility.
Even now, the position is far from breaking point. Last night, those away fans traipsing out of Dean Court were dejected, depressed, even shell-shocked, but they weren't calling for the manager's head. However, ...
... if you're going to tell supporters who've just trekked back from a losing trip to Wolfsburg that they're living in past, you better make sure you win at Bournemouth. If you're going to infer that fans who shell out thousands of pounds a season aren't sophisticated enough to understand your 'philosophy', you better have a winning team. And if your coaching staff insist to reporters that Wayne Rooney is all they need in terms of striker options, you better hope he stays fit. On all three counts this week, Van Gaal failed.
The Dutchman is safe. Talks are now being planned with Ryan Giggs - not about succeeding Van Gaal in 2017 - but to urge him to hang on for one more year as they seek to extend the manager's contract a further season. But things would be a lot smoother if Van Gaal showed a greater reverence to the club's ideals.
Over the 18 months Van Gaal has been in charge, United fans have only heard about his philosophy. His way of playing. And his track record. It's never been about building on the principles of Manchester United. Even with the young players he's now introduced, it's not about the Busby Babes or Fergie's Class of '92. It's what Van Gaal did with his Ajax and his commitment to youth.
The traditions of Bestie, Giggs and Ronaldo? He couldn't care less about that. 4-4-2? That's dark ages stuff. And anyone who espouses otherwise, are simply Neanderthals, who have no idea what they're talking about.
Van Gaal isn't alone. He has champions in the Boot Room. Paul Scholes has dared to call out Van Gaal's approach and has now been told, so we hear, to forget about any future coaching at the club.
But Gary Neville has been in lockstep with the United manager. As has Rio Ferdinand.
United fans have been portrayed as spoilt. Glory hunters. But this isn't about winning trophies. It's about having a manager being respectful of a club's traditions and trying his best to adhere to them.
With United at Bournemouth on Saturday, Russell Beardsmore has enjoyed some good press in recent days. Now on the staff at Cherries, Beardsmore was part of Sir Alex Ferguson's first exciting, locally spun team almost 26 years ago. Beardsmore, Mark Robins, Lee Sharpe and Lee Martin all made their mark that season - which Ferguson later confessed was more about giving the fans a lift and respecting the club's traditions than anything else.
"The kids did a magnificent job, buying time for the restructuring that carried us to eventual success," wrote Ferguson in Just Champion in 1993. "The clinical judgment on the rookies wasn't so important, though. They were what the crowd wanted in that period of United's evolution – and they responded to them with a real, unbridled fervour."
That was Fergie at his best. Tapping into what the United fans needed at that stage in the club's history. He'd come from Aberdeen. Played for Rangers - which at the time could outbid United for players. Yet, the Scot did not attempt to impose any foreign methods. United's traditions and principles, driven and maintained by the Stretford End, just needed reviving.
Today, in contrast, those United fans following the club home and away are basically being told to sit down and shut-up.
Neville, before leaving the Sky sofa for Valencia, claimed United fans would just have to "get used to" this modern way of playing. According to Gaz, United are just a Neymar or Cristiano Ronaldo away from becoming a great European team. In Ferdinand's case, it's worse. He says Van Gaal's game should be accepted. For fans, "there can be no complaints now".
Which is some claim. After all, Ferdinand was part of a senior leadership group which failed horribly in their role of transitioning United from the post-Fergie era. It was a failure in responsibility. A dereliction of duty to the club. And has it made it all the more difficult for United to move beyond the Ferguson era.
Yet, now he and others are wagging their fingers at United fans who have the temerity to claim their club has traditions that deserve to be heeded.
You know things are upside-down when Stoke City are actually a better value-for-money option than Van Gaal's United.
That's Stoke City. Not the Tony Pulis one. But the one of Mark Hughes. A Fergie warrior. A Carrington graduate. There might be something in that...
INJURY TIME
Why the hate for Marouane Fellaini? First he was the fall-guy for David Moyes. Now he's still getting it in the neck from Manchester United fans unhappy with Louis van Gaal.
He's a Sir Alex Ferguson-type player. Indeed, you fancy Fergie would love to have worked with the Belgian during his time at Old Trafford. From Mark Hughes, to Dion Dublin, through to Ruud van Nistelrooy, Fergie always liked to have a big, powerful centre-forward available to him.
Last season, Fellaini was at times unplayable. As much as David de Gea contributed at the back to United's top four finish, Fellaini also deserved better press for his influence. Yet now there's a real danger he could be barracked out of the club.
There is a role for the big Belgian at United. That aerial power can be inspiring if used effectively. You couldn't see Fellaini in a Fergie midfield. But certainly in an advanced role, as he performed at Everton, the big man is nigh on unbeatable when his tail is up.
Fergie knew that all too well when Fellaini battered and bullied United's back four for an Everton victory three years ago.
"Fellaini is a handful. He is a big, tall, gangly lad and they just lumped the ball forward to him. That's all they did. They worked from that base all the time and they got a goal from him, so it's justified," said the United manager at the time.
Okay, United playing like David Moyes' Everton won't go down well with some. But Fellaini isn't the reason for United's problems. And that aerial ability is something Van Gaal and United should be doing more with.
