Burnley 0-0 Manchester United

Louis Van Gaal is still without his first win as Manchester United Manager as newly promoted side Burnley held the Red Devils to a 0-0 draw at Turf Moor.

British record signing Angel Di Maria played 70 minutes on his debut for his new club and showed signs of promise but was replaced by Anderson after the £59.7 million man picked up a knock.

It was a game of few clear cut chances but Burnley came close on a number of occasions.

David Jones struck the bar with a free-kick just three minutes in and two minutes later Lukas Jutkiewicz had a shot saved by David De Gea after seizing on a weak Jonny Evans back pass.

Robin Van Persie came closest for the visitors but saw his half volley in the area tipped out for a corner brilliantly by former United youth product Tom Heaton.

Di Maria’s intelligent lofted through ball picked out the Dutch forward who chested the ball down before striking it with power but Heaton was equal to it.

Jones also had a dipping volley palmed out for a corner by De Gea.

Manchester United felt they had two penalty shouts in the match turned down. In the first half Ashley Young was bundled over by Kieran Trippier in the box but Chris Foy adjudged there was no malice in the challenge. Young’s reputation for diving may have gone against him.

Late on in the second half, shouts of “penalty” were heard again as the ball struck the hand of Ashley Barnes from Young’s shot not deliberately in the eyes of Foy.

Neither team created enough opportunities to be worthy of the right to claim they deserved the three points. Burnley defended in numbers well but were unable to break through a United defense that had been largely called into question in recent weeks.

Burnley: Heaton, Trippier, Duff, Shackell, Mee, Arfield, Jones, Marney, Taylor (Reid ’88), Ings (Barnes ’78), Jutkiewicz

Subs not used: Gilks, Ward, Long, Wallace, Sordel

Manchester United: De Gea, Jones, Evans, Blackett, Valencia, Young, Fletcher, Di Maria (Anderson ’70), Mata (Januzaj ’87), Rooney, Van Persie (Welbeck ’73)

Subs not used: Amos, Keane, James, Hernandez

Man of the match: David Jones

MK Dons 4-0 Manchester United

Manchester United’s woeful start to life with Louis Van Gaal got even worse as League One side MK Dons cruised to a 4-0 win at Stadium:MK.

Braces from on loan Brentford outcast Will Grigg and Benik Afobe, also on loan from Arsenal inflicted one of the most embarrassing results in Manchester United’s recent history.

The rout began 26 minutes in when a terrible pass by Jonny Evans was intercepted by Ben Reeves who cut it back for Grigg for a simple tap in.

Grigg doubled the Dons’ lead with 63 minutes played, attempting to shoulder in a cross but what turned out to be a chested effort was bundled in, the cross again provided by Reeves.

It went from bad to worse for the visitors when Afobe slotted in a third with 20 minutes left, once again Reeves the provider in what was a surprisingly easy day at the office for him.

Afobe completed the demolition when he fired home from the centre of the box to the right hand side of the goal six minutes before the final whistle.

Super Sub: Arsenal loanee came on for Grigg and bagged a brace himself

Milton Keynes Dons, who finished 10th in England’s third tier last season, also had a clear penalty shout turned down in the second half with Evans guilty of a hand ball in the area.

Manchester United were woeful throughout, the likes of Anderson, Danny Welbeck an Javier Hernandez did nothing to convince Van Gaal that they merit selection in the Premier League.

Van Gaal’s Red Devils were experiencing hell themselves on a miserable night in Milton Keynes, having just four shots on target all game, all of which coming once they had gone behind and the first coming as late as an hour in.

Clueless: Van Gaal wrote lots of notes but could not figure out the answers.

Substitute James Wilson had the closest chance for the humbled favourites but David Martin handled it well, it was 3-0 by that point.

4-0 did not flatter MK Dons, a club founded as recently as 2004 as a result of Wimbledon FC’s liquidation and the franchise team celebrated their biggest ever attendance of 26,969.

Angel Di Maria was confirmed as a Man United player for a British transfer record of £59.7 million before kick off and the task he has on his hands to return his new club to the top is clear to him now if it wasn’t already.

MK Dons: Martin, Baldock, Lewington, Kay, McFadzean, Alli, Potter, Bowditch (Powell ’56), Reeves, Carruthers (Green ’61), Grigg (Afobe ’68)

Subs not used: McLoughlin, Spence, Randall, Hitchcock, Afobe

Manchester United: De Gea, M Keane, Evans, Vermijl, James, Powell (Wilson ’57) Janko (Pereira ’45), Anderson, Hernandez, Kagawa (Januzaj ’20) Welbeck

Subs not used: Amos, McNair, Thorpe, Zaha

Man of the match: Will Grigg

Manchester United 1-2 Swansea City

Swansea City earned a shock 1-2 victory over Manchester United in Louis Van Gaal’s first game in charge to deny him a positive start to life at Old Trafford.

Returning fan favourite from Tottenham Gylfi Sigurdsson won the game for the visitors when he turned in Wayne Routledge’s miscued volley with 72 minutes on the clock.

Ki Sung-Yeung initially swept the Swans in front after 28 minutes following Sigurdsson’s pass across the edge of the box.

Wilfried Bony blocked Phil Jones in an off the ball incident which prevented Ki from being closed down but referee Mike Dean ruled that there was no malice in the challenge.

Manchester United’s new captain Wayne Rooney leveled the scores after 53 minutes when he acrobatically turned in Jones’ headed knock on from a corner.

He almost doubled his tally 25 minutes from time but his free-kick clipped the outside of the post before going out for a goal kick.

Neither team were dominant in what was a match that involved very few clear cut chances.

Super Sigurdsson: Swansea’s new signing celebrates winner on his return

It was Manchester United who came closest without scoring in the first half in fortunate circumstances when Jones’ cross needed tipping over the bar by Lukasz Fabianski.

Rooney also had a tame headed effort saved easily.

Jesse Lingard had his Premier League bow cut tragically short when he was substituted on 24 minutes due to injury.

The second half was a similar story, Swansea limited the pre kick off favourites to limited opportunities while Manchester United’s weak back line was too easily exploited.

Van Gaal’s coveted 3-5-2 system was dealt with comfortably by Swansea. The pace from the likes of Nathan Dyer, Wayne Routledge and substitute Jefferson Montero was too hard to deal with for inexperienced wing backs Ashley Young and Adnan Januzaj while Bony and Sigurdsson caused problems for Jones, Chris Smalling and youth graduate Tyler Blackett.

Manchester United: De Gea, Jones, Smalling, Blackett, Lingard (Januzaj ’24), Fletcher, Herrera (Fellaini ’67), Young, Mata, Rooney, Hernandez (Nani ’45)

Subs not used: Amos, James, M Keane, Kagawa

Swansea City: Fabianski, Rangel, Amat, Williams, Taylor (Tiendalli ’53) Ki, Shelvey, Dyer (Montero ’67), Sigurdsson, Routledge, Bony (Gomis ’77)

Subs not used: Tremmel, Bartley, Richards, Sheehan

Man of the match: Ashley Williams