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As the old adage goes, 'stats are used much like a drunk uses a lamppost: for support, not illumination'.

Louis van Gaal is heavily reliant on stats when he has to defend Manchester United 's position under his stewardship. United, he reiterates, are in the top four, played in the Champions League and progressed farther in the League Cup than last season. That, apparently, signals an improvement.

There are considerable caveats, though. The somnolent football, the poor preparation, and the blind spots have contributed to United exiting the Champions League at the group stage and losing at Bournemouth, whose matchwinner, Joshua King, made two substitute appearances for United as a teenager. Emperor Van Gaal has no clothes and there are some damning statistics he might want to avoid...

Three wins in their last 12 games

United have drawn seven and lost two in their last 12. In two of their three wins, the Old Trafford crowd booed Van Gaal for replacing Anthony Martial with Marouane Fellaini against CSKA Moscow and jeered the team at half-time against West Brom.

Shots on target

United have managed just one attempt on target in the second-half of their last three Premier League games. United drew against Leicester and West Ham but lost at Bournemouth.

Van Gaal's side averages just 3.7 attempts on target per game.

Goals

United have scored only 11 goals in their last dozen games. They have netted just one more in the Premier League after 16 games than they did under David Moyes two seasons ago.

Winless

United are currently on five games without a win. This has not happened in a single season since December 1998.

Set-pieces

United conceded two goals from set-pieces in the defeats at Wolfsburg against Bournemouth. At the latter, Junior Stanislas' and King's strikes were the two goals United had conceded from corner situations in a single game since the January 2014 defeat to Chelsea.

Win percentage

Van Gaal has a worse win percentage than Moyes at United. Moyes ended with 52.94%. Van Gaal is currently on 51.43%.