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MANCHESTER.- Louis van Gaal’s possession game has made Manchester United resolute – they rarely look like conceding – but it has also curbed their old attacking instincts and they look like a poor clone to the majestic attacking club that Sir Alex Ferguson built.

And, now, the Red Devils’ Champions League campaign is in danger as they need to win at Wolfsburg in Germany to be guaranteed a place in the next round after an uninspired goalless draw at home to PSV Eindhoven at Old Trafford.

This team is unrecognisable from one Ferguson would have sent out and, sadly for United fans, a return to those free-flowing times appears a long way off – as does a return to winning trophies.

We take a look at some of the statistics that damn coach Louis Van Gaal and his United team, with assistance from our friends at Opta.

United have failed to score in four of their last seven matches in all competitions – with all four ending goalless.

This damaging spell has seen draws in the Premier League with Manchester City and Crystal Palace, an exit from the Capital One Cup against Middlesbrough, and this latest stalemate.

Going further back to the 3-0 loss at Arsenal at the start of October, it means United have failed to score in five of their last 10 matches.

United have averaged 1,46 goals in their 13 league matches this season – the lowest return in years.

This has continued a steady decline since Ferguson retired in 2013.

During his last season, United scored 2,26 goals on average per game. This dropped to 1,68 under Moyes and 1,63 in Van Gaal’s first season.

It appears the secret to racking up big scores against opponents went out the door with Ferguson.

What’s to blame?

Well, both Moyes and Van Gaal deployed more conservative tactics to their predecessor. But conversely, United have invested considerable sums of money on attacking players over the past couple of transfer windows.

Little wonder the fans are chanting ‘attack, attack, attack’ and demanding a return to the offensive style of a few years ago. Why would you buy these players and not use them to their maximum potential?

It will come as little surprise that United are playing more passes and enjoying more possession given this seems to be the central pillar of Van Gaal’s set-up.

United have averaged 565,77 passes per game in the Premier League this season, a step up from the 560,82 last season and definitely an increase from the 498,08 under Moyes.

They also average 59,44 per cent of the ball in league games and although this has decreased from last season’s 61,36 per cent, it does represent a rise on the 2012-2014 period.

However, the issue is not how many passes United can string together but what they do with the ball.

And worryingly for Van Gaal, the number of shots they have per game has slumped dramatically.

In their 13 league games, United have averaged a meagre 7,38 shots per game. During the final season of Ferguson’s tenure, that same measure stood at 11,42 and even under Moyes it was 10,42 per game.

As was much in evidence during the PSV game, United are very happy to work the ball around in defence and midfield, but just aren’t moving it into shooting positions.

That is something Van Gaal must address immediately, otherwise United are going to see their campaign unravel over the defining winter period.

Paul Scholes blasted striker Anthony Martial for his lack of emotion on the pitch.

“He doesn’t look bothered if he misses a chance. He doesn’t look bothered if he scores a goal.

“As a centre forward, all you live for is scoring goals, all you want to do is score goals.

“He doesn’t look like one of those players to me and maybe they need to go into the transfer market in January for one of them.

“There was a real lack of quality in the final third. You can defend as well as you want but if you don’t have those forward players who can create a bit of magic, then you’re going to struggle.

“You look at these teams across Europe, your Barcas and your Bayerns. It’s your forwards that make the difference.”

And Michael Owen is also surprised by how toothless his former team have become.

“I mean, the Manchester United of old would blow that group away. They’d be qualified after four games.

“It is the story of their season. The majority of the time they’ve played like that and managed to just knick a goal – a one-nil here and a one-nil there.

“Yes, they’ve improved in recent weeks but only two or three performances. In general that’s been the state of affairs.

“It’s just amazing they’re still in with a shout of qualifying and flying high in the Premier League.” – Mailonline /The Sun.