LA Galaxy 0-7 Manchester United

Yet with the Dutchman complaining about Manchester United's commercial demands impacting on his preparation - he actually questioned if the club was "too big" before this friendly - Van Gaal will not have been encouraged by coming close to arriving late for the 20.06 kick-off time due to the LA traffic.

The first moment of on-field intrigue came when the team sheet fell and the name of Darren Fletcher and not Wayne Rooney was followed by the little "c" in brackets that denoted the Scot had been elected the first captain of Van Gaal's debut outing as Manchester United manager, the Guardian reports.

The Dutchman had elected to field a 5-2-3 that encouraged Luke Shaw and Antonio Valencia, its wingbacks, to push forward to support a central duo of Fletcher and Ander Herrera, who proved United's most impressive performer on a sultry night at this picturesque ground in the hills of Pasadena. Up top were placed Juan Mata, Rooney and Danny Welbeck who were all expected to offer fluidity by interchanging position and finding space. In the opening stanza this worked fine as United headed to the break 3-0 up.

But after Van Gaal's inaugural half-time talk he made nine changes, with only Herrera and Fletcher, who dropped into central defence, surviving. This makes offering any kind of telling verdict on Van Gaal's bow as manager difficult though with Reece James, a 20-year-old left-back on for Shaw, netting twice on debut as United scored four second half goals, it is fair to posit that the Midas touch Van Gaal displayed when leading Holland to third-place at Brazil 2014 remains.

Thirteen minutes were all that had been required for the opening strike of the Iron Tulip era. After a start in which the Galaxy might have scored first when Stefan Ishizaki fed Gyasi Zardes, who forced a sharp save from David de Gea, United struck through Welbeck. The striker had earlier gone close to beating Jaime Penedo with a bullet of a shot. This time, after a Mata hip-swivel allowed the Spaniard to cut inside and find Welbeck, he let fly a 25-yard arrow that beat Penedo to score off the goalkeeper's right post.

The Galaxy, captained by Robbie Keane, were an outfit 17 matches into their Major League Soccer season yet Van Gaal will be delighted by how United controlled the majority of play. But as might be expected for a United team in their opening outing of pre-season, under a new manager, playing a fresh 5-2-3 shape that featured the new-boys, Herrera and Shaw, there were still concerns for Van Gaal.

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