Manchester United have made the third highest amount of long passes in the Premier League

Sky Sports News are a naughty bunch.

They find out what people are talking about and they react with a stat. A standalone stat. They throw it out there, say nothing and walk away but they know fine rightly what they're up to. They've done it again today by reacting to Louis van Gaal's squabbles with 'big Sam.' The United boss defended his team's style of play after Allardyce stated that West Ham struggled to cope with the visitors' long ball tactic. But Sky Sports News were straight in with a statistic to clear it all up. Not that they would ever admit that they're getting involved. https://twitter.com/SkySportsNewsHQ/status/565480139904253952 So United have gone long less than just two of their league rivals but the difference of passing and hoofing wasn't pointed out in that tweet. In comparison with actual long ball, punt upfield stats - you know, Sam Allardyce tactics - United are way down the list. https://twitter.com/SkySportsNewsHQ/status/565480548488192000 And, sure, they even got Opta to clear up how these stats are accumulated. https://twitter.com/SkySportsNewsHQ/status/565479369951678464