Manchester United's Biggest Regret of the 2014/15 Premier League Season

Manchester United leave the 2014/15 season with plenty of regrets.

Louis van Gaal's impassioned cry of "we are very close" at the end-of-season awards, per the Telegraph, gave some indication of his own frustrations at United's no-cigar campaign. There are a good number of contenders for biggest regret.

There was Antonio Valencia's mistake against Arsenal in the FA Cup. There was the side's inability to find a way past Jose Mourinho's parked bus at Stamford Bridge, which precipitated a stumble to the finish line.

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There was, of course, the litany of early-season injuries that led to numerous experiments with the system. As Van Gaal has mentioned several times, that meant just 13 points from United's first 10 games of the season. It was not all that tough a start, either.

The final two games of that run were against Chelsea and Manchester City, but United only got a point each from trips to West Bromwich Albion, Sunderland and Burnley, and they lost to Leicester City. Indeed, failure to deliver on the road is another contender in the regret stakes.

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However, it is the failure of two star signings to deliver that tops the list. How different the season could have been if Angel Di Maria and Radamel Falcao had approached anything like their best form.

They take the No. 1 spot for two key reasons. The first is the gap between expectation and delivery. The excitement that surrounded their arrival was remarkable—and fitting, given their abilities and status in the game. 

The second reason is that their inability to produce their best had a significant detrimental effect on the season as a whole.

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In truth, they did make some positive contributions—they were just far short of the benchmarks they had set throughout their career. In the league, Falcao managed four goals and four assists, and Di Maria scored three and set up 10.

Di Maria managed to become the squad's leading assist provider by far while spending most of the season looking a shadow of himself. His last league goal came in October 2014, when he still looked a lock for United's eventual Player of the Season award.

By the end of the campaign, United had scored fewer goals than in any season since 2004/05. Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney both had below-par showings, but neither could compare to Falcao in terms of disappointing goal output. Di Maria's early-season form soon went off the boil too.

Van Gaal persisted with both players, particularly Di Maria, giving them ample opportunities to play their way out of their respective funks. Neither truly did. United continued to struggle for fluency, and it was only after both men had been sidelined—Di Maria through suspension and Falcao through relentless poor form—that the side clicked.

Of all the if-onlys of the season, it is "if only Falcao and Di Maria had been at their best" that runs deepest.

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They were very briefly. For 45 minutes away at Leicester, United played scintillating attacking football, apparently capable of scoring at will. Falcao delivered a perfect cross onto the head of Van Persie. Di Maria's scooped chip was breathtaking. United were back and were brilliant.

That 45 minutes now feels like a glimpse into an alternate universe—who knows what the season would have looked like if United had held on at 2-0 until half-time.

As it was, the season did not get close to those swashbuckling heights again for months. When it did, it was with a different set of stars shining brightest.

Falcao's time at United has come to an end, so he will remain an if-only forever. Di Maria still has a chance to make next season one in which there are fewer regrets. As 2014/15 is consigned to the history books, for United, it will always be a question of what could have been but only rarely was.