Van Gaal's "awful" and "horrible" comments sum up his side

Never mind anything that has been written, "horrible" and "awful" concisely sums up the mess over which Louis van Gaal is presently presiding.

All things considered, last season's creditable fourth place finish aside, the Dutchman has proved another ill-judged appointment at United.

Indeed, an argument could be made that we are now in a worse position under LVG than we were when the hapless David Moyes was sacked 10 months into a six year contract in 2014.

The £65 million Moyes spent on Marouane Fellaini and Juan Mata during the Scot's reign is comparatively frugal when you look at the £100m or so Van Gaal has largely wasted during his 18 months in charge.

A vast outlay spent on rebuilding the squad and making this side his, yet United are 10 points off the top, five points behind fourth-placed Tottenham, and out at the Champions League group stage.

From uninspiring play on the field, to a shambolic mess off it, of the 12 players Van Gaal has signed, only Anthony Martial, pre-injury Luke Shaw and Daley Blind have suggested they will be a success at the club whilst the others were either a total disaster or yet to convince.

Van Gaal is accountable for - statistically - the club's worst December in our 138 history as the bleak run included the aforementioned Champions League exit, defeats to relegation-threatened duo Norwich and Bournemouth and one of the lamest displays of recent times on Boxing Day.

He is also largely responsible for a team with the lowest amount of shots on target at home out of all 92 league clubs, and to say that "Manchester United always attack" is - quite frankly - an insult.

Everywhere you look, the statistics reflect the ghastly performances for which Van Gaal's side are producing. 

These days, it's a shock to even see the players have a shot on goal and only one United player, Memphis Depay, has scored a league goal in the first 45 minutes of a match at Old Trafford this season and the last time United scored at home in any game in the first half was back in September.

The rot has set in at United from top to bottom.
The club likes to reminisce about the Class of 92 and that side's achievements but you wonder where the next David Beckham or Paul Scholes will come from considering the club's shoddy youth and academy set-up.

The Under 18s are currently on a run of 11 consecutive defeats and the system lacks a leader with Brian McClair having left his role as Academy director last May. 

The injury time win over Sheffield United in the third round was  surreal: where last minute winners once triggered euphoria, only apathy ruled. 

Advancing to the next round of a competition we haven't won in 12 years should have been cause for celebration, not a mere shrug of the shoulders.

Horrible? Awful? Van Gaal needs to look a little closer to home before asking for the sympathy vote.