We’ll find out in due course, but don’t be surprised if that turns out to be Louis van Gaal’s last game as Manchester United manager. Ryan Giggs is an obvious stop-gap replacement and Jose Mourinho is waiting. What a story it would be if he’s appointed in time for the visit of Chelsea on Monday, though that feels like too quick a turnaround. Either way, it’s hard to see where Van Gaal goes from here. United were dismal. He left out Wayne Rooney, but it had no effect. Stoke City took advantage of woeful defending and they were deserved winners. Bojan and Marko Arnautovic, the scorers, were excellent and they’re up to eighth, three points behind United, who could end the day in seventh place if Watford win at Stamford Bridge. What a league, eh? Thanks for reading and emailing. Bye!

The camera falls a stony faced Louis van Gaal as he wanders down the touchline. He waves to the Manchester United fans before disappearing down the tunnel. Goodbye?

90 min+2: There are chants for Jose Mourinho, though I’m not sure if they’re coming from the away end.

90 min+1: The ball comes to Roonry in the area. He almost falls over. Dearie me. He manages to keep his footing, though, and find Mata, whose drive is pushed wide by Butland. The corner comes to nothing.

90 min: Pereira sends a pass out for a goal-kick to Stoke. This is feeble from United. There will be three minutes of stoppage time.

86 min: Stoke clear the resulting corner and break. Adam marauds through the middle and touches the ball to Bojan on the left. He hits the shot early but he gets no power behind it and De Gea saves easily.

85 min: Diouf loses the ball near the halfway line and United immediately break. The ball comes to Martial, who turns and runs towards the Stoke area, space opening up for him. Martial opens up his body and tries to guide the ball into the bottom-left corner, but Butland reads the shot and tips it wide.

84 min: Charlie Adam tries to score from near the halfway line. He does not.

83 min: Andreas Pereira takes no time to pick up a booking for holding Affelay back on the halfway line.

82 min: Charlie Adam whistles a free-kick a few yards over the bar. That’s the cue for United to bring on Andreas Pereira, 19, for Ander Herrera.

80 min: Stoke are pushing for a third, Affelay slipping Johnson through on the right, the ball played back to Bojan, whose cross-shot towards Diouf is pushed away by De Gea.

79 min: United’s threat has faded. They had their burst. Now there’s nothing.

77 min: Arnautovic has won around five 50-50 challenges on the bounce.

75 min: Stoke make their final change, Charlie Adam on for Geoff Cameron.

74 min: Rooney, who’s just given away a free-kick for kicking Bojan, is giving out to the referee again over Stoke timewasting.

72 min: Stoke spring down the right. Bojan gets his head up and tries to curve the ball to Arnautovic in the area, but Young hangs out a leg to block the cross. His intervention almost leads to an own goal but De Gea is alert, adjusting and diving to his left to hold the ball.

70 min: Martial peels away from the ball-watching Johnson, but he’s halted by an excellent interception by Shawcross.

68 min: Blind’s dismal pass is seized by Affelay, who jigs towards the United area. He lollops past the challenges and tees up Arnautovic on the left, but the ball gets stuck under his feet and he can’t shoot. Eventually Affelay has a go from the edge of the area, but he’s off balance and it goes well wide.

66 min: Herrera has a dig from 20 yards, but the shot goes well wide. “Whether Van Gaal deserves to be fired on the merits of the team’s performances and their results, the worst thing that could’ve happened in all this is Mourinho becoming available,” says Kevin Wilson. “There’s an easy temptation for the board to consider him a better bet than Van Gaal in terms of achieving a top four place but this side needs a manager who’ll encourage creative, attacking football. What would Mourinho do to the likes of Depay, Martial and Mata?”

It’s difficult to know why it would be different for Mourinho at United than it was at Chelsea. It feels like it would be a short-term fix that wouldn’t rectify a lot of the structural problems at the club.

65 min: Stoke make their second change, Mame Biram Diouf replacing Xherdan Shaqiri. United continue to press and Stoke look desperate to concede at the moment. Arnautovic makes a mess of a clearance on the left and Mata’s cross has to be pushed over by Butland at his near post.

64 min: Herrera slides the ball into Rooney’s feet on the right of the Stoke of the area. He turns and cuts the ball back into the six-yard box, where Fellaini is unmarked. He should score, but instead he clips the shot too close to Butland, who makes an outstanding reaction save and Stoke survive.

63 min: Martial needs some treatment after an attempt to beat his man on the left ends with him getting a bump to the head. It’s not United’s day.

61 min: It’s all United at the moment. Stoke are pinned back, although they’re not giving much away. United win a corner on the left, despite Martial slipping, and Butland wallops a quick clearance up field to Arnautovic after claiming the cross. Arnautovic is one-on-one with the last defender in the United half. He treads on the ball and falls over, which probably sums up the way this game is going. “I don’t understand the reluctance to consider Mark Hughes as the Manchester United manager: A United legend who has a club like Stoke City playing like Barcelona?” says Justin Kavanagh. “Meanwhile this season, we’ve seen the Dutch genius spend a quarter of a billion pounds to have a club like Manchester United playing like Wimbledon.”

58 min: This is exceedingly scrappy at the moment.

56 min: Rooney is shouting at the referee again. He’s cooking. The hope for United is that he channels all this emotion into something positive for them.

55 min: Rooney is penalised for impeding Wollscheid as he challenges for a header. He gives the linesman a rollocking and gets a talking to from the referee. He’s going to get sent off, isn’t he.

54 min: Where’s Bebe when you need him?

53 min: Get Nick Powell on.

51 min: “I noticed when Bojan stringed that gorgeous Kaka-like pass, Brittania went to a collective hush,” says Mikhail Ridhuan. “I thought something went wrong with my stream but more likely Man Utd fans had their hearts in mouths while Stoke fans had heads in clouds wondering is this what Stoke City have come to.”

49 min: Arnautovic finds Bojan in the area after some dreadful, weak defending from Mata on the left. Bojan tries to wriggle clear and falls, claiming he’s had his heels clipped. Kevin Friend disagrees and books him for diving, a preposterous decision given that he didn’t book Martial for a blatant dive in the first half. Work that one out.

47 min: Rooney’s first free-kick is to drift a free-kick towards the far post, looking for Fellaini, who controls the ball with his arm.

46 min: Off we go again. Wayne Rooney is on for Memphis Depay, Martial moving to the left, while Stoke have brought on Marco van Ginkel for Glenn Whelan. “The score, though harsh, should take nothing from Fellaini’s chest control,” says Philip Podolsky. “Sumptuous.”

Wayne Rooney is coming on for Manchester United. He’s doing some really good clapping.

45 min+3: Daley Blind pops up on the left. He decides to cross it. It’s going to be a great cross. A Beckham-esque cross, met by the head of Martial in the middle, goal! When he wakes up, he’s sitting on his backside, the ball is dribbling behind for a goal-kick and everyone’s killing themselves laughing after seeing the worst cross of all time.

45 min: Three minutes of the added stuff, three minutes until the inquests begin to take form.

44 min: Another corner to United, then. In it goes - and there’s the referee’s whistle, Fellaini penalised for grappling.

43 min: United are finally mounting some pressure and there are nervy moments in the Stoke defence. A cross from Young forces Shawcross to head behind for a corner. United take it short and it’s chipped into the middle. It should be Butland’s, but Shawcross almost scores an own goal, failing to see his goalkeeper coming to collect the cross and heading it behind for another corner.

41 min: Arnautovic lives on.

40 min: With Arnautovic down in the middle, United continue to press. They’re under no obligation to put the ball out. Not that it makes much difference. Depay’s cross to no one in particular is awful and although Pieters’s defensive header goes straight to Martial, he sportingly shanks a volley high and wide, allowing Arnautovic to get some treatment.

39 min: Blind whips the corner in from the right and Pieters heads it over his own bar. Herrera runs over to the left to take this one and it’s headed away at the near post. Meanwhile here are some other in-game sackings, courtesy of The Knowledge.

38 min: Found by Depay, Blind hangs a cross to the far post. Martial brings it down and wins a corner.

36 min: Marko Arnautovic wastes a wonderful chance to make it 3-0. The chance was created by a splendid pass from Bojan, who was allowed to turn and spray the ball through to Arnautovic under little pressure, United’s midfield a disorganised mess and their back four pushed up far too high. However Arnautovic decides to take the shot on early, perhaps because of a slightly poor first touch, and he rams the ball inches wide from 20 yards. What a chance.

34 min: Pieters is back on. United attack. Martial runs at Shawcross and pathetically collapses after poking it round the Stoke defender. An obvious dive and somehow Martial escapes without a booking. “That’s just embarrassing,” chant the Stoke fans. They could be talking about a lot of things out there.

33 min: Stoke successfully defend Mata’s corner with 10 men, Pieters still off the pitch. “With the Knowledge on a break during the holidays Jacob Steinberg takes over anorak duties. So when was the last time a manager was sacked during a football match?” says Thabo Mokaleng. “Can Manchester United be that innovative?”

Martin Jol, Tottenham, 2007 is the best I can do.

31 min: Martial wins a corner for United on the right. The Stoke fans agree with the award, but that’s them. There’s a delay before it can be taken, though, Erik Pieters down with a knee injury sustained in a collision with Ashley Young.

30 min: “Why does Hughes never get mentioned as a potential Van Gaal successor?” says David Hindle.0 “Especially given the unavailability/ reluctance of “top” candidates to touch United with a 10 foot pole and United’s own reticence about Mourinho? Hughes remains an excellent manager with a pedigree as a player that makes it easy for him to deal with egos. He is underrated by miles.”

Maybe it’s unfair, but the memory of his time at Manchester City, not to mention the ill-fated stint at QPR, probably doesn’t help him when it comes to the top jobs. I like him, though.

28 min: A free-kick to United 30 yards from goal. Memphis Depay fancies repairing some of the damage he caused with that lamentable backpass nine minutes ago. He laces it with his right foot and the ball wobbles viciously through the air, making it difficult for Butland as it comes through the bodies. However the Stoke goalkeeper reacts well, diving to his left and pushing the ball out. The rebound comes to Fellaini, whose risible attempt to score is not obscured by the fact that the flag is up for offside.

24 min: Arnautovic tries to lift a pass into the area. Ashley Young sticks his hand out and stops the ball getting any further. He’s booked and Stoke have a free-kick on the edge of the area, a few yards to the left of the D.

23 min: Stoke charge forward again, the ball sprayed from right to left, Arnautovic picked out with a searching diagonal pass. He holds off Young and finds Affelay, who prods an instant pass over the top to Pieters, who chests and shoots. He doesn’t quite catch the shot, though, and it hits Arnautovic, who’s offside.

21 min: Stoke’s fans are informing Van Gaal that he’s getting sacked in the morning. Van Gaal takes a swig of water and consults his notepad. Or maybe he’s looking at his diary.

18 min: After Stoke clear a United corner, Bojan runs into trouble on the right and ends up conceding a free-kick, fouling Herrera. Stoke’s fans are furious, but nothing comes from it, Depay’s cross curling through to Butland.

15 min: Shaqiri whips a dangerous inswinger towards the near post, where a block almost takes it to Bojan at the far post. It eventually comes to him but he has to take a touch and move away from goal, before turning and shooting. His effort is blocked and United scramble it away.

14 min: Shaqiri and Blind battle down the right, the Stoke winger using his stocky frame to hold off the United left-back and wriggling this way and that in an attempt to give him the slip. Eventually he’s sent flying by Ander Herrera.

13 min: Stoke are still controlling the game, but United are just about keeping them at arm’s length. Johnson tries to slide Shaqiri in down the right, but it’s mopped up.

11 min: Stoke have had 70% of the possession, but they’ve not created a clear opening yet.

10 min: A free-kick to Stoke 25 yards from goal, Smalling bumping Whelan over. Arnautovic’s tame effort drifts wide.

8 min: With his back to goal on the left, Arnautovic decides to maverick a sharp bouncer back to his own goalkeeper, who really doesn’t want it there. The ball squirts up right in front of Jack Butland, whose first touch loops up into the air with Memphis Depay closing in. Depay jumps with the goalkeeper and wins the header, but Shawcross is on hand to clear the danger. That was almost a farcical catastrophe. United continue to attack and Herrera lines one up from 25 yards. Butland holds his low effort.

7 min: Fellaini is doing a lot of harrying.

5 min: Bojan drops off and pops up in space in front of the United back four. He ignores Shaqiri to his right and blooters a wild effort over the bar from 25 yards. Shaqiri’s not happy and he makes his displeasure clear to Bojan. “From his earliest days, Clapton wanted to be an old bluesman,” says Joe Pearson. “Mission accomplished.”

3 min: Stoke break forward menacingly, tapping the ball around elegantly in midfield, before Bojan whips it down the left for Arnautovic. He doesn’t realise he’s onside at first and only chases it belatedly - he might have been through on goal if he had been sharper. The attack continues, though. Arnautovic releases Shaqiri on the left with a clever backheel and his cross flashes across the face of goal. Moments later, Pieters wins a corner on the left. Nothing comes from it.

And we’re off! Manchester United, all in black, get the game underway, kicking from right to left in the first half. They immediately hoof it long towards Marouane Fellaini and win a throw. The ball is then hoicked towards the right, where Erik Pieters makes a mess of his clearance. He’s let off the hook when Mata handles the ball in an attempt to control it. Start as we mean to go on.

Here come the teams, Manchester United led out by Michael Carrick, Wayne Rooney wearing a big coat at the back. “It might be a cliché but surely one of the hallmarks of great teams/dynasties is having the foresight to ship players out when they’re past their sell by date, or -even better- about to be” says Liam Murray. “Fergie did exactly that countless times and Guardiola did it a few months ago when he let Schweinsteiger leave. United signing him, along with Rooney’s obviously unwarranted inclusion in the team, demonstrates how much Utd have forgotten those lessons.”

“In the last year or so he said something along the lines of that he was made to play too prosaically - he was basically lamenting the way Ferguson coached him and made him play functionally rather than expressively (as he only allowed Ronaldo freedom),” says Clive Darwell. “The comment stunk of regret. He was an amazing PL player but I don’t think it was as ever as good as Euro 2004.”

Is that really true, though? While Rooney was given more defensive responsibilities than Ronaldo, largely because Ronaldo was the best player in England by a mile back then, he had freedom.

Louis van Gaal is asked whether dropping Wayne Rooney is a tactical decision. “I think with this gameplan it was better to play with Ander Herrera than with Wayne Rooney,” he says.

“It’s sad that you don’t pick out footage from more recent years to showcase peak Rooney - biggest waste of talent since Eric Clapton,” says Clive Darwell.

Unfortunately I think we lost peak Rooney when he went off against Bayern Munich in 2010. There have been isolated flashes since then - the bicycle kick against City, the hat-trick against West Ham, slapping a wrestler in the face - but we don’t see that old spark too much these days. Can he get it back or is it gone for ever? You never want to write off a player too soon when they hit their 30s - look at pre-slip Gerrard when Liverpool almost won the league - but this is looking worryingly terminal.

As for Stoke, they make one change from the side that lost to Crystal Palace last week, Geoff Cameron coming in for Marco van Ginkel. Cameron is an underrated player. But are Stoke overrated or underrated? There was a lot of excitement about that attack when they beat Manchester City three weeks ago, but that was only one of five league wins this season and they’ve only scored 14 goals in 16 games. Perhaps that’s down to players like Shaqiri settling in and getting used to the Premier League, while it takes time for teams to become completely comfortable in a new style. It also doesn’t help that Mame Biram Diouf, arguably their best orthodox forward, has been out of form - he missed two sitters in the 0-0 draw with West Ham a fortnight ago – while it’s perhaps not too surprising that their flair players lack consistency; if they were consistent, they’d probably be playing at a slightly higher level. They can be glorious when they click, but there’s a sense that Stoke aren’t quite living up to their potential yet.

Louis van Gaal has gambled. With his job seemingly on the line, he has dropped Wayne Rooney and brought Ander Herrera into the team. Although if we ignore the name, is it such a brave call to leave Rooney out? He’s been in horrible form this year and he’s a shadow of the player who once tore past defenders for fun. He’s slowed down, his touch is off and even his finishing, the one asset that had been protecting him from greater scrutiny this year, has deteriorated. Even when it was obvious that Rooney’s levels were slipping in the past, he still had impressive goalscoring numbers. It might be a consequence of Van Gaal’s football or it might just be down to Rooney’s decline – either way, the United captain has scored twice in the league this season and hasn’t found the back of the net since the win over CSKA Moscow on 3 November. When you think back to Euro 2004, it’s quite sad to see him now.

The headline news? You’ll note that the captain of Manchester United is on the bench.