Van Gaal clings to League Cup run in bizarre postmortem

It feels like Louis van Gaal has finally realised the pressure is on at Manchester United.

At least, that's the only way to account for this baffling defence following the club's elimination from the Champions League. "The facts do say we are better than last year," Van Gaal said, following the defeat to Wolfsburg. "When you see the facts we went further in the Capital One Cup, we qualified for the Champions League group and we have played all these matches and we are still in a very good position in the Premier League." Nice of him to mention the Capital One Cup, where United are in pole position after seeing off a host of Premier League teams lost to Championship side Middlesbrough after receiving a bye to the third round. Still, when you've lost 4-0 to MK Dons the year before, anything is an improvement.