Are the Red Devils Done with Their Funk?

The most successful club in the history of the Premierhip might finally be getting its act together this season.

Manchester United spent much of the 2013-2014 campaign having trouble notching victories against low-profile teams.

David Moyes -- a useful manager at the top club level -- learned the hard way how inadvisable it was to follow a legend. Haunted by higher-than-high expectations, the Scot was sacked after just one season with the Red Devils for the poor results with the blame laid at his 'inadequate' managerial skills.

How's that? Did he suddenly become stupid when he assumed the reins at Old Trafford?

Still, he took the fall. Next has come Luis van Gaal, the successful and well-respected Netherland national team manager. Implementing his system, the Red Devils won their pre-season matches, but looked disjointed in the process. It was clear the players weren't truly understanding their assignments. This becme painfully evident as soon as the Premiership play started and the domestic cup run began. United underwhelmed with shocking results, the poorest one being a 4-0 defeat to League One MK Dons.

Did van Gaal hit the same wall as Moyes? Were players clinging to their roles under retired legend Sir Alex Ferguson and not buying into a style that served the Dutch so well in Brazil?

For the first time in its storied history, United lost a match after building a two-goal cushion to Leicester City in a 5-3 thriller.

For all the Red Devils spent on talent in the summer transfer window, it seemed obvious they were still in desperate need of a physical figure on the back line. But van Gaal disagreed, saying the real issue was an inability to retain possession.

Being as that's a core essential to the Dutch style of play, it's exactly what one would expect him to say.

He stuck to his assertion through a horrendous patch where United lost at home to Swansea, drew away at Sunderland and Burnley, found brief respite in a 4-0 pasting of Queens Park Rangers, and then enduring the disaster at Leicester.

Has the side finally accepted it's going to be their manager's way or a seat on the bench? Successive 2-1 home victories against West Ham and Everton indicate this to be a possibility. That the first result was achieved in spite of Wayne Rooney and the second without him, it would seem the point has been made.

Next up is an appointment at West Brom on Fri 10 Oct. Collecting three points on the road would remove all doubt.