Angel Di Maria must be dropped for his own good at Manchester United

The decline in form of Angel Di Maria at Manchester United is one of the great curiosities of this Premier League season. The Argentine looked every inch a British record signing in the first three months of the season, scoring beautiful goals, creating chances at will and acting as the conductor for all United's best football. But the onset of winter has prompted an astonishing collapse in confidence which reached a new nadir at St James' Park, when he lasted just 57, chronically unproductive minutes before being hauled off by Louis van Gaal. An early moment, when he was slipped through on the right side of the penalty area by Wayne Rooney summed it up: Di Maria delayed the shot long enough for Fabricio Coloccini to come back with a recovery tackle and the chance was gone. His last act in the second half was to carefully dink a cross out of play with the outside of his boot: even the Newcastle United supporters appeared to seem sympathetic to him by that stage. Surely the kindest thing to do would be to withdraw him from the firing line?

Di Maria's bad night

Touches	52
Passes	33
Pass completion	64%
Pass completion in final third	57%
Cross completion	25%
Dribble completion	33%