3 Biggest Positives for Manchester United's 2015/16 Season so Far

As the legendary lyricist Johnny Mercer once wrote, sometimes in life you've got to "Accentuate the Positive," and there are still some plus points for Manchester United this season despite a difficult couple of weeks.

Given Louis van Gaal's popularity has probably never been lower among United fans, it might seem an odd moment to look at what is going right. However, assuming the Old Trafford board are not on the verge of taking dramatic action, Van Gaal will surely at least see out the season.

With that in mind, focusing on what he is getting right will make a nice change from the doom and gloom that has understandably gathered in the wake of the Red Devils' lacklustre Champions League exit.

Here are the three things that are going best at United.

The Case for the Defence

Old Trafford has been remarkably safe territory for the Red Devils. Too safe, perhaps, but other than the ignoble exit in the Capital One Cup on penalties against Middlesbrough, they are undefeated at home all season. Teams visiting in the league have combined to score a total of one goal past them.

One.

That is not a lot of goals.

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During the game against Wolfsburg on Tuesday, though, United's previously mean defence was found lacking and conceded three. That has happened once before this season, of course, at Arsenal. That 19-minute spell of disaster at the Emirates Stadium represents 30 per cent of the goals United have conceded in the league.

The success of United's defence has relied on three factors. The first is the structure of the team, the second is key individual performances from defenders and the third is David De Gea.

In the Arsenal and Wolfsburg games, it was predominantly the first of those three things that was lacking. Bastian Schweinsteiger pressed far too far up the pitch against Arsenal, leaving Michael Carrick exposed to disastrous effect.

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Against Wolfsburg, Marouane Fellaini's lack of experience in playing central midfield in this season's setup was exposed as his positioning meant the German side had plenty of space in which to counter.

United fans would probably welcome the defensive structure being a little less rigid given how soporific some of the football at Old Trafford has been, but it is very clearly working as intended from a defensive perspective.

Given the injury to Luke Shaw—initially a key part of United's back four—this is particularly impressive. Daley Blind's reversion to the centre-back position he played as a youngster has been effective for the most part both defensively and offensively, and Chris Smalling has earned plenty of plaudits for his fine work all season.

If United do enjoy any success in this campaign, it will be down to how functional they have been as a defensive unit.

The Kids are Alright

Guillermo Varela was one of United's best performers against Wolfsburg, looking bright and lively throughout. It was his second senior appearance for the club—and his first start.

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Jesse Lingard has become a first team regular, Paddy McNair remains around the squad's fringes and Cameron Borthwick-Jackson has become a surprise part of the first-team rotation.

Much of this has been a consequence of injuries to more senior players, but Van Gaal has kept a thin squad on the basis that he is prepared to bring academy players into the first team. While this far from guarantees success, it is nonetheless a joyful part of being a United fan.

The Red Devils' reputation for bringing through their own has been well earned over the years, but in the last decade or so of Sir Alex Ferguson's career, it seemed to happen a little less frequently. Van Gaal has embraced the tradition, though.

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The Dutchman has also bought in players with an eye on future development. Memphis Depay and Anthony Martial are the two most obvious examples of that. The latter's performances could have counted as a category of their own but are being included here because the youthful profile of United's squad should see them in good stead over the coming years.

There have been a few odd choices in terms of young players—Adnan Januzaj's loan move to Borussia Dortmund and the relative lack of involvement of Andreas Pereira do nothing to allay the concerns that Van Gaal is not at his best managing individual, improvisational talent.

However, Martial's continued impact, Memphis' recent more promising performances and the good form from those emerging from United's academy mean that the future looks relatively bright at Old Trafford—especially if the club can acquire some of their bigger-name targets over the next couple of transfer windows.

David De Gea

United could really do without David De Gea winning player of the year this year. It is bad enough when your goalkeeper picks up the award once, but that can be written off as an accident of nature—or of David Moyes at least.

Twice begins to look like a pattern, but De Gea is an exceptionally talented goalie and Van Gaal was in his first season at the club, so it could perhaps have been expected that things did not go to plan.

Three times would just be sheer negligence. It would say that Van Gaal, in two years at the club, had not managed to get any of his outfield players performing well enough to ensure De Gea was less busy or competing with the Spaniard for glory.

It is not even halfway through the season yet, of course, and a lot could change from here on out. But really, the way things are going, would anyone really be surprised if De Gea takes player of the season yet again?

There is some hope in Smalling, although, frankly, a centre-half is not much of an improvement on goalkeeper in terms of symbolism, but De Gea is starting to once again show just why he is so incredibly special.

His save from a deflected shot by Almen Abdi against Watford was positively superhuman. He made a horrible positioning error against Wolfsburg but then got himself back into place to tip the ball over the bar with his uncommonly stretchy limbs. Generally, he has just been brilliant.

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There can be no doubt that he is among the elite players in his position, and there are not too many in the United squad who can boast the same with such certainty.

So there you have it. Three bright spots amid the doom, gloom and disappointment, with the positives thoroughly accentuated. Van Gaal's next step is to follow through on the rest of Mercer's instructions and "eliminate the negative."

It is easier to sing about than do, but if the Van Gaal era at United is going to end in success, then things will have to change.

The positives are there, but there are too few so far to guarantee a positive outcome.