Even as Daley Blind flew into Manchester to complete a medical for his proposed £14m transfer from Ajax, bookmakers were slashing their odds on Louis van Gaal still being in charge at Old Trafford by the end of the season following another winless afternoon at Burnley.

Manchester United’s new manager admitted after his side’s goalless draw that two points from a possible nine was not good enough and, though a member of Holland’s World Cup squad should be a useful acquisition following the signings of Marcos Rojo and Ángel di María of Argentina, Van Gaal accepted his team looked anything but world class at the moment.

“We are certainly at not at that standard yet but we shall have to wait and keep believing it will happen,” Van Gaal said after Burnley quite comfortably held United to a goalless draw.

“We will have to see where we are in a month or so. Di María did not look like the world-class player we have seen either, but you cannot expect that straightaway. He has to adapt to a new league, and the team needs time to adapt to his style of playing.”

If Van Gaal was possibly being a little harsh there about what was quite a promising debut – Di María was arguably United’s best player although once again the competition was less than fierce – he seemed over-generous in praising his side’s defensive efforts.

“At least we are not giving many chances away,” the manager claimed. “Maybe two in the first half and two in the second, that is all.”

Perhaps that was intended as a joke, for Sean Dyche was on firmer ground in suggesting Burnley had done well to restrict their opponents to just one chance either side of the interval, en route to their first clean sheet in 30 Premier League games. “We didn’t keep the ball as well as we would have liked, but I thought our shape was good and our workrate excellent,” the Burnley manager said.

“We have our first point and that’s quite pleasing as we go into the international break. We are only three games in and there is a long way to go, but we are holding our own at this level, we have shown we can compete.”

Van Gaal is quite fond of a joke, even in the present strained circumstances. When it was put to him that Blind’s arrival will leave him spoilt for choice at the back, with Rojo still waiting for clearance to start and Luke Shaw returning to fitness, he agreed enthusiastically.

“Yes,” he said, “It is very smart of the manager, I think. Rojo’s work permit is not going to be a problem either, because we do not have a game next weekend. When the fixtures resume and we face Queens Park Rangers, the permit will have arrived.”

He does understand, however, that United supporters were expecting a better start than this. “Two points from nine is disappointing,” he said. “I can see some progress, but Manchester United have to win.”