Three things Louis van Gaal and Manchester United need to do after the opening weekend

A quick look at what the club need to do after the win against Spurs

(Getty Images)

Sort out the goalkeeper situation, quickly

Louis van Gaal chose to start Sergio Romero for the match despite two world class goalkeepers sitting in the stands at Old Trafford on Saturday afternoon. For vastly different reasons it appears that neither David De Gea or Victor Valdes has a future at Manchester United, and it is partly of the Dutchman's making.

Romero looked reasonable under the circumstances - he had hardly even trained since the Copa America final - but he doesn't look like the No 1 keeper of a side who have ambitions to challenge for both the Premier League and Champions League.

Van Gaal is right to demand a big fee for De Gea, but he has to move quickly to line up a top class replacement if/when he does leave.

Find a centre-back

The Dutch coach hinted that he was still looking for a defender and rightly so. As with Romero, the vastly improved Chris Smalling and Daley Blind did well enough in the 1-0 win against Tottenham, but it was hardly the kind of dominant performance that is going to have Manchester City, Arsenal and Chelsea truly worried.

Blind is quality in possession and reads the game very well but at 5ft 11in and around 11 stone he will lack the physicality to mix it with some of the Premier League's more imposing strikers.

It is unclear when Phil Jones will return and despite his physical gifts it remains to be seen whether the England utility man has the temperament to be a dominant centre-back.

Blind did well at centre-back but he is not a long-term solution (GETTY IMAGES)

Keep Memphis on the wing and Mata in the middle

Memphis Depay looked pretty impressive on his Manchester United debut, showing a good first touch, vision as well as power and pace. He was involved in the first goal but didn't create too many chances for striker Wayne Rooney.

Van Gaal seems to prefer the Dutchman in a central role because Ashley Young is playing so well on the left - the decision is not only weakening the performances of Depay but also those of another player, Juan Mata.

The manager, for balance we assume, does not want a right-footed player on each wing so has preferred to play the left-footed Mata as a wideman. He tends to drift centrally, rather than keep wide like Young, and that caused a jam in the space behind Rooney.

By playing Memphis Depay centrally, he is negating the strengths of two players (GETTY IMAGES)

Mata is one of the least physical and athletic players in the division, he rarely sprints and is tiny - when playing wide he is not going to cause a full-back problems with his pace - but he is a much more creative player than Depay.

His vision and ability to pick a killer pass wasn't on show at Spurs as it was easier to shepherd him into non-threatening areas out wide.

Conversely, Depay's strengths are his athleticism and power - his preferred position may be on the left but playing the £25m man on the right would play more to his strengths and also the strengths of the little Spaniard.