Oh Lucky Man

Louis Van Gaal is a lucky so-and-so.  The Manchester United manager find himself on exactly the same number of points as his maligned predecessor David Moyes, despite scoring fewer goals, having fewer shots on target, playing more long passes but fewer passes in the find third before the opposition's goal, have fewer crosses but commit more fouls and earn more red cards.  Yet Van Gaal is under nowhere near the same level of pressure.  He is not the man who followed Sir Alex Ferguson but the man who followed the man who followed Sir Alex Ferguson, though in many important ways he is struggling to live up to what David Moyes did.
Important considerations have let him off the hook.  Firstly David Moyes arrived from Everton having won nothing.  Van Gaal had managed some of the biggest clubs in Europe, winning a hatful of medals and trophies and had recently guided the Netherlands to third place at the World Cup.  So his arrogance about what he has achieved is better at rebutting the media than Moyes' humility.  Secondly, Man United have more possession than last season, up to second in the league table from ninth in 2013-14, so it looks like they're controlling games more, even though such control is illusory.  Third and most importantly, Man United have been regularly in the top four this season, benefitting from the implosion at Arsenal and Liverpool and Tottenham Hostpur failing to kick on.  So Man United fans can look at the league table and feel warm, but had Spurs beaten Crystal Palace, the red half of Manchester would not be in a Champions League qualifying position and the question would have multiplied for Van Gaal.