EARLY next week Louis van Gaal will have been United manager for 100 days.

He landed in Manchester, following a brief stopover in Amsterdam, after guiding Holland to third place at the World Cup in Brazil.

Resplendent in a blue suit and striped sky blue and white tie for the official photographs with executive vice chairman Ed Woodward and Ryan Giggs his new No.2.

It was a faux pas quickly rectified when he dug out a grey suit and red, white and black tie for his official press conference unveiling - and the era of Van Gaal’s ‘philosophy’ and his Red revolution was under way.

United had waited since his May 19 appointment to introduce the former Ajax, Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach because of the World Cup.

But Van Gaal scrapped holiday plans to get his teeth into the task of repairing the damage inflicted by the 10-month David Moyes era.

So what has that 100-day face lift brought to United?

Here M.E.N. Sport takes a look at Van Gaal’s changes.

Personnel

When Tom Thorpe came on as a substitute for Angel Di Maria against West Ham at Old Trafford, the 21-year-old Mancunian became the 36th player Van Gaal has used in just eight competitive matches since the season kicked off in August.

Seven of those players have since left the club, either permanently like Danny Welbeck (Arsenal) and Shinji Kagawa (Borussia Dortmund), or loaned out like Javier Hernandez (Real Madrid), Nani (Sporting Lisbon), Tom Cleverley (Aston Villa), Nick Powell (Leicester) and Michael Keane (Burnley).

The make-up of the squad has been altered with the record-busting £155m summer investment on Angel Di Maria, Ander Herrera, Luke Shaw, Marcos Rojo, Daley Blind and Radamel Falcao plus the promotion of Academy products like Tyler Blackett, Paddy McNair, Jesse Lingard and James Wilson.

It has been a much-needed clear-out and freshening-up exercise that is beginning to bear fruit with improved results.

The major turn-around since the end of last season and it hasn’t been restricted to on-field newcomers as United swept out Moyes’ backroom staff when he was sacked and a new regime has been established with Giggs as Van Gaal’s sidekick.

There is now a strong Dutch influence with Albert Stuivenberg (assistant coach), Marcel Bout (assistant coach) Frans Hoek (goalkeeper coach) and Jos van Dijk (fitness coach), while Tony Strudwick moved to head of athletic development.

Tactics

There was initial unrest in Holland when Van Gaal threw out their Total Football style for the World Cup - but he became a hero playing 5-3-2 in Brazil.

Traditionally United have been 4-4-2 and after an early dabble with three at the back, things have seemed to settle on 4-1-2-1-2 with the midfield operating in the diamond shape.

Angel Di Maria’s stunning start to his Old Trafford career, largely as the left wideman in that system, has eased the fact that old-fashioned wingers like Giggs and Andrei Kanchelskis or Steve Coppell and Gordon Hill have been sidelined.

But such was the trauma of last season, any approach that provides entertainment and success is welcome and, in patches, you can finally see Van Gaal’s way is beginning to produce both.

Training

Van Gaal identified on his first day that, despite United’s muti-million pound training complex pushing all the buttons when it came to being state-of-the-art, the training pitches were far too exposed to the wind and lacked intimacy.

Work has been ongoing installing new boundary trees and a new pitch for the first-team squad.

There have been alterations to training times and the amount of sessions the Reds do. Van Gaal has introduced more intense and repetitive sessions to get United’s players used to his philosophy.

Off the field the players eat together at Carrington to help with squad bonding and the Reds boss has promised that all his foreign imports will speak English fluently in a year.

Press conferences

Sir Alex Ferguson has been surprised how honest Van Gaal has been in the media.

At times he has been brutally honest - for instance in saying that Welbeck didn’t score enough goals or Adnan Januzaj wasn’t playing because he’s in competition with very good players!

Not exactly Fergie-style. The Scot would protect his players in public and give little away but the Dutchman’s approach is very refreshing, very welcome and very good for copy!

Conclusion

A lot has happened in 100 days and Van Gaal had warned all along that it had taken him three months to get his feet under the table at his previous clubs before signs of his ideas sinking in became noticeable.

There is evidence that his timescale was spot-on and the Dutchman’s influence is starting to show.

But it is certainly going to take longer for all the imperfections to be completely ironed out in his masterplan.

It is hardly surprising that it hasn’t been a smooth overnight change around with a damaging casualty list disrupting the fluency of an already complicated switch from one set of tactics to another, along with the introduction of six new players.

Amid that mayhem, United to have climbed to fourth spot after taking just two points from the opening nine, plus the disaster at Leicester City. It has been a commendable recovery.

It hasn’t all been plain sailing and there are still likely to be some choppy waters to steer through.

There is still a discrepancy between the positives of the Reds’ exciting attacking verve and their nerve-jangling defensive frailties but United are inching in the right direction at last.