Five Truths: Louis Van Gaal's house of cards, Juventus' fresh vulnerability

Most of you reading this will most likely be familiar with the realm of online FIFA, so here’s a question for you. Have you encountered that type of player who is very intimidating at first – high gamer score, plenty of skills and tricks and extremely high pressure whenever you’re on the ball? And, have you noticed how most of these gamers disconnect their console if they go behind? Van Gaal is very much coming across as the managerial equivalent in real life. A selection of accomplishments and highly-publicised moments of coaching inspiration have given LVG an aura which landed him the job at Old Trafford, but teams are finding a way to expose what’s beneath that aura – a stubborn and petulant gaffer who isn’t actually that skilled at handling adversity, or accepting when he is wrong.

Southampton’s emphatic win over Norwich had a touch of good fortune to it – after all, they pretty much outlasted a side down to 10 men for an hour of the game. However, that’s actually a good sign for Ronald Koeman’s men. That degree of ruthlessness and focus suggests they will put their slow start well behind them and enjoy a season closer to what they’ve accomplished over the last few years – especially now the Europa League is no longer a distraction. When life gives you a chance, you have to take it. Southampton took it, and broke their early slump.

Juve had never, EVER, lost their first two Serie A fixtures until Miralem Pjanic and Edin Dzeko sealed a win for Roma today which follows Udinese’s upset in Turin last week. Accustomed to comfortable domestic campaigns and widespread praise for tidy transfer window business, the Old Lady must now recover from its worst ever start of two games. We figured the first defeat would be easy to shake off, but two in a row means they’re in very unfamiliar territory – especially for a side who haven’t encountered many obstacles in the last few seasons.

Salomon Kalou netted what turned out to be a consolation goal for Hertha Berlin in their 3-1 loss at Signal Iduna Park, and in three games so far it’s the only one Borussia Dortmund have conceded. They’ve scored 11 in those three matches and are top on goal difference ahead of Bayern Munich for the time being. Thomas Tuchel seems to be a good pick to succeed Jurgen Klopp, and he has inherited a great squad – but the blistering start they’re enjoying does seem to indicate that, as good as the Klopp-Dortmund era was, all good things come to an end at some point – and Klopp and Dortmund will both prosper out on their own going forward.

There is a buzz of optimism around La Liga at present - one where many a neutral fan hopes that the likes of Atletico Madrid, Sevilla, Valencia and Villarreal have enough about them to really ensure Barcelona and Real Madrid don't just resume their duopoly after Atleti's 2014 success and some competitive near-rumblings last season. In particular, Diego Simeone's men - the very club who have fought the power(s) and won before - are off to a flying start. They negotiated the unwanted opening day task of taming a rowdy and fearless promoted side (Las Palmas) and now they have despatched fellow-Champions League contenders Sevilla, 3-0, on the road. Jackson Martinez has his first goal and Atleti are going to be a force to be reckoned with - again.