Manchester United's poor start to the season continued with a 0-0 draw away to Burnley. Louis Van Gaal's side were aided by the debut of Angel Di Maria who started at the base of midfield alongside Darren Fletcher. The only other change from the side that drew 1-1 last weekend at Sunderland was Johnny Evans into the back three for the injured Chris Smalling.

In theory Burnley should have been the ideal opponent for Van Gaal's side to gain a bit of confidence in their new 3-4-1-2 shape. The home side set out in a 4-4-2, a formation that has a number of disadvantages against 3-5-2 on paper.

In a 3-5-2 vs. 4-4-2 match up, the 3-5-2 side has a 3 v. 2 advantage in defense, a 3 v. 2 advantage in midfield and a 2 v. 2 up front, meaning the opposition doesn't have a spare center back to provide cover. In effect, Burnley were outnumbered 4 to 5 in the middle of the pitch in attacking areas.

With the spare man in midfield, Juan Mata would have expected to to find plenty of space to work in between Burnley's defensive and midfield lines. However, the home side did an excellent job keeping the space compact between the lines. The center midfielders David Jones and Dean Marney and center backs Jason Shackell and Michael Duff stuck tight to one another, limiting the space for Mata to operate between them. Mata saw plenty of the ball and completed 39 of 40 passes but he was forced to drop in front of Burnley's midfield and towards the channels to get on the ball so that he was always separated from his forwards by the Burnley midfield. Rarely did he get on the ball behind the Burnley midfield where he could turn and play penetrating passes for Rooney and Van Persie behind the Burnley center backs. Mata played just 4 passes to Rooney and just 1 to Van Persie throughout the match. United had just 1 first half shot and finished the match with only 2 shots on target.

Di Maria was quite good overall but it doesn't seem as though 3-5-2 is a shape that has a natural position for him. From his deeper midfield position today he struggled to get into areas of space where he had the opportunity to run with the ball in space, something he did so well playing as the left center midfielder in Real Madrid's 4-3-3 last season. Today he would frequently drop deep to get the ball from Fletcher and the United center backs. He showed his long passing quality from these deeper positions, with one particularly tasty diagonal ball to Van Persie coming to mind, but he's at his very best moving towards the left channel and combining with the wide men in space.

Di Maria also played higher up the pitch than Ander Herrera or Tom Cleverley had alongside Fletcher in United's first two league games. This left Fletcher with a lot of defensive work to do on his own in front of the back three. The lone holder isn't a role Fletcher is especially suited to. New arrival Daley Blind can play one of the holding positions and we saw Herrera start in that spot for United's opener. If one of those two partner Fletcher or play with one another in the deep midfield roles, where does Di Maria play? He could play the Mata role behind the two forwards but then you're forced to leave a gifted creative player on the bench. Alternatively he could certainly play wing back given his energy, tactical intelligence and willingness to work for the team but then do you really want to give your side's most dynamic attacking player that much defensive responsibility?

Van Gaal's reason for playing 3-5-2 was largely that it allowed him to play Van Persie, Rooney and Mata all in their favored positions. While most of the attention has been paid to the squad's poor defending with the new shape, it's been shocking just how impotent they are in the attack. Four games is too quickly to implement a new system but when a formation allows a front three of Mata, Rooney and Van Persie and you manage just two goals against a newly promoted side and two sides that battled relegation last season it's a worrying sign.

Louis Van Gaal's Manchester United side again looked disjointed and confused in today's 1-1 draw away to Sunderland, his second in charge.

Van Gaal has stressed that his 3-5-2 system will take time to implement and two games is surely too soon to scrap the system altogether. However, he must have genuine concerns over how the players he has available to him fit into the formation.

Valencia too cautious

The positioning of the wing backs today was particularly concerning. Sunderland lined up in their usual 4-3-3 shape. The battle in the middle of midfield was straightforward- Cattermole vs. Mata, Larsson vs. Cleverley and Rodwell vs. Fletcher. Buckley dropped from his attacking position wide on the right for Sunderland to track Ashley Young going forward. This allowed the right back Vergini to keep a narrow position close to John O'Shea since he didn't have a direct opponent to mark. He was the spare defender meaning he could help O'Shea and Brown track the runs of Rooney and Van Persie. Whereas Buckley tracked Young on the right side of Sunderland's defense, on the other side of the pitch Connor Wickham stayed high up the pitch from his left forward position rather than tracking Antonio Valencia. Valencia was therefore free to receive the ball in space on the right channel. When he received the ball it forced Van Aanholt to quickly move wide from a narrow left back position to close him down. For United's opener Van Aanholt didn't close down quickly enough- Valencia beat him towards the end line then cut back across the face of goal for an easy Mata tap in. That should have been on all afternoon but for whatever reason Valencia was incredibly cautious with his positioning as the game progressed, playing more as a conventional right back than a wing back. Too rarely did he push high up the pitch to get the ball in wide areas and force Van Aanhalt into the channels away from goal (diagram below). It was strange Valencia wasn't more adventurous. He seems by far the player most suited to play wing back in United's side. He's played both right back and right winger, has pace, is a good crosser and is very disciplined about performing his defensive duties. This should be a role he can excel in once he learns it.

Buckley drops in on right to man mark Young. Wickham stays high on other side of pitch leaving Valencia space to attack down right channel. Valencia however wasn't adventurous enough with his positioning, playing more as a standard right back than w… — Buckley drops in on right to man mark Young. Wickham stays high on other side of pitch leaving Valencia space to attack down right channel. Valencia however wasn't adventurous enough with his positioning, playing more as a standard right back than wing back.

No Pace

In his match commentary Danny Mills made the astute point that one of the major differences between Louis Van Gaal's Holland side at the World Cup and this Manchester United side is that Holland had Arjen Robben, a player with pace that has the ability to relieve pressure by carrying the ball 40 yards on the break. For all of their qualities, Juan Mata, Rooney and Van Persie aren't particularly fast and therefore United don't pose a huge threat on the counter. They don't have a player who can shuttle the ball forward quickly into attacking zones.

The lack of pace in the United squad and the inability to counter that that causes means it's important for United to control possession and create chances through clever movement in the attacking third and decisive passing. Right now they don't have good enough midfielders to control the game. They need one of the two deeper lying midfielders to dictate the tempo of the game and get the ball into the front three of Mata, Rooney and Van Persie. Tom Cleverley and Darren Fletcher are not going to give you that. Perhaps Ander Herrera, who missed today with an injury, will but for now United's midfield passing looks methodical and far too slow. Again, the poor positioning of the wing backs doesn't help in the side's ability to control the match and advance into the attacking third. They need to be in front of the ball to offer the center midfielders a forward passing option in wide areas. Young was trying to push on but was being man marked by Buckley, Valencia was unmarked but took up incredibly deep positions.