I'm still of the opinion the Van Gaal only succeeds with the talent level he possesses. This ManU team has 5th written all over it.
Same, maybe not even that. They're 6th now with their schedule having consisted of last year's 5th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 17th, and 3 promoted sides, and have Chelsea, City and Arsenal in the next 4 fixtures. For the team he has right now, 5th may well be optimistic. We'll see what the Glazers allow him to do in January.
He tried his best to break Barcelona the second time around, got worse with them his first time, and was placed 4th with Bayern (that has to be classed as almost impossible in this era) when he was sacked there in his 2nd year, and the biggest thing that got him to that point was having inherited Muller. And the Bundesliga and La Liga are a completely different ballgame in terms of competitiveness from England, and I think Van Gaal has found that out in failing to beat any of WBA, Burnley, Sunderland and Leicester.
It's most interesting to me that Moyes started better against a tougher schedule, and yet Van Gaal is being treated with kid gloves where Moyes was already being criticized. I guess it's true what they say about not wanting to follow the legend, at least in this case. I know guys that followed the legend and were just as good, but their supporters were, shall we say, less insane.