Get the biggest United stories, analysis and transfer window updates delivered straight to your inbox Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Louis van Gaal is fond of talking about his achievements as a manager. It’s only natural when you’ve won as much as he has.

He’s especially keen to talk about his Ajax side of the mid-90s, the one that won the Champions League in 1995 with a team built around academy graduates and shoe-string signings.

“We won everything with very attacking football,” he said when asked about it at a LMA dinner last month.

But that’s not how Manchester United fans would describe the football they’ve seen since the Dutchman took over at Old Trafford.

The 95 Ajax team is synonymous with Patrick Kluivert, the teenage striker who scored the winning goal in the final against an AC Milan side which included Alessandro Costacurta, Franco Baresi, Paolo Maldini, Marcel Desailly and Zvonimir Boban.

But Van Gaal’s United are in danger of being remembered for how much the attacking players have struggled. All of them.

Van Gaal is halfway through the three-year contract he signed when he agreed to take over from David Moyes. But you can argue that there’s not one attacking player who has succeeded under his management.

Some have been sold like Danny Welbeck, Shinji Kagawa, Robin van Persie and Javier Hernandez. Angel Di Maria and Radamel Falcao were bought by Van Gaal and then axed.

Adnan Januzaj and James Wilson have left on loan because they couldn’t get in the team.

Wayne Rooney has suffered to the point where there are United fans ringing radio phone-ins to say the captain should be dropped.

Juan Mata’s form has been up and down without ever finding the levels he reached at Chelsea. It’s too early to judge Memphis Depay, Jesse Lingard and Anthony Martial although both Memphis and Martial are enduring dips in form after positive early signs.

Antonio Valencia and Ashley Young, both natural wingers, have been converted into full-backs.

Van Gaal insists his team are allowed to attack, that the forwards are allowed to express themselves. But the stats tell a different story.

United's attack in the Premier League this season 10.4 Shots/game (17th in PL) 3.8 Shots on target/game (14th in PL) 20 Goals (8th in PL) WhoScored.com

United have scored 20 goals in the Premier League this season, seven fewer than Everton and five fewer than West Ham, who play at Old Trafford on Saturday. It’s only three more than Bournemouth and Norwich.

They average 10.4 shots a game – bettered by every team in the league apart from Stoke, Newcastle and West Brom – of which an average of 3.8 per game hit the target. To put that into context, Arsenal, Tottenham and Manchester City all average six or more.

Sam Allardyce is considered a defensive manager but since taking over at Sunderland they’ve averaged 12.3 shots a game with 4.3 per game on target.

It will come as no surprise that United’s average of 57.3 per cent possession is the highest in the league while only Manchester City have had more touches in the opposition’s half.

It suggests Van Gaal’s United are organised and technically efficient without ever taking the risks required to create chances, take shots and score goals.

United have put themselves in a position to challenge for the title because they are so well-drilled defensively.

It’s something Van Gaal deserves a lot of credit for – but the last 18 months suggest his team aren’t about to be let off the leash.

Gary Neville said this week that United are two world class players away from winning the league. But there’s no guarantee that Gareth Bale or Cristiano Ronaldo could perform in Van Gaal’s system. No other creative player has. Not Di Maria, not Rooney, not Mata, not Januzaj. Even for players with the talents of Ronaldo or Bale, history is against them.

When Rooney went off in the second half against Leicester on Saturday his replacement, Memphis, had the same problems. It’s seems like too big a coincidence.

There’s temptation to think that a club with United’s financial might can solve any problem with money. Things not going well? Easy, sign better players.

“The worrying thing is people think the right answer is just to go and chuck another £150m at it,” said Neville amid speculation David Moyes was about to get a blank cheque to solve the problems he was facing as Sir Alex Ferguson’s successor.

“But it’s almost like you’ve got to know what’s wrong with the soup before you throw more ingredients in to make it better.”

It’s important to remember United are third and not seventh and Van Gaal, rightly, is not under the same pressure that engulfed Moyes. But, in terms of the make-up of the attack, Neville could make the same argument now.