gerd
Retired Footballer
Some people are not happy
"It isn't, and will never, ever be time to rally behind Moyes. The man shouldn't be in the job, and probably won't be after his first season.
Moyes will have been appointed with the league in mind, which is sensible, in that it should be the sine qua non of any United season, and that United neither have the players nor money to compete in Europe in the short term. However, Moyes doesn't strike me as a manager likely to replicate Fergie's ability to out-perform higher spending managers at an elite level. He has spent 11 years settling into comfortable mediocrity, at a level where out-managing wealthier and more profligate clubs through consistency and hard work is easier.
Then there's Everton's colossally poor cup and big game record. It's appalling. Moyes, whenever confronted with a team superior or equal to his, reverts to two deep sitting banks of four, a defensive midfielder sweeping between them, and a lone striker to whom the ball is hoofed up to. Whatever else one says of Mourinho and Benitez, they are exceptional managers tactically, have excellent records in isolated matches (note how Mourinho gradually worked out and conquered Pep), and have good cup records. Moyes has none of this, and will increase United's growing inability to win against direct competitors. For a club which considers itself as big as any other in the world, this is not acceptable.
His transfer record is scarcely encouraging either. He uses foreign players to add elan and flair to a nucleus of physical, functional British players, which is acceptable (if very 1990s), however, his record is scarcely encouraging. Bilyaletdinov was an awful signing, Yakubu and Beattie equally poor, and Pienaar and Mirallas are hideously over-rated. Christ alone knows what he'll do to Kagawa, but I'm confident it won't involve playing him consistently as a 10 behind van Persie or Hernandez. And realistically, United desperately need high-class transfers this summer. Nani and Anderson are done at the club, Young is terrible, Valencia now in a slump of Torres proportions, and Cleverley and Welbeck notably failing to develop. At least two exceptional players are needed, and I cannot conceive of James Rodriguez, Lewandowski, or any other player of their calibre, being excited by the prospect of working under David Moyes. Five years ago, United played in an exciting, ground-breaking formation, with exciting, young, international players (including a Ballon D'Or winner), and dominated Europe, notwithstanding Barca. Now we have a mediocre Scot who will scour Europe's minor leagues for bargain players.
And in terms of formation, Moyes loyalty to 4411/442 is simply another reason not to appoint him. Tactically, the world is changing again. Three-man defences are increasingly in vogue, pressing is being done more selectively, and there is a diversity of tactical options across Europe (Montella's Fiorentina are a joy to watch). Persisting with one of Fergie's salient weaknesses, his tactics, by appointing a manager from the same traditionally 'British' school, is obtuse. United, with diminished resources, need a manager able to out-think the opposition, and that doesn't involve a Mike Bassett style four four f***ing two, muscle-bound hulks in midfield, and obdurate defensiveness.
If United wanted a manager to promote youth, whilst remaining consistent to the values of the club, they ought to have looked to Klopp. AVB would have made sense, although been expensive. But United have wasted a huge opportunity in appointing Moyes, and favoured mediocrity over a chance of excellence".
Couldn't disagree more. That is a super biased post from a Liverpool fan...a Liverpool fan who forgets that Everton lately has better reslults than Liverpool and that on a much inferior budget...i wonder what this says about Dalglish and your current manager (and IMHO Rogers is a fine manager).
You talk about mediocrity in that post ? IMO Moyes is overachieving.
Everton had a bad Cup record ? Who cares about cups ? Wigan Athletic and Bradford...
Did Man Utd had such a fantastic Cup record lately ? Spurs ? Arsenal ? All mediocre teams ? Don't think so.
Kevin Mirallas is a massively overrated player ? Isn't it a bit early to conclude that, IMO he did reasonably well in his first season although he was injured a litle bit too much. I heard somebody on the Football Weekly podcast say that Mirallas could be considered as one of the transfers of the season. That is exagerated but apparently i'm not the only one who thinks Mirallas can't be considered a bad transfer.
Bilyaletinov ? Was he that bad ? Ok.
Now let's look at a couple of transfers from Ferguson: Djemba Djemba anyone ? And the Portugese guy he bought last season ? His goalkeepers ?
Does Ferguson has a bad transfer record ? Obviously not, what i'm trying to proof is the fact that you can make everybody's transfer record look bad by picking out some of the worst transfers.
Let's look at it the other way. Who was the most expensive signing Moyes made for Everton ? A certain Fellaini who came from unfancied Standard. Liverpool accidentally bought another player from that same team (which should have eliminated Liverpool from the CL if not for the ref, by the way): Jovanovic... Now that was a huge success compared to Myes' poor signing of Marouane Fellaini.
Moyes will be out of job after one season ? Well i'm old enough to remember Ferguson as manager of Aberdeen. He won the Cup winners cup with that team in a final against Real Madrid and afterwards came to Man Utd. In his second season he won the FA CUP and if he hadn't won that he would have been sacked in his second season.
IMO Moyes can only be judged after 3 seasons (something Liverpool should have done with Roy Hodgson instead of sacking him and appointing Kenny 'Andy Caroll' Dalglish) and not earlier. Imagine what would have happened if the United board would have sacked Ferguson at the end of his second season ???? Maybe even Liverpool could have won an EPL title...
IMO Moyes did marverlous with Everton...and just give him a chance. I admire him if only for the guts to take over from Ferguson, because it takes guts to follow in his footsteps...one thing is certain not a single manager will do as good as he did....
I don't think Man Utd will become a club outside of the top 4 after Fergusons retirement. Next season they might face a difficult season, but they might also win the EPL...
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Simply the Greatest.

@ Chicharito