http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24606537 Some call him a bit of a myopic fool Others a visionary... He called Liverpools early season form, always said his team could push for the title and now is still saying utd can claw back the 8pt gap despite looking pretty poor. Do you agree? I personaly think they are in the fight of their lives for a CL place and will be scrapping it out with us and Pool come the end. Old habits die hard and with a few good buys they could turn it around but i'm not sure Moyes has it in him to identify a world class player in Jan that they can afford and would want to go to a team that needs so much work doing to it. I'm going to stick my neck out though and so they will pip us to 4th.
Fergie said similar at a similar time last season about Arsenal with tongue firmly in cheek, Wenger is no doubt enjoying reciprocating!
If we assume City, Chelsea and Arsenal are a level above us (debatable) then the problem for Utd is that I expect us to be better in the second half of the season, when most if not all of Lamela, Eriksen, Capoue, Paulinho, Soldao and Chadli are fully up to speed. This is traditionally where they go on a run. They need to make sure we are not ahead (or at least not by much) by the end of December or they could be in trouble getting their top 4 place. I am fairly sure Arsenal will have a bad patch at some stage too, especially when winter sets in, so who knows 3rd may not be out of reach. On the other hand, if Lamela, Eriksen, Chadli and Soldado never settle (the others more or less have to a degree), we could be 6th or 7th.
The question is about one aspect of the Fergie factor : Can Moyes terrify the players into playing for their lifes each time a meh result occurs ??
totally agree in regards to utd, the reason lots are getting carried away so early is down to all the unknown factor's we have this year. utd are under new management for the first time in decades. have a pretty average squad by their usual standards and really haven't started too well. spurs lost bale and bought in a lot of new players, will they all settle and will it be enough to fill that void, who knows. arsenal have always been up there but now they have ozil and look good but IMO will pick up injuries and that will affect them badly as per usual, I dred to think how good they would look at this point if they had of got Suarez too in the summer. we are picking up points despite not playing too well and having Suarez out for his ban plus a few injuries we couldn't have asked for a better start really, if we can stay within touching distance until January it's anyone's guess if we keep Suarez and also if we can add more 1st team additions to the squad, still think we are not ready yet and will miss out on Cl this time. Chelsea or city for me are a done deal for the title.
Far too early to be writing them off, but they're far from favourites right now. I suggested that a poor start would result in big pressure for Moyes and that seems to be what's happening. Any more poor results in the next few league games and I think that the media will start to smell blood. It was always going to be a tough job following on from Ferguson. Might be too big a step up for his countryman.
Closer to the relegation zone than the top 5 after more than 20% of the games, it's a long way back from there to win the league.
Of course they could still win it, but the math is already daunting. The league winner at this rate will drop 32 points or so over a 38 game season. Man U has already dropped 13 in 8 games. They aren't likely to only drop 19 points in the remaining 30 games. Even though it's very early, they probably already need a poor year for a PL winner to get the league title. Not to mention the best form in the league by some distance over the remaining games.
Taking over from the best manager ever was never going to be easy but Moyes really needed to hit the ground running. Already 8 points off the top, even at an early stage that's a lot to claw back when you're a team expected to challenge for the title. Utd as a team just don't have that intimidating factor now, proven by the fact that WBA went there with the intention to win (and did so) and Southampton never gave up and got a point. Under Fergie, with the top 4/5 teams aside, most would go there and park the bus, it's just not the case now. This is the first time where I've looked at a Utd side and generally thought we're better. Cue a 4-0 loss when we face them now but jokes aside Utd just don't look that good at the moment. It's still early and things can change but the form of other teams means that Utd and Moyes have to get things sorted quickly otherwise they could fall so far behind that the league may be out of reach come January, which for Utd, is completely unacceptable.
if they don't sort it quick they could be out of reach of the Cl spots come January and that would be unthinkable for utd even in moyes 1st season, if that happens and it's very unlikely but if they find themselves in that situation it will be interesting to see the reaction from the board, fans and how the inevitable media frenzy will affect what they do about it.
I'd love to know what the Utd board's initial expectations were for this season. Did they reckon Moyes would need a season or two before producing results or were they expecting a quick and easy transition and basically pick up where Fergie left off? If the latter then Moyes really needs to get Utd firing on all cylinders.
We did more than that - we outplayed them for most of the match. Don't let the "impartial" BBC MOTD edit fool you. We had more possession, more shots on and off target and our goal wasn't offside. Similar story at Liverpool (except we won that one). I think it will be Man City v London for the title this year. Maybe us next year... I'm joking...I think?
I had Southampton as my surprise this season (though some felt they would not be a surprise...), so I'm not shocked, or even surprised, to see them doing well. I like City's chances for the title at this point by process of elimination: Man U is struggling badly, Arsenal's squad is shallow, especially at striker, Spurs have a team of strangers (and does anyone really think either Arsenal or Spurs will win the title?), and Chelsea, well, Mourinho began the season by loaning out their best striker and sitting their best player, so they're going to have to overcome the obstacles Mourinho places in front of them. City's biggest problem may be rich club syndrome, characterized by players acting like a bunch of zillionaires, but they overcame it two years ago, so they look the best bet at the moment.
That's not surprising mate, you guys have been playing some great football at the moment, Pochettino's doing a great job. I'm pretty sure that on a thread we done at the start of the season, I called you guys as being a team to challenge for a Europa place this season. A point below us and 4 off the top currently backs up my prediction .
You guys have been really good this year. Not sure where it has come from because it's not like Osvaldo or Lambert are shooting you to the top. It's good to have some other teams like you and Swansea mixing it up at the top (and wigan winning the fa cup) as long as you dont beat us to 4th by a point I can like Soton.
It's an interesting thought. Surely anyone looking at there squad can see Fergy had them playing above themselves, that Moyes would need to adapt and make the team his own. I cannot envisage for a second though that a finish outside of top 4 will be acceptable. Maybe once -with a few buys and aug-jan 2014 to prove things can change but other than that I think he's a gonner.
Its their defence. They are playing the high line pressing game like us but are playing it better than us at the moment.
