While Manchester United may be experiencing a minor injury crisis and there's still time to go in the transfer window, the early signs are very worrying for the club. The squad looks worse than last season as van Gaal seeks to jam square pegs into various round holes. While getting a result against United is clearly not the scalp it used to be, Gus Poyet must be pleased with his side's performance, in particular with new signings of Buckley and Rodwell.

Here are the THREE Things We Learned From Sunderland v Man United:

 

Lack of depth is United's greatest problem

 

Many have concentrated on the quality, or lack thereof, of United's players over the summer and the need to bring in better ones, but the most striking problem at Old Trafford is the lack of depth. Without Carrick and Herrera Man United's midfield is threadbare and it's telling that an injury to Chris Smalling left United playing a back three of Blackett, Keane and Jones. While Manchester United may want players of the highest quality, what they really need right now is some players at all.

 

 

A new star at the Stadium of Light?

Many may take the performance of Sunderland's £2.5m signing from Brighton as a sign of how far Manchester United have fallen but that is to do Will Buckley a disservice. The winger was a constant threat on Sunderland's right-hand-side, and based on this performance, should do fine in the Premier League.

 

Man United need Shaw back

Ashley Young is not a wing-back and Louis van Gaal is not a magician. While we knew both theses things already there was a sense over the summer that the Dutch manager had the coaching equivalent of the Philosopher's Stone.

He doesn't.

United need Shaw back on the left-hand-side of their defence. And quick.