It has been Manchester United’s worst campaign of the Premier league era. This is undeniable. The rumblings of discontent with David Moyes that have been present since the Scot joined the club last summer have surged in recent weeks as United fell to Liverpool and then Manchester City. Yet, it is the campaign among some to have Moyes removed that is particularly unfair.
Those excruciating defeats to Olympiakos and then Liverpool and City marked the lowest period of a particularly sobering season. Yet, it is also irrefutable that defeats to United’s great rivals were in large part due to the form of the two title contenders; each unplayable on the day, while United’s squad is no longer up to the club’s traditional standards.
City has now beaten United in four of the past five meetings, setting a pattern in which the Blues have disposed of the Reds with some ease. Even Yaya Touré scoring in the fixture has been commonplace. And lest we forget this is a United side that was beaten 6-1 by what many observers judge as a weaker City team than the one of today.
Meanwhile, the rise of Liverpool this season can only be met with begrudging admiration. This is a side that was rotten to its core before being rejuvenated under Brendan Rodgers. In contrast to United Liverpool has frequently dished out masterclasses in counter-attacking football this season.
When the Scousers arrived at Old Trafford last month it seemed inevitable that United would suffer destruction of this nature. Liverpool has progressed to a team now at its peak, with a striker who is simply one of the best players in the world. But then again, would the United team of last season have beaten such formidable opposition, in such form? It is doubtful.
It may even be nostalgic to believe that some of United’s finest side – the team of Roy Keane, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, and Gary Neville for example – would have disposed of this Liverpool team, in this form. The Scousers may not win the league, but they have played some of the most attractive football in the Premier league era.
In reality it is defeats to the Premier League’s ‘lesser’ sides, such as West Bromwich Albion, Tottenham Hotspur, Swansea City and Newcastle United, that have truly cost Moyes. It is these defeats that remain unacceptable; especially the way the Reds have lost some of those matches.
Defeat to Olympiakos was one of the more shocking in recent years, but it certainly wasn’t unprecedented. Is this not the same group of players that threw away a two goal lead against FC Basle, or failed to qualify from the group stage just a few years back? This does not excuse the nature of the loss in Athens, nor the pattern it seemed to follow, but these results do happen – to United and other teams around Europe.
In truth Moyes has rarely excelled this season and has made plenty of questionable decisions. There are myriad discussion points from a disappointing campaign, such as United’s playing style, the lack of combination between Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie, defensive chaos, or Marouane Fellaini’s performances.
Perhaps the most evident issue is the lack of identity showcased by the side, together with the failure to play any attractive football. Moyes must take responsibility for this. His ideas have not been taken on in the capacity to which he would like, while the Scot’s signings have flattered to deceive. Even Juan Mata, good player though he may prove to be, looks increasingly the panic buy mirrored in Fellaini’s acquisition last summer.
In this scenario support for Moyes has dwindled during the low points of the season; understandable given the scale of disappointment to which supporters of United have borne witness.
Reds have so often been kicked while they are down. In a season of relatively few highlights the derby could have been the perfect remedy in softening the pain of previous months, even if expectations had hit a new low. However, United simply performed in the manner to which they have all season long: poorly. Perhaps the most significant negative to arise out of defeat to City and Liverpool is that they were simply unsurprising.
Despite this, the way in which the atmosphere surrounding the club has turn toxic following two devastating, but understandable defeats, seems over-the-top to many United supporters. Especially regulars at Old Trafford. In reality the Reds were well beaten by two sides that are simply better than United this season. That has little to do with the manager.
And even if United fall short in Munich next week there is no obvious replacement to fix all United’s ills this season.
Moyes may well turn out to be the ‘Wrong One’ as the now infamous plane claimed. It was a dumb stunt, but to sack him at this point, with so little time on the clock, now that really would be stupid.
Hes still our man ..End of
End of what? Dignity, ambition, fun, tactical nous, attacking flair. So many to choose from.
well said
To Ed, I mean
What Ed Said.
And you are still an idiot for letting this men turn us into a joke. Support mediocrity as that makes complete sense.
I hate to say it but Liverpool have one of the most exciting teams on the planet and would of won plenty of league titles through the 90’s with that team playing in that style. Think what they’ll be like with 2 or 3 more quality players they’ll buy in the summer. It’s all about the manager and Liverpool never had the right manager til now. Rodgers is destined for greatness and in my opinion a much better and more positive manager than Mourinho.
I think there is a lot of press about United’s apparently weak squad, yet it is lop-sided rather than weak, there is a big difference. We have a group of 4 good strikers who give us a variety of options, and crucially we have 3 bright creative midfielders in Kagawa, Mata and Januzaj who most other clubs would be desperate to have.
We have great players (potentially) going forward and I think the fans would have accepted a season or two of high scoring matches with us having a leaky defence. Liverpool do not have a better squad than us overall, yet look at how Rodgers has set them up and how comprehensively they have outscored us this year.
Moyes has failed in 2 basic parts of his job: 1) play attacking football in keeping with the traditions of the club 2) strengthen central midfield in order to give our talented group of forwards a much-needed platform to build on.
Instead what we have seen is week after week of dull, dysfunctional football, relative to the actual quality + potential of our forwards. There have been a handful of good performances but few and far between. I would argue that Moyes’ ideas HAVE been implemented tactically, and quite categorically they have failed on an epic scale. Players are doing different things compared to previous seasons and are taking up different positions on the pitch, so changes have been taken on board.
At the start of the season I wanted to back Moyes but then he signed Fellaini, a player who epitomises the exact opposite of what we really needed in a midfielder. Then came the brainwashing of the players into playing a brand of football we have come to know as hoofball dross. Other coaches are getting better performances with fewer resources, this is a fact the club cannot avoid.
Our only hope with Moyes is to convince him to change his coaching staff and get the hell out of the coaching himself. As a pure manager, I think it would take a while to develop a more assertive + confident mentality, but after a few years he might be up to the job. But the shit coaching is killing us and has to change.
You correct, Moyes is not the ‘Wrong One’ his actually the ‘Lueless One’ currently! Stop with the BS. Moyes is rubbish and will never be good enough for Man U. Not even 6yrs will make him improve on the basic coaching succcess factor of being tactically proficient and effective. He needs to go by the end of this season, even if Man U were to do the impossible and win the CL! I wud much rather be happy in supporting Man U commercially if they were lead by a successful coach with real success behind its name, not some arrogant predecessesors overrated and overstated opinion!
It’s not the end of it yet, David, but hopefully soon! (I kid, I kid. Well. A bit).
What people are not realising and don’t understand is the psychological damage that has been caused by UTD losing their Leader and by losing him they have losed their identity. Fergie was United, he became it and embodied it. It has completely messed up the group dynamic, and it’s very real and I think fans need to realise how important this factor is when assessing the situation. UTD are now starting from scratch, hopefully Moyes understands the philosophy, and will carry on the tradition, with the great mans backing
Moyes, in his admirable attempt to make his own mark following SAF’s retirement, has meddled far too much, and asked the team to play in a very un-Utd way.
He makes us play like Everton. Yet Everton* without him are doing well.
* all the hype about wonders achieved with no budget ignores the fact that Everton still spend lots of money
Neil @ 8:45: “Moyes has failed in 2 basic parts of his job…”
It’s impossible to make an intelligent rejoinder to those points…..
BUT it is also important to balance them with several others:
1) a complete lack of continuity among defenders which has meant that the manager has been between a rock (i.e, relying on the immobile Rio and the now-past-it Vidic) and a hard place (the continued injuries to Evans and Jones and Smalling);
2) the lack of mobility/quality in midfield – MC16 is a shadow of the player he has been in front of an aged or injured defence; YoungTom is false promise; and while I am a big fan of DarrenFletcherinho, it’s clear that he’ll never return to his “football genius” mode. Paying all that money for TheBigFella has been exposed to ridicule.
Taken together, these two factors belie a huge problem in the on-field foundation of the team. The defenders are either pylons or unsure of how/where they’re playing – or uncomfortable with their partners. Considering that TheMoyessiah came to the UTD job as a recognized defensive manager it’s especially troubling that the team’s defence has been so shaky.
In this regard, I have to reluctantly agree with posters like Alf who have brayed long as well as loud-and-clear that SAF left his successor with a poisoned chalice. The new emperor’s clothes look to be cut from the same cloth as the old emperor’s glad rags. So, out-with-the-old and hope for the best !
It would be deliciously ironic if the new emperor was able to stitch together these rags into a CL-winning side – just three more, cunning score-draws and one victory by penalty kicks stand between us and GLORY !
It would’ve been awesome if Liverpool finished 4th, but then we won the CL 🙂
Sooner hes gone the better
Too fucking right!!
I know this sounds like a conspiracy, however, I think that after the first leg against Olimpiakos, when the alarms were clearly blaring, sponsors upset and Ferguson unable to defend Moyes anymore it has actually been Ferguson managing the team again.
After the CL defeat and with claims that Giggs and Moyes were at odds and that Moyes had lost the dressing room Man U quickly started a public relations campaign showing videos with Moyes and United players playing happy families (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2583742/Manchester-United-rise-Defiant-David-Moyes-vows-end-dark-days-starting-Olympiacos.html ) and then miraculously start playing better and with greater intensity, United went on to win against West Ham and Olimpiakos, yet lost against Man City, which was to be expected. But then Moyes makes that extraordinary claim that “If Sir Alex was here it would be difficult for him as well” (http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/26795961 ), well, to me it says Sir Alex is having a difficult time managing the team again.
And then there is the result against Bayern, which clearly shows great tactical awareness, that which until the games mentioned above was clearly missing. But then maybe that’s just me.
There’s no way Fergie is managing Utd, even in-directly. Moyes may have turned to him for advice, however!
I don’t know who said Moyes is still ours is the kind if blind faith that will kill us. Moyes has to go at the end of the season. He will never b good enough, especially with his negative and pragmatic approach…lets move on from this nightmare…Get Lost Moyes!!
Moyes will not change, his mindset in every game is the same. Whether we are playing Bayern or Fulham his first thoughts are how to stop the other team, defend first and let our attack take care of itself, this will automatically dictate team selection and style of play.
The MU way has always been defend from the front with stylish attacking play, let the defenders take care of the back and let other teams worry about stopping us. This was evident in the OT fortress, teams were negative before they stepped foot on the pitch. We are hurtling down a very long and ever narrowing road and the longer we give Moyes the harder it will be to U turn.
If we ignore all the unfathomable decisions and comments he has made let us just assess his judgment of the right player, Fellaini was at Everton for some time , Moyes worked with him so would be the best person in the EPL to judge his attributes. He decided that this was the style of player he wanted at MU, so much so he was prepared to pay 4mil more than his buy out clause to get him. I think enough said on this mans judgment let alone anything else.
Well said. We’ve enough up top we should be able to generally score more goals than our opponent.
Mongoletsi @ 12:27: “It would’ve been awesome if Liverpool finished 4th, but then we won the CL”
This seems to have been “the plan” since Xmas – still might happen although it looks like TheArse rather than LiverPoo might be the victims which would be a pity.
Maybe, however, there’s another sting in the tail-end of this season and CSKALondon get squeezed out.
Remember, you heard that here first !
Mongoletsi @ 12:32: “We’ve enough up top we should be able to generally score more goals than our opponent.”
You won’t score nothing with these wingers (isn’t that what Alan Hansen said ?)
No! No No No NO!!! What an utterly utterly terrible article!
Everyone is entitled to their opinion and there is no right or wrong opinion. But yours is woefully awfully pathetically wrong. Where to start!?
They weren’t unplayable, we were rubbish. City hardly broke a sweat.
It seemed inevitable that we would get beaten 3-0? That just shows how far Moyes has taken us, if we go into a match, ANY MATCH, where it is inevitable that we will get thrashed.
You even question if one of the country’s best ever teams of all time would beat this liverpool side?! What is wrong with you!
Even if Liverpool had a better squad than us (they don’t) we should not roll over and die.
I see you’ve bought wholeheartedly in to this pathetic myth that our squad of champions has become rubbish over night.
Rooney, RVP, Hernandez, Welbeck, Januzaj, Mata, Kagawa, Carrick, Jones, Rafael, De Gea? Rubbish squad?! This squad are champions last season! The only difference is the manager.
So, to summarise, your article is terrible and your opinions are ridiculous.
The only thing ‘unfair’ is whether other people supporting Moyes, i.e. the coaches, and Ed Woodward, deserve to share more blame with the Chosen One.
Otherwise, something like 7 points out of a possible 39 vs the Premier League’s top 9 speaks for itself.
The man simply doesn’t win against semi-decent teams. Instead of judging how he does against Bayern, Citeh and Liverpool, which admittedly even Fergie would struggle against, let’s simply see if he can win the last remaining away games — Newcastle, Southampton, Everton.
I won’t bet the house on it.