Radamel Falcao's third goal for the club earned United a point at a blustery Britannia Stadium after Ryan Shawcross had given the hosts an early lead.
The draw extended United's unbeaten run to 10 games, although Van Gaal was far from satisfied.
"We won and had two draws [over the festive period]," he told Sky Sports. "We have to play better away from home.
"There is no difference between home and away, because the fans were very loud and fantastic."
Van Gaal conceded, too, that is side would not have been worthy winners, with Stoke also hitting the post through Peter Crouch and seeing a clear handball in the United penalty area by Chris Smalling go unpunished.
He added: "I think it was a draw and we didn't deserve more. They were closer to scoring another than us.
"I think we had a lot of time and space, but we didn't see that. We didn't create much because our crossing was poor.
"We had the space and time to play football and we could have played better."
