Hi to all football fans,

Welcome to the first I hope of many of my thoughts on all things concerning Manchester United and the English Premier League.

Let's start with the season so far which is now on an international break which from a red point of view has come at the right time after the poor start to the season so far. Three matches that has seen us lose at home to Swansea and draw away at Sunderland and Burnley. So a measly 2 points in all, but lets be honest did we expect much more, sure they are 3 of the so called weaker teams but having said that our team wasn't up to scratch and the team was basically made up of the Moyes squad of last year. I strongly believe that in Louis van Gaal we have a manager that will deliver us back into the good times that we have been so spoilt on in the last couple of decades. Already his press conferences have made more sense than any of David Moyes' and he has a pedigree that shows he is capable of bringing us silverware. Already he has put Uniteds money where his mouth is and spent well in excess of 150 million pounds on some world class talent Di Maria, Herrera, Falcau, Rojo, Blind and Shaw. These are players who could walk into most teams and along with the current players they will drag United back into Premier League contention. We still need to buy a top class defender in the January transfer window which I'm sure the manager will do.

Van Gaal has also allowed some players to leave for example Hernandez to Real Madrid, Cleverley to Aston Villa and the one that makes me so happy was Welbeck to Arsenal. I have never held Welbeck in great asteem he was always a player who would infuriate me with not only his lack of goals, 29 goals in 142 matches, but also his poor decision making once inside the opposition box. I know he came through Uniteds' youth teams and he is a local Manchester lad but be honest if he had been at another club would we have bought him? I very much doubt it. Manchester United has always had players who could turn the result of a match with one touch of the ball but he needed 5 touches to put the ball out for a goal kick. While talking about failures another has to Ashley Young, watching the match last week against Burnley every time he received the ball he was looking to pass it backwards although he had three options up front in Mata, Rooney and Van Persie, if Young has lost confidence then leave him out or it will hurt us even more the same can be said of Antonio Valencia, since he broke his ankle his pace has never been the same.

So predictions for this season. Well the champions will not be United, but I would love to eat my words, I believe it will be between Chelsea and Man City with Man Utd making the top 4 with either Liverpool or Arsenal. Boring I know but I really can't see any other team breaking into that. Of course I would love Man Utd to be champions and all the others relegated but that's only a dream. Relegation will be made up of Burnley, Sunderland and West Ham. Man Utd to win the FA cup as a start to the silverware.

The next round of matches sees Man Utd at home to QPR and the welcome return of our former defender Rio Ferdinand. I hope he is given a warm welcome by the fans as he was a great player alongside Vidic in the defence.

Until the next time.

Miles Dunton.