Swansea City 2-1 Manchester United l Premier League

In the parallel universe that Louis van Gaal occasionally seems to occupy, the form team in the Premier League had to lose again sometime.

It was only their second defeat in 20 games, Manchester United’s manager will doubtless argue, and there was a degree of misfortune in the manner they lost to a spirited Swansea team; a Jonjo Shelvey shot that took a major deflection off Bafetimbi Gomis’s head to leave David de Gea stranded.

But Van Gaal will struggle to dress this up as anything other than a disappointing performance, even if he did at least take the kind of risks that some continue to demand of the Dutchman. 

After a first half that finished with a goal apiece, with Ki Sung-Yeung equalising for Garry Monk’s side after Ander Herrera opened the scoring, Van Gaal did display some ambition by replacing his more defensive full backs with Antonio Valencia and Ashley Young. And to a degree it worked. Until Gomis’s 73rd minute winner United were much the dominant side.

But Swansea completed a fist ever Premier League double over the Old Trafford club because of the lack of cohesion and fluency that has too often been evident in United’s football this season. Because this remains very much a work in progress for their former Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Ajax boss.

He reverted back to a more familiar line-up on Saturday, pairing Wayne Rooney with Robin van Persie in attack and leaving Radamel Falcao on the bench. The result? Rooney’s first shot on target in the Premier League in 2015.

But Van Persie remains a shadow of the player who inspired that last Premier League title, while a midfield comprising Herrera, Angel di Maria, Marouane Fellaini and Daley Blind was not entirely convincing.

This United side, one missing Falcao as well as Chris Smalling and Valencia from their cup encounter with Preston, was supposed to be close to perfection in the opinion of Van Gaal.

But no sooner had this contest began than they were almost a goal down, Herrera clearing a powerful Gomis header off the line. It was close, as the goalline technology quickly illustrated.

Swansea did start well. Wayne Routledge had a shot on the turn saved by David de Gea. But that first shot on target for Rooney in the Premier League this year, one that came after 21 minutes, was indicative of a visiting team beginning to get into their stride.

Their opening goal came seven minutes later, Rooney and Di Maria combining well before Herrera unleashed a marvelous first-time strike that beat Lukasz Fabianski via the inside of his far post.