We are all missing Sir Alex now, this I believe is what most fans of Man Utd thinking now.
Look at Sir Alex's achievement in my previous blog post: http://followtrends.blogspot.com/2013/05/sir-alex-ferguson-retirement-look-at.html
We have the Champion!
Look at today's rank in EPL:-Man Utd is only at number 9? Yes, you are correct-9, 15 matches, 22 points
David Moyes, previously manager of Everton is the new manager after Sir Alex Ferguson. However it seems that the team has had a hard-time adjusting to his style. But I believe a stronger team is in building by him. During his time in Everton, the team is outstanding. Ferguson did not claim no.1 also in fact when he first took over Man Utd in the first 2 years.
From: http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/until-manchester-uniteds-david-moyes-2910962
Something isn’t right at Old Trafford. I’m not talking about the
draw-heavy poor form that was followed by cheap surrenders to Everton
and Newcastle in the past week; nor the dearth of goals or even
clear-cut chances from open play thus far. It’s not even the steadily
growing 13 point gap between United and Arsenal, which makes a mockery
of David Moyes’ bizarre claim that his team are still in the title race.
All
of those things are reasons for worry but none the real cause for
concern. United have suffered indifferent periods (and seasons) before,
and under the greatest manager of all time no less. Who can forget the
image of two overly-sincere looking individuals holding a banner with
‘Ta Ra Fergie’ writ large upon it outside Carrington a few years ago. Nothing strikes fear into a manager’s heart like frustrated bed linen.
Were
it just an underperforming or even lacking squad that was to blame for a
rotten half-season that would be fine(ish). Such issues could be
addressed with relative ease by a man with a plan and proper backing.
However the problems currently besetting the club look to be more
fundamental and worrying. There seems to be a lack of direction and
unity about everything the club does. It’s not very United.
Most
obviously the football has been poor. There’s no shape to the team.
They’ve gone through mini-phases of playing well and then not so well,
but neither with a consistent style or clear tactical plan. There’s
certainly nothing in recent performances to suggest that this is a group
of players who have known each others’ games for years. They’re playing
like an international team; or worse an England team.
The obvious
inclination is to blame the one variable in the craggy and forlorn
shape of David Moyes. This is after all the same collection of players
(sans a peripheral Scholes) that won the Premier League at a canter last
term. Why is he is failing to get anything approaching champion
football from a group of champions? Why are they playing like strangers
who’ve taken a thorough disliking to one another?
There’s no
simple answer because Moyes is far from an idiot. For all the
justifiable fears United fans may have harboured about whether he was
the right man to follow Ferguson, a lack of either organisation or
tactical discipline didn’t figure highly. His teams have always been
well-drilled and meticulously prepared. Any manager facing a Moyes side
knew they’d have to earn any sort of result. That’s not the case at the
moment. Dead men walking? United slumped to another defeat at the weekend
John Peters / Getty
The current group of players are not performing under the new
regime. They are either unwilling or unable to play how the manager
wants them to. Or perhaps they simply don’t understand. It doesn’t
matter really because it’s not happening at the moment. This leaves
Moyes with two broad options: either persist with the current plan and
hope his charges cotton on, or adapt his strategy to better fit what he
has.
The latter option is probably worth a go as the former shows
no sign of working. It’s no coincidence that United’s best performances
have come on their travels in Europe and at home to Arsenal, in matches
where the opposition were pensive and had as much to lose as United.
Those are the sort of games which lend themselves to bad football and
talented individuals making the difference, both of which characterise
the Moyes era.
The biggest problem for David Moyes isn’t the
quality of his squad or the relentless media scrutiny each failure
attracts. Rather it is the one thing that Sir Alex Ferguson had in
spades and so far eludes his successor. The single most important weapon
in Fergie’s arsenal that gave strength and meaning to all his words and
actions. It could even have been the slightly more imaginative and
fitting title for the story of his life: Control.
It’s something
that Moyes needs more than anything. But thus far everything has
conspired to undermine his position at the club. The summer transfer
window was a disaster. Moyes obviously had a number of targets in mind,
as well as being promised the real possibility of a ‘special’ player.
But largely due to Ed Woodward’s bumbling and naive efforts nothing
transpired but the last ditch and overpriced capture of Fellaini.
The
playing staff, rather than being revitalised and wracked with healthy
insecurity, remained the old general’s men. Moyes had to come in and
impress them rather than the other way round. Therefore, as things go
wrong as they always will, rumbles of displeasure start emanating from a
changing room that was once soundproof and senior players start growing
disgruntled and sullen stubble. Flop: United's £27.5million man Marouane Fellaini has not hit the ground running
Richard Heathcote
Moyes’ credibility is in danger and for a manager that’s
fatal. He needs to wrestle it back no matter what it takes or he’s a
dead man. You’re almost willing him to have a Michael
Corleone-shooting-Sollozzo-and-McCluskey moment. A profound action or
ruthless act that reaffirms his position as top dog. No one can be
allowed to feel they need merely ride out this Moyes-shaped mistake and
then impress the new man.
Worryingly it seems to be getting to
Moyes. His explanation for playing RVP for the fully 90 minutes
following an injury layoff was just awful in so many ways:
“I was due to take Van Persie off after 60 minutes, but if I had, people would have said, ‘What are you doing?’”
One
could never imagine Fergie being swayed in any way by what others would
have thought, never mind publicly explaining himself in such a way. It
smacks of a dog being wagged by his tail.
The next six weeks will
be vital to David Moyes’ long-term future, both in terms of results and
who he adds to and subtracts from his squad. Most importantly he must
assert his authority, and a change of personnel will help with that.
They will be his men and owe him their loyalty, more so than the current
weathered cast. No one man is bigger than the club but Moyes must
establish to everyone that he is the man in ultimate control.
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