David Moyes open criticism of his team in-depth did not go down well with the fans and some pundits over the last weekend. This has prompted many discussions as fans are beginning to doubt Moyes's technical ability to lead the team. Below is an article culled from The Telegraph UK. Enjoy and share your opinion.
It was a damning assessment of his team’s failings, but perhaps there really was no hiding place for David Moyes and his players after such an insipid home defeat, 2-1 against WBA.
“It was the whole thing,” Moyes said. “We were lacklustre in nearly all the areas, so we’ve got to try and work on it and improve.
“We are just not playing that well. We should be scoring more from open play and we should be defending better. There were lots of things that disappointed me.”
Despite a third defeat in six league games, which ensured United’s worst start to a season in 24 years, they are holding off from the blame game at Old Trafford judging by the applause for Moyes as he walked off the pitch at full-time.
Bewilderment, rather than anger, appears to be the pervading mood, yet Moyes seems to be the only one prepared to discuss the elephant in the room, that this United team are vulnerable, creaking and, as West Bromwich showed, increasingly incapable of coping with opponents who are prepared to expose their weaknesses.
Yet Moyes’s honesty may ultimately prove to be as damaging to United’s hopes of success as the problems he has inherited from Sir Alex Ferguson.
The narrative of the season so far from Moyes has been one of lowering expectations. The squad, he insists, is not strong enough in key areas and the Scot even suggested in the wake of the 4-1 defeat at Manchester City last week, which he described as “embarrassing”, that he required two new players to go straight into his starting 11.
Moyes is undoubtedly correct in his assessment, United do lack quality, particularly in midfield, but there is a danger that he is giving his players an excuse for failure by repeatedly highlighting their frailties.
Ferguson, in contrast, would never talk his team down. He would often exaggerate the potential of his players simply to instil the belief that they could achieve great things.
The mind games started at home, in the United dressing room, and Ferguson’s psychology delivered the results, but the message from Moyes is one of fear and concern and he may need to find a way of saying something he does not believe in order to put his team back on track.
The current United squad was good enough to win last season’s league title by an 11-point margin, so the drop in form and performances has been alarming and Moyes accepts he must take his share of the blame for that. “The players set really high standards, they are all top lads, but when you’re the manager, you take it [blame],” Moyes said.
“That’s what happens and you know what the consequences are because, if the team loses it’s always the manager.
"I’m taking over a new team and there will be some setbacks along the way, but there are other clubs having setbacks as well, not just us. We said at the start it could be a topsy-turvy season and it may well prove to be that.”
So where do United go from here? The Champions League trip to Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday precedes a visit to Sunderland on Saturday and Moyes can ill afford another defeat from those fixtures.
Having rested the likes of Nemanja Vidic, Patrice Evra and Robin van Persie in this game, he will at least be able to restore those key figures to his team, but Marouane Fellaini has done little to improve United since his £27.5million arrival from Everton and the likes of Rio Ferdinand, Anderson and Javier Hernandez were so far off the pace against Albion that all three will be lucky to start in Ukraine or on Wearside.
And then there is Moyes’s strange handling of Shinji Kagawa, the Japanese midfielder who stood out in the first half on Saturday but was replaced for “tactical reasons” at half-time.
Kagawa’s removal took away a threat to Steve Clarke’s team and the visitors took advantage by opening the scoring when Morgan Amalfitano embarrassed Ferdinand and Alex Buttner by scoring from distance on 54 minutes.
Wayne Rooney’s equaliser from a free-kick three minutes later would ordinarily have preceded a United onslaught for the winner, but it was West Bromwich who chased the victory and they were rewarded when Saido Berahino scored on 67 minutes.
“I didn’t speak about United before the game,” Clarke said. “I just spoke to my players about how we would come here and be positive and try to win the game. I want to try to change the mindset of the team.
"If you have good forward talent, added to a strong defensive unit, a bit more flair and creativity going forward will hopefully mean more afternoons like this.”
United, clearly, will aim to experience fewer afternoons like this, but the message from the dressing room is a determined one. “No, I don’t think it is a crisis,” full-back Buttner said.
“We have lost games, but we have to focus and fight in every game to win it. If we lose we are not happy, but we have to fight to win every game and that’s not been happening. Our season starts now and we can win many games.”
It's hard to know how much credibility to lend media transfer rumours, but if they are to be leant credibility, Manchester Utd tried to buy Fabregas and Ronaldo during the summer, with Herrera a fall-back when it became clear Fabregas wasn't moving. When that didn't work-out either, a scramble to secure Fellaini meant they didn't achieve nothing, but certainly very little. You can't blame Moyes for that.
ReplyDeleteWhether or not Fabregas or Ronaldo were real prospects, no-one here knows, but the stories went on and on for weeks suggesting something was going on. If you thought you were going to secure one or both, you wouldn't have much spare cash to approach anyone else. So it seems to me Manchester Utd made fools of themselves in the transfer market, ensuring their new manager did not have the players he knew he needed.
As far as Ronaldo being a real prospect is concerned, I don't think it was coincidence he recently extended a very lucrative contract with Real Madrid.
Anderson can be OK if he decides to put some effort in, but he rarely does. Nani's an enigma. Whether he's stupid, lazy or both, he can produce some of the most wasteful football you are likely to see, with only the occasional spark of real skill. Why they weren't off-loaded a long time ago, I don't know. Maybe no-one else wants them either.
Ferdinand needs some time in the reserves, or making the tea, or something that means he doesn't waste space on the pitch. The defence looked a great deal more sound against Liverpool in the cup than it did against West Brom and that appears to be because Ferdinand wasn't playing in the cup game.
Kagawa is not a winger and the general consensus seems to be he did pose a threat to West Brom on Saturday and removing him wasn't wise. Perhaps Moyes might consider playing Kagawa in a more central role, as he is considered a good player by those who saw him at his last club and it doesn't look like Moyes' tactics are working too well otherwise, so why not change things around a bit more? Leave Fellaini and his flying elbows in front of the back 4 and let Kagawa attack a bit. Worth a try?
Maybe the squad isn't as strong as Moyes wished it to be, but I'm not convinced it's as weak as he's making it look at the moment.
It's hard to know how much credibility to lend media transfer rumours, but if they are to be leant credibility, Manchester Utd tried to buy Fabregas and Ronaldo during the summer, with Herrera a fall-back when it became clear Fabregas wasn't moving. When that didn't work-out either, a scramble to secure Fellaini meant they didn't achieve nothing, but certainly very little. You can't blame Moyes for that.
ReplyDeleteWhether or not Fabregas or Ronaldo were real prospects, no-one here knows, but the stories went on and on for weeks suggesting something was going on. If you thought you were going to secure one or both, you wouldn't have much spare cash to approach anyone else. So it seems to me Manchester Utd made fools of themselves in the transfer market, ensuring their new manager did not have the players he knew he needed.
As far as Ronaldo being a real prospect is concerned, I don't think it was coincidence he recently extended a very lucrative contract with Real Madrid.
Anderson can be OK if he decides to put some effort in, but he rarely does. Nani's an enigma. Whether he's stupid, lazy or both, he can produce some of the most wasteful football you are likely to see, with only the occasional spark of real skill. Why they weren't off-loaded a long time ago, I don't know. Maybe no-one else wants them either.
Ferdinand needs some time in the reserves, or making the tea, or something that means he doesn't waste space on the pitch. The defence looked a great deal more sound against Liverpool in the cup than it did against West Brom and that appears to be because Ferdinand wasn't playing in the cup game.
Kagawa is not a winger and the general consensus seems to be he did pose a threat to West Brom on Saturday and removing him wasn't wise. Perhaps Moyes might consider playing Kagawa in a more central role, as he is considered a good player by those who saw him at his last club and it doesn't look like Moyes' tactics are working too well otherwise, so why not change things around a bit more? Leave Fellaini and his flying elbows in front of the back 4 and let Kagawa attack a bit. Worth a try?
Maybe the squad isn't as strong as Moyes wished it to be, but I'm not convinced it's as weak as he's making it look at the moment.