History beckons Gaal at Man U

London, Nov. 3: The year was 1986 and with just three league wins to their name by the first weekend of November, Manchester United dismissed Ron Atkinson as manager and appointed Alex Ferguson.

The rest, as they say, is history as Ferguson won 38 trophies — including 13 Premier League titles — during his 26 success-laden seasons at Old Trafford.

Fast forward 28 years and there is a sense of deja vu in Manchester.

After losing to fierce rivals Manchester City on Sunday, United, under the guidance of Louis van Gaal, have won three times in the league by the first weekend in November.

But while Atkinson’s reign came to an end after a slow start to that season which saw them win three, draw four and lose six of their opening 13 matches in the old First Division, there have been no calls for fiery Dutchman Van Gaal to be given the boot despite United’s early season struggles.

When Van Gaal took charge at Old Trafford after leading the Netherlands to the semifinals of this year’s World Cup which was played in Brazil, he asked to be judged after three months in the job.

Those three months have come and gone and with United languishing in 10th place, 13 points adrift of leaders Chelsea, Van Gaal has admitted it was “stupid” to be able to transform the club’s fortunes in such a short space of time.

Van Gaal has been backed heavily in the transfer market and spent over 150 million pounds ($240.05 million) on new recruits including Real Madrid’s Angel Di Maria.

But against City at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday, United’s expensively assembled squad did little to justify their hefty price tags, slipping to their third league defeat of the season and forcing Van Gaal to admit his side have work to do.