being at old trafford on saturday was a surreal experience – and i’m not even referring to the wes brown john o’shea red card cock up manchester united dominated the game, were by far the better side, and they won comfortably but their fans were not satisfied at one point in the first half, a deep united corner found its way back to david de gea in goal boos echoed around old trafford, and then a loud chant rang out: 'attack! attack! attack, attack, attack!' wayne rooney leaps for joy after scoring a brace against sunderland on saturday as manchester united won  united only took control of the game after wes brown was sent off against his former club  there is a lack of realism among united’s critics and some of the supporters this season they need to understand and accept that it used to be champagne and caviar with fergie; last season was bread and water; this season it’s a bag of chips with one of those little bottles of cheap, weak continental beer david moyes took the club in the wrong direction in so many ways we’re waiting to see if louis van gaal is the right man, but united’s football doesn’t look good when compared with the recent greatness between 2007 and 2013 manchester united had the most successful period in their history they won the title five times in that period they made the champions league final three times in a four year period, winning it once it would not be wrong to say united in that spell were second only to barcelona in the world, and that barca side under pep guardiola is the best club side i have ever seen in the years before sir alex ferguson retired, united were phenomenal that side was arguably their best ever despite the win there were sections of the home crowd that were not totally satisfied with the performance  the champagne and caviar days that supporters were used to under sir alex ferguson are over  some great players contributed to that run of success – cristiano ronaldo, carlos tevez and wayne rooney up front rio ferdinand and nemanja vidic – possibly the premier league’s greatest ever centre half partnership – were rocks at the back edwin van der sar was the long awaited replacement for peter schmeichel in goal and of course paul scholes and ryan giggs were still weaving magic spells on the pitch in that side, while gary neville was as solid and dependable off the pitch as on it of all those names only one is still playing for united, and he scored both goals in saturday’s win another – michael carrick – has been injured for most of this season there is an array of talent and character listed there, and that cannot easily be replaced shorn of such star quality, a massive rebuild job is now underway and having sunk to an unimaginable low last season under frankly the wrong manager, expectations of manchester united need readjustment many of ferguson's title winning team in 2013 have left the club and it is hard to replace those players  ferguson celebrates winning his final premier league title in 2013 before retiring  some united observers seem to think that the signing of a £60million player should automatically return the side to the breathtaking football from a few years ago it doesn’t work like that – it’s about building a team after that glorious side under ferguson was decimated the football has been far from brilliant but it will take time angel di maria started life at old trafford on fire, but injuries affected him badly, and a burglary has unsettled his young family in a new foreign country, and that’s clearly impacted on the player (although his pass to set up ander herrera’s goal at swansea was sublime) in the first half on saturday he was pretty awful but he was also targeted by sunderland first lee cattermole, then jordi gomez, clattered into him, yet somehow escaped bookings it’s too easy to break di maria’s spirit on the pitch at the moment but as gus poyet said after saturday’s game, united fans have nothing to worry about if they remember this is di maria, who is actually one of the world’s best players most of the time louis van gaal is rebuilding the manchester united team and it is a work in progress  angel di maria has been criticised in recent weeks and was awful in the first half against sunderland  there are some surprising positives for united this season – notably ashley young, who has been consistently impressive and effective out wide but it’s a work very much in progress i understand that united fans want to play football the fergie way but you’re asking too much too soon a few years ago the most successful united side in the club’s rich history dominated domestically and were the only side to challenge the brilliance of barcelona fast forward a couple of seasons and that team has been ripped to shreds the rebuild is underway but it’s unfair to expect 'fergie football' so soon
adrian durham united steven gerrard saturday old trafford manchester united john terry fergie adam lallana louis van gaal sunderland 2 0
manchester united beat sunderland 2 0 at old trafford on saturday  sections of supporters were not satisfied with the performance  united fans must accept they are not the team they were under fergie  louis van gaal is rebuilding the team and it is a work in progress  read: adrian durham on the difficulties of replacing john terry  read: adrian durham on adam lallana being better than steven gerrard 