I mean, Van Gaal has always had not the most great starts whenever he first starts coaching a new team. I would say Manchester United is going through a similar phase that Bayern Munich went through some years ago. Allow me to explain:Southampton might make it into 6th but no more. I reckon top 8 probably. They have a very tough run coming up shortly and they have a small first team squad which will be tested in the second half of the season. All this talk of top 4 is very premature and what surprises me every year are the so called pundits and 'experts' that get paid a fat wage to jump on the bandwagon.
Last season was the same, Southampton were doing great around this time and then they dropped off dramatically when the tough matches came. Another example: Arsenal this time last year were 5 points clear and pundits were saying they're looking good for the title despite the fact we had played easy matches. Fast forward 2 months and the same pundits were saying Arsenal never had a chance. Football journalism is a joke. You don't see this sort of thing with F1 or even rugby.
The Utd match this weekend will be huge. If Utd lose then Van Gaal might come under serious pressure for the first time (and about time). But a Utd win would make it Wenger's worst start ever or something. Basically, Mourinho is watching and laughing and Wenger should have bought Cesc back and why is he so retarded and i don't even
Bayern Munich was led by Ottmar Hitzfeld who led Bayern Munich to greatness such as winning the Champions League title and multiple Bundesliga titles much like Sir Alex Ferguson did with Manchester United (somewhat of a light comparison, but has a lot of similarities). After Hitzfeld retired (along with Oliver Kahn in fact), Jurgen Klinsmann was brought on for Bayern Munich due to his success as the coach for Germany's National Team (sort of similar to how David Moyes took over after Sir Alex retired). However, Klinsmann was fired when he failed to keep Bayern Munich in the top 2 of the Bundesliga in similar fashion to how David Moyes was sacked at Manchester United.
Just like Louis Van Gaal took over after Jurgen Klinsmann (much like how he is just taking over for Manchester United after David Moyes), he had a lackluster initial start to the season much like how he is now. However, he later led Bayern Munich to the 2010 Champions League Final (did lose to Mourinho's Inter Milan, but Wesley Sneijder was just unstoppable back then) and a lot of young players debuted during Van Gaal's time that later became great players (ex. Thomas Muller). Van Gaal is in the process of doing similar things to Manchester United to fit his style.
So what am I trying to say? Basically I think right now Manchester United is in a transition period but eventually I think they will be back in the top spots of the Premier League. As to when, I have no idea, but my prediction is that they will be back in the Europa slots at the very least if not the CL spots (definitely not top 2 unless something drastic happens). Those are just some of my thoughts on Manchester United and their potential this season and the next one.