Areas Where Manchester United Are Actually Worse Than Last Season

After Manchester United's victory over West Bromwich Albion on Saturday, Louis van Gaal cited the defeat suffered at the Baggies' hands last season as evidence that the Red Devils were making progress under his leadership.

In spite of the frustrations demonstrated by United fans on Tuesday against CSKA Moscow, there are signs of progress—indeed, a companion article focusing on those will be coming later this week.

For now, though, we concentrate on the areas in which the new-look, super-organised United are less effective than last season's version.

Jon Super/Associated Press

Unsurprisingly, it is United's attack which must take the brunt of the criticism here. So far this season, the Red Devils are averaging 1.41 goals per Premier League game. Last season, when all was said and done, they averaged 1.63.

In the simplest terms, that means that United's attack is functioning less well than they did last season.

There have been periods this term when Van Gaal's side have managed to find the net on a regular basis. Between 12 September and 17 October, United played five league games and scored three goals in four of those matches.

They also scored three against Ipswich Town in the League Cup and put seven past Club Brugge in their two-legged Champions League qualifier.

However, there have also been stretches of time when United have failed to inspire in front of goal, including a run of three 0-0 draws in a row.

Part of this problem has its seeds in United's summer transfer dealings. More attacking talent left the club than was drafted in. This is not to criticise any of the individual decisions, more to point out the cumulative effect.

Robin van Persie and Radamel Falcao have continued to struggle since leaving United. Javier Hernandez is doing well for Bayer Leverkusen, but never seemed a good fit for Van Gaal's United. Angel Di Maria's story has been thoroughly told, and his time with the Red Devils never seems to have been destined to have a happy ending.

However, while letting each of those players go was the right move, the three who were at United last season managed 17 goals and 16 assists between them.

Players of their talent and reputation would have been expected to provide greater output, but Di Maria's 10 assists in particular represent a significant loss to the side over the course of the season.

Francisco Seco/Associated Press

Anthony Martial has three goals and one assist in the league so far and Morgan Schneiderlin and Memphis Depay have a goal apiece, but the numbers are not yet adding up for Van Gaal.

The style of play has changed, too. While the possession-orientated approach has been evident since the Dutchman's arrival at the club, the structure of the team this season has been considerably more conservative. Last season, Van Gaal set up his team in a 3-5-2, a 4-4-2, and a 4-3-3 but never 4-2-3-1.

With the exception of United's trip to PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League, two of Bastian Schweinsteiger, Michael Carrick and Schneiderlin have started every game, meaning two holding midfielders pretty much always make up the "two" in the formation.

Schweinsteiger is not precisely a holding midfielder and does break forward from time to time, but midfielders gallivanting into the box is hardly a hallmark of United's current incarnation.

The inherent conservatism in the lineup might be a response to last season's defensive vulnerabilities.

Perhaps, though, it is simply a reflection of who Van Gaal is as a coach nowadays.

Jon Super/Associated Press

His Netherlands side were, for the most part, functional rather than spectacular at the World Cup—the 5-1 demolition of Spain aside.

German football writer Rafael Honigstein, writing for Sports Illustrated in 2011, cited "tactical intransigence" as one of the reasons Van Gaal lost his job at Bayern Munich. 

Everywhere else on the field, things are better this season. In the final third, though, there have been plenty of struggles.

Perhaps Van Gaal is correct and back-to-back victories against teams setting out to defend in huge numbers at Old Trafford will cause coaches to rethink their approach and United will have more room for free-flowing football as the season progresses.

Or perhaps coaches will continue to think that sitting back and attempting to frustrate the Red Devils is the best approach to take against what is often fairly anaemic possession.

Either way, United need to start scoring more goals, to get that average league goal per game number closer to where it was last season, and ideally even higher.

*All quotations obtained firsthand except where otherwise specified.