How do Jose Mourinho’s early Manchester United days compare to those of Louis van Gaal?

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Mourinho has been the latest man tasked with making sure their time away from the top of the Premier League is a brief one.

The search for a manager to return Manchester United to the top of English football and competing for the top prize in European football saw them turned to Jose Mourinho – a proven winner in the Premier League with three titles with Chelsea and multiple league titles abroad, including two Champions League triumphs.

The past three seasons have seen United underachieve after their two decades of dominance. They dismissed David Moyes after just one season, while Louis van Gaal did achieve Champions League qualification and lift the FA Cup during his time at Old Trafford, fourth and fifth places and a disappointing European campaign were deemed not good enough however.

So United have turned to Mourinho. But how does his start to life at United compare to that of his predecessor?

Manchester United start to the 2016/17 Premier League season:

After a strong start in the first three games of the season, United have since faced a bit of difficulty but there has been a sign of what could be in their dismantling of Leicester City in a blistering spell before half-time in a 4-1 win at Old Trafford.

United have demonstrated an examples of beating sides pretty professionally in Bournemouth and Southampton, while showing they can go to the end of games against Hull City – where they won in stoppage time. The game against Manchester City demonstrated one or two flaws, even if the only lost by a slender margin, while their defeat to Watford is a reminder of much work needed to be done.

Their only draw of the season – at home to Stoke – was actually a pretty good performance going forward where they come up against an inspired goalkeeping display. The Potters had their chances though, and benefited from mistakes.

Manchester United start to the 2014/15 Premier League season:

Games against Swansea City, Sunderland and Burnley should have yielded more than two points from their opening three games. While some will suggest that Mourinho could not have handpicked his first three fixtures any better if he tried, then nor could van Gaal. His side should have got more out of their opening games.

They managed to overcome Queens Park Rangers emphatically but lost to then newly promoted Leicester City after holding a 3-1 lead before starting to find their feet a little, with home wins over West Ham United and Everton.

What is not factored in all of this is that van Gaal had a 4-0 humbling at the hands of Milton Keynes Dons in the second round of the League Cup. Mourinho has successfully negotiated his side to the fourth round of the competition with a 3-1 win over Northampton Town.

It should also be noted that van Gaal has not had to deal with European football, while Mourinho’s side have won one and lost one of their Europa League group stage games so far.

Mourinho has more points on the board than his predecessor did in his first season in charge at the same stage, and has yet to face a humiliation like the Dutchman did.

But van Gaal’s side did find some form to some extent with a couple of winning runs to get them 70 points and into the Champions League places – which will be a minimum requirement for Mourinho this season.

He is only five points off the pace in the title race, and his defence does appear to be a little tighter than the one van Gaal presided over in his opening games. It was widely regarded that Mourinho was a massive step-up, and a slightly more difficult fixture list over his opening seven games with a marginally better points tally justifies that.

Mourinho will want his side to kick on after the international break, where they again run into some challenging fixtures with visits to Liverpool and Chelsea to come.