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Donald Trump is giving Democratic Americans a good laugh right now and across the pond Louis van Gaal is amusing Mancunian City fans.

Van Gaal, like Trump, is an idiosyncratic individual with huge financial backing but questionable methods and a vocal, if blinkered, following. The Republicans cannot sack Trump, though. Manchester United can.

Saturday's defeat at Bournemouth was United's first in the Premier League in over two months and they remain just three points off the Premier League summit. Like Indiana Jones reaching for the Holy Grail chalice, never has a trinket seemed so close and yet so far, though.

Outfought, outrun, outthought and outplayed by Bournemouth. Yes, it really has come to this. As one United fan opined on Saturday, Van Gaal will see the defeat at Bournemouth as an improvement, since they did not score at Dean Court in 1984.

If George Orwell was to set the scene in M16 it would be similar to his dystopian nightmare of the same year: United has become a bleak and joyless club and its figurehead seems to abhor individualism.

Van Gaal claimed United supporters were living in the past on Friday, which was ironic for a man whose heyday was in the 90s. He is adamant the supporters he meets on the street are happy, but Van Gaal strides around Hale, not Salford. He would not be allowed to cycle around as leisurely as Morrissey.

The light might go out on Van Gaal's reign sooner than May 2017. The players are as robotic as Skynet's cyborgs - minus the shooting - and are led by a manager who is causing supporters to doubt him on a weekly basis.

United have an injury list longer than the petition to block Trump from entering the UK, but that was a redundant excuse the moment Van Gaal insisted on a 23-man squad for a gruelling nine-month season comprising domestic and European football. "Fail to prepare, prepare to fail," was Roy Keane's mantra. And it applies to Van Gaal.

READ MORE: Why Ashley Young didn't come on at Bournemouth

Van Gaal brought in Paddy McNair, a player outsprinted by Glenn Murray at the Vitality Stadium, to compensate for Chris Smalling's absence, which is like Olly Murs filling in for Mick Jagger. McNair was so far out of his depth he was aboard the Titanic. The Ulsterman was partnered by Daley Blind, an expensive stop-gap in central defence who had his pants pulled down by United reject Joshua King. Players Van Gaal entrusted with improving United are impairing the team.

On a day Javier Hernandez plundered a hat-trick and James Wilson scored for Brighton, a striker was conspicuous by his absence on United's bench. Hernandez was, justifiably, sold but Wilson was inexplicably disregarded and that overdue replacement for Wayne Rooney was not signed in the summer.

Tragicomically, Phil Jones emerged as United's 90th minute substitute. City fans could rejig their chant come the March derby: 'You send on Phil Jones, we send on Kevin de Bruyne.'

Jones' emergence briefly overshadowed Nick Powell's emergence for the troublesome Maroaune Fellaini. It did not rank alongside Ali Dia for Matt Le Tissier but Van Gaal's in-game management has recently become as stupefying as Saturday night television.

Ashley Young, a proven game-changer off the bench, was carrying a hamstring injury and was not risked at Bournemouth, so Van Gaal effectively limited himself to six substitutions – four of them defensive players. Why was the teenage striker Marcus Rashford not included? The mismanagement was staggering.

Sky Sports captured Ed Woodward wearing the vexed expression of a man who was sat next to Tyson Fury, rather than Sir Bobby Charlton. The man who appointed Van Gaal and heralded him as a 'genius', he has promised the Dutchman another £200m to spend. No wonder he looked concerned.

Moyes was originally compared to Dave Sexton but has since become this generation's Frank O'Farrell. Van Gaal is Sexton Mk.II, although his stint might not even be gilded by an FA Cup final appearance. The unflappable veteran broadcaster and United authority, Michael Crick, this week insisted Van Gaal was worse than Sexton.

December has proven to be a dismal month for the managers following in Sirs Matt Busby and Alex Ferguson's footsteps. O'Farrell and Wilf McGuinness lost their jobs in the Decembers of 1972 and 1970, Sexton did not win a single game in his last December in charge, Atkinson's stint spiralled late in 1985 and Moyes presided over successive home defeats to Everton and Newcastle two years ago. One Red on Saturday asked: “Anyone got a plane?” At least Van Gaal was not gifted a banner.

Van Gaal's winter of discontent began before United were shoved out of the Champions League's exclusive nightclub and into the Europa League's working men's club. United's away followers are the most reliable barometer of the fanbase's faith in the manager and their exasperation and gallows humour at Crystal Palace six weeks ago suggested they were turning against Van Gaal.

United have won three from eight since, and two of those victories featured booing and those boos are, unlike in the Moyes era, aimed at one man. The Smithers to Van Gaal's Burns, perhaps Woodward assured him Reds were chanting 'Boonited'.

One United player reportedly claims he is 'half the player' he can be under Van Gaal and it is understood another was recently left 'fuming' by how Van Gaal had managed him. Wayne Rooney and Michael Carrick's suggestions to alter training earlier in the season were rejected and the disaffection is unlikely to abate.

There is no suggestion United will require the silver polish under Van Gaal. His sole achievement this season - the defence - performed miserly but is dependent on Chris Smalling and his injury burst the dam. The list of alternatives is as unacceptable as the soulless football.

The season is still salvageable. United have a chance to get Ryan Giggs out of their system and trial him over a five-month period before intensifying their dormant efforts to convince Pep Guardiola to swap Bavarian beerhouses for the delights of Deansgate Locks.

An aberration for United used to be finishing second - not finishing fourth. Cash, though, is prioritised over glory. United have 66 'club partners' and 23 senior players.

Trump would approve.