Louis van Gaal, the Dutch maestro strolled into the corridors of Carrington to metaphorical echoes of applause from the great managers of yesteryear. Here was a titan of European football entrusted with dragging the club from the David Moyes tainted era of Fellaini football and never ending crosses. At least that's the way some would have you believe.
In reality, van Gaal is an arch pragmatist. Guardiola he aint. And just to prove it, the stat boffins at Squawka have totted up the number of long balls from across Europe's top 5 leagues and the results are as follows:
Most attempted long balls across Europe's top 5 leagues this term: Man Utd (1460) Burnley (1437) Southampton (1317) QPR (1309) Metz (1294)
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) January 21, 2015
West Ham fans are currently besides themselves with glee that they keep the ball on the ground more than Man Utd.
