3. Luck can only get you so far
After another far from convincing win over Newcastle, questions will once again be asked about why Van Gaal is struggling to get it right offensively, why United look so patchy and disjointed going forward. Yet, they sit fourth in the table a point behind Arsenal and five behind Manchester City who are in second. Although you can certainly say that they were lucky to get all three points on Wednesday, at no point did the home side dominate the game and the chances they got only arose from defensive mistakes.
For all the criticisms about the side’s style of play and the passive possession game that everybody seems to hate, the Dutchman is getting the job done. Perhaps, when you spend 150 million, you expect more, but given the injuries they have had to endure this season, the fact that they have lost just twice since December shows that it is not all just luck that they continue to grind out results.